Just Baking

While the title Cake Bible is already taken, two new books–Florence Fabricant’s The New York Times Dessert Cookbook and Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours–are substantial enough to be taken as gospel.  These two sweet cookbooks emerged just two weeks apart (Dessert on October 19, Baking on November 1), and they have substantial overlap:  each one, rising above 500 pages and sprinkled with full-color photographs (Greenspan’s book a bit more generously), is the creation of one of the most accomplished and beloved American food writers.

Since 1980, Florence Fabricant has filled the pages of the New York Times‘ Wednesday “Dining & Wine” section with reports on every ingredient and combination thereof imaginable.  In The New York Times Dessert Cookbook, she compiles 440 dessert recipes from the paper’s archives.  Several are her own inventions but a vast number of other authors and chefs are represented, including staffers Amanda Hesser and Eric Asimov, restaurateurs Larry Forgione and Charlie Palmer, and high-profilers Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver.  Try Alain Ducasse’s “Ruby Red Grapefruit Souffle.”

With Baking, Dorie Greenspan now has nine cookbooks to her name, including Baking with Julia.  Her story is inspiring to anyone who’s ever ruined a batch of cookies.  She got her start in the food world by burning down her parents’ kitchen at age 13, but she gradually developed a proficiency in baking.  Though she earned a doctorate in gerontology, she turned away from academia and pursued a career as a pastry chef.  While Fabricant was busy meeting deadlines in the newsroom, Greenspan was whipping up new creations in her own kitchen.  She claims to have baked something at home almost every day for the past thirty years.  Go for the “Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread.”