The Boy Who Bakes

Second Helpings - Guinness Chocolate Cakes with Whipped Caramel and Espresso Glaze

Edd Kimber — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 16:40:21 GMT

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When I posted a little video about the whipped caramel, I was slightly surprised by the sheer volume of comments suggesting how good it would be in a coffee. Whilst I knew these comments were about the drink, I immediately thought of the combination of caramel and coffee in a recipe. Obviously this is a relatively classic combination, so I wanted to add a third element. I settled on Guinness; I thought the stout's bittersweet flavor would be the perfect partner to the other flavors.

This could have been a layer cake, a sheet cake, or even a brownie. Sidenote, how good does a Guinness brownie sound?? I ended up taking a bit of inspiration from Lannan Bakery in Edinburgh. A favorite bakery of mine, I became completely enamored by their take on Jaffa cakes, whilst I was there for my recent pop-up. They use an upside-down brioche mould to create little cakes with beautifully edged sides. They’re incredibly elegant, and since I already own the molds, I thought these would be the perfect recipe to use them for.

The question is, though, are these technically cupcakes? What is the definition of a cupcake? I guess a cupcake is a small individual cake topped with some sort of frosting. With a definition that simple, these surely must be cupcakes, right? The problem is that they just don’t feel like a cupcake to me. Maybe it's because I traditionally don’t love cupcakes and I absolutely adore these, that I can't reconcile the two ideas in my head. Whatever you want to call them, they’re ridiculously good!

The glaze for these cakes is a take on ‘magic shell,’ that classic ice cream topping that sets almost immediately when it comes into contact with ice cream, or anything really cold. The topping works because the mixture is based around coconut oil and chocolate. The oil has two functions. Firstly, it keeps the mixture fluid, allowing a thin layer to be poured over the ice cream. Secondly, the oil and the cocoa butter set very quickly when they come into contact with the ice cream, or in this case the very cold cake and caramel.

Initially I wanted to use a simple ganache glaze, and you certainly can, but I found that when the ganache was the correct viscosity to create a thin glaze, it didn’t set quickly enough, leaving a slightly sheer finish, and I much preferred the look when using the Magic Shell. In both tests, I used instant espresso powder. The grains of this coffee are incredibly fine, and when mixed into the glaze, they have no discernible texture. This sort of coffee is also incredibly useful in baking as it’s great for whipping up strong coffee when making chocolate cakes or for all manner of glazes and fillings.

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Whipped Caramel Masterclass

Edd Kimber — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 16:40:20 GMT

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There is a very strong possibility I am posting this at the entirely wrong time of the year. It’s far too hot in London to be doing almost anything in the kitchen, other than making and enjoying plenty of ice cream, of course. I’m posting it anyway because it is timely. As you have probably seen, the whipped caramel and chocolate cake has gone completely viral, and it’s taken over the Internet, or at least my entire Instagram feed. The problem? Lots of people are struggling to make the whipped caramel, so I thought it was time for a masterclass, to give you as much advice as possible and to help you out with any issues you may have had.

Over on Second Helpings this week I also have a new recipe that utilises that spectacular caramel: little Guinness chocolate cakes with whipped caramel and an espresso glaze. They’re damn good and a really fun way to use the caramel. If you’re a paid subscriber, that recipe is in your inbox right now.

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Whipped Caramel

So what actually is whipped caramel? I guess its name is pretty self-explanatory; it's a caramel, salted of course, that is whipped. Is it just a regular caramel? Not quite. To make a whipped caramel, it has slightly more cream than regular caramel sauce. Because it is cream-based, it needs to be very cold before it can be whipped. When caramel is chilled in the fridge, it becomes very thick, and my usual caramel sauce would be almost impossible to whisk, even when utilising a stand mixer. So, with a little extra cream, you get a whippable mixture.

Now, that caramel whips, but unlike whipped cream, the mixture doesn’t increase in volume a huge amount. It lightens and aerates, but it is not light and airy; it's like a cross between whipped cream and a meringue buttercream. It is still slightly dense, but it is super creamy.

The first time I made it, it was a kind of mistake. I had accidentally weighed out too much cream and realised my caramel was too runny. If you ever made my chocolate sheet cake with whipped caramel ganache from One Tin Bakes, you know I have a history of whipping up mixtures to make something delicious. It was a logical extension of that ganache to think this could also just be whipped. It worked wonderfully, and so after a little tweaking, this is the recipe I settled on.

The cream ratio can be adjusted to achieve the desired result. I wanted a really stable cake filling, so the amount of cream allowed the caramel to be whipped without making it super soft like whipped cream. If a whipped cream is what you actually want, you absolutely can increase the cream, but the more cream you add, the more diluted the caramel flavour will become. However, as the caramel flavour is intense to begin with, you do have some leeway.

The Caramel

The base of a good whipped caramel is, of course, a really good caramel. This is a dry caramel, which means you are melting down the sugar with nothing else added, no water. This is, to my mind, the easiest form of caramel because it lets you stir it without worrying about it seizing.

Tip 1 - Don’t Use Cold Cream

Place the cream into a saucepan at the same time you put the sugar in a seperate pan. You want to bring the cream to a simmer, then remove it from the heat so that by the time your caramel is finished and you add the cream, it is still hot. Adding cold cream to hot caramel will ALWAYS result in a huge lump of very hard caramel swimming in a pan of cream. This can be rescued by turning the heat to low and cooking until the sugar remelts. The problem is that this takes time, and as you continue cooking the mixture, the liquid will reduce, leaving a much thicker caramel that will be hard to whip. Hot cream added to hot caramel yields a perfectly smooth caramel that still has the right texture for whipping.

Tip 2: Darker Caramels Taste Better

Sugar is very sweet, of course. As it melts and caramelises, we perceive its sweetness less and less as more bitter compounds are introduced into the mixture. As the sugar caramelises, you are looking at its colour. When the caramel is stopped too soon by adding butter, salt, and cream, the resulting caramel will be bland and too sweet. Cooking it too far, on the other hand, will result in a bitter and burnt flavour. The challenge is finding the sweet spot. I aim for a dark coppery brown, like the colour of an old penny.

To help with this, I always advise against using non-stick pans. The dark coating on these pans makes it difficult to judge the colour; I prefer to use traditional stainless steel, as it is much easier to gauge the caramel's colour.

Cream

Watching this recipe go viral has made me read up on a lot of the different-style creams on offer around the world, and not all are made equally. To make a whippable cream, you want fresh cream with a fat percentage of 35-40%. In the UK, this means ‘whipping cream’, and in the US, it means ‘heavy whipping cream’. If you’re in the UK, you can also use double cream, but it will definitely make a richer finished mixture.

In hot countries, fresh cream can be hard to come by, and unfortunately what is on offer may not work. The recipe has become extremely popular in India, and from what I can tell, the most commonly used cream is a UHT version with 30% fat. Unfortunately, when it is turned into a caramel, it doesn’t like to be whipped, and the resulting caramel becomes very loose, almost runny. There a few ways around this, you can add a little more butter, you can add a little white chocolate to help stabilise the mixture but these do change the nature of the product.

Chilling

The point at which most people seem to struggle with this whipped caramel is the whipping. You need to think of this more like whipping cream than whipping caramel. The same rules apply to whipping caramel as to whipping cream. The colder the better. The caramel needs a minimum of 3-4 hours before it can be whipped, but it is advisable to treat 4 as the bare minimum, since not everyone's fridge is as cool as the next person's. I have actually started leaving it overnight. Leaving it that long makes the caramel significantly thicker but, because of the higher level of cream, it’s still whippable with an electric mixer.

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FAQ’s

How long can the caramel be refrigerated before whipping

I have left this as long as five days in the fridge and it has still had no issues whipping up.

Can it be frozen?

Yes and no. Caramel has a high sugar content, meaning it never truly freezes; it will firm up but remain a little soft. If you whipped it and used it on a cake (like those little Guinness cakes from today’s Second Helpings), then these will freeze absolutely fine.

Can you refrigerate the caramel after whipping but before using it?

No, unfortunately no. The whipped caramel will start to thicken a little in the fridge and become less spreadable, so ideally it should be whipped and used immediately.

Is it stable in the heat?

As I have discovered this week, the answer is not really. Like any whipped cream, it will start to melt and break if exposed to heat for too long. When the temperature starts to tick up, and it is in the 30s, the caramel becomes incredibly soft and starts to melt. The fridge is your friend during periods of high heat.

Can I leave out the salt?

Yes, but why would you? Salt enhances the caramel's flavour and balances its sweetness. To me, a caramel without the salt is missing one of its key components. You can also control the level of the salt, so if you really don’t like a salted caramel, add a little less, but trust me when I say caramel will always taste better with a little salt.

If you have any other questions, leave them below, and I'll help out in any way I can.

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Can’t Be Bothered To Make The Caramel

If you're craving some whipped caramel or the original whipped caramel cake but you can't be bothered to make it? Well, you have just a couple of days left to get your order in for a big slice of my collaboration cake with Get Baked. They can ship the cake almost anywhere in the UK, and the slices for this initial drop will arrive July 16th or 17th.

Pre-Order A Slice Of Cake

Whipped Caramel

150g caster sugar

200ml whipping cream (35-40% fat)

15g unsalted butter, diced

Large pinch flaked sea salt

Add the sugar to a medium-sized saucepan and place over medium/high heat. At the same time, place the cream in a separate small pan over medium/high heat and bring to a simmer. Once the cream is bubbling, turn off the heat.

Cook the sugar, stirring occasionally to melt and caramelise evenly, until the sugar is the colour of an old copper penny, a rich and deep brown colour. If the caramel looks like a brand new copper penny, it is still too light. Once properly cooked, add the butter and salt and stir briefly to combine. Pour in the cream in two or three additions. Even though the cream is still very hot, the caramel will still bubble up significantly, so if you add it all in one go, you risk the caramel bubbling over the sides of the pan. Once the initial bubbling has settled slightly, you can add the remaining amount. If you heated the cream in advance, the caramel should be perfectly smooth, so take the pan off the heat and pour into a heatproof container. Allow the caramel to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes before transferring to cool for at least four hours.

To whip, scrape the caramel into a large bowl and whisk with an electric mixer until the caramel holds soft peaks. The finished caramel will be very thick and should hold its shape, with a spreadability similar to a meringue buttercream, if a little thicker. If you underwhip the caramel, it will be too loose and will be hard to use as a cake filling. If you overwhip the caramel, it can start to break, so try not to overdo it.

Once whipped, use the caramel immediately.

A Mini Postcard From Portugal

Edd Kimber — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 16:41:03 GMT

Hello, happy Friday!

After a week out of the country, a week of Portuguese food and hospitality, I am back in London.

This will be a short postcard post, not because we didn’t enjoy our time in Portugal but mainly because we enjoyed it exactly as we intended. A week of doing as little as possible. That said, I do have a few places to recommend.

We booked this trip after an incredibly busy start to the year; we both just wanted, and really needed, a relaxing break. The younger version of myself would book city breaks and fill each moment with something to do, something to see or something to eat. It was nonstop, and by the end of those trips I was almost as exhausted as I had been before I got on the plane. I loved those trips, but these days I have really come to appreciate a holiday that is as laid back as possible. To give us a best-of-both-worlds type situation, we booked our visit to start in Porto, a couple of days exploring the city before we headed inland to the Douro Valley for a quiet hideaway amongst the many, many vineyards.

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My first tip would be not to head to Porto without knowing you’re landing on the evening of one of the city’s biggest nights, Festa de São João do Porto. This is not to say the festival wasn’t fun; it was a riot of unexpected energy. It was more so that the following day, our only full day in the city, everywhere we had planned to visit was closed. I’d assume this is mainly due to the fact that the festivities of the night before extended well into the morning. It would have been great to arrive the day before so we could have enjoyed the city and the festival; this would have been the perfect couple of days.

This festival, hosted annually on June 23rd, is the city’s midsummer festival in honour of St John the Baptist. Whilst it is considered a Catholic celebration, many of the festival’s traditions borrow from earlier pagan practices. As someone who had zero knowledge of the festival, it was quite the shock to head out onto the streets of Porto to suddenly have everyone we passed hit us on the head with little plastic mallets. Traditionally, these hammers would have been leeks, which were used as a sign of fertility. We spotted a couple of people sticking to tradition, but the leeks have long since been replaced with the colourful hammers. Other traditions include the lighting of paper lanterns and eating grilled sardines. If you head to the riverfront during the festival, or any of the city’s many squares, you can see these lanterns filling the night sky, flying high above the city, mixing with the smoke of the grilled fish. The city was absolutely packed with people of all ages, and it was such a brilliant ball of energy.

Where to Stay

Rosa et Al

We decided to stay a little outside the main tourist areas in the Cedofeita neighbourhood. With a much more local feel, it is full of independent restaurants, shops and galleries. We stayed at the relatively compact guest house, Rosa et Al. Set in a beautiful townhouse, it has been lovingly restored by its architect owner. The rooms are beautifully designed whilst also simple; I’d stay here again in a heartbeat. The room we stayed in had a really grand sense of space, with a massive ceiling height and double Juliet balconies that opened onto the street. Great location and the perfect place to rest up. If you want something that feels like it exists at the intersection of an Airbnb and a boutique hotel, this is the place for you. The owners also have a local restaurant called Early, a similarly beautifully designed space known for brunch, although we only popped in for a coffee.

Early

Monverde Wine Experience

When we headed to the Douro Valley, we opted to stay at the Monverde Wine Experience Hotel. About an hour outside of Porto, it is the perfect bolthole for a few days of relaxation. We should have opted to have the hotel arrange a transfer but, instead, arrived desperate for the calm of the vineyard’s surroundings after quite possibly the most chaotic and crazy cab journey I have ever experienced, a story for another time. Safe to say, the welcome glass of sparkling wine was needed simply to calm our nerves.

Set in the middle of a vineyard, the hotel is incredibly picturesque, with views stretching over the valley. With a stylish design that blends modern elements with rustic farmhouse charm, it was a wonderful space to spend a few really quiet days hanging out by the pool, enjoying the spa, and drinking beautiful wines. The hotel has an outdoor pool (not heated, FYI) as well as an indoor pool and a full spa. You can do all sorts of wine experiences, from simple tasting and tours of the vineyard; you can also blend your own custom blend of the local vinho verde. My only regret was not booking one of the rooms with a small private pool. There is always a next time.

Where To Eat

I had quite a few places on my list, but most of them were closed the day after the festival because of the party's late-night nature.

Bicho Porto

Close to our hotel, this bakery and coffee shop is a place we would definitely visit for our morning coffee and pastry if we were staying in the area again. Set in a slightly industrial space, I loved the design, with its large, curved concrete counter and shabby-chic walls. The pastries were in the modern laminated style and made for a delicious way to start the day. They do offer a more substantial brunch menu, but we didn’t get a chance to try any of those dishes this time around.

Manteigaria

I have been a fan of this custard tart shop since they opened their very first location in Lisbon, many, many years ago. They still, in my opinion, make the absolute best Portuguese custard tarts, even after opening so many locations in both Lisbon and Porto. The pastry has a perfectly shatteringly crisp texture, and the custard is silky smooth with a hint of citrus. One is never enough, so enjoy a couple dusted with a touch of cinnamon. For my personal taste, I would skip adding any of the icing sugar, as these are sweet enough.

Pedro Dos Frangos

I have visited Portugal several times over the years, but until this trip, I had never actually tried Portuguese per-peri chicken. One of my editors recommended this old-school spot, and it was exactly what I wanted; we even joked about having it as the food for our wedding! The menu is relatively large, but it seems like everyone is here for the same dish. Chicken and chips. The chicken is a salty rotisserie chicken coated with a lightly spicy peri-peri seasoning. The chips, which tasted so much like a McDonald's-style fry, were basically perfect. If it opened later than 10.30 pm, I would say this would be the perfect post-night-out spot. The place is rough around the edges, with cheap tables and decor, which is of course part of its charm. It is also quite possibly the best value meal in the city, an absolute bargain. No wonder it was absolutely packed.

Douro Valley Day Trip

If you decide to stay at the Monverde Hotel and you're, like us, without a car, it is worth taking a day trip to the local town of Amarante. Inhabited for hundreds of years, this is a beautiful little town in which to spend a day. From a beautiful riverside walk to the beautiful church, it has plenty to offer if you need a break from relaxing by the hotel pool. If you’ve ever visited Portugal before, you may know they have a lot of traditional sweets made from egg yolks. These sweets have their origins in the country’s convents, where egg yolks were plentiful, the whites having been used for starching habits or to clarify homemade wines. Amarante and its convent are home to five of these sweets, so it's worth popping to one of the town’s bakeries to sample them. They’re definitely on the sweet side, and I can’t say they were all to my taste, but it’s still worth trying. When walking up the hill on the town's main street, check out the bakeries on the right-hand side of the road, as they all have terraces overhanging the river.

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Baking On The Hottest Day Of The Year

Edd Kimber — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 17:49:39 GMT

🎉 Welcome to my newsletter, The Boy Who Bakes, a subscriber-supported newsletter dedicated to all things baked. For more bonus posts, filled with exclusive recipes just like this one, you can become a paid subscriber to receive the weekly newsletter, Second Helpings. It costs just £5 a month and, in addition to the weekly recipes, unlocks access to the full archive of past recipes. To subscribe to either the paid or free newsletter, click the link below.🎉

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I do not know why I thought it was a good idea, but on the hottest day of the year, I decided it made sense to make dessert, and not just for me but for a whole bunch of friends. When it is this hot I try to make things as simple as possible which generally means keeping the oven off or at least off as much as possible. No heavy lifting here, I want simple and easy. But for some reason, I decided to make meringue. Did I already say it was the hottest day of the year? And incredibly humid? Know what the one thing you don’t want when making meringues? Yep…humidity. But don’t worry, I’ll get to that in a little bit.

To use the meringue, I opted to make a British classic, done in a more modern manner. Eton mess is a classic British dessert, made up of strawberries, meringue and cream. The mess part of the name is an obvious nod to the dessert's messy nature: broken meringue is layered with cream and chopped strawberries to make a delicious mess. The Eton part of the name is clear to most Brits, but may be a little murkier to those who don’t know the inner workings of our private school system. Eton is one of, if not the, most expensive schools in the country and is known as the centre of privilege and wealth, as well as the school that has spawned 20 of the UK’s Prime Ministers. The story goes that the dessert was created when a pavlova, which was to be served at a cricket match in the 1920’s (or 30’s in some tellings), was dropped, making a mess. Some stories somehow involve a Labrador causing the accident, but it seems like these stories are apocryphal, as the first written mention of the dessert is in 1893, when a strawberry Eton mess was served to the queen.

Whilst the dessert is traditionally made with strawberries, many different versions exist, and this particular one is incredibly summery, made with raspberries, passion fruit, and hazelnuts, along with the usual suspects of cream and meringue. That cream is also not traditional, as it is made with the addition of white chocolate. Altogether, it is a fabulous, really easy dessert when you need something for a crowd. This is often served spooned into individual bowls, but I prefer to serve it family-style on a large platter; it looks so much more attractive. If you’re also someone who really enjoys Wimbledon, there is nothing more appropriate for watching the finals weekend, although making it with strawberries instead of raspberries would be more fitting.

When it comes to making meringue in this sort of heat, there are a couple of things that help. Firstly, adding cream of tartar or lemon juice to the egg whites is a non-negotiable; the acid helps stabilise the meringue. I also never make a French meringue on this type of day; this sort of meringue is, from my experience, much more prone to weeping, and we really want to ensure every grain of sugar is dissolved in the egg whites. Instead, use a Swiss or Italian meringue. Secondly, the baking time will always be a very big suggestion. Meringue has to be dried out, which is done by baking at a low temperature for a long time. When it is humid, this can take much longer, so whilst it normally takes an hour or two to dry out, on these days, who knows. To ensure the meringue becomes dry and crisp, I bake it for about an hour and a half, then instead of switching off the oven as I would usually, I actually switch it to the dehydrate mode, which operates at a very low 60ºC and helps dry off any excess moisture, giving a perfectly crisp meringue. I leave the meringues in the oven on this low setting for as long as necessary for them to feel completely dry and crisp. If you are going to be storing these for longer than a couple of hours, try to put them in a cool, dry spot, and, if you have any, pop a couple of desiccant packages into the container to absorb any moisture that gets in.

An Almost Classic Peach Melba

Edd Kimber — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 16:31:16 GMT

🎉 Welcome to my newsletter, The Boy Who Bakes, a subscriber-supported newsletter dedicated to all things baked. For more bonus posts, filled with exclusive recipes just like this one, you can become a paid subscriber to receive the weekly newsletter, Second Helpings. It costs just £5 a month and, in addition to the weekly recipes, unlocks access to the full archive of past recipes. To subscribe to either the paid or free newsletter, click the link below.🎉

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Hello! Happy Friday!

Before we get to this week's recipe, just a couple of quick things. Firstly, you only have a few days left to get the Kindle edition of my book, Chocolate Baking, at a ridiculously low price. It is currently just £/$1.99, but once that promotion ends it will go back up to full price, so get it whilst you can! Secondly, you may have seen that I am collaborating with Get Baked, who will be selling BIG slices of my Chocolate and Whipped Caramel Cake, available with UK-wide delivery. I can now announce that the first drop will be available for pre-order next week on Tuesday the 23rd from 7pm. It will then be delivered on either the 16 or 17th July (with most orders delivered on the 16th). Okay, back to the recipe.

I love the stories that exist behind the creation of classic recipes. Even when these stories are a little fanciful or hard to believe, the origin stories we repeat still tell an interesting tale and create a body of lore that adds intrigue and even a touch of mystique. In the case of Peach Melba, we need to travel back to London in 1892. In that year, the opera singer Nellie Melba was performing in Covent Garden. One story about the dish says that to celebrate Melba’s performance, the Duke of Orléans hosted a dinner party in her honour, at the storied Savoy Hotel. Another story says the dish was created at this time, as the chef had heard Melba sing, and his love for her voice inspired him to make a dish in her honour. The chef at the time, one Auguste Escoffier (yes, he of the reference cookbooks), served a dessert of peaches with vanilla ice cream. That combination hardly seems worthy of significant praise, even if the dessert was served inside a silver dish sat atop a swan ice sculpture. Surely it’s just fruit and ice cream served in a rather elaborate fashion? But nothing that hadn’t been done before, right? After Escoffier was fired by the Savoy for larceny, embezzlement and fraud, he helped set up another London institution, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Another story says that it was actually here, in this new hotel, that the dish was created, either because Melba, a guest at the hotel whilst on tour, requested peaches and ice cream so often that they named the dish after her or the chef was so enamoured with her that he was inspired to create a dish just for her. The most popular telling of the story is an amalgamation of all of the above: that it was at the Ritz that dessert became known as Peach Melba and it was here that the raspberry sauce was added to Escoffier’s earlier dessert from The Savoy. Whilst this combination is simple, it is undeniably delicious. I do wonder what about the dessert made it a classic though? Was it a dish that went ‘viral’ or whatever the equivalent would have been in the 1800s? Maybe it was the talk of the town, and this was enough to establish it in the pantheon of classic desserts? Regardless, it remains a classic to this day.

For my version, I have stayed true to the classic, only adding a small twist to update it slightly. There is vanilla ice cream and, of course, raspberry sauce, but for my peaches I like to poach them in a mixture of rosé wine, lemon peel and tarragon. The resulting flavour adds a beautiful floral and herbal flavour to the peaches that works so well with everything else going on in the recipe. It also helps when the peaches you’ve bought are on the firm side and eating them raw would be a tad unpleasant, aka every time you buy a peach in the supermarket.

For the ice cream, I have also done something a little different, at least on this side of the Atlantic. The ice cream is a simple affair, one infused with a lot of vanilla flavour. To ensure the vanilla shone through, I decided to skip the egg yolks. Most people making ice cream in the UK make a simple custard base, an egg yolk rich creme anglaise that is then churned to make a deliciously creamy ice cream. The yolks act as emulsifiers, which help reduce ice crystal formation whilst the ice cream is in the freezer. I wanted this ice cream to be a very clean dairy flavour, allowing the vanilla to really shine through. That meant replacing the egg yolks with something else. If you’ve ever looked at the ingredients of commercially made ice cream, you’ll notice many of them list a whole host of different ingredients that can act as emulsifiers. Anything from cream cheese to guar gum to carrageenan. My weapon of choice is more commonly found in gluten-free baking: xanthan gum. When a very small amount is added to your ice cream base, it lightly thickens it and soaks up some of the water content and binds it so that when frozen it can no longer form big ice crystals, making for a really smooth ice cream. It also means making the ice cream is incredibly simple because you don’t need to make a custard.

This egg-free ice cream is a Philadelphia-style ice cream that is more popular in the US, where custard-based ice cream is the outlier. When adding xanthan to your ice cream, you want to use a tiny amount; just 1/4 tsp is enough to work its magic. Add too much, and the ice cream can get chewy, almost stringy textures. If you look at the recipe, you’ll also notice it calls for skimmed milk/non-fat milk powder. This ingredient adds milk protein to the ice cream, making it creamier and serving a similar role to xanthan in reducing crystal formation. And whilst the ice cream has one whole pod, I do also add a tablespoon of vanilla extract. Yes, this does boost the flavour, but vanilla extract is about 35% alcohol, so the inclusion helps make the ice cream very scoopable straight from the freezer. If you prefer, you can omit this and replace it with pure vodka, or simply leave it out altogether.

If you prefer a much more modern take on this classic dessert, you’ll love this week's newsletter for paid subscribers; it’s a coupe cake (it’s a thing) flavoured in the same manner as a classic peach melba.

An Almost Classic Peach Melba
Serves 4

Philadelphia-Style Vanilla Ice Cream

420ml whole milk

280ml whipping cream (40% fat)

1 vanilla pod

135g caster sugar

30g skimmed/non-fat milk powder

1g (1/4 tsp) xanthan gum

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

Poached Peaches

2 slightly underripe peaches, halved with the stone removed

500ml rosé wine

100g caster sugar

2 strips lemon peel

1 very leafy sprig of tarragon

Raspberry Puree

75g raspberries

1 tbsp caster sugar

2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp cornflour

To Serve

150g fresh raspberries

Toasted slivered almonds

Note on Cream

In this heavy. Have listed whipping cream for the ice cream base; this is a UK cream with a fat percentage of 40%. In the US, this would be Heavy Whipping Cream. If you are buying your ingredients from a large supermarket in the UK, whipping cream is normally widely available. If you can only get your hands on double cream, you can adjust the ratio slightly to keep the overall fat content the same. Use 225ml Double Cream and 475ml Whole Milk to get the exact same texture.

To make the ice cream, mix together the milk and cream in a large jug. Pour half of this into a small saucepan. Cut the vanilla pod along its length and use the back of your knife to scrape out the seeds. Add both the seeds and the pod to the pan along with half of the sugar. Bring this mixture to a boil. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining sugar, milk powder, xanthan gum and salt. Once the milk mixture is boiling, remove the pan from the heat and pour this mixture into the jug with the remaining dairy. Scoop out the vanilla pod and set aside for the moment.

Xanthan gum tends to form clumps, so we mix it with the other dry ingredients to disperse it more evenly. I also like to blend the base with an immersion blender (or regular blender). Place the blender into the jug and blend on low speed whilst sprinkling in the dry ingredients. Once all of this has been added, blend for about 30 seconds to ensure everything is fully combined, then cover and refrigerate for 6-12 hours. Chilling the base allows the xanthan gum to do its job and will result in a much creamier finished ice cream

To make the raspberry puree, add everything except the cornflour to a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook for a couple of minutes, until the raspberries start to break down and are swimming in juice. Cook for 3 minutes at a gentle simmer, mashing with a fork to break down the raspberries as much as you can. Pour this mixture into a bowl through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing the back of the fruit to extract as much liquid as possible. Add the cornflour to a small bowl and whisk in a little of the puree, until smooth and lump-free. Pour into the main portion of puree and scrape this back into the pan. Bring to a boil and cook, whilst whisking, for a minute. This will thicken the puree but only a very small amount, just enough to give the puree a little bit of body. Cover and refrigerate this puree until needed. This can be made up to three days in advance.

Once thoroughly chilled, remove the ice cream base from the fridge and give it a really good stir. The xanthan can make it look slightly separated, but stirring will bring it back together; no problem. Churn the ice cream in your ice cream machine using the manufacturer’s instructions. Once churned, transfer to a freezer-proof container and freeze for at least 4 hours before using.

For the poached pears, pour the wine, sugar, lemon peel, and tarragon into a wide saucepan, place over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Once the sugar has fully dissolved, add the peach halves, cut side down, and cook at a gentle boil for 5 minutes, then flip and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove and set onto a rimmed baking tray for the moment. Continue cooking the syrup until it has reduced to about 200ml worth of liquid. Remove the lemon and tarragon, then pour the syrup over the peaches. Cover and refrigerate until needed. These poached peaches can be made up to three days in advance.

Note: if you want, there is enough syrup to poach 4 peaches (8 halves) and serve either 2 halves per person or stretch it to 8 servings. You may need to increase the other elements if you increase the final serving amount.

To serve, place one peach half in a bowl with a little syrup, then garnish with a few raspberries, some of the puree, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, garnishing with a few chopped almonds.

Note: there will be plenty of the syrup left over after the dessert is served. This can be used in other desserts, to moisten cake layers or in lots of different summer cocktails. It is delicious, so do not waste it.

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Coupe Cakes

Edd Kimber — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 16:31:09 GMT

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It has been impossible, if you exist on the internet even just a little bit, to have escaped the arrival of the dot cake. With everything that has gone viral recently, the dot cake was the one I found slightly confusing. Was it really just because the cake was dipped in sprinkles? Is that what made it desirable? Is that what caused the endless queues? I guess a little bit of colourful whimsy resonated with people, especially considering the world right now? Ironically, the sprinkles were the part of this viral creation I liked the least; I don’t want a mouthful of tasteless sprinkles, thank you very much. After the cakes went viral, everyone else on the internet jumped on the trend and made their own versions. This sort of virality has become completely fascinating to me; seeing my chocolate and whipped caramel cake go viral showed me the realities of this process, and it is incredibly interesting. My main takeaway is that when something goes viral, most people jumping on the bandwagon are very quick to erase the creation's origin immediately; they just want a little bit of the success, some of the clicks, some of the sales. To them, it is just another viral moment. Most people never refer to the place that created the dot cake and instead just call it another ‘viral’ cake. For the record, it was created by a bakery called Dotcakes based in Roslyn, New York and is sold at Butterfield Market in Manhattan. The cake, if you have managed to escape it, is a mini version of a larger sprinkles-covered cake they sell; assembled inside a small cardboard pot, the sort you get ice cream in instead of a cone. The top of the cake is carpeted in a layer of sprinkles. Whilst everyone else seems to be mainly concentrating on the sprinkles, the assembly of the layer cake inside a container is what got my attention. So yes, today's recipe is inspired by the dot cake, but a dot cake it is not; no, these are coupe cakes.

Coupe cakes. Yes, I came up with the name before any idea of what the recipe would actually be like (I am also sure that I won’t have been the first person who came up with the wonderful pun of a name). In the end, I decided to lean into the fact that the cake could be much lighter than a traditional layer cake, since it could use the lightest of fillings; no need to worry about whether it holds together as a layer cake. I settled on the following as my basic components for the coupe cake. The cake should be light and delicate, layered with at least two different fillings: something light and creamy, and something saucy. The first idea I had, a sticky toffee coupe cake, didn’t feel too summery (I’ll make it when autumn hits, don’t worry), so instead I pivoted to a classic summertime dessert, the peach melba. A glorious pairing of peach and raspberry: this cake is a simple olive oil sponge cake layered with a raspberry puree to soak the layers, a peach compote, and a light-as-air vanilla crème diplomat. This particular coupe cake, because it uses both fruit and custard, is undeniably trifle-like, and I think that is part of what I like about them. When your spoon descends into the coupe, it meets little resistance; the cake is soft and creamy, and ultimately it is a comfort-food delight.

My fiancé, anytime I make desserts like this, likes to say they’re Edd-sized portions. That is to say, a BIG dessert. What can I say, I like to make people happy with a generous dessert. However, if you prefer to stretch these to serve more than 6 people, you could easily make these into smaller portions in smaller coupes or even in small water glasses.

If you want a much more classical version of Peach Melba, then make sure you check out this week's free newsletter, which has my take on the classic dessert. It also includes what may be my absolute favourite vanilla ice cream recipe.

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A Bagel Deep Dive

Edd Kimber — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 16:40:59 GMT

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Hello! Happy Friday!

This week has been a really fun one. I was back home in Yorkshire, spending a couple of days in the kitchen and studio with Get Baked, finalising the recipe for my upcoming collaboration with them. Very soon you’ll be able to get the Chocolate and Whipped Caramel cake from my book Chocolate Baking, delivered to your door anywhere in the UK! I can't announce the date this will go live just yet, but just know it’s coming sooner than you think!

Talking of Chocolate Baking, don’t forget that for a very limited time you can get the book on Kindle for only £/$1.99! This promotion is running for much longer so make sure to get it whilst its’s this cheap!

Chocolate Baking Kindle Deal

London Bagels

Considering this week's post is a deep dive into making NY-style bagels, it is safe to say they are definitely a personal favourite. Growing up, the bagels I would eat were those terribly dry packaged bagels that you can get in any UK supermarket. Tasting a real bagel for the first time made me realise how much those packaged bagels paled in comparison. The flavour and texture were all wrong. Happily, I have visited NYC many times over the years and have had more than my fair share of the real deal. Thankfully, you don’t have to travel across an ocean to get a good bagel these days; London is in the middle of a bagel boom.

London does, of course, have a bagel tradition all of its own; for as long as London has been home to Jewish immigrants, many of whom came to London in the mid-19th century as refugees fleeing persecution, there have been bagels, or should I say beigels. If you’ve ever spent any time in Spitalfields, it becomes plainly obvious that the area was once home to a large Jewish population. Over the years, these communities moved farther north in the city, but they left the bagel shops behind. These bagels are different from their New York counterparts. Generally, they’re more fluffy, a bit more bready, and they’re also almost always plain- no toppings. I have a soft spot for this style, but it’s the New York style that I fell in love with.

London’s current bagel fascination is definitely trying to replicate the bagels found stateside; these new upstart shops are often founded by displaced New Yorkers looking for a taste of home. You’ve got Paulie’s Bagels and Papo’s in the east, It’s Bagels in Soho, Primrose Hill and Notting Hill and a little more recently Banook Bagels in East Dulwich. I really like all of these spots, but if you pressed me I would probably argue that Banook make the most New York of these London bagels.

What Makes A NY style bagel?

So what actually makes an NY-style bagel? I would argue that it is a hand-rolled product that is slow/cold-fermented and boiled in a malted water bath. The finished product is chewy on the outside with a slightly dense but soft interior. A New York bagel is ALWAYS boiled and made with a stiff, low-hydration dough.

That is traditional bagels, at least. New York is also home to its own upstarts, modern bagel shops that are doing things differently, taking a modern approach. Places like Apollo Bagels make a sourdough bagel with a higher-hydration dough, resulting in a more open texture. They're definitely not NY style bagels, but they are excellent in their own way.

How are they formed

Shaping bagels is arguably one of the most contentious steps. Most online recipes will have you poke a hole in the centre of a ball of dough, which is then opened to make a classic bagel shape. Heck, even I have included this in only versions of my recipe. It is, however, not the traditional technique that makes a bagel a bagel. Traditionally, the dough would be cut into strips and hand-rolled into the bagel shape. If you’ve never seen the art and skill of a New York bagel roller, then watch the clip below. I know at least one of the modern London bagel shops actually flew one of these skilled bagel rollers out to London to teach their bakers to properly shape their rings of dough.

As you can see, the rollers work with a huge mound of dough, and with incredible speed they form ropes of dough that are speedily transformed into bagels. Through this process, tension develops in the dough, which contributes to the finished look and texture of the bagels, so in my recipe I have tried to replicate it.

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How To Make A Bagel

Making a NY-style bagel starts with a relatively low-hydration dough. I use a dough made with 55% hydration. To make a strong dough that gives the bagel a nice chew, I use a high-protein flour with about 15% protein. To add flavour and a hint of sweetness, I add a little malt extract, a thick sticky syrup. It is this syrup that, to me, gives bagels their distinctive flavour. You can use dried yeast, but I prefer to hunt down some fresh compressed baker's yeast, as it gives the dough a slightly more yeasty flavour.

Diastatic Malt Powder

You’ll notice that my recipe includes one ingredient you may not have heard of before; don’t worry, it is optional. Diastatic malt powder is a flour made from sprouted barley grains. It is rich with the enzyme amylase, which, when added in very small amounts, aids fermentation and increases browning. Adding a little of this powder to bagels can aid the oven spring when they enter the hot oven, resulting in a slightly lighter finished product. As NY bagels are often thought of as a denser style bread, this can be left out entirely, but I do like the result it gives the finished bagels. The reason this ingredient is in my formula at all is the differences between US and UK flours. Much of the commercially produced bread flour, like the flours used in bagel shops, available in the US is enriched much in the same way UK flour is, but with one difference: most American flour is ‘malted’ and includes the same enzymes found in the diastatic malt powder. This is not the case in the UK, so adding a little of the powder is how I replicate those American flours. Whilst you won't find this powder in any supermarkets, it is really easy to get online; I buy it from Bakery Bits, but you can also just get it on Amazon.

Desired Dough Temperature (DDT)

Because we are going to ferment these bagels for at least 24 hours, it is VERY important that we control the dough's temperature. If the temperature climbs too high, the shaped bagels can overproof in the fridge, resulting in them collapsing whilst they’re being boiled. Ideally, when you’ve finished kneading the dough, it will be sat at around 24-25ºC. To achieve this, we can control the water temperature using a simple bit of arithmetic.

Water Temperature = (DDT x3) - (room temperature + flour temperature + friction factor)

Simply put, to determine the required water temperature, you need the room temperature, the flour temperature, and the friction factor. The latter is how much the dough's temperature will rise due to the physical action of kneading. Kneading by hand is generally considered to increase the temperature by around 4-8ºC, and in a stand mixer the dough increases by around 10-11ºC. The problem with this number is that it can vary significantly depending on how long the dough is kneaded, its hydration level, and even the mixer brand. Ideally, you would make a batch of dough, measure the temperature once a shaggy mass has been formed and then check it again once fully kneaded. This would give you a more accurate number to use in the future. Using the above as a guide, this is what I did when making multiple batches of bagels over the last couple of weeks.

Water Temperature = (DDT 24x3=72) - (room temp 23 + flour temp 22 + friction factor 11 = 56)

Water Temperature = 72 - 56 = 17

This resulted in me using water that is cool, at 17ºC

Boiling the Bagels

Over the years, I have made bagels in a few ways and have tried boiling them with various additions. I have used just a little malt extract, malt extract and baking soda and even malt extract and ‘baked baking soda’, a supercharged version of the base powder. In the end, I have gone back to the most traditional and simple: a little malt extract. This malt adds a little extra flavour and colour to the crust. The most important result of the boiling process is that the outside of the dough gelatinises, giving the bagels their characteristic chewy crust.

Strawberries And Cream But Make It Fancy

Edd Kimber — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 16:38:03 GMT

🎉 Welcome to my newsletter, The Boy Who Bakes, a subscriber-supported newsletter dedicated to all things baked. For more bonus posts, filled with exclusive recipes just like this one, you can become a paid subscriber to receive the weekly newsletter, Second Helpings. It costs just £5 a month and, in addition to the weekly recipes, unlocks access to the full archive of past recipes. To subscribe to either the paid or free newsletter, click the link below.🎉

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For this week's newsletter, please don’t look outside your window and look at the reality; this week is all about one of my favourite summertime desserts, and, well, it’s not looking particularly summery this weekend. Maybe this is one to bookmark for the coming weeks and months.

Before we get to the recipe, I have a couple of fun things to share

Chocolate Baking Kindle Limited Time Deal

Get A Copy!

I don’t claim to understand the inner workings of the publishing world, so I don’t really understand why it's currently SO cheap, but if you’re a Kindle user and you’d like an ebook version of Chocolate Baking, then now is the time, as it probably won’t ever be cheaper. In the UK it is just £1.99, and it is $1.99 in both the US and Canada. It appears to be on a similar deal anywhere the Kindle Store is available, so check your local site for correct pricing. This is a super limited deal so get a copy whilst you can.

Get Baked x Edd Kimber

I am so excited to give you a little advance notice about something incredibly fun happening very soon. After the viral success of my Chocolate and Whipped Caramel Cake and its appearance on the menus of so many bakeries around the world, I thought it was time to launch a version with wide availability here in the UK. As such, I am thrilled to say that I have been working behind the scenes with Get Baked to make this happen, and it’ll be going live very, very soon. More to come soon, but just a heads up, it will be available with nationwide delivery across the UK.

Summer Baking

When it starts to get warm, and the sun starts to rear its head, my baking very often takes a bit of a shift. This means things become a little lighter, with more emphasis on fruit, simple summer desserts, and dishes perfect for BBQ season. What I look to most over the summer months is berries and stone fruit, two favourites that just need enjoying in season; they are to be anticipated and enjoyed when at their best. Today we're looking at strawberries; the first good berries have started to appear at my local greengrocer, and there was only one dish I wanted to make - roasted strawberries with mascarpone ganache and lemon streusel, a recipe from Chocolate Baking.

The reason I like to make this early in the summer season is that roasting the strawberries helps intensify their flavour and sweetness, so if the strawberries are not quite their best, not ones you’d relish eating raw, this is a perfect recipe. It is also a great low-effort dessert perfect for a BBQ or a day spent in the garden enjoying the sun. Again, this is a hypothetical BBQ or garden hang; right now you’ll probably be enjoying it inside with your eyes closed, trying to convince yourself summer is actually around the corner.

Roasted Strawberries and Mascarpone Whipped Ganache
Serves 4-6

Mascarpone Ganache

150g white chocolate, finely chopped

250ml whipping cream

250g mascarpone

Lemon Streusel

70g plain flour

40g caster sugar

Zest of 1/2 lemon

Pinch fine sea salt

50g unsalted butter, room temperature

Roasted Strawberries

1 vanilla pod

3 tbsp caster sugar

Zest and juice 1/2 lemon

365g strawberries, hulled and halved

1. To make the ganache, put the chocolate in a large heatproof jug and melt in the microwave, or in a bowl and melt over a pan of barely simmering water. Pour the cream into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Pour a third over the chocolate and stir to combine (don’t worry if it seems grainy or split at this point). Mix in the remaining cream in two additions, stirring well until a smooth and shiny ganache is formed. Add the mascarpone and stir until thoroughly combined. If you have one, finish with a brief blend using a stick blender to ensure the ganache is thoroughly emulsified. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least 4 hours but up to 3 days.

2. To make the streusel, place the flour, sugar, zest and salt in a bowl and combine. Add the butter and use your fingertips to rub it into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Press into a ball of dough and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until needed.

3. For the finished dessert, you have a choice: serve the strawberries whilst still hot or let them cool, which is my preference. Either way, both the strawberries and streusel can be baked at the same time and then served immediately or allowed to cool.

4. Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C Fan (375˚F).

5. Line a small, rimmed baking tray with baking parchment and crumble the streusel onto the tray. Slice the vanilla pod in half along its length and scrape out the seeds. In a small bowl, toss together all the strawberry ingredients, including the vanilla seeds, until evenly coated. Scrape onto a second small, rimmed baking tray, spread in an even layer, then sprinkle over 2 tablespoons water. Bake both the strawberries and the streusel for an initial 8–10 minutes. The finished streusel should be lightly browned and should take 10 minutes, max. Remove the streusel once browned and set aside to cool fully. Continue cooking the strawberries for a rough total of 20–25 minutes or until the fruit is soft and coated in syrup. Remove and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

Transfer both elements to small bowls, cover, and refrigerate until needed, up to 2 days. If serving whilst still warm, remove from the oven and set aside for a brief moment whilst you whisk the ganache.

6. To serve, remove the ganache from the refrigerator and whisk very briefly until it barely holds soft peaks. The addition of mascarpone means this will happen very quickly, so whisk with brevity and caution. Divide the ganache between four dessert bowls, top with strawberries and syrup and finish with a sprinkling of streusel.

The Cake I Made For My Birthday!

Edd Kimber — Fri, 29 May 2026 16:30:52 GMT

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I often think about why I actually bake for a living, why I quit my corporate job and followed the butter and sugar path instead. Quitting the corporate job wasn’t exactly a difficult decision. I’m not suited for an office job, and I was so bored and felt so stuck that I was itching to try something different. But why baking? Sometimes I joke it's because baking is the only skill I truly possess, but that’s probably a little harsh on my own abilities. Sometimes I say it's because I was following in my parents' footsteps of working for myself, and there is probably some truth in that, sure. In the end, I think it probably comes down to the few years after university. Baking was something I did for myself; it was a creative outlet during my first (and only) corporate job. I liked the challenge, I liked the solitary element, I liked turning off my brain and getting lost in the making of a cake. But let’s also be honest: I just loved eating what I produced, and even more, I liked sharing it with other people. There was an element of pride when people raved about something I had made. I guess baking was something I did as a hobby, because ultimately it brought with it a lot of happiness and a lot of satisfaction.

I mention all of this because I have now been baking as a career for almost 16 years, and ultimately, turning any hobby into a job will change how you feel about it. My baking now is so often done through the lens of work, and that changes things, of course. Do I still love to bake? Absolutely; I genuinely can’t see myself doing anything else. It’s just that baking now fulfils a slightly different purpose in my life. It involves a different type of my creativity because it is focused and always done with someone else in mind, mainly everyone who reads this newsletter. Rather than thinking ‘what shall I make for me’, there is always another layer of what my readers might want, what works for a magazine, what would fit in a book? Because of this, I find it really nice to occasionally take a moment, forget all of that, and just bake purely for pleasure, purely for me. I think of it as a bit of a creative reset, a reminder of why I love baking, and a way to give myself a bit of pleasure that has nothing to do with work. That is where my yearly birthday cake enters the picture. Yes, I am including the recipe, so maybe that ultimately takes it away from being purely for me, but the intention was selfish; I made a cake that I wanted to eat. It doesn’t necessarily use any innovative techniques or teach you anything new; it’s just a damn delicious cake I made for myself (okay, and for my twin brother Simon).

Hopefully, you all like it too.

This cake has a LOT of elements, but initially the idea was centred around cherry and tonka, a pairing that is utterly divine. But I couldn’t help myself, so I kept upping the ante with more elements. In the end, the recipe is a tonka bean cake made with sour cream, cherry jam, chocolate ganache, pecan praline and a sour cherry Swiss meringue buttercream. Yes, it is a lot of work, but I made it over two days, and just like it did when I was fresh out of university in my dead-end office job, I baked it whilst the music was playing and I got lost in the fun of it all and had a bloody good time in the process, as baking should always be.

Banana Pudding Brioche Buns

Edd Kimber — Fri, 22 May 2026 16:36:23 GMT

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With another long weekend ahead and my birthday in a couple of days’ time, I’ve got lazy days and brunch on the mind. Doubly so considering the heatwave were about to experience. But let’s be honest, brunch is never truly far from my mind. For today's recipe, I am taking you back with me to NYC as I attempt to replicate a dish I had whilst on my book tour, a brunch dish perfect for the long weekend, especially if you’re entertaining.

Journalists often ask me where my inspiration comes from, and my most frequent answer is from travel. I am lucky enough to travel a fair amount for work (a chocolate factory in Brussels is next on the list), as well as my personal jaunts around the world, and it is on these trips that I am most inspired. Lots of this inspiration comes from bakeries and restaurants I visit, and from the dishes I try, sparking ideas and first thoughts that will, hopefully, one day turn into something fun and delicious. Rarely do I attempt to replicate the dishes I try exactly; most of the time, I put my own spin on an idea or dish. I’m not normally in the market for replicating other people’s ideas. Today is a little different.

When I was on tour in NYC, I had a list of bakeries as long as my arm, favourites I wanted to revisit and new spots I was dying to try. Elbow Bread was one of the latter, a spot that had opened since my last visit to the city. With bread in the name, it is hardly surprising that their speciality is yeasted products, and even though it is a teeny space, the selection was generous, and choosing just one item to try was nigh on impossible. So I didn’t even try, I bought two things: a cornmeal chocolate chip cookie and today’s dish, banana pudding brioche buns. Both items were stellar, but it was the banana number that really excited me. So much so that I wanted to see if I could make them at home.

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The Elbow buns were described as having a base of brown-butter brioche, banana, vanilla pudding, banana jam, and cinnamon streusel. The elements didn’t seem too difficult, but the brioche was the element that needed a few tests, and the element I had never made before. My first attempt simply swapped out the butter typically used in my brioche recipe for brown butter, slightly upping the hydration to account for the water lost when browning the butter. Maybe my brioche wasn’t as butter-rich as needed, because the flavour was too subtle. In the version I ended up using, I used the same recipe and added brown butter and upped the hydration as before, but additionally, I also switched the white sugar for light brown and added a little toasted milk powder. Both of these additions were designed to enhance the buns' flavour, giving them a stronger toasty note. If you’ve never made toasted milk powder before, check out this guide here.

For the other elements, everything else was quite simple, and I’d argue it’s the banana jam that really sells the whole package. Not a true jam; it is more of a thick compote with banana, brown sugar, lemon juice, salt, and vanilla, cooked until thick. It is like a spreadable banana bread, and it’s incredibly good. As with banana bread, use blackened bananas for the best flavour.

Banana Jam

Makes x2 Jars

This can easily be halved if you only plan to make this for the brioche recipe, but if you do have a bunch of bananas that are past their best, this is a great way to use them up. The jam is delicious served with yoghurt and granola for breakfast or spread on toast with plenty of salted butter and maybe even a little peanut butter.

600g bananas (with plenty of black spots), weighed after removing skins

275g light brown sugar

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

To make the jam, slice the bananas and add them to a large saucepan, mixing together with the sugar. Using a potato masher, mash the bananas until as fine and smooth as you can get them. You can also use a hand blender to puree this mixture, should you prefer a completely smooth jam. Add the remaining ingredients and stir together to combine.

Place the pan over medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture comes to a boil. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, for another 10-15 minutes, or until the jam has thickened and darkened in colour and the spatula leaves a trail on the bottom of the pan. Pour into two sterilised jars and seal. Kept refrigerated, the jam will keep for 2-3 weeks.

A Perfect Prepare Ahead Dessert

Edd Kimber — Fri, 15 May 2026 16:23:38 GMT

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Hello! Happy Friday!

When you are the designated baker, there is a look you get used to, a look that conveys deep disappointment when you show up empty-handed, no cake, no cookies. Friends and family have become conditioned to expect a regular supply of dessert even if they show up at your house unannounced. 90% of the time, there is something in the house ready to be served up for dessert. I love this, of course. Ask most bakers, and they’ll surely tell you that part of their love for the craft comes from its communal aspect; it’s rare you’d bake purely for yourself, baking is almost always done for a moment of sharing and connection. Maybe that is part of the reason I am always working on new desserts, so I always have a new dish up my sleeve and the fridge is always stocked with something, just waiting for guests to drop by.

Another reason I prefer baking over cooking is that so much of it is prepared ahead. When we have friends over, I want to spend as much time as possible with them and as little time as possible in the kitchen, away from the people I care about. Dessert is often the one course prepped completely in advance, ready to be served. Today's recipe is one of those desserts that will happily sit in the fridge waiting for its moment to shine, a perfect dinner party dessert. It is also a dessert inspired by my local mango shop. Yes, I have a local mango shop.

Every year, around this time, an abandoned shop front on the local high street suddenly opens up again and becomes the local centre of the mango trade. People flock to the area to buy the freshly imported Pakistani mangoes. I have seen people dangerously stop their cars in the middle of the road to quickly buy a box of the good stuff, treating it like a drive-through. Personally, I am fascinated by the sheer scale of the operation, and I watch as the delivery van opens its doors and see it filled from floor to ceiling with what must be thousands of imported mangoes. After living in Walthamstow for a few years now, I have also become rather partial to honey and kesar mangoes, the two main varieties they frequently have on offer. The appearance of the mango in May is also a welcome reminder that summer is just around the corner, warmer days and summer picnics are coming soon!

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Today’s dish is a fun layered affair, flavoured with milk chocolate, coconut, lime and mango. It is also a lesson in two different types of set desserts. One is a custard, made with egg yolks and chocolate, which sets into a beautifully rich custard, otherwise known as a pot de creme. The second layer is quite possibly the simplest dessert there is, a coconut panna cotta. In this second layer, cream and milk are lightly sweetened and infused with toasted coconut before being set with as little gelatine as you can get away with to keep it is a light and as jiggly as humanly possible. The result is a wonderful contrast in the layers. The base is rich and luscious, packed with a nostalgic milk-chocolate flavour. The second layer is the polar opposite: light and creamy, with a warm, toasted coconut flavour. To finish the dessert, the two set mixtures are topped with fresh mango and a lime streusel, giving both fresh, fruity flavours and plenty of added texture.

Gelatine

This dessert is made with leaf-style gelatine as it’s generally the easiest form to get hold of here in the UK. I use platinum-grade gelatine, but so long as you measure in number of sheets (and not by weight), any strength/bloom of gelatine will work, so long as you stick to 2 sheets. This is because all sheet gelatine styles are designed to set the same amount of liquid. If converting to powdered gelatine, this is the conversion I use.

1 sheet of gelatine = 2g powdered gelatine dissolved in 1 tablespoon of water

A Second Slab Cake

Edd Kimber — Fri, 08 May 2026 16:31:22 GMT

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I was in a little bit of a playful mood this week, so think of this as a bit of an experiment, one that I hope you’ll agree turned out very well.

My aim was to make a cake that felt like the opposite of the chocolate and caramel slab cake, opposite in terms of colour and flavour, something bright and citrussy instead of rich and dark. For the base of the cake, I chose my go-to olive oil genoise cake, infusing it with jasmine green tea. For the fillings, I went with the brightest of all the fruits, passion fruit, and paired it with white chocolate to make an incredibly silky and creamy ganache. To balance out the acidity in the filling, I went with a salted vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream, which I am currently a little obsessed with. Altogether, I think it makes for a sophisticated cake that has a certain special something that makes it sing.

When it comes to making cakes like these, I do think they can seem a little intimidating because they seem rather fussy, with multiple elements and nice, neat lines. To make it successfully and without losing your head, just take your time. Whilst it is absolutely possible to make this in a single day, I prefer to split the work over two days to make things a little less time pressured. Make the ganache and soak on day one, and the sponge and buttercream on the day of assembly.

Whipped Caramel Chocolate Cake 2.0

Edd Kimber — Fri, 08 May 2026 16:31:09 GMT

Hello, happy Friday!

Do you believe in coincidences?

Personally, I’m not sure, but this is definitely one funny quirk of timing. Over the last month, whilst I have been on tour, there has been a slow but steady increase in demand for one specific thing: the method for turning the chocolate and caramel cake from Chocolate Baking into a slab cake. Whilst I was on the road, the cake was going viral.

I have received such a deluge of messages about the cake that I knew the second I had a little bit of free time at home, I would post the updated recipe and method. What I didn’t know is, the day I started testing out the required amendments to turn the cake into a slab, the bakery that was selling the cake let me know they had decided to finally take it off the menu, on the exact same day I had planned on posting the recipe, today! So, if you missed out on getting a slice at the bakery, now you can make it at home!

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, let me briefly fill you in. We held my book launch party at my friend George’s amazing bakery, Populations, which is housed inside Cornershop in central London. For the party, George and I decided to serve just one thing, the cake. I thought it would be the perfect dish that really encapsulated the book and would go down a treat at the party. I suggested making it as a slab, purely to make it easier to make and serve at scale. George decided to keep it on the menu for a week or so after the party, and then something completely unexpected happened, it started selling out every day, within minutes of t hitting the counter. Every day it sold out quicker and quicker, and then people actually started queuing up before the cake was even on the counter, even badgering staff when it wasn’t out yet or had sold out! The demand only seemed to grow, and by the end, the bakery had to institute both a separate cake-specific queue as well as limiting customers to a single slice. That alone would have been an amazing response, but this is one of those rare moments of genuine virality. Whilst I was on tour, we put the cake on the menu at Parachute Bakery in San Francisco and at Hani’s Bakery in NYC. In both places, the cake sold out so quickly! Beyond the bakeries I have collaborated with, I have also seen it on the menu at over 20 bakeries in 8 different countries, which is honestly mind-blowing. It is just cake after all!

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As requested and promised, today I am sharing the recipe and method for turning this cake into the slab version of your dreams. Thankfully, it is an incredibly easy transition, and the recipe itself doesn’t really change much beyond the tin required to make a slab. I will also include some additional advice on how to achieve the best result when making each of the three elements. For the eagle-eyed amongst you, you’ll also notice that I have included the American measurements, which is not something I do in this newsletter (I am a dedicated advocate of baking with weight instead of volume), and this is purely because the book also includes the volume measurements, so I replicated that here.

For paid subscribers this week, I have another slab cake, think of it as the opposite of the chocolate cake, a light jasmine tea genoise with a passion fruit ganache, which is then finished with a salted vanilla buttercream.

Chocolate and Whipped Caramel Slab Cake
Serves 8

Chocolate Cake

45 g (3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, diced
50 g (13⁄4 oz) dark chocolate (65–75% cocoa solids), finely chopped
80 g (2⁄3 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
50 g (scant 1⁄2 cup) wholemeal (wholewheat) rye flour, or plain (all-purpose) flour
1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1⁄4 teaspoon fine sea salt
125 g (1⁄2 cup + 1 tablespoon, packed) light brown sugar
25 g (1⁄3 cup) cocoa powder (dutched)
100 ml (1⁄3 cup + 1 tablespoon) hot black coffee
100 ml (1⁄3 cup + 1 tablespoon) buttermilk
1 large egg

Whipped salted Caramel

150 g (3⁄4 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
200 ml (3⁄4 cup + 1 tablespoon) whipping (heavy) cream
15 g (1 tablespoon) unsalted butter pinch flaked sea salt

Ganache

230 g (8 oz) dark chocolate, 60–70% cocoa solids, finely chopped
180 ml (3⁄4 cup) whipping (heavy) cream
2 tablespoons golden syrup or honey
185 g (12⁄3 sticks) unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature

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For the caramel, add the sugar to a medium saucepan and place it over medium heat. Pour the cream into a separate small saucepan, place over a medium heat, bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat. This stage is very important because if you add cold cream to hot caramel, it will form a large lump that will take time to cook out, resulting in a reduced mixture that won’t whisk as easily.

Cook the sugar until it is fully melted and caramelised to a dark coppery brown colour. Add the butter and salt and swirl to combine. Carefully pour in half the cream; it will bubble up aggressively, so take care and allow the bubbling to subside before pouring in the rest. Because you warmed the cream prior to adding it to the melted sugar, you should have a smooth sauce; if not, turn the heat to low and stir until smooth. Pour the smooth caramel into a large bowl, then set it aside for 30 minutes before transferring it to the refrigerator to chill for at least 4 hours.

Tips: when making the caramel, take it as dark as you dare. A pale caramel wont have the intensity of flavour to stand out against the dark chocolate. Refrigerating the caramel for at least four hours is a non-negotiable. If you try to whip it too early, it will likely split and be too loose to use. If you prefer, you can make the caramel a day ahead, though it will whip best after around 4 hours.

To make the ganache, place the chocolate in a large heatproof jug and melt it in the microwave. Pour the cream and golden syrup into a small saucepan, place over a medium heat and bring to a bare simmer. Remove from the heat and pour a third over the chocolate and stir to combine. Add the remaining cream in two additions, stirring well until a silky-smooth ganache is formed. Add the butter and stir it into the ganache until it is smooth. If you have one, finish with a brief blend using a stick blender to ensure the ganache is thoroughly emulsified. set aside until it is thick but spreadable.

Tips: if you have the book, there is a whole section on making ganaches successfully, but the above method is designed to make a ganache which is less prone to splitting (this is also why I use whipping cream instead of double cream). This ganache is particularly rich because of the butter, which makes it a little more prone to splitting. To prevent this from happening, only bring the cream to the barest of simmers. Because the chocolate is already melted, the cream doesn’t need to be boiling; in fact, boiling cream will actually make a split ganache more likely. I also always use a hand blender for this ganache; it's a fail-safe that guarantees the silkiest texture.

Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C Fan (340 ̊F). Lightly grease a 9x13inch cake pan and line the base and sides with baking parchment, securing the parchment in place with a couple of metal binder clips.

To make the cake, place the butter and chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water and heat, stirring occasionally, until both are fully melted. Meanwhile, mix together the flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, brown sugar and cocoa. If you use good-quality brown sugar and cocoa, they may be prone to forming lumps (due to the amount of molasses in the sugar and the fat in the cocoa powder). If this happens, pass them through a fine-mesh sieve to ensure a lump-free mixture. Remove the bowl of chocolate from the heat and stir in the hot coffee, then the buttermilk. Once smooth, add the egg and whisk until smooth and combined. Pour the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture and briefly whisk until a smooth batter is formed. Don’t over-whisk, as you can develop the gluten in the batter, leading to a less tender cake. This is doubly important if using rye flour, as it can lead to an unpleasant gummy texture. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and spread it into an even layer.

Tips: whilst it is always important to prepare your ingredients ahead of time, it is advisable to prepare the hot coffee as close to using it as possible. If the coffee is allowed to cool too much, the final batter can be a little thick and will take more effort to spread into the tin. It is by no means a deal breaker, but it will make your life a little easier. And don’t worry, you can't taste the coffee, but if, for some reason, you want to use something else, you can simply use hot water.

Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until the cake springs back to a light touch and has just started to pull away from the sides of the tins. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes, then use the parchment to lift it onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Remove the caramel from the refrigerator and, using an electric hand mixer, whisk on medium-high speed until the caramel turns light and pale and forms soft peaks. It won’t be as light as whipped cream or meringue, but it should be thick enough to hold its own shape.

Tip: This whipped caramel needs to be thick enough to hold its shape; if it is too loose, it can make assembling the cake tricky.

To assemble, use a serrated knife to cut the cake layer into three smaller rectangles. Place the first cake layer on a serving plate and spread a little of the ganache over it, leaving a small border around the outside edge. Add a third of the caramel and spread it to cover the ganache layer. Repeat this layering process once more before adding the final layer of cake. Spread the remaining ganache over the top and sides of the cake, then set aside until the ganache has set.

Tips: I like to assemble the cake using a piping bag because it makes it easier to ensure the layers of caramel and chocolate are consistent across the cake, resulting in an aesthetically pleasing balance. Whilst the shape of this cake has changed, the amount of fillings stays the same, but do note there is just enough of both to properly fill and coat the cake, so try to ensure you only use half of the caramel for each layer of the filling. Because we are slicing the cake as a slab, I also don’t add ganache to the ends of the cake, just the longer sides.

Kept refrigerated, this cake will keep for up to 5 days. Do not serve this cake cold from the fridge, give it at least a few hours to temper, this will allow the ganache to soften and the cake to come to room temperature.

The Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich

Edd Kimber — Fri, 01 May 2026 16:31:39 GMT

My hot take for the week? I don't think breakfast is definitely the most important meal of the day, but it can absolutely be the best. Maybe that's because it is the meal most closely connected to baking, but breakfast really does have it all. Pancakes? Check. Eggs? Check. Cinnamon buns? Check. Breakfast sandwiches? The most elite breakfast food there is, if you ask me. This early-morning sandwich is often the perfect balance of something fatty, something tangy, something cheesy, and some kind of egg, because it's breakfast, remember. Without the egg its just a sandwich. In years gone by I would have made these sandwiches with a fried egg, and then my preference switched to folded eggs like you’d find in the best bacon egg and cheese sandwiches. But recently, I started to notice a trend for baked/steamed eggs, cut into squares. Whilst I was stateside, I saw this style of egg in multiple places, and before I left, I also happened to work on a recipe to utilise this style of egg to make what might just be my new favourite breakfast dish.

The reason I love this style of egg is simple. Firstly, the egg is so light and creamy, and secondly, it’s great for serving to a crowd. Making breakfast sandwiches for a large group of people couldn’t be easier when the eggs are cooked together in a really hands-off oven method. Whilst you can make these in any old oven, I like to make them with a little steam, which gives the silkiest texture. My new oven has a steam setting, which I’ve been enjoying a lot recently, meaning these were a breeze to make. If your oven doesn’t have this setting, you can easily replicate the method by placing a roasting dish full of boiling water at the bottom of the oven. A little low tech, but it’ll get the job done.

For the sandwich itself, my starting point was a really soft bread, something super light and pillowy. I went with tangzhong-based milk bread, and again I utilised a little steam at the start of baking to make them as light as possible. For the filling, I went with a seasonal wild garlic pesto, the steam-baked egg and then some mortadella that is crisped in a pan and topped with a couple of slices of provolone. The idea for these sandwiches is a bit of a mash-up. It's a mix of the wild garlic and mortadella focaccia I had at Lannan Bakery, whilst on my book tour, and the famous fried mortadella sandwich, which was a favourite of Anthony Bourdain.

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Everything I Ate On The West Coast

Edd Kimber — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 14:06:54 GMT

Hello from London! I am finally home; the book tour has finished. After 3 incredibly busy weeks, which included 7 cities, 6 flights, 2 trains, 8 hotel rooms, 10 events, 3 TV shows and 1 podcast, I am thrilled to be back home, back in my own bed. I absolutely adore these tours, but it is an undeniable fact that they are exhausting, so I am really looking forward to a few quieter weeks. My fiance and I will be heading to Spain for a few days of sun before I throw myself back into the usual cake-based chaos.

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Before we get back to my cakes and my cookies thought I would tell you all about the delicious things I ate on tour. Well, not everything, but the places worth mentioning, I don’t think you’d care about the poke places I’ve ordered from late in the evening, after an event? Being on a book tour is a strange thing; it’s an endless stream of flights, trains, and cabs, with a new city and new hotel room every couple of days. It’s a little disorientating. The tour is such a whirlwind that I genuinely kept forgetting what day it was!

The tour took a lot of time and miles, so I thought it made sense to break these posts into two: one for the west coast, which is below, and one for the east coast, which I’ll post next time. On the west coast, we visited Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and LA, and the welcome was incredible. I am always thrilled to find a community of incredible bakers halfway across the world, and it still blows my mind that I can share this passion with so many people across so many different countries. So, if you were one of those wonderful people that I’ve met on this tour, thank you so much for coming; it really means the world.

On this particular tour, I mostly visited well-trodden ground, cities I’ve been lucky to visit multiple times over the past few years, with just a couple of new cities thrown in for good measure. As a Brit, it is my duty to inform you about the weather; New York let me down a little, but otherwise the sun followed me from city to city, 10 out of 10, no notes. As I write this, I am currently in LA and in a bid to actually eat something other than cake on this tour, we’ve been trying to hunt down some healthier options, which means, yes, we went to Erwhon, home to $20 dollar smoothies and something called ‘cowboy colostrum’ which they seem to add to half the products on offer. It feels like the most stereotypical LA experience, and of course, we had to try the smoothie. Let’s be honest, it was the main reason we actually went to this place. I genuinely wanted to hate it. I really did. It was $20 after all. But I’m annoyed at myself for how much I enjoyed it. Will I ever buy it again? Absolutely not. You remember it was $20, right? But it was really good!

I’m also amused by how much people in LA like to name/industry drop. We’ve had Uber drivers tell us about their famous friends and the shoe lines they’re starting, I’ve had a barista tell me about the writers’ retreat they’re going on, and I’ve heard seeming strangers talk to each other about the auditions they absolutely just nailed and definitely booked. It's a funny place, but I do like it. Every time I visit, it grows on me a little bit more. Maybe it’s the weather?

Seattle

By some chance of fate, each US tour I’ve embarked on has begun in the city of Seattle. Maybe my US colleagues thought I would appreciate the similar weather? Seattle is a city where I’ve spent very little time, in the heart of the city, in the part that most tourists occupy. Sure, I have visited Pike Place Market, but mostly I stay in the north of the city, in the Ballard area. An old fishing port, the area still has an industrial edge, but at its heart, it is a charming neighbourhood full of wonderful independent shops and plenty of restaurants.

For my first event of the tour, I visited a favourite book store, The Book Larder. One of the best culinary book shops in America, I have always had a wonderful time here, and this stop was no different. A truly excellent place to start the tour

The Book Larder

My Go-To Bagel Spot

My first stop when visiting the city is always Rachel’s Bagels and Burritos for bagels. Yes, bagels in Seattle. The city might not be thought of as a great bagel destination, but I will happily include Rachel's in my list of all-time favourite bagel shops. They do the classic flavours you’d expect (and they do them exceedingly well), but they also play with convention by coating bagels in za'atar and togarashi. They also make standout sandwiches. On this visit, I had one of their breakfast sandwiches with scrambled egg, ham and a generous serving of ‘sweet heat’ cream cheese. A perfect way to start a day of mooching around the north of the city. Go on a Saturday and enjoy a bagel whilst wandering the wonderfully compact farmers’ market that happens right behind the store on the main street.

Rachel’s Bagels and Burritos

My Coffee Spot

I have my favourite bagel spot, so it should come as no surprise that I also have my favourite coffee spot. At the other end of the main street is this little jewel box of a coffee shop. One of the owners makes the coffee, and the other makes the ceramics, which they also sell. As a city known for its coffee, this spot ranks among my favourites; the coffee is incredibly good. I should also note that I was travelling with an Aussie colleague, and this was also her favourite spot, and you know the Aussies are known for being picky about their coffee.

Homage Coffee

The Pastry Spot

Seattle is a city that pulls no punches when it comes to bakeries; there are several excellent spots across the city. On this trip, I was determined to finally visit Temple Pastries, a bakery I’ve admired from afar and which recently published an excellent book of the same name. I visited solo, which sadly meant I was only able to try one thing. When asked what I wanted to order, I suddenly had decision paralysis, so in a state of mild panic, I ordered the cinnamon cream cheese cruffin. I know it doesn’t sound like the most exciting pastry, but I lucked out; it was a fabulous, flaky croissant pastry filled with lightly sweetened cream cheese and then completely coated in a fragrant cinnamon sugar. I normally prefer a savoury option for breakfast, but I would eat this any day, absolute heaven!

Temple Pastries

Portland

I’ve never visited Portland before, but after a very picturesque train journey from Seattle, we disembarked in the heart of downtown Portland, ready to explore. Just like in Seattle, I much preferred the many wonderful neighbourhoods outside the downtown area, and we found some absolute gems. I had an event at Vivienne’s Culinary Books, and to be completely honest, I was nervous about this one. I’d never been to the city before, and the event was a baking swap: you had to bake something to attend and share it with the other attendees. I was nervous that might put people off coming (it's a lot of effort), but I needn’t have worried. Portland gave such a warm welcome, and people baked their hearts out; I was so impressed.

Viviennes Culinary Books

The Pie Spot

On this tour, I am determined to get a slice of strawberry rhubarb pie, my absolute favourite pie this time of year. Visiting this temple to flaky pie crust, I was momentarily disappointed when it wasn’t on the menu. Momentarily, because I visited with the whole book tour team, and with a little encouragement from them, we sampled four very generous and incredibly delicious pies. There was the jiggliest chess pie I have ever tried, a perfectly simple cherry pie, the cosiest of apple pies, and a banana cream pie that collapsed under the weight of its own whipped cream topping. Portland, you’re lucky to have this spot, a firm favourite in my eyes.

Lauretta Jean’s

The Pizza Spot

I wasn’t planning on getting pizza in Portland, but then I read it’s been dubbed the best pizza city in the US. There were so many places I could have visited (Lovely’s Fifty Fifty, Apizza Scholls, Kens Artisan Pizza, Dimos Apizza and on and on), but I was in the mood for a slice, somewhere close to my hotel, as time is always in short supply on these trips. The guys behind Modernist Pizza declare Scotties to make the best NY-style slice in the country, and whilst it’s not the best NY slice I’ve ever had, they do indeed make an excellent pizza

Scotties Pizza Parlour

The Thai BBQ Spot

Before visiting this Pacific Northwest city, I had no idea it was known as a big Thai food destination. After a short time in the city, it becomes very clear; everywhere you look, there appears to be another Thai spot. We chose to visit Eem after a couple of recommendations, and after an hour's wait and a cocktail down the street, we snagged a few window seats and enjoyed a truly fabulous meal. The food was punchy and vibrant, and by far my favourite meal on this trip so far. Great vibe and great food.

Eem Thai BBQ

San Francisco

On the West Coast, this is the city I have visited the most. It was also a very busy stop, with multiple events and some press to fit in over a very short period, so we didn’t have the luxury of exploring as much as on other stops. Omnivore Books is probably one of the first cookbook stores I ever visited in the US, and it will always be a favourite. At this event, I was interviewed by Amy Guittard of Guittard Chocolate, and thankfully, we were met with unseasonably good weather, which brought in a bumper crowd for a packed-out event.

Omnivore Books

Coffee Spot

San Francisco has great coffee, and to be completely honest, I love this place, yes, for the coffee, but I also just love the interior. But the coffee is good, I promise. It sits alongside the Mission district, one of my favourite parts of the city, and it's close to so many other brilliant spots, making it a great place to start the day.

Sightglass Coffee

Bakery(ies)

The Chocolate Baking menu at Parachute Bakery

If Seattle has a decent amount of good bakeries, then San Francisco has an embarrassment of riches. You’ve got places like Jane The Bakery and Tartine, which have been long-time favourites, you’ve got the locals ’ favourite Arsicault, who make a fantastic croissant. Then there is the new kid on the block, Parachute. Open for less than a year, this viennoiserie spot in the Ferry Building is where I held my SF pop-up, and it was also at the top of my list to check out. Out of everything they had on the menu, I wanted to try their ‘everything bagel kouign amann’. This sweet and buttery pastry was coated in everything bagel seasoning and filled with cream cheese. I wondered if it would be too sweet, but this worked so well, perfectly sweet and salty.

The pastry case at Jane The Bakery

Jane The Bakery

Tartine (I like the charm of the original location)

Arsicault

Parachute Bakery

A Sandwich Spot

I love a San Francisco burrito as much as the next person, but this trip, I opted to skip my regular La Tacqueria burrito to try something different. This trip, I was craving a torta instead. The place I found turned out to be a spot featured in a Phil Rosenthal, he of Someone Feed Phil fame, show where he enjoyed the Mega Cubana, which includes a breaded chicken cutlet, sausage, pierna, ham, chorizo (yes, that is four types of pork), eggs, turkey, queso fresco and American cheese. That was way more than I could handle, so I went for the simpler Cubana, which was more than enough and absolutely delicious. I also had the most refreshing melon agua fresca, perfect for the warm weather.

Torta Gorda

The Chocolate Shop

I also like to stop by Dandelion Chocolate whilst in the city; it's a wonderful company, and on this trip I wanted to catch up with their longtime pastry chef, Lisa Vega, and see their new state-of-the-art facility (new to me, at least). I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a sleek chocolate-making operation. Dandelion is a fabulous bean-to-bar chocolate producer in SF, but they also have a wonderful pastry program, with chocolate used in a whole variety of ways to make delicious baked goods. A particular favourite from this trip was the chocolate flan, a spin on the French pie, so unbelievably creamy it was pastry perfection.

Dandelion Chocolate

Los Angeles

The weather in LA was stereotypically glorious, and I can see why people love living here. We have run into a few confirmed stereotypes, though. We attempted to visit the restaurant Quarter Sheets (to try their Princess Cake), but the LA traffic had other ideas. After an hour in the cab, we realised we weren’t even a third of the way into the journey, so we gave up and got strip mall Mexican food, an LA experience all of its own.

The Coffee

We were filming the local morning show, which records on the eastern side of the city, so I took advantage of that and visited a few favourite spots on that side of town. Canyon Coffee in Echo Park is a favourite from my first visit to the city two years ago; from the great coffee and delicious pastries to the brilliant people watching, it’s a fun place to hang out. Why not play a game of LA bingo and see how many times you hear someone talking about a writer's retreat, an improv/one-woman show, or a failed audition?

Canyon Coffee

The Chocolate Shop

When I walked past this place, I thought it was a weed dispensary. Mainly because it’s called Chocolate Dispensary, but also because the shutters on the windows were down, which really didn’t help dispel that initial thought. Instead of weed, it is actually home to America's largest collection of bean-to-bar chocolate makers. I was, quite literally, a kid in a candy shop. It was nice to see a few British makers represented as well, including two favourites - Pump St and Chocolate Tree.

The Chocolate Dispensary

The Bakery

Whilst I’ve been on this tour, it has felt like I’m mirroring fellow baker and cookbook author Roxanne Jullipat, whose wonderful book Morning Baker was also recently released. She has been visiting the same bookstores as I, just a day or so after me. I sadly missed her Portland pop-up, so I was determined to check out her LA bakery, the incredible Friends and Family. This bakery revels in using whole-grain flours, and as a result, everything we tried had an incredible depth of flavour. Not only was the baking excellent, the apple turnover just incredible, but the breakfast burritos we had were also maybe my favourite iteration to date. I also loved the hot sauce they served alongside the burrito so much that I tracked some down the following day, too bring home with me.

Friends and Family

The Pie Place

One of the events we held in LA was at the brilliant Fat + Flour, the pie shop owned by chef Nicole Rucker. Her pies are stellar, and she fulfilled my dreams by handing me a slice of rhubarb and strawberry pie with a streusel topping at the end of the evening, a perfect combination and a truly excellent slice of Pie. The event was at the Culver City location, but there is also a location at the Grand Central Market in downtown LA.

Fat + Flour

Chocolate and Passion Fruit Financiers

Edd Kimber — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 07:00:58 GMT

Hello from a wet and grey Portland, Oregon. Technically, I’m on the Amtrak back to Seattle, but I’m still somewhere outside the city, in the lush green countryside. As of this morning, we have so far checked off two book tour events, two TV segments, two trains, two hotels and one plane journey and, most importantly, one incredible meal and one brilliant pie for breakfast situation (I’ll tell you about the food we’ve enjoyed on this coast next week).

Before I left for the States, I worked on a couple of recipes to post whilst I was busy traversing the country, and this week’s is a beautifully simple little cake, or cakes to be accurate. Whilst I may not be the biggest fan of cupcakes, I do love a single-serve situation, a self-contained portion just for you. These little cakes are a version of the French financier, but with a slight identity crisis. Whilst the batter is made with brown butter and ground almonds like the classic French cake, I make these to resemble the Aussie version, the friand. If you’ve never heard of a friand before, they originate from Australia, and the main difference from the French cake is the lack of brown butter. Technically, a financier is always made with the nutty beurre noisette, and friands are made simpler with regular melted butter, just beurre, no noisette. The other difference is the form. Traditionally, financiers were baked in little gold bar-shaped moulds because, as the story goes, financiers were created for the workers of the Paris financial district who couldn’t risk getting crumbs on their expensive clothes. Financiers were therefore a little treat these workers could enjoy on the move without risk of crumbs getting everywhere. Friands, on the other hand, are typically made in an oval-shaped pan. Whilst you can find these pans online in the UK and I’m sure in the US, you can also simply use a muffin pan if you don’t have access to one.

In this version of the financier, the cakes are made with both ground almonds and desiccated coconut, then soaked in a tangy passionfruit syrup. Whilst this alone would be a cause of great deliciousness, I decided to add a chocolate element, because if you didn’t know, I really like chocolate. In this case, the chocolate element was a very simple chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream. If you’ve never experienced the joy that is the pairing of passion fruit and chocolate you are in for a delightful experience, it is one of my all time favourite combinations and one I turn to often (in my new book there is a fabulous passion fruit bar which is made with a black cocoa crust, a passion fruit custard layer, and finished with a dollop of whipped milk chocolate ganache).

This combination has been a favourite of mine since I was around 18, after a very influential trip to Paris. I was living in my university dorm and whilst hanging out with some American students, doing their semester abroad, we started chatting about Paris. Within the hour, we had concocted a plan and booked tickets to visit the city of lights, which I believe is what my student loan was intended for, right? It was on this trip that I visited Pierre Herme's boutique for the first time, and it was here that I fell in love with macarons, passion fruit and chocolate, and French patisserie. I also credit this trip as the moment my regular love of baking turned into a deep lifelong obsession and what probably set me on the path I’m on today. So yes, that combination has meant a lot to me over the years. It’s also just really delicious.

Passion Fruit, Coconut and Chocolate Financiers

Makes 12

Coconut Financiers

160g unsalted butter, diced

4 large egg whites

50g ground almonds

65g desiccated coconut

50g plain flour

200g caster sugar

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

Passion Fruit Soak

50ml passion fruit juice

50g caster sugar

Milk Chocolate Passion Fruit Ganache

100g milk chocolate (40-50% cocoa solids)

30ml passion fruit puree

20ml double cream*

Swiss Meringue Buttercream*

1 large egg white

80g caster sugar

Pinch of cream of tartar

Pinch of salt

160g unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature

60g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), melted and cooled slightly

*if you prefer, you can replace the cream with another 20ml of passion fruit juice but I like to add a touch of cream as it ever so slightly softens the acidity and makes for a more harmonious flavour

*whilst you can use milk chocolate in this buttercream, to marry with the milk chocolate in the ganache, instead of dark chocolate, I find that with the addition of the butter and sugar in the buttercream using dark chocolate actually results in a very creamy chocolate flavour that is very similar to milk chocolate, whilst also not being too sweet.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC Fan).

To make the financiers, add the butter to a medium-sized saucepan and place it over medium-high heat, then cook until the butter is browned. As the butter melts, it will first sizzle and splatter, and this is the water content cooking out from the fat. Once this noisy splattering calms down and the butter starts to foam, you should keep an eye out for the milk solids to catch on the bottom of the pan and turn a golden brown hue. At this stage, take the pan off the heat. Whilst the butter is cooking, add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and stir together with a spatula. Pour in the browned butter and stir until fully combined with the batter.

Lightly grease a 12-hole muffin or friand pan, then portion the batter evenly among the 12 sections. Bake in the preheated oven for about 15-18 minutes until the edges of the cakes are golden brown. Remove and set aside for a couple of minutes, then carefully turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the soak, simply add the passion fruit juice and sugar to a small pan and heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture just begins to simmer. Remove from the heat and liberally brush over the tops of the cakes.

To make the ganache, melt the chocolate in a bowl over a bain marie or in a microwave. Separately add the juice and cream to a small saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer. Pour a third of this mixture over the chocolate and stir together until fully combined. Repeat twice more to form a silky smooth ganache.

To make the buttercream, add the egg white, sugar, cream of tartar and salt to a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of simmering water. Stir with a whisk until the mixture is hot to the touch and the sugar has fully dissolved. Remove the bowl from the heat and use an electric mixer to whisk until the meringue holds stiff peaks and has cooled to room temperature. This should take about 5 minutes. Add the butter, a couple of pieces at a time, and continue whisking until all the butter is incorporated and the mixture reaches a thick buttercream texture. Pour in the melted and cooled chocolate and mix until fully combined. At this point, I take the bowl off the mixer and use a spatula to ensure the buttercream is fully mixed and the chocolate is evenly combined.

To assemble the cakes, make a small well in the centre of each financier and spoon in a little of the ganache. To do this, I use the back of a piping tip as an apple corer to scoop out the centre of each cake. Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with whichever piping tip you prefer (I used a St Honore tip) and top each cake with some of the buttercream. If you want, you could also add a little coconut on top. In the version I made, I added a little toasted coconut and a grating of chocolate as a final flourish.

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North American Book Tour Starts Tomorrow!

Edd Kimber — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 21:48:35 GMT

Hello from 25,00 feet up in the air, somewhere over Greeenland, about to begin the North American leg of my book tour. Yes, that’s right, not just the US anymore; we added a last-minute visit to Canada, my first book event in the country! The first event of the tour is tomorrow, so I thought I should give you one last reminder of all of the events coming up over the next couple of weeks. I really hope to see lots of you at one of these events, but fair warning, some events are close to selling out, so do make sure to book if you’re hoping to come along (some events are drop-in and don’t require a ticket).

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Whilst I am across the pond, I also need your help. Where should I eat? Send me all of your bakery and restaurant recommendations, coffee shops, and cocktail bars, also very welcome.

See you stateside! x

Wednesday 8th April - Seattle
Book Larder

Starting the tour off at one of my all-time favorite cookbook stores, Seattle’s brilliant Book Larder. At this event, I’ll also be demoing a recipe from the book. Events at this store have been amongst my favorites, so I’m excited to be back.

Tickets

Friday 10th April - Portland
Vivienne’s Culinary Books 6-8pm

This will be my first time in Portland, and what better way to experience the place and its people than a bake swap? This is not a normal book event its a fun evening where we can share our mutual love of baking. Come and meet me, bring along a dozen of your favourite chocolate recipes and a box, to take home a selection of what everyone else brings. The ticket also includes a signed copy of the book.

Tickets

Saturday 11th April - Seattle
Seattle Baking Club

EVENT SOLD OUT

Monday 13th April - San Francisco
Omnivore Books - 6.30pm

Back in one of my favorite cities, I am thrilled to be back at the brilliant Omnivore Books, where I’ll be in conversation with Amy Guittard of the Guittard Chocolate Company.

Note: this is a free, un-ticketed event, and seating is allocated on a first-come, first-served basis

Pre-Order A Book From Omnivore

Tuesday 14th April - San Francisco
Parachute Bakery Menu Takeover - 9am-1pm

I am so excited to come and hang out at this fab bakery in the Ferry Building. The bakers have come up with a menu inspired by the book, and these items will be available all day until they’re sold out. I will also be hanging out in the bakery, signing copies of the book, from 9am until 1pm. Come and say hi and get yourself a delicious pastry

Note: no ticket required, the bakery will be open as normal with a menu of special items inspired by the book. Come say hi, get a pastry and a copy of the book!

Friday 17th April - Los Angeles
Fat & Flour (Culver City) - 6.30pm

Another bakery event, this one is going to be a lot of fun. I’ll be in conversation with the brilliant Nicole Rucker, and there’ll be a chocolate tasting, chocolate treats, and copies of the book will be available.

Tickets

Saturday 18th April - Los Angeles
LA Times Festival of Books - Demo at 3.30pm

The only time in my life ill be on the same lineup as Larry Daviid

I was very excited to be asked to join the lineup of this year's LA Times Festival of Books, and I’ll be on the culinary stage, demoing a recipe from the book, at 3.30pm. I’ll also be signing books after the event

Info

Monday 20th April - NYC
Hanis Bakery 10am-1pm

Come and hang out at the fabulous Hani’s Bakery, where the bakers will be making THE cake, the chocolate and whipped caramel cake that has gone viral back home in London. I'll be hanging out and signing copies of the book from 10am-1pm, so come by and say hi!

Note: this is a drop-in event, no ticket required. Come say hi, get a slice of cake and a copy of the book

Tuesday 21st April - Washington DC
Bold Fork Books - 7pm

For my last US tour stop ill be in the capital at Bold Fork Books. I’ll be in conversation with pastry chef Paola Velez, author of Bodega Bakes. I was blown away by the welcome the last time I visited Bold Fork, so do come back and make it equally good.

Tickets

Wednesday 22nd - Toronto
Good Egg - 5.30pm

This will be my very first book event in Canada and my first visit to the country since I was 18, many years ago. I will be in conversation with local pastry chef Jason Hudson. This is also my FINAL book tour event, so let’s end it in style!

Tickets

Burnt Marshmallow Wagon Wheels with Salted Caramel

Edd Kimber — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:30:34 GMT

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Hello, happy Thursday!

As we head into the long easter weekend, I thought it was the perfect time for a project bake, one of those recipes that is not just delicious but one that is involved and has a few different elements, something that you take some time to make. In my mind, these recipes are not those you make in a rush, but those you make when you want to chill out and spend a day centred around the kitchen and making something delicious. For Easter, I thought that recipe could be these fun burnt marshmallow wagon wheels (or moon pies if you’re American). They’re kind of like a store that never actually goes anywhere near a campfire but still has all that delicious bundt marshmallow flavour.

The question is, how do you get that flavour into a little cookie without a big roaring open fire? We can make homemade digestives, we can coat them in chocolate, and we can add a caramel filling, because why not? But how do we get that burnt flavour? Easy, we use a blow torch. Of course that sounds pretty obvious but let me explain because I think its a pretty genius technique and I really wish I was the one who came up with. I was introduced to this idea by baker , who credits Benjamin the Baker as her inspiration. The idea is that when making a Swiss or Italian meringue, as you might for Swiss meringue buttercream or to make marshmallows, you can blowtorch it before using it as you would in any other recipe. The blowtorching gives that campfire flavour, but the meringue can be used to make all manner of things. My absolute favourite way to use it is to make a batch of burnt Swiss meringue buttercream. This is a technique I used in Chocolate Baking to make a s’mores cake, and today I am using it to make the marshmallow filling for these sandwich cookies.

To get even more campfire flavour, I like to finish these cookies with a sprinkling of smoked sea salt, which sells the idea even more. If you can't get hold of this, don’t worry, it's s absolutely optional.

As we head into Easter weekend, I thought I would also suggest a handful of recipes perfect for the season. And don’t forget, my new book Chocolate Baking is available from all good bookshops and would make a truly excellent Easter gift.

Get A Copy Of Chocolate Baking

Image by Matthew Hague

My all-time favourite Hot Cross Buns - on Substack (free recipe)

S’mores Layer Cake - In my book, Chocolate Baking

Hot Cross Buns Cookies - On the Olive Magazine website

Hot Cross Bun Pain Perdu - Substack (for paid subscribers)

Rhubarb and Custard Tarte Tropezienne - Substack (free recipe)

Salted Caramel Chocolate Mousse Pots - Substack (for paid subscribers)

Rhubarb and Custard Crumble with Brown Butter Hazelnut Topping

Edd Kimber — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 07:31:20 GMT

Hello, happy Sunday!

I have been on the road a lot the last few weeks, and with the US leg of my book tour just over a week away, the miles are still ticking up. Being away from home has me craving all sorts of home comforts. I don’t know about you, but when I’m homesick, I don’t crave anything complicated or fancy; I want a big bowl of pasta, a Sunday roast, or, most likely, a delicious crumble topped with lashings of custard.

Book Tour Dates

Mon 30th March - Ty Melin, Cardiff - SOLD OUT
Tue 31st March - Topping & Co Bath
Friday 3rd April - Fortnum and Mason (Truffle Masterclass 2-4pm + Kitchen Stories 6.30-8pm)

8th April - Book Larder, Seattle
10th April - Vivienne’s Culinary Books, Portland
11th April - Seattle Baking Club, Seattle - SOLD OUT
13th April - Omnivore Books, SF
14th April - Parachute Bakery, SF (Menu Takeover and Book Signing)
17th April - Fat + Flour, LA
18th April - LA Times Festival Of Books
20th April - Hani’s Bakery (Special Menu Item and Book Signing)
21st April - Bold Fork Books, DC

Canada

22nd April - Good Egg, Toronto

When it comes to desserts, I don’t think there are many that hit as many comforting notes as a classic crumble. When I was a child, crumble made an appearance most Sundays. Most of the time, it was a simple apple affair, but occasionally, my mum's love of sharp fruits meant we’d get a rhubarb version (with home-grown fruit) or maybe a gooseberry version. I can vividly remember my mum whipping up the crumble topping using nothing more than a knife and the plastic bowl from her ancient Kenwood mixer. I can picture this so clearly that I can even remember multiple times where she would stand in the doorway of our living room, making the crumble whilst also keeping an eye on the latest episode of Coronation Street.

In this version, I wanted to make something that made me feel cosy and happy to be home, so it is a gentle spin on a classic apple crumble, just made with some additional rhubarb and topped with a brown-butter hazelnut crumble, and, of course, served with plenty of vanilla custard. Shockingly, I am actually only a recent convert to custard. My preferred topping was always the contrast between the heat of cream or ice cream and the warmth of the crumble. Due to my fiancé’s love of custard, I have now adopted it as our go-to option. I tend to have it warm for the first serving, and when leftovers are served in the following days, I serve the custard chilled. I say leftovers because, whilst you can make a small-batch version, day-old crumble is almost better than the freshly made dish; it becomes a tad stodgier, and when it comes to crumble, that middle layer where the crumble meets the fruit is by far the best part.

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A Bumper Guide To Tempering Chocolate

Edd Kimber — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 18:17:57 GMT

Image by Matthew Hague

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Hello, happy Friday!

I have been on the road over the last couple of weeks, taking Chocolate Baking up and down the country and talking to so many of you. It is, by some wild oversight, my first ever UK book tour, and it has, so far, surpassed all my expectations. We kicked things off in London with an afternoon tea at Honey & Co and then raced straight up to Edinburgh for a two-day pop-up at Lannan Bakery. We probably should have chosen a different day, but on the day the pop-up opened, I was in the kitchen from 5.30 am and then had my first bookshop event of the tour that night, which didn’t finish until 9 pm. Yes, it was an ungodly long day, but I powered through, buoyed by the enthusiasm of everyone who said hi at the bakery or came to hear me talk at Topping & Co. We then hopped across to Glasgow, but unfortunately, due to the fire the day before, we had to cancel the event at Waterstones. We did, however, hang out in the city’s brilliant chocolate shop Barebones and signed books and chatted to a bunch of people on their lunch break. It was that event that actually inspired today’s post and the recipes included within.

If you’ve got a copy of the book already, then you’ll know the title kind of says everything you need to know. It is a book about chocolate that concentrates on baking. This means there is very little need to temper chocolate. I couldn't, however, write a book on the subject and not include such a pivotal technique, so there are a couple of recipes that do call for tempering the chocolate. What I’ve learnt on this tour so far is that tempering really does make people nervous. So today, I thought I would give you a peek at the technique pages in the book and share my ultimate guide to tempering chocolate. Because I am also not bound by a word count, I will also expand a little into areas that I didn’t cover in the book.

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To use that tempered chocolate, I also have two new recipes to share with you. Firstly, there are the simple truffles I served at Barebones Chocolate, using their fabulous salted 68% dark chocolate. In this recipe, a simple ganache is hand-rolled in tempered chocolate and coated in a little cocoa. They’re simple, extremely elegant, and, of course, delicious. The second recipe, for paid subscribers, is a recipe inspired by a treat given to me whilst on the tour. Before my event with Topping & Co in Edinburgh, one of the brilliant booksellers gave me a little gift, chocolate from Dandelion Chocolate in Tokyo. This is actually a San Francisco-based chocolate company, but they also have a location in Tokyo, and one of the booksellers brought me this treat all the way back from Tokyo! On first glance, I thought it was simply slabs of chocolate coated in lots of nibs, but on tasting it actually turned out to be chocolate-coated toffee with lots of nibs and plenty of salt. So simple but unbelievably good, moreish in all the right ways. So I decided to recreate it because I needed to enjoy it again once the small pack was finished (and let's be real, it barely lasted a single night).

How To Temper Chocolate
adapted from my book Chocolate Baking

When you buy chocolate, the manufacturer has tempered it. It will have a glossy shine, and when broken into pieces, it will have a satisfying snap. Put simply, tempering is a process of heating and cooling to give chocolate its characteristic shine and snap. The fat crystals in cocoa butter, when melted in an uncontrolled manner, can form a variety of erratic patterns which can result in chocolate with an unpleasant grainy texture and a dull finish. By following the process of tempering you are left with just the ‘beta-5 crystals’, and this is what gives us the beautiful shine and snap of tempered chocolate. This is important when you are using the chocolate as a coating that you want to set and be stable at room temperature, such as coating truffles or dipping cookies. It is also important to use tempered chocolate when setting chocolate inside a mould, such as filled chocolates; when tempered chocolate sets it contracts slightly, meaning it will release from the mould easily. Do this with chocolate that hasn’t been tempered and it will stick, very stubbornly, inside the mould. This process also raises the melting point of chocolate slightly, preventing it from melting when held.

There are several ways to temper chocolate but not all of them are suitable for home bakers. Tabling, for example, involves spreading the melted chocolate over a large marble slab, not the most approachable technique for home kitchens. I prefer to use either the seeding method or the microwave method.

Tempering requires you to check the temperature of the chocolate, so an instant-read probe thermometer is an incredibly useful piece of kit. If you don’t have one, the microwave method is a better option as technically it can be done without a thermometer.

image by Matthew Hague

Seeding

The most reliable method for tempering at home, this uses a bain-marie to heat the chocolate.

Melt three-quarters of the chocolate you want to temper in a plastic or stainless-steel bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Heat until it reaches a temperature of 50–55°C (122–131°F) for dark chocolate and 45–50°C (113–122°F) for milk, white and caramelised white chocolate. Remove from the heat, add the remaining chocolate and stir vigorously until the temperature reduces to 28–29°C (82–84°F) for dark chocolate, 27–28°C (81–82°F) for milk chocolate and 26–27°C (79–81°F) for white and caramelised white chocolate, then very briefly place back on the heat, stirring constantly, until the chocolate reaches 31-32°C (88-90° F) for dark chocolate, 29-30°C (84-86° F) for milk and and 28-29ºC (82-84ºF) for white chocolate. The final temperature is known as the working temperature. This progression of temperatures is known as a ‘tempering curve’.

Tips

Finely chop the chocolate to ensure an even melt.
Use a heatproof plastic or stainless-steel bowl, never a glass or ceramic one as they are very good at retaining heat, which can lead to you accidentally overheating the chocolate.
Check the temperature of the chocolate regularly.
Stir vigorously to ensure even tempering.
Use at least 300g of chocolate; any less and temperature fluctuations are more likely. Any leftovers can be used another time.
When buying good-quality chocolate in bulk, check the back of the packaging as it may include a specific tempering curve specific to that exact chocolate.

Microwave

This is the method I use often, largely because it works extremely well with small amounts of chocolate. Having said that, you do need to keep a close eye on the chocolate. You don’t strictly need a thermometer, although it’s still advisable to use one.

Set the microwave to 50% power. Put the chocolate in a microwave-safe plastic bowl and heat in 20–25-second bursts. Between each burst, give the chocolate a good stir, even if it looks as if nothing has happened. Repeat until about three-quarters of the chocolate has melted and the remaining quarter is still solid, reducing the bursts to around 10–15 seconds, as you near this target. Once this is reached, stir the chocolate vigorously until it is fully melted. Your chocolate should now be in temper. The chocolate should never go above 31–32°C (88–90°F) for dark chocolate, 30–31°C (86–88°F) for milk, white and caramelised white chocolate.

This method works because the chocolate is heated in very short bursts, meaning it never goes above the temperature at which it would become ‘untempered’. If, when you remove the chocolate from the microwave, you’ve accidentally heated the chocolate above this temperature, add some extra ‘seed’ chocolate and continue, as per the instructions for seed tempering. Use incredibly short bursts of heat, no more than 5 seconds, to raise the temperature to its working temperature. Once the chocolate is melted and fully smooth, it should be within the same range of ‘working temperatures’ found on the opposite page.

I should also note that you can use a microwave instead of a bain-marie for the seeding method. If you are following the above method and the chocolate gets too hot, don’t worry, simply switch to the seeding method by adding some finely chopped chocolate.

Tips

Finely chop the chocolate to ensure even melting.
Use a heatproof plastic bowl.
Until you’ve gained confidence with this method, keep the time in the microwave to even shorter bursts; better to go slow than risk overheating the chocolate.
Stir well between each burst of heat.
Whilst this method can be done with a small amount of chocolate, I find it is still best to use at least 300g, as using less will mean the chocolate cools and therefore sets very quickly.

Tabling

This is a technique frequently used by chocolatiers and pastry chefs, but it isn’t commonly found in home kitchens. This is mainly because it a) requires the use of a marble slab (or similar cool-to-the-touch material) and b) it’s incredibly messy. Whilst it doesn't appear in the book, I wanted to briefly go over the technique so you can give it a go should you wish.

Add your chocolate to a large heatproof bowl and melt it completely using either a bain-marie or a microwave. As with other tempering techniques, the chocolate should be heated and melted to roughly 50–55°C (122–131°F) for dark chocolate and 45–50°C (113–122°F) for milk, white and caramelised white chocolate

To temper the chocolate, pour 2/3 of this melted chocolate out onto a marble slab. The aim of the next stage is to cool it down in a controlled manner. Because marble is naturally cool to the touch, it will cool the chocolate for us, but to ensure this happens evenly and help create the desired crystalline formation, we need to continually move the chocolate around. To do this, use a palette knife to spread the chocolate into a thin layer that covers the marble slab. Once spread out, scrape it back into the centre, then repeat this process until the chocolate has cooled and thickened slightly. Many professional chocolatiers can judge the chocolate has cooled enough simply by sight but for everyone else a thermometer is key. You need to be moving the chocolate around until it has cooled to 28–29°C (82–84°F) for dark chocolate, 27–28°C (81–82°F) for milk chocolate and 26–27°C (79–81°F) for white and caramelised white chocolate. At this point, you scrape this chocolate back into the bowl alongside the remaining chocolate. This remaining portion of chocolate will be warmer and will help us raise the chocolate to its working temperature (31-32°C (88-90° F) for dark chocolate, 29-30°C (84-86° F) for milk and 28-29ºC (82-84ºF) for white chocolate). As with the earlier agitation of the chocolate, it is very important that when the two chocolates are combined, they are thoroughly mixed to ensure an evenly tempered mixture.

The benefit of this technique is that, when tempering large amounts of chocolate, as you might in a professional kitchen, it is a more efficient method; the marble cools the chocolate rapidly, so it can speed up production.

Tips

Keep the chocolate moving. This takes practice, but it is important to keep the chocolate moving as much as possible while it is on the marble slab.
Use an offset spatula to spread the chocolate into a thin layer, and then, in the other hand, use a bench scraper to scrape the chocolate back into the centre of the slab
Mix the final chocolate mixture very well to ensure even tempering

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Salted Chocolate Truffles

makes about 30-40 (depending on their size)

This is a very simple ganache recipe, but it is worth noting that if you've made truffles before and rolled them by hand, you may find this mixture much softer than you’d expect. I don’t always love a traditional hand-rolled truffle with firm, almost fudge-like ganache, so this recipe was an attempt to achieve my ideal texture. The chocolate coating is thin and crisp, and the ganache inside is incredibly silky and melts in the mouth.

Ganache

240g 65-70% dark chocolate, finely chopped
200ml whipping cream
40g glucose syrup (or golden syrup/honey)
4g (a heaped tsp) flaked sea salt*
50g unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature

*when I first made these I used a salted dark chocolate from Barebones but if you cant get your hands on this or something similar then you can simply use the above amount of salt in the making of the recipe

To Coat

500g dark chocolate, finely chopped (they’ll be plenty left over that can be used in another recipe)
Cocoa powder, for dusting

To make the ganache, add the chocolate to a heatproof bowl and melt using either a bain marie or short, max 30-second bursts in the microwave. Place the cream, glucose, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a bare simmer.

To emulsify the ganache, pour a third of the hot cream over the melted chocolate and stir to combine. When making a ganache, stir in tight circles in the centre of the bowl, and as the ganache starts to form, work your way to the outside of the bowl. Repeat this process two more times until all of the cream mixture has been added.

After the first portion of cream is added, the ganache may look like it is splitting; that is fine (image by Matthew Hague)

Note: this method of making a ganache, slowly adding the cream, can make the ganache mixture look split in the early stages. When only a small portion of the cream is added to the ganache there is not enough liquid to make a balanced emulsion and the ganache will start to split (this is why a drop of water will make chocolate seize but why with the proper amount of water you can also make a succesful ganache) but as you slowly work in the full amount of cream the ganache will eventually form a beautiful silky emulsion.

Once all of the cream has been combined, add the butter and stir to combine. At this point, I actually prefer to use a hand blender to combine the butter and ganache; the physical action of the blender helps to keep everything emulsified and prevents the mixture from splitting (something that happens quite easily when additional fat is added to a ganache). Once the ganache is finished, cover it with clingfilm and leave it at room temperature for a few hours or until fully set.

Image by Matthew Hague

This ganache isn't firm and rollable at room temperature, but that is so that you can achieve a beautiful finished texture. To make the truffles, I use a very small mechanical ice cream scoop to portion out rounds of the ganache, depositing them onto a parchment-lined baking tray. Once all of the ganache has been portioned out, place the tray into the fridge to firm up. Once the ganache is firm, I then roll the portions in my hands to ensure they have nice, neat, round shapes. I like to do this with gloves because it gets very messy. Pop the truffles back into the fridge to chill whilst you temper the chocolate.

Using the method of your choice, temper the dark chocolate.

To coat the truffles, you have two options. You can drop the chocolates into the tempered chocolate and use a dipping fork to remove them, tapping the fork on the side of the bowl to let any excess chocolate drip back into the bowl. This results in a relatively thick coating, which also has one downside. Because the truffles have been chilled, dropping them directly into the tempered chocolate will start cooling it, and as it cools, it thickens and eventually sets. To prevent the chocolate from cooling too much, you will need to keep the chocolate at the right temperature. In production kitchens, they can keep the tempered chocolate in temperature-controlled vats, meaning this isn’t an issue; unfortunately, most people don’t have access to that sort of equipment. What you can do is place the chocolate back on the heat for a couple of seconds and then give it a really good stir to raise the temperature a degree or two, never taking it above 32ºC. This can also be done in the microwave for a short 5-second burst.

Because of the above issue, I prefer to use a different coating technique. Wearing gloves, I spoon a little chocolate onto my fingers, place a truffle on top, and then roll the truffle in the small amount of chocolate. The benefit of this technique is that it results in a beautiful, thin shell, and the bowl of tempered chocolate isn't affected, so it cools much more slowly than in the first technique. So, you should hopefully be able to coat all of the truffles before the chocolate cools and thickens too much.

Once you have coated truffles, you can either transfer them to a clean sheet of parchment paper to make simple chocolate-coated truffles or drop the freshly coated truffles into a bowl or tray of cocoa powder and gently shake to fully coat them. Once the chocolate has set, you can transfer the truffles to a tray and give a gentle shake to remove any excess.

Once coated in the tempered chocolate, these truffles will keep at room temperature for up to two weeks.

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The Boy Who Bakes

Second Helpings - Guinness Chocolate Cakes with Whipped Caramel and Espresso Glaze

Whipped Caramel Masterclass

A Mini Postcard From Portugal

Where to Stay

Rosa et Al

Monverde Wine Experience

Where To Eat

Bicho Porto

Manteigaria

Pedro Dos Frangos

Douro Valley Day Trip

Baking On The Hottest Day Of The Year

An Almost Classic Peach Melba

Coupe Cakes

A Bagel Deep Dive

Strawberries And Cream But Make It Fancy

The Cake I Made For My Birthday!

Banana Pudding Brioche Buns

A Perfect Prepare Ahead Dessert

A Second Slab Cake

Whipped Caramel Chocolate Cake 2.0

The Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich

Everything I Ate On The West Coast

Seattle

Portland

San Francisco

Los Angeles

Chocolate and Passion Fruit Financiers

North American Book Tour Starts Tomorrow!

Burnt Marshmallow Wagon Wheels with Salted Caramel

Rhubarb and Custard Crumble with Brown Butter Hazelnut Topping

A Bumper Guide To Tempering Chocolate

How To Temper Chocolate adapted from my book Chocolate Baking

Seeding

Microwave

Tabling

Salted Chocolate Truffles

How To Temper Chocolate
adapted from my book Chocolate Baking