Category: Chefs

Chefs, Cookbooks, Sweet Recipes

Honey Cake Recipe from 20th Century Cafe


My favorite cake. That’s a pretty big statement to make but it’s true. I love the Russian Honey Cake from the former 20th Century Cafe in San Francisco. I’ve posted about it one, two, three … okay, many times. Tender honey cake is separated by luscious burnt honey and dulce de leche cream, for a total of 20 layers!

Every time I enjoyed a slice at the cafe, I told myself, I need the recipe. My wish came true when it was published in The New York Times. UPDATE: Pastry chef Michelle Polzine published a new version in her cookbook that I’m sharing here. I followed the instructions exactly and was very pleased with the results. The textures and flavors were spot on.

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Chefs, Cookbooks, Savory Recipes

Scallion Roti Canai

Pulling apart scallion roti canai
Photo by Evan Sung for Breaking Bao Cookbook

Remember, during the pandemic, when we decided to grow our own scallions from leftover bulbs? Unfortunately, mine didn’t really grow, so I bought a bunch for scallion biscuits and pancake testing. While I got the technique and flavor down, the texture wasn’t quite right. I needed more flakiness. Enter: Clarice Lam’s recipe from her new book Breaking Bao. She, too, sought after flaky layers for scallion pancakes and ended up with a roti canai recipe.

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Chefs, Ireland, Sweet Recipes

How to Make Stovetop Clotted Cream

English scones served with easy homemade clotted cream.

It isn’t a proper afternoon tea without clotted cream. I discovered that it is quite easy to make; it just requires a long in-active cook time. For my first batch, I had great success cooking in the oven for 8 hours, but there is a faster way. For the second batch, I used the “quick” method, which is just 1 hour on the stovetop. With either method, you will still need to chill the cream in the fridge to let it thicken, but overall, the latter method does speed things up considerably.

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