Today’s TBT cookbook was written in 2009. Tarek Malouf was born in London and studied in both London and Los Angeles. His American experience included becoming entranced with American desserts.
So a talented man, with cosmopolitan roots, set up bakery in London specializing in American desserts. Globalization in action. He even picked a grand Southern name for what is now a chain of most popular bakeries: Hummingbird.
The book has been a best seller and in March a revised edition will be available. Twelve pages longer than the first one, and all those page changes are cupcakes. Tarek is riding the cupcake wave with ideas like:
Almond and Raspberry
Black Bottom with cheesecake and cream cheese frosting
Lavender
Hazelnut and Chocolate
Peaches and Cream
Toffee Apple and Gunpowder Tea
Beyond cupcakes, you’ll find chapters for:
- Cakes
- Pies
- Brownies and Bars
- Muffins
- Cookies
Some of the great ideas here include:
Hummingbird Cake [carrot cake with no carrots but tons of bananas and pineapple]
Grasshopper Cake [chocolate layers with chocolate and peppermint custard and peppermint whipped cream topping]
Key Lime Pie [classic condensed milk, lime juice and lime zest]
Cake Brownie with Cocoa and Cream Cheese Frosting
Ham and Mushroom Muffins
Tomorrow, I’ll post the recipe for those Ham and Mushroom Muffins. Quite exceptional. Along the way in this book you’ll find recipes for old standards, like Apple Pie and Blueberry Bundt Cake. The recipes are straightforward, easily followed, and perfected in terms of the ingredients and preparation techniques. This is a solid book that will lead you to dessert nirvana. Buy a copy, get some butter and chocolate and bananas. You’ll prepare American classics, thanks to a London baker. Yes, globalization.
Oh, yes, besides the standards — Apple Pie and Chocolate Cake — you might want to consider the Grasshopper Cake note above. Peppermint custard, peppermint whipped cream. Yummy!
