"BabycakesNyc" news and stories

"Babycakes: Vegan, Gluten-Free, and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes from New York's Most Talked-About Bakery"

By Erin McKenna
Photographs by Tara Donne
Clarkson Potter -- 2009
Buy It at Amazon

Note: While testing the vanilla frosting recipe, we accidentally used soy flour instead of the the soy milk powder the recipe called for. The two are easily confused but not interchangeable, as our results demonstrated.

When Erin McKenna opened BabyCakes NYC in 2005, her gluten-free, vegan baked goods became a huge success, giving hope to the gluten-intolerant and converting legions of dairy-worshipping skeptics. Her new cookbook is both a how-to guide and winning, chatty account of McKenna's journey from junk food junkie to gluten-free goddess (she changed her Twinkie-loving ways in 2004, when she was diagnosed with wheat and dairy allergies). Pretty much everything in the baked good pantheon is here -- cupcakes, blueberry corn muffins, scones, cake and cobbler -- ensuring that while the gluten and dairy may be missing, absolutely nothing else is.

Takeaway Tips: McKenna writes in a clear, humorous and reassuring voice that makes you feel like you're baking in the company of, if not an old friend, then an endlessly understanding and forgiving teacher. She provides ingenious advice on making simple, natural food coloring (who knew that a pinch of turmeric made gorgeous yellow icing?), and her incredibly helpful ingredients glossary at the beginning of the book (from agave nectar to xantham gum) removes a lot of the considerable intimidation factor inherent in gluten-free, vegan baking.

See what we tested and whether the book's worth buying after the jump.

Source

Love, loss, adventure and blueberry pie? Those are all themes that run throughout the new movie My Blueberry Nights, which opens nationwide today. The movie stars singer Norah Jones, in her debut acting role. She crisscrossing the country in an attempt to find herself and in the process, frequents classic diners and eats a lot of pie. Blueberry pie to be exact.

The famous vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar-free New York City bakery, Babycakes NYC supplied all the pies used on the set of the film. They've offered us a rough "recipe" (it's actually a list of ingredients, but I'm sure the intrepid bakers among you might be able to craft it into a pie) for the blueberry pie that Norah Jones is about to take a bite of in the picture above.

Check out the film and, if any of you make this pie, let us know!

Source