Chow Bella: What Kind of Sweets Do Italians Eat?

When I think of Italian sweets, I immediately think of the Little Italy-style bakery, with rows of cookies by the pound, breads stacked in the back, and various cakes and pastries out front. But what kind of sweets do Italians--you know, in actual Italy--really favor? While conversing with Cake Gumshoe Elisa, who is based in Italy, while she noted that "Italy has 20 regions and everyone has its particular baked goods", she dished up some of the things you might expect to see at her Italian dessert table; I've put together a little explanation of what they are (with a little help from Wikipedia). 

CakeSpy Note: Please note, however, that the photos are mostly from my (American) archives, so they should be viewed as a mere reference and might not necessarily look the way they would in Italy!

Amaretti: This little cookie is a holiday tradition in Italy (and beyond) which has a delightful story: "In the early 1700s, a Milanese bishop or cardinal surprised the town of Saronno with a visit. A young couple, residents of the town, welcomed him and paid tribute with an original confection: on the spur of the moment, they had baked biscuits made of sugar, egg whites, and crushed apricot kernels or almonds. These so pleased the visiting bishop that he blessed the two with a happy and lifelong marriage, resulting in the preservation of the secret recipe over many generations."

Brutti ma Buoni: Literally translated as "ugly but good", these craggy little cookies are made using a mixture of nuts, egg whites, liqueur, and a bit of cocoa . You can find a recipe from Mario Batali here.


Cannolo alla Siciliana: What we would call a cannoli here in the US (as in, "leave the gun, take the..."). These little sweeties consist of tube-shaped shells of fried pastry dough, filled with a sweet, creamy filling usually containing ricotta cheese (or alternatively, but less traditionally, sweetened Mascarpone) blended with some combination of vanilla, chocolate, pistachio, Marsala wine, rosewater or other flavorings.


Cassata: The cassata siciliana consists of round sponge cake moistened with fruit juices or liqueur and layered with ricotta cheese, candied peel, and a chocolate or vanilla filling similar to cannoli cream. It is covered with a shell of marzipan, pink and green pastel colored icing, and decorative designs. The cassata is finally topped with candied fruit depicting cherries and slices of citrus fruit characteristic of Sicily. 


Crostata: A crostata is an Italian baked dessert tart, and a form of pie. It is traditionally prepared by folding the edges of the dough over the top of the jam/marmalade filling, creating a more "rough" look, rather than a uniform, circular shape and topped with various jams, pastry cream or fresh fruit. A typical central Italian variety replaces jam with ricotta mixed with sugar, cocoa or pieces of chocolate and anisetta; this is called crostata di ricotta. In terms of recipes, doesn't this one from Herbivoracious sound fantastic?

Pandoro (or pan d'oro): This one is fairly similar to panettone in that it is a traditional Italian sweet yeast bread, most popular around Christmas and New Year. What defines it? Well, it is generally more cakey and less fruit-heavy than panettone, and it is traditionally shaped like a frustum with an 8 pointed-star section. And--deliciously enough--"Modern taste sometimes calls for Pandoro to have a hole cut into its bottom and a part of the soft interior to be removed, the cavity is then filled with chantilly cream or vanilla gelato. Cream or gelato can be served as a garnish to pandoro slices." You can find a recipe here.

Panettone: This is another traditional holiday treat. Simply put, it's "a soft, north Italian yeast brioche with candied fruit, usually prepared for Christmas"--but it's steeped in tradition and lore which you can read about here, if you're so inclined; you can find a recipe here.


Tiramisù: This treat is not baked, but it sure is delicious, made of savoiardi (otherwise known as lady finger biscuits) dipped in espresso or strong coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks, mascarpone, and sugar, and topped with cocoa.

Season of Sweetness: The Fall and Winter 2009 Lineup at Essential Baking Company, Seattle

The weather may be getting cooler, but in Seattle, Essential Baking Company is clearly going to keep us all warm this winter. Just take a look at their seasonal menu. Like, yum.

The following items will be available all season long, from October 1-December 31: Apple Cranberry Tart, Bourbon Pecan Tart, Individual Raspberry Baked Alaska, Individual White Chocolate Snowman, Black Forest Cake (in 9" or individual servings), Caramel Praline Cheesecake, and Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake.

And later on in the season (from November 20-December 31) you'll be able to find the following: Buche de Noel (12" or individual buchette), sugar cutout Christmas cookies, and Gingerbread men.

But wait, there's more: from November 4-December 31, they will also have the following specialty items on the menu:

Holiday Cakes From Around The World: A sweet suite of three cakes that will "take your tastebuds on a journey around the world: the Creole, South Indian and Mexican falvors each boast a velvety rich texture, regional spices and a hint of liquor for extra holiday cheer."


Stollen: A traditional German cake-like bread packed with raisins, dried cranberries, and currants with a hint of orange liqueur. Festively sprinkled with icing sugar.

Peppermint Swirl Cookies: Marbled chocolate and vanilla tea cookies with refreshing peppermint flavor throughout. (pictured top)

Three Wise Loaves: A modern version of gold, frankincense and myrrh, these tea loaves in Cranberry, Pear Ginger and Spice boast a moist, fine crumb. Slice up and serve with a cozy beverage.

To ensure that the location closest to you has the item you want, be sure to call first, because they're bound to sell like...well, you know. For locations and more information, visit essentialbaking.com.

Batter Chatter: Interview with Heather Hepler, Author of The Cupcake Queen

Sure, we do a lot of interviews here with bakers and pastry chefs--but what about the other people who create sweet art that might not be edible? For instance, the cupcake novelist? Enter Heather Hepler, author of the newly released novel The Cupcake Queen, a sweet coming of age story featuring heroine Penny Lane (read the book for the explanation!), a high schooler who has recently been uprooted from New York City to move to a small town where her mother has decided to open a cupcake boutique. It's a delicious tale both literally and figuratively--let's discuss with the author, shall we?

CakeSpy: First off: what was the last baked good you ate (cupcake or otherwise)?
Heather Hepler: The last baked good I ate was a piece of homemade challah. I love baking bread, but my usual fare is usually dessert… cakes, pies, cookies, and of course cupcakes. But, I will tell you a secret. I have a hard time with cupcakes because it’s hard to have just a little more. I mean, with a cake or a pie, you can sneak a sliver more, but with cupcakes, you have to commit to a second cupcake. And suddenly you’re the “woman who ate two cupcakes”!

CS: Now that we've gotten that out of the way--please, tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from? How did you get into writing novels?
HH: I’m from everywhere it seems. I’ve moved around a lot in my life. I spent most of my childhood in Texas, but I moved out west when I was sixteen. I then spent the next fifteen years bouncing along the West Coast (Nevada, Oregon, California, Alaska). I loved living near the mountains in Nevada and near the water in California and Oregon. Alaska was beautiful, but so cold. I then headed east – way east. I lived in a tiny town on the coast in Maine for several years. Now, I’m back in Texas. This is the longest I’ve lived in any one place since I was a child. I’m starting to feel the moving urge growing.

I start writing novels at the urging of a friend. I tried it for fun really, which was the best way. If I had thought then that someone might want to publish what I’d written someday, I would have probably frozen.

CS: In your novel, the heroine Penny and her mother move from NYC to a small town to open a cupcake shop. Why a cupcake shop?
HH: Other than the aforementioned issue, I love cupcakes. I love that they can be decorated so beautifully that they can only be called edible art, but I also love the ones you see at the elementary school bake sales with a splotch of icing and a dusting of sprinkles. I also loved the idea of a shop that only sold cupcakes, like it held them in such high regard that nothing else was needed. Of course I wrote this way before the recent cupcake boom. That my book came out in the middle of it is one of those life mysteries. Pure serendipity.

CS: I suspect that cupcakes may be symbolic in your book. Am I right?
HH: The cupcakes are both symbolic and well, just cupcakes. They become for Penny, a girl dealing with the meltdown of her life, a way of making sense of things. As her life becomes increasingly chaotic and out of her control, her cupcakes become more important. It’s her way of making some beautiful out of the pain she’s in… her way of whistling in the dark.


CS: Here's an open-ended question: what do cupcakes mean to you?
HH: Cupcakes are what you want them to be. They can be fun (a bucket of faux popcorn or a fish swimming in its bowl) or beautiful (a Van Gogh or a basket of flowers) or nostalgic (a yellow cupcake with chocolate frosting from a can and a mound of rainbow jimmies) or simply a way of sharing something personal with someone else. There’s something really wonderful about baking and sharing what you’ve made with someone you love. I know it’s probably cliché and corny and all that, but there’s a certain beauty in a cupcake’s simplicity.

CS: In the novel, Penny creates some very creative cupcakes. Did you actually do any recipe testing for any of the unique cupcakes featured in the book?
HH: I did. My son and I (he’s eight) devoted a whole afternoon to trying out cupcakes and decorating them. Our kitchen was covered in frosting and candies and cupcake batter that missed its mark. We made many of the summer cupcakes – the crabs and the sailboats and the beach. (Brown sugar makes excellent sand). We also made the rock, paper, scissors cupcakes, but I have to confess something. The rock pretty much just looked like a blob of grey frosting…. Not terribly appetizing.

CS: I hear that you've hosted some "cupcake days" on your book tour. What happens on a cupcake day?
HH: Cupcake days are very fun. We start with plain cupcakes and a rainbow of frosting and every kind of small candy you can imagine. Then participants get to make whatever they can dream up. After they finish, I’ll judge them and pick a winner. The winner gets a copy of my book, but really everyone wins because they get to eat their own cupcake creations. One winner made an Ipod on her cupcake. Another created a lighthouse. There are an awful lot of very creative people out there.

CS: In the course of writing your book, did you conduct any sort of cupcake research? Please, tell us more.
HH: I have to admit that a lot of my research was done a long time ago. I used to work as a baker and cake decorator when I was in college. It was really fun and really hard work. I admire anyone who works in the culinary industry. The creativity and stamina involved are mindboggling. I tried not to look at too many decorating books because I didn’t want to copy their designs. I wanted to come up with ones on my own for Penny to make. I have to be careful when I’m writing. Anything I read or see or hear gets thrown into the blender that is the writing center of my brain. I wanted to be sure that Penny’s ideas were unique to her.

CS: Hey--you also have a blog, In the Crazy Kitchen, which is a yearlong experiment. Once again: please, tell us more!
HH: I read the funniest thing in one of Nigella Lawson’s cookbooks. She confesses to be a negligent mother outside of the kitchen. That made me laugh because ever since my son was old enough to hold a wooden spoon, we’ve been in the kitchen together. We’ve made several gingerbread houses and a giant gingerbread cookie that was actually a replica of the human body with all of the major organs in different colored royal icing. We’ve made glow-in-the-dark slime and homemade cheese. We’ve made just about every baked good you can imagine except croissants. That is on the list, however. I started the blog for two reasons. First, everyone told me I had to have a blog for my website. Frankly no one wants to hear about what I did that day or that week. No one in their right mind would care at all that my cat is on a diet or that I have mushroom outbreak in my garden (both are true, by the way). The second reason was that writing a blog would force me to write down what we did each week as a sort of record of fun things throughout the year. I hadn’t counted on how many parents have told me they are enjoying it because it gives them ideas for things to do with their kids.

CS: What is your favorite type of cake?
HH: My favorite cake is lemon with lemon curd and fresh blackberries, but I also love vanilla cake with dark chocolate frosting and spice cake with penuche. Yum. The only cake I’m not that keen on is Boston Cream Pie, which is a cake for goodness sakes… even if they do call it a pie.

CS: Any advice for hopeful writers?
HH: Pay attention to the world around you. I always get asked where I get my ideas and I always laugh at the question because the truth is ideas are everywhere. Just today I saw a woman with a rocking horse bungee corded to the top of her car and man wearing a skirt (or what looked like a skirt) at the grocery store. I saw a squirrel fight off three birds for a pecan and win. Those are all stories. All you have to do is let them be.

You can learn more about Heather Hepler via her website; keep updated with her adventures via her blog; and most importantly, you can buy The Cupcake Queen and her other novels online or at your local bookseller!

Seriously Sweet: Frida Kahlo's Pan de Muerto for Serious Eats

Ever found yourself lamenting the fact that there aren't more baked goods with unibrows?

Well, lament no more: check out Frida Kahlo's Pan de Muerto recipe from this week's CakeSpy entry on Serious Eats. I discovered the recipe in Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle, but made it even awesomer by decorating the mini loaves to actually resemble the famous artist.

Pan de Muerto itself has an interesting history, by the way--you can check it out here.

For the full recipe and decorating tips, visit Serious Eats.

Cupcake City: A Sweet Visit to New York Cupcakes in Bellevue, WA

The first CakeSpy visit to New York Cupcakes in Westlake Center in Seattle was not a sweet one. The display case was kind of sad, the employee was texting the entire time, and the cupcakes themselves were...well, kind of a bummer.

But since then something magical happened: they changed ownership (incidentally, location too), and the transformation is dramatic.

I was lucky enough to visit the revamped New York Cupcakes today with my friend Carrie (proprietress of Bella Cupcake Couture, a CakeSpy sponsor and all around cool company!), and I have to say, I was very impressed. Walking in to the shop, the warmth strikes you immediately: decorated with cute artwork by Everyday is a Holiday and bright pink walls and a classic checkerboard floors, you immediately sense that this is a happy place.

But rarely are sweet shops able to coast on good looks alone, so how about those cupcakes?

We picked up five just to be sure:

The "Manhattan Margarita" (pictured top);

The "Grand Central S'more";


The "Boston Cream Cutie Pie";


and a mini "Royal Red Velvet" (also pictured top) for good measure.

What can I say other than that I was very, very impressed? The cake was perfectly moist, with a perfectly tender crumb--especially on the vanilla cake. The texture was light-ish, but assertively buttery enough to make its presence known. The frosting too was quite buttery, but whipped so expertly that it practically seemed to melt in your mouth. The Margarita Cupcake in particular impressed me, with a touch of tart lime flavor beautifully balanced by a rich, buttery and just ever-so-slightly salty buttercream. I did not want this cupcake to end.

The verdict? In my mind, New York Cupcakes has not only redeemed itself, but I'd now consider it a worthy destination.

New York Cupcakes, 15600 N.E.8th Ste. A-4 Bellevue, WA, 425.283.5445; online at newyorkcupcakes.com.