Serves 6 to 8

Use flat-cut corned beef brisket, not point-cut; it’s more uniform in shape and thus will cook more evenly. When slicing the cabbage, leave the core intact or the cabbage will fall apart during cooking.

Serves 6

This recipe relies on two unusual ingredients: soy sauce and tomato paste. Do not omit them. They don’t convey their distinctive tastes but greatly deepen the savory flavor of the filling. When making the topping, do not substitute milk or half-and-half for the heavy cream.

Makes one 9-inch loaf

Be sure to buy unsweetened canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling, which is preseasoned and sweetened. This is a fairly stiff batter that takes a bit of stirring to incorporate the liquid ingredients into the dry. Stop mixing as soon as the batter comes together.

Makes 12 cupcakes

This recipe does not double very well. Cupcakes made from a doubled batch and baked side by side in the oven yield a slightly compromised rise. It’s best to make two separate batches and bake each separately. Store leftover cupcakes (frosted or unfrosted) in the refrigerator, but let them come to room temperature before serving.

Makes about 2 cups

Do not substitute semisweet chocolate chips for the chopped semisweet chocolate in the frosting—chocolate chips contain less cocoa butter than bar chocolate and will not melt as readily. For best results, don’t make the frosting until the cakes are cooled, and use the frosting as soon as it is ready. If the frosting gets too cold and stiff to spread easily, wrap the mixer bowl with a towel soaked in hot water and mix on low speed until the frosting appears creamy and smooth. Refrigerated leftover cake should sit at room temperature before serving until the frosting softens.

SERVES 10 TO 12

Do not substitute semisweet chocolate chips for the chopped semisweet chocolate in the frosting—chocolate chips contain less cocoa butter than bar chocolate and will not melt as readily. For best results, don’t make the frosting until the cakes are cooled, and use the frosting as soon as it is ready. If the frosting gets too cold and stiff to spread easily, wrap the mixer bowl with a towel soaked in hot water and mix on low speed until the frosting appears creamy and smooth. Refrigerated leftover cake should sit at room temperature before serving until the frosting softens.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
The mixing method was the key to getting the right texture for our chocolate layer cake recipe. After trying both creaming and “reverse creaming,” we turned to ribboning— whipping eggs with sugar until they double in volume, then adding the butter, dry ingredients, and milk. The egg foam aerated the cake, giving it both the structure and the tenderness that neither creaming nor reverse creaming could provide. To give our open-crumbed cake rich chocolate flavor, we simply melted unsweetened chocolate and cocoa powder in hot water over a double boiler, then stirred in sugar until it dissolved before adding the chocolate mixture to the batter.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/bake-it-better/2013/01/old-fashioned-chocolate-layer-cake/

Makes 12 pieces

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
This rich chocolate butter cake is layered with fluffy seven-minute icing and topped with a drippy chocolate glaze. We added light corn syrup to the chocolate glaze so that it clung tightly to the cake and had a glossy texture. Using an offset spatula ensured the icing on our Chocolate Shadow Cake spread in an even layer.

Serves 8

Once you’ve added the butter in step 3, if the dough is still sticking to the sides of the bowl after five minutes of mixing, add 2 to 4 tablespoons of extra flour. The test kitchen’s favorite loaf pan measures 8½ by 4½ inches; if you use a standard 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, start checking the babka for doneness after 40 minutes.

Serves 4
You can use whole or lowfat milk instead of skim, but the Dutch Baby won’t be as crisp. For a treat, serve with an assortment of berries and lightly sweetened whipped cream.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We wanted a puffy, well-risen Dutch Baby with crisp sides and a tender bottom, but achieving that contrast did not come easily. Instead of relying on leavening agents like baking powder, we achieved a light, fluffy rise for our Dutch Baby recipe using the conversion of water to steam. We found an ordinary skillet promoted the most even rise, due to its gently sloping sides. Fats tended to make baked goods tender rather than crisp. To ensure crisper sides, we cut down on the fat by replacing whole milk with skim. For even more crispness, we replaced some of the flour with cornstarch.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/bake-it-better/2013/03/secrets-to-making-a-dutch-baby/

Serves 4

You’ll need 4 to 5 green tomatoes. We recommend finely ground Quaker cornmeal for this recipe.