Gesine Bullock-Prado's Blog, page 33

My Life From Scratch: A Sweet Journey of Starting Over, One Cake at a Time

The paperback version of Confections of a Closet Master Baker is out today. It's been renamed "My Life From Scratch: A Sweet Journey of Starting Over, One Cake at a Time" but it's the same content, just a different title and a soft, luxurious cover.
Here's the review from Publisher's Weekly:
From Publishers WeeklyIn this terrifically lively account chockfull of elegant, Old World recipes, Bullock-Prado, a former Hollywood film developer and sister to actress Sandra Bullock, recounts the joys...

Ceci n'est pas une porcelain cup

UPDATE! WE'RE OFFICIALLY SOLD OUT! But I've reordered and I'll give the word when they're back in stock....a few weeks at the most.
There have been quite a few requests to bring the Gesine Confectionary mugs back. We listened and have responded in our own peculiar way (of course).
What you see here is a double walled porcelain cup with a silicon top. It looks remarkably like a paper cup but it's not. It's made to last many trips to the coffee pot, local espresso bar or (shudder) the...

Capitol Clio's Killer Coffee Cake

"Do you have a killer coffee cake recipe?"
It's a simple question. It covers all the bases. I know that (1) someone needs a recipe, (2) someone needs a coffee cake recipe to be exact and (3) it must be a "killer" recipe, not "meh" not "it'll do" but killer.
Any normal person in possession of such a recipe would simply say, "Why, yes. Yes indeed. Let me get that to you." That's assuming the recipe holder wants to part with the secrets of murderously good baked decadence.
Now let me give...

My Life From Scratch: Starting Life Over, Once Cake at a Time

Confections of a Closet Master Baker. That's the title of my book. Confections instead of confessions because that's what I do. Closet because my baking life is aspirational and at one point it was indeed a bit of a secret. And Master Baker because who wants to just be a baker? And it sounds naughty when you say it out loud. Kind of like pianist but probably worse.
But the title is going to change when the book comes out on paperback in June. At first I was disappointed that my...

Meet Tucker

(Lancaster chickens: a composition by Tucker)
Meet my friend Tucker. This is his blog. He's a budding entomologist, a gardener, a hen keeper and a writer. He's probably much more. He's 14.

All the Single Ladies...

Helga and Moussie (the Araucanas).

Kiki, the Red Comet.

and Bertie, the Barred Rock.
These lovely ladies are the latest addition to our family, compliments of our wonderful friends Bonnie and John.
Bertie laid her first egg here yesterday and Kiki soon followed. Not surprising since they've been laying a few weeks now. But Moussie and Helga hadn't yet produced one of that breed's signature blue/green beauties...until this afternoon.
I barged in on Moussie while she was crouching in the coop...

If You Like It You Should Put Meringue on It

If you've got egg whites and sugar, you've got meringue. Five egg whites and one cup of sugar, that's all it takes to coat a pie, a dome of ice cream or a three layer cake with a fluffy cloud of sweetness. Place the egg whites and sugar in a heat safe bowl and whisk over a double boiler (a simmering pot of water) until the sugar has completely melted. Continue whisking until you've achieved glorious snowy peaks of meringue that stand at attention when you remove the whisk.
Gently brown the...

The Parisians are Coming!!!

(petite)
UPDATE: The first round of Parisians have been received and our intrepid friends of pastry reported back dutifully. The big fatties, the cookies I thought were forever lodged in their paper tube prison, actually arrived in tact and were extractable. The petite buggers, however, arrived in complete disarray (although apparently still edible). So another round shall commence! I'm not happy that I could barely fit four in a tube. That's not a respectable number of treats, after...

A Happy Anniversary

We've been married eleven years, Ray and I. And as he's in Chicago working, I came for the weekend to celebrate our steel anniversary, enjoy glorious Easter weather and share a few great feasts.
Speaking of steel, on a walk through Millenium Park we spied what has to be the best graffiti in the history of tagging lavished upon a crumbling girder. The kid who breaks the law for the love of her/his grandma is one adorable vandal.


And speaking of adorable, I found it hard not to purchase this...

It's the Little Things...

The lure of new packaging.




Nestling the treats for a journey and tucking them in just so.



Row upon row of empty shell begging for filling.




And then obliging the little buggers and lining them up for a joy ride.
It's the little things in a baking day that make me giddy. It's wonderful to be back.
And here' something I've never done before...a contest of sorts. I need to do some research and that research requires a package to be shipped to someone out there who will report back to me when they...