Flour Bakery, Boston

Flour Bakery, Boston 

My friend Helen and I recently went on a quick trip to New England! We took the JetBlue red eye on a Thursday night and arrived early Friday morning in Boston. Helen's daughter Rosie, a student at Johnson & Wales, picked us up with her roommate Kristen. First stop? Flour Bakery, of course! 

I've made several items from Joanne Chang's Flour Bakery cookbook and they've all been delicious. I was excited to visit one of her bakeries. Oh my goodness, we certainly weren't disappointed! Everything we got was soooo perfect! At the top is Joanne's famous Thrown Down Winning sticky bun.


Helen and I were thrilled to meet up with our friend Christopher. We all worked together at Project Angel Food in Los Angeles many moons ago...we had so many laughs and late nights together (left photo). Right photo is Rosie and Kristen...one day they'll have a bakery as famous and yummy as Flour!

Flour Bakery(there are three locations, we went here)
South End 1595 Washington St., Boston MA 02118
617.267.4300 Mon-Fri 7a-9p; Sat 8a-6p; Sun 8a-5p

If you can't make it to Flour Bakery, be sure to pick up the cookbook so you can try make some of the treats at home.

Flour Bakery Yellow Birthday Cake with Fluffy Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Flour Bakery Yellow Birthday Cake with Fluffy Chocolate Ganache Frosting

My friend Rosie came over to bake! We were supposed to bake together...but somehow I ended up making Jello (that post is coming soon), lying on the couch, eating Red Vines and watching Top Gear. Anyway, I took photos of Rosie making a cake in my kitchen. That's close enough, no?

Rosie's been on the blog in the past (Lessons from a Pastry Chef and Challah) and is a recent graduate of the Baking and Pastry Arts program at the prestigious Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. She's heading back to finish her BS degree in a couple weeks...and guess who's going to Parent's Weekend?! Road Trip! (Well, JetBlue red eye trip to be exact). My friend Helen (Rosie's mom) and I are going to J&W Family Weekend in early October. I've known Rosie since she was three years old, picked her up from pre-school, been the emergency contact on her school forms, and watched her grow up - so I earned my place at Family Weekend! Can't wait to see Rosie in situ at her college. We have other day trips planned too...more on that later. ;)

I've made Flour Bakery's Yellow cake in the past (cupcake form) and I did make the ganache for the frosting. But frosting it? Rosie did all that...while watching Top Gear. Somehow, it took us all day to make this cake, but I'm sure if you are more efficient than us, you will get this done in a jiffy.

We had about one cup of frosting remaining. We planned to pipe a nice border, but time got away from us and we needed to head out. I dropped off a slice to my friend JustJenn and she said it needed more frosting. I hate frosting so I thought she was crazy (hee hee)...but you might want to use all the frosting.

We decided to put little ball decorations on the edges - chocolate balls, pearl balls from NY Cake Company, and silver nonpareils dragees. These silver balls aren't sold in California due to a lawsuit so my friend Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet mailed me some from the East Coast. Thanks Mary!

Anyone would love this for their birthday!!

Cidney the Girl Dog helped (?) out too by just being cute.

 

Thanks Rosie for coming over and baking! And thanks for helping me reorganize that pesky junk drawer in the kitchen. See you at Family Weekend at Johnson & Wales!

Recipe:
Joanne Chang has very detailed directions in her book. You should really purchase the book Flour Bakery because it is way awesome, or get the book at your library. The Daily Meal posted the recipe.

Flour Bakery Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache

Flour Bakery Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache

There's nothing better than yellow cake. Serious. I love yellow cake. And with a chocolate ganache? Sit down and have a blast.

For my co-worker's birthday, I made these cupcakes. As you know, I don't care for frosting (which is why, I'll say it again, the Bundt Cake is the most perfect food product on the planet with a perfect cake to frosting ratio!) But I like the chocolate ganache because it isn't overly sweet with butter and powdered sugar. Just pre-butter (aka cream) and chocolate. 

Yellow cupcakes with chocolate ganache are like a little hug. A nice bite of fun and yum. The ganache chilling takes the longest... you need to wait until it is spreadable (and you can freeze any leftovers). You can either let it sit at room temp or put in the fridge and stir every 15 until the right consistency. I frosted mine with a small off-set spatula.

Do you have a special occasion coming up? Or want to celebrate making it to Friday? Then make these!

These were adapted from the Flour Bakery's Yellow Cake recipe. One day I want to make their proper yellow cake with chocolate ganache buttercream frosting.

Recipe:
Yellow Cake recipe
Joanne Chang has very detailed directions. You should purchase the book, Flour Bakery or get the book at your library. The Daily Meal posted the recipe.
Notes: I used powdered buttermilk. I added 1/4 cup of the powder to the dry ingredients, and used 1 cup of water instead of the 1 cup buttermilk.
Yield: 24+ cupcakes (I had extra batter but tossed it because I ran out of time - I was baking before heading off to work!)


Chocolate Ganache (learned this in my New School of Cooking class)
Equal parts chocolate (by weight) and heavy cream (by volume).
I used 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate and 8 ounces (1 cup) heavy cream. Heat the cream (not to boiling) and pour over the chocolate. Let sit for five minutes then slowly whisk until smooth. Cool until it is spreadable for the cupcakes.

Flour Bakery Brownies

Flour Bakery Brownies

It has been super hot in Los Angeles.
And the library's air conditioning is out.
And I sit in an office with 1970's carpet-like material on the walls (noise reduction) that turns our little place into a greenhouse or oven.

I think I should make ice cream, but I made brownies instead. Hey, brownies may not cool you down, but they are just cool.

I love the Flour Bakery cookbook...and am so excited to hear smart-pants Joanne Chang is working on book two already!

These are definitely bakery brownies. Those ones you point at in the glass case and sneak into the movie theater or share with a friend. Or secretly eat them and don't tell your friend. I always love a thin crispy top and rich, moist brownie.

Of course, these would totally cool you down with a big scoop of ice cream. Hum, next time...

Recipe:
Flour: spectacular recipes from Boston's Flour Bakery + Cafe by Joanne Chang: Available on Amazon, your local bookstore, or in your library