Baking Equipment

One of the cookbooks we recently checked out from the library was Rose's Heavenly Cakes (2009) by Rose Levy Beranbaum, an award-winning baker and cookbook author. Made famous for her 1988 The Cake Bible , Rose gives precise, detailed recipes. We learned a lot about the importance of weighing ingredients with a kitchen scale (maybe we should start...), layering and frosting cakes (well, cupcakes are portion-ready for sharing with our classmates and students), and what baking equipment and ingredients she recommended (even though her favorite $2,000 kitchen scale is way out of our budget).

We're on the hunt now for measuring spoons and cups by POURfect for their accuracy and unusual and practical sizes, and have added to our dream list of kitchen equipment: 5-quart Artisan Kitchen Aid stand mixer, Cuisinart & KitchenAid food processors, silicone spatulas, and... Rose also liked Korintje cinnamon by Penzey's for its mellow and sweet tones (versus the spicier Vietnamese cinnamon), Holland Blue poppy seeds (apparently there's a grade of poppy seeds?), and Dutch processed cocoa powder by Green & Black's and Droste (for their rich 20-22% cocoa butter amount).