Baking Science: Foolproof Formulas to Create the Best Cakes, Pies, Cookies, Breads and More, written by Dikla Levy Frances, pairs 45 sweet and savory recipes with scientific methods and formulas to help home bakers understand the process behind the ingredients.
A few highlights include Caramelized Banana Blondies, The Softest Double Chocolate Chip Cookies, Browned Honey Burnt Basque Cheesecake, Flower Blossom Shortbread Cookies, and S’mores Biscotti. I will also be sharing her recipe for Orange Cream Cheese Cake following the review.
Disclosure: I received this book from Page Street Publishing in exchange for my honest review. All opinions and statements are my own. This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.
Dikla Levy Frances
Dikla Levy Frances is a self-taught baker and baking scientist. She created the blog, One Sarcastic Baker, as a way to share her recipes and baking tips with others. Her work has been featured on feedfeed, Wilton, and The Nosher.
She was born and raised in Israel and is now currently based in North Carolina with her family. This is her first cookbook.
Baking Science
Dikla begins Baking Science with a short introduction and how she started developing baking recipes.
I absolutely love the attention to detail across every page in this book. Dikla not only discusses the individual uses for the ingredients and their importance, but also specific topics such as emulsifications, caramelization, leaveners, enhancing flavor, and even how best to mix everything together.
There is also a focus on types of flour, when to use butter vs. oil, how to keep cheesecake from cracking, and using chemical reactions to create a rich and stabilized whipped cream.
Chapters are divided according to the following: What is Baking Science, Stabilizers, Tenderizers, Temperature, Foolproof Formulas, and Putting It All Together. The contents have a list of included recipes with page number for easy reference.
Dikla also provides the beautiful photography. Most of the recipes are paired with a half to full-page photo of the finished dish. She has also included a few step by step photos to demonstrate mixing biscuit dough, assembling meringues, and preparing batter.
Measurements are listed in US Customary and Metric. Titles are written in English. Each recipe has a short headnote with an intro, yield, and helpful tips.
Orange Cream Cheese Cake
The Orange Cream Cheese Cake is the very first recipe in the book and an example of how the water content in ingredients is used in baking.
A flour mixture is alternately added to beaten cream cheese and sugar with orange juice to create a thick batter, then transferred to a greased cake pan and baked just until set and golden.
The resulting flavors are wonderful for brunch or an afternoon snack and everything comes together with minimal effort. My daughter was also a big fan. She stated the texture of the cake was spongy with a light orange flavor.
I baked the cake in a round cake pan, but it can also be made in a 9 inch (23 centimeter) bundt pan.
Before adding the sugar, blend the orange zest in with a fork. This will help bring out the orange flavor.
Once cooled, store the Orange Cream Cheese Cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 2 months.
Other Treats
I also made the Olive Oil Chocolate Pancakes, Simple Syrup Rose Water Jell-O, Reese’s Peanut Butter Quick Bread, and Tender and Flaky Piecrust.
The Olive Oil Chocolate Pancakes were such a fun brunch treat. These easy pancakes have cocoa powder and olive oil mixed into the batter and are served with a drizzle of chocolate syrup for even more cocoa flavor.
The Simple Syrup Rose Water Jell-O was quite the unique and delicious use for simple syrup. After forming the syrup, it is combined with rose water and gelatin, then allowed to thicken slightly before transferring to glasses with crumbled dried rosebuds.
The Reese’s Peanut Butter Quick Bread can be prepared as a loaf or as individual muffins. We did both! I personally liked the loaf, while the kids enjoyed the muffins. The quick bread batter is packed with cocoa powder, peanut butter chips, and optionally mini peanut butter cups.
Dikla has put together an entire guide on how to create a Tender and Flaky Piecrust. The results were amazing! I used it as the base for a Sugar Cream Pie, but it can also be used for hand pies and galettes.
Baking Science is a great pick for those not only interested in a fun assortment of recipes, but also the science and techniques behind the dishes. Many of the treats come together in less than 30 minutes with only a handful of ingredients. Others require a bit more prep and time.
Most of the ingredients are readily available in larger American grocery stores. A few items that may require further searching include speculoos, key limes, dried milk powder, rose water, orange blossom water, and cream of pistachio.
Orange Cream Cheese Cake Recipe
Excerpt from Baking Science
Orange Cream Cheese Cake
Ingredients
- 2 1/3 cups (282 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons (6 grams) baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon (7 grams) potato starch
- 3/4 cup (170 grams) unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup (232 grams) full-fat cream cheese
- 1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated sugar
- Zest from 1 1/2 medium oranges
- 4 large eggs
- 1/3 cup (80 milliliters) fresh-squeezed orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F (160˚C) and grease the bottom of one 9-inch (23 centimeter) pan and line it with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and potato starch. Mix to incorporate. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the butter and cream cheese.
- Beat it on low speed for about 1 minute.
- Place the sugar in a medium bowl and add the orange zest. Using a fork, blend the orange zest into the sugar until well distributed.
- Add the sugar mixture into the butter and cream cheese mixture, increase the mixer speed to medium high and mix until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- With the mixer on medium-high speed, add the eggs one at a time, waiting for each egg to fully incorporate before adding the next. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and add the flour mixture in three stages, alternating with the orange juice and starting and ending with the flour mixture.
- As soon as you add the last portion of the flour, turn the mixture off and use a rubber spatula to fully incorporate the ingredients.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool before inverting, 10 to 15 minutes.
- The cake should be stored covered at room temperature for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 2 months.
Tara
Hi Susan! I haven’t personally tried it for this recipe, but I sometimes swap potato starch for cornstarch.