Bon Appétit

The unofficial birthday cake of the Test Kitchen comes to Bake Club this month as Shilpa Uskokovic shares her recipe for Strawberry Roll Cake. 
“I just love this cake,” explains Shilpa to co-host Jesse Szewczyk. “It has everything you could want! Tender cake, really nice cream…lots of fresh fruits. It's perfect.” 
Shilpa and Jesse answer your questions and also award the inaugural Baker of the Month to one lucky listener whose Strawberry Roll Cake stood out on BA Bake Club Substack page. 
And in our segment Baker You Should Know, celebrated author and food stylist Donna Hay stops by to talk about her latest book Sunshine Lemons and Seasalt. Donna introduces us to her favourite cooking utensil, the spoonula. 
You can find Donna Hay’s work on her website and you can watch her series Coastal Celebrations on Disney+. 
We’d love to hear from you - send your questions to BA Bake Club! Find us on Substack or send us a voice memo to [email protected].

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This month, Bon Appétit’s Bake Club is putting a spin on a classic. Listen in as Jesse Szewczyk breaks down his popular recipe for Chocolate Guinness Cake.
“The cake came to me rather easily. I had a vision. I got lucky,” Jesse explains to co-host Shilpa Uskokovic. But the challenge came when it was time to develop the frosting. “I feel like everyone in the Test Kitchen had an opinion on what it should be…I definitely tried at least 10 different frostings.”
Ultimately, Jesse landed on a brown butter frosting as the perfect topper, not just for taste but also because it matched the visual of an expertly poured Guinness, with its creamy head. “It’s reinforced with just a tad of Guinness, two tablespoons,” says Jesse. “I found it important to have Guinness in both places.”
Jesse and Shilpa also dive deep into the mailbag and answer questions about the cake and troubleshoot issues listeners encountered.
Plus, baker and psychologist Helen Goh stops by in our “Baker You Should Know” segment. Helen confesses that she has been living a double life for years and explains how she juggled working with the acclaimed Yotam Ottolenghi on developing sweet treats while seeing patients in her psychology practice. Her latest book, Baking & the Meaning of Life, bridges the gap between the two worlds.
As always, we’d love to hear from you! To send your questions to Bon Appétit Bake Club, subscribe to us on Substack, or send us a voice memo to [email protected].

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This month, Bake Club takes inspiration from a popular chain restaurant for our own take on a beautiful, fluffy and cheesy biscuit that is transformed with the help of Old Bay seasoning. Hosts Shilpa Uskokovic and Jesse Szewczyk make the case for why biscuits are a must for any occasion. “Anything bread can do…a biscuit can do better,” says Shilpa. 
Jesse and Shilpa tackle listener questions and baker and writer Cheryl Day, a biscuit guru who made them everyday for 22 years in her bakery, stops by the clubhouse. Cheryl’s advice for the best biscuit is simple. “I would say: practice, practice, practice … then, take notes.”
We’d love to hear from you! Send your questions to BA Bake Club! Find us on Substack or send us a voice memo to [email protected].
Links:
Garlic Bread Biscuits Recipe
An Ode to Old Bay, the Great American Condiment from The New Yorker
Old Bay Breakfast Potatoes
Peel ’n’ Eat Old Bay and Garlic Shrimp
Old Bay Chips With Lemon Mayo
Glazed Fried Chicken with Old Bay and Cayenne
Baltimore-Style Crab Cakes

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January is bleak, but this month’s Bake Club recipe is bound to put a smile on your face! Hosts Jesse Szewczyk and Shilpa Uskokovic dive into the world of bagels. Jesse talks us through the tips and tricks of how to make the perfect bagel from the comfort of your own kitchen. “Bagels are like this blank canvas,” says Jesse, “Where the yeast and the wheat are the flavor…and the toppings, obviously.”
Plus, Melissa Weller from Bub’s Bakery in New York City drops by the clubhouse. Melissa is a James Beard nominee and author of two beautiful books, A Good Bake and Very Good Bread. She discusses her love of bagels and how her past life as a chemical engineer helped her hone her craft as a recipe developer. Melissa also tackles a tricky listener question on how to make gluten-free bagels.
We’d love to hear from you! Send your questions to BA Bake Club! Find us on Substack or send us a voice memo to [email protected]

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A special bonus episode this week from our friends at The Chef’s Cut podcast. Every Tuesday Top Chef alums Adrienne Cheatham and Joe Flamm share behind-the-scenes chef insights and candid conversations with people in the food industry. Recently, they caught up with Editor-in-chief of Bon Appétit and Epicurious, Jamila Robinson. They discuss what it takes for a chef to get noticed by Bon Appétit, how much testing goes into each recipe on our site and the countless hours that go into working on helping to pick the 50 Best Restaurants for North America.

BA Bake Club will be back on February 3 as we tackle this month’s recipe for bagels. 

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