59 Comments

Please reply because I need the $50

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it even mentions SUBSTACK !

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Why does my Visa statement show that David Lebovitz charged $50 on 05/19 ?

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Peg Bracken's , I Hate To Cookbook 😅

My mother had it and unlike my mother, I love to.

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Hi David.....I made this for my Mother-in-law's 94th birthday (probably her last). She had asked for something chocolate and different. She had a rough day and when I brought this to the table she lit up. Every bite was a delight for her and she said it was the highlight of her day. Food heals.....thanks so much for sharing.

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I made this for Memorial Day cookout, everyone loved it! Thank you for sharing. It does taste best the day of, the next day after refrigerated it condensed down and was a bit denser - still tasty but different.✨

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This sounds fabulous, s cake with no flour....the eggs must be doing the heavy lifting in this recipe?!

How much rise and does it fall after it cools?

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Interesting points! Thank you!

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I saved this recipe to make. Just read on Facebook Lora's response with original recipe. Seems like the eggs are treated quite differently. Great tip about the plastic wrap. I'm tempted to try the spouted cup but your method makes more sense to my brain.

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Interesting method of flipping over the cake, twice, to get it onto a serving platter. It's a fairly delicate cake so I decided to just use a springform pan instead. I've also seen some people top the cake with a layer of chocolate ganache, which seems excessive as the cake is chocolatey enough, but it also sounds delicious :)

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Oh la la, I really want to make this cake. Many thanks for the recipe.

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As if dense chocolate is a problem! Sounds like fudge to me.

As for a candy thermometer, the newer digital ones beat those clunky mercury column ones

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I had one of those "probe" thermometers where you leave the probe (which was connected y wire to a digital timer/thermometer reader) in a saucepan and it beeps when it reaches the right temperature. I used to make candy and learned two things: One is that it should not touch the bottom of the pot, which is always going to be hotter than the liquid, so the probe should be suspended in the liquid. And if the probe does touch the bottom, it can "blow out" the thermometer, which I learned the hard way - I called the company, Polder, when that happened to mine and they said that's why. They didn't offer to replace it so I learned not to do that :)

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I especially liked 'Also in France, there’s no word or term for “home bakers'. I find that fun, funny and charming.

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It is interesting that we have a term for that in English - but there doesn't really exist the same word in French.

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Your syntax here has a delightful French twist to it

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I love this Substack! Best money I’ve ever spent!

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I was so happy to read what you said about deep frying at home - that's always an automatic "no" for me. It's what restaurants do, and are equipped to do. I know it started when I had a little one underfoot - the thought of an accident was, well, unthinkable, but it has continued ever since. I don't understand why I'm so glad to know I'm not alone in this, but there you have it. And the cake also looks fabulous - like a very fancy brownie

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It's hard to get oil as hot as they do in restaurants in a home situation, and it's also a lot of oil which admittedly can be reused, but I just as soon go out for deep-fried food, and let someone else do the clean up, too

: )

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David! This takes me straight back to my childhood. My mother hated to bake but loved sweets so she let me have at it. I still have this recipe! I tore it out of the NYTimes magazine when I was about 13. It was the first fancy dessert I ever made. I remember thinking it was so difficult to execute and sooooo delicious to eat. Interestingly, when I was growing up, we only ever had extra large eggs in the house. They were all I used. The recipe I have adds the descriptor "one cup of whites plus yolks" to the 5 extra large eggs.

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Lora Brody's memoirs with recipes are delightful!

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