Batter up!

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This article was published 14/11/2020 (2173 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For nearly seven years, Jenna Rae Cakes has been satisfying the cravings of Winnipeg sweet tooths (sweet teeth?) while building its brand online into a social media powerhouse. Now the bakery, founded by 32-year-old sisters Ashley Kosowan and Jenna Hutchinson, is taking its treats to homes and kitchens beyond our city’s borders with a new cookbook.

The timing clearly couldn’t be better. Jenna Rae Cakes and Sweet Treats: Over 100 Recipes for the Modern Baker, published by Penguin Random House Canada in October, lands with the holidays quickly approaching and at a time COVID-19-related lockdowns are in full effect in Canada and beyond.

The pair had already begun researching how to create their own cookbook when they were contacted by Penguin Random House Canada about pulling together their own volume. “It’s always been a goal of ours to have a cookbook — a lofty dream,” says Kosowan from Jenna Rae Cakes’ main location at 580 Academy Rd. (There’s also a kiosk on the second floor of The Forks Market.) “I don’t think we’ve ever been so excited to get an email.”

Anyone familiar with the visual esthetics of Jenna Rae Cakes’ goods (and there are many — they boast more than 196,000 followers on Instagram) will find the cookbook is filled with familiar favourites and an immediately recognizable look and feel.

It’s not a cookbook designed to live in a pile of stained, dog-eared instructionals tucked away in a kitchen cupboard. “We wanted the photos to take precedence; we wanted it to be a coffee table book for people who might not love baking, but who love looking at beautiful photos,” says Hutchinson.

Kosowan, who has a background in graphic design and has been key to crafting Jenna Rae Cakes’ brand, was involved in every step of the book’s creation.

“It was a dream job for me — I love that side of it,” she explains. “I’m very organized, so I had spreadsheets going on how I wanted each shot to look, how they’d all look together. I think in total we had 43 photo shoots — we were all crammed in this tiny room in our commercial kitchen site.”

Hutchinson, who caught the baking bug that started Jenna Rae Cakes, says pulling together a cookbook was a massive undertaking that required a team willing to go above and beyond to get it done.

“The budget goes very, very quickly — I don’t know how people do it without someone like Ashley, who knows what they’re doing style-wise,” she says. “And then having (photographer Brittany Mahood) who is a friend, who knew our vision… without that it would have been impossible.”

The cookbook includes Jenna Rae Cakes’ tried-and-true hits (including all manner of macarons, cookie sandwiches and cupcakes) as well as new recipes and twists on familiar favourites. “We had a ton of great base recipes, but we wanted to build on that for the book,” says Kosowan. “Our head baker Jordain (Houdayer) is a rock star, and had the whole kitchen testing and testing — I think every recipe’s been tested at least six times.”

Jenna Rae Cakes and Sweet Treats also includes tips on styling and photographing dishes, the bakery’s preferred ingredients, utensils and more — many of which are made or sold by locals. “There’s so much talent in this city — I wanted to include as many local people as I could,” Kosowan says.

And while baking is more of an exact science than other forms of cooking, those trying out the recipes should be willing to adjust as they go along. “I think a common place people have trouble is with bake times,” says Hutchinson. “If you’re not used to being in a kitchen, or you haven’t baked before, you read ‘bake for 30 minutes’ and pull it out after exactly 30 minutes. Ovens vary so much — especially someone’s little apartment oven that’s 20 years old versus a brand new convection oven. It takes some feel. We wrote this book with that in mind. We give a lot of visual clues — how it should look and feel when things are done.”

“That’s the beauty of a printed cookbook — you can make those notes in the margins, the pages get stained with batter and food colouring… that adds to the beauty of the book,” adds Kosowan.

With a little creativity in the kitchen, many of the recipes in Jenna Rae Cakes and Sweet Treats can be modified for the holiday season.

“Our red velvet party square is a great one for that — it already looks festive, but you can add some food colouring, crème de menthe flavouring, peppermint, crushed candy canes, decorate it with chocolate sprinkles… whatever you want,” says Hutchinson.

In the end, Hutchinson and Kosowan are hoping their cookbook, like their baked goods, becomes a part of people’s happier moments. “Usually when you’re buying a cake, or a box of cupcakes or a specialty macaron, you’re buying them to celebrate something — a special occasion. That’s what we carried through to our cookbook as well,” says Kosowan.

“We want people to use the book, year after year — make their notes, get it messy and dirty and always have success with the recipes. We’re just in Winnipeg, so we can’t reach everyone with our products. This will help us get into everybody’s homes.”

ben.sigurdson@freepress.mb.ca

 

RED VELVET PARTY SQUARES

RED VELVET BROWNIE

410 ml (12/3 cups) granulated sugar
250 ml (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
180 ml (¾ cup) packed brown sugar
45 ml (3 tbsp) sifted cocoa powder
45 ml (3 tbsp) red liquid food colouring
4 eggs
125 ml (½ cup) buttermilk
7.5 ml (1½ tsp) pure vanilla extract
4 ml (¾ tsp) apple cider vinegar
430 ml (1¾ cups) all-purpose flour
1 ml (¼ tsp) salt

Preheat the oven to 177 C (350 F). Spray a 13- × 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Line it with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the granulated sugar, butter, and brown sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and food colouring. Pour the cocoa mixture into the butter mixture and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until fully combined. Slowly pour in the buttermilk, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar, mixing until combined. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and paddle. Add the flour and salt. Using a spatula, gently fold until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish. Using an offset spatula or the back of a spoon, spread it into an even layer. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out almost clean with moist crumbs (you don’t want a clean knife for fudgy brownies). Let cool to room temperature.

 

WHITE CHOCOLATE CREAM CHEESE FUDGE FROSTING

125 ml (½ cup) cream cheese, room temperature
560 ml (2¼ cups) icing sugar
2.5 ml (½ tsp) pure vanilla extract
275 g (1¼ cups) chopped white baking chocolate
30 ml (2 tbsp) whole (3.25%) milk

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed for 4 to 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl after each minute. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes, until creamy and smooth, scraping down the bowl after each minute.

In a heat-resistant bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until smooth.

With the mixer on medium-low speed, slowly add the melted chocolate and milk. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix on high speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until smooth and creamy. Use immediately.

 

ASSEMBLY 

Pour the White Chocolate Cream Cheese Fudge Frosting over the brownie. Using an offset spatula, spread it into an even layer. If you’re having trouble spreading the frosting, warm the spatula by dipping it in a cup of hot water and drying it, then resume spreading. Continue dipping the spatula in hot water as needed. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour to set.

Transfer the squares to a cutting board by lifting the edges of the parchment paper. Pull the parchment paper away from the sides of the squares. Using a sharp chef’s knife, cut into 12 equal squares.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before serving.

 

Excerpted from Jenna Rae Cakes and Sweet Treats: Over 100 Recipes for the Modern Baker by Ashley Kosowan and Jenna Hutchinson. Copyright © 2020 by Ashley Nicole Kosowan and Jenna Rae Hutchinson. Published by Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.