Ben Starr

The Ultimate Food Geek

Tag: cake

  • 3-minute Microwave Oatmeal Cinnamon Breakfast Cake

    I make breakfast almost every single day.  During the week, when it’s nothing special, I usually make biscuits or pancakes.  Biscuits take about 15 minutes, start to finish, pancakes take a little less.  That’s not a lot of time, to be honest.  Way less than most people might think. But even 15 minutes is too…

  • Strawberry Shortcake

    This is that quintessential American summertime dessert, and when strawberries are in season and my garden is overflowing with them, we have shortcake several times a week.  It’s such an easy dessert to make…I can turn out a shortcake with 5 minutes of effort and 20 minutes in the oven. Strawberries are really the feature…

  • MasterChef: Celebrities and Cake

    Did all that just REALLY happen? Watching it felt like a blur. These were easily the two most intense and personally trying challenges I experienced on MasterChef. I’ll try to condense them into words, but I’m not sure it will work. Team leader. That’s nothing new to me. I’ve been president of this or that…

  • Pumpkin Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake

    Cheesecakes aren’t easy or cheap to make, they are wickedly high in calories, but they hold this mystique over humans that is unmatched by any other dessert.  Of course, I have LOADS of cheesecake recipes, but this is my personal favorite.  As you’ll notice, I use the long-slow bake method for cheesecakes.  I did the…

  • 5-minute Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

    I developed this recipe based on the popular “Microwave Chocolate Mug Cake” that makes the email rounds every year.  That recipe was actually developed by a Spanish molecular gastronomist (basically a creative food scientist/chef) and was considered a “high cuisine” dessert, to make and serve tableside at his $200-a-plate restaurant, to the amusement of his…

  • Ben Starr’s Pumpkin Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Candied Hazelnuts

    **Please note, instructions for making this into cupcakes are located at the bottom of the “cake” section of the recipe. This is the cake that I get demands for every October at my annual Fall Dinner Party, where I serve a 5 course meal with each course based on pumpkin. Regardless of what unique, delicious…