The O-town Scene

Have Your Cake, and Drink It, Too sophisticated — not just vanilla and chocolate. They're modeled accurately after the ingredients in the cocktail." Combining booze and baked goods isn't a new concept. (Think Grandma's uber-tipsy rum bundt cake or a Ken- tucky-style chocolate-bourbon pecan pie.) It's an idea that's usually driven by flavor, not a desire to party. "It's about enhancing flavors, like bringing out the taste of orange with Cointreau or chocolate with rum," says retired pastry chef Valerie Lifhack, who works at the Alexandria, Va., baking supply store La Cuisine. Any hooch that tastes good in a glass would also work well in a dessert — and sometimes, baking a high-proof liquid into a dish can temper its bite. "I'm not a huge fan of bourbons and brandies to drink, but the rich flavors go really well in pie," says Connecticut bakery owner Michele Stuart, author of "Perfect Pies: The Best Sweet and Savory Recipes From America's Pie-Baking Champion." The choice of whether to let alcohol burn off in a 300-plus-degree oven or to douse the dessert with an alcoholic, unbaked glaze or filling determines whether a sweet goes on the kids' table or on an adults-only menu. The Washington Post You can bake the booze right into your pies and cupcakes for adults-only treats. Brooke Siem and Leslie Feinberg were just two 20-something victims of the recession when they starting hitting the bottle to make a living. Siem, a trained pastry chef working in kitchens across New York City, and Feinberg, a bartender and mixologist, decided to combine their passions for booze and baked goods in a decadent way. But unlike bakers who use liquors just for flavor — effectively diffusing the intoxi- cating effects of alcohol in a 350-degree oven — the pair wanted to make more potent treats. That's why their kid-unfriendly cupcake catering business, aptly named Prohibi- tion Bakery, specializes in a loaded version of New York's perennial favorite dessert: cupcakes featuring liquors — gin, scotch, Baileys — in their gooey centers. Siem and Feinberg call the mini-sweets "shotcakes" or "cuptails." Since the li- quor (or beer, in the case of the popular brewski-pretzel concoction) is whipped into the icing or injected as filling, snarf- ing a half dozen of these cakelets could get you buzzed. "We want the cupcakes to be for adults," Siem says. "The flavors are very If you want to come up with your own highball-inspired treats, look to the bar cart as much as the dessert menu. A cherry tart might get a rye-vermouth whipping cream to emulate a Manhat- tan; a chocolate cake merits a White Russian-ish Kahlua-infusion. And while it's tempting to think more is more when it comes to booze and bak- ing, remember that turning flour, sugar and other ingredients into sweets is a scientific art. If you tweak your recipe too much, you'll get a soggy mess, not an intoxicating success. This means add- ing a tablespoon or two, not a martini glass-full, of alcohol. Plus, you want your guests to feel like they can gobble a second piece of pie and still drive home safely. �Washington Post Feb. 9, 2012 O-Town Scene 7 Johnny Vermin Comic by John Champlin

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