Rebecca Michaels
Occupation: Pastry Chef
Specialty: Pastries, Desserts & Breads
Education: Columbia University, French Culinary Institute
Lives: Philadelphia
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O Cupcake Tree
Cupcakes are all the rage these days. Every bakery makes them, some are small and delicate, truly a cake the size of a cup. Some are gargantuan and indulgent, more along the lines of a baby's head or...
Good Stuff on Stuffing
Who doesn't just love stuffing? Bread, soaked in savory juices, baked crispy on top, soft and moist on the bottom. It is my favorite part of any holiday meal, partly because I'm a vegetarian and partly...
Food Packaging 101
I recently sent a box of baked goodies to a friend in Scotland. Fortunately, it arrived safe and sound, so I thought I'd share some tips with you so your home baked treats get to their destinations safely...
That's My # Cake, Buddy!
This week I thought a hearty discussion on pound cake was in order. After all, it makes a quick and tasty dessert that will match well with your Thanksgiving or Christmas meals and it makes a lovely gift...
Cranberry Sauce: From the Bog to Mind-Boggling
People, people, why do you do it?! And you do it every year. Without fail. It's your "famous secret-recipe signature dish." It's what people know you for. Your guests love it, right? So much so that...
Fancy Hot Cocoa: A Holiday Feast
Loyal readers of The Sweet Lowdown know that I'm not a huge chocolate fan. I've tried to extol the virtues of many other delicious dessert flavors in my column, but for some strange reason, it keeps coming...
The Recipe That'll Make You Fall in Love With Mincemeat
Eeeww! That's gross! What's mincemeat? Is it minced meat? And why is there meat in my Christmas pudding anyway? Why would anyone want to put meat in their sweets?
I know you've asked yourself these...
Join the Theme Party Team in Time for Halloween
I love theme parties. Call me a cheeseball, but hey, aren't parties supposed to be fun? At my shindigs, you let your hair down and a while later stick a lampshade on your head. And no one else minds because...
Vanilla: The Most Underrated Flavor
Ahhh, vanilla. My absolute favorite. I love anything vanilla flavored, scented or otherwise. I even wear vanilla perfume. I'm addicted to the stuff, I admit. It's got a soft, yet complex, not too-sweet...
It Takes the Biscuit!
I was going through my piles of cookbooks and I ran across a cookbook from Britain, On Baking by Sue Lawrence, a renowned Scottish baker and author. As I leafed through the pages, I pondered the fact...
You Say Avocado, I Say Abogado
Avocados make wonderful desserts. "Has she lost her mind," you ask? "Avocados are for guacamole! They're not sweet! They're not even fruit!"Wrong! Interestingly, avocados are a fruit. In fact, they are...
The Icing on the Cake
Teaching cake decorating in an article is an impossible task, and there are certainly plenty of books on the subject. But I'm going to give you some helpful tips that I've learned that will make icing...
French Toast Joie de Vivre
French toast seems to be all the rage these days. I've seen it not only on brunch menus lately, but interestingly enough, dessert menus too. Finally someone has had the good sense to get people to eat...
Have a Cow
When I was a kid, I used to love going to the Purple Cow, an ice cream parlor on the South Side of Chicago that used to be a haven for neighborhood rugrats like myself. Not only did they have a wall devoted...
PB & J: Not Just For the Lunchroom Anymore
A friend of mine recently told me about a dessert she had that she just couldn't get out of her mind. It was a molten chocolate lava cake. Okay, standard fare, I thought. One would be hard pressed to...
No Whey!
Call me lazy, call me super-efficient, but I'm always looking for short cuts and easy ways to entertain and still maintain my high standards for culinary perfection. Fruit curds are a simple way to add...