Some weekends change you a little, and this was one of them. After months of anticipation, it finally arrived: the Bake from Scratch Fall Baking Retreat in Birmingham, Alabama. I signed up the very day I discovered that Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of The Cake Bible and one of my baking heroes, would be teaching. For a lifelong baker like me, it felt like getting a golden ticket to pastry heaven.
The retreat was a three-day weekend filled with baking, learning, and connecting with other passionate bakers. The first evening kicked things off at Williams Sonoma in Birmingham to celebrate the launch of Brian Hart Hoffman's new line of cake mixes and cake pans. Brian is the Editor in Chief of Bake from Scratch magazine, the host of the retreat, and the President and Chief Creative Officer of Hoffman Media Publishing Company. He's also super fun!
I had never met Brian before, but I was an instant fan. He has such wonderful energy and enthusiasm, which is completely contagious. His passion for baking is something I can really appreciate, of course, but we also discovered we have a few things in common. We are both originally from Alabama and both worked as flight attendants for the same airline, USAir. How cool is that!
That first night (Friday, Oct 10) of the retreat was all about celebration, with no baking just yet. It was a wonderful chance to meet and chat with Brian, Rose, and Erin Jeanne McDowell, author of The Book on Pie and instructor for the retreat who was also super sweet and personable. I got to meet Rose and her husband Woody Wolston that night and had some lovely conversations with them.
Rose had a sling on her arm due to a fall in Paris just three weeks earlier, so I was really impressed that she was there at all. I told her that my mother had also broken her arm in the same exact place (same arm too, the left one) and was supposed to be with me in Birmingham but couldn’t make it because she was still in too much pain.
The next two days, Saturday and Sunday, were the hands-on baking sessions held from 9 AM to 4 PM each day at The Hoffice, Hoffman Media’s beautiful two-story office building and test kitchen in downtown Birmingham. The space was incredible, with 28 working kitchen stations and 28 ovens. We had a full retreat with 28 bakers in attendance, mostly women and one gentleman.
We started with introductions, and I quickly learned that almost everyone there had attended one or several previous Bake From Scratch retreats. Lots of repeat attendees. I was one of only three newbies. Bakers had come from all over, from California, Florida, Illinois, Tennessee, Oregon, Kansas, New Jersey, and many more states.
Day 1: Baking with Rose Levy Beranbaum
The first full day of baking was all about Rose. She and Erin taught us how to make the cover cake from the new edition of The Cake Bible, her famous cookbook originally published in 1988. Since then, it has been reprinted a whopping 60 times. Rose recently created an updated version to reflect ingredient changes that have occurred over the past 35 years, even eggs are different now, with smaller yolks.
Her new edition includes weight measurements for all ingredients, and she and Erin worked together to bake and photograph the cakes that needed updated photos, all from Erin’s kitchen in Kansas City. That was quite a change from when Rose originally published The Cake Bible. Back then, her photographer was in New York City, where she lived and grew up, and she would bake each cake herself, carry it through the city, and personally deliver it on foot to her photographer’s apartment, fighting NYC traffic and trying to keep her cake intact along the way.
For me, meeting Rose was truly special. I’ve treasured her books for decades, especially The Cake Bible and Rose’s Christmas Cookies. I’ve used them so often over the years that the pages were literally falling out. I eventually tossed out my old Christmas Cookies book when my mom bought me a new copy in 1999, but my Cake Bible was so well-loved that I actually repaired it myself with Elmer’s glue, and it worked. When I told Rose this story, she was intrigued, which made me smile.
Sitting with Rose and Woody at lunch was another highlight. She shared wonderful stories, like the time she delivered a cake to Martha Stewart’s house, possibly for a project they were collaborating on, and discovered that Martha’s husband, Andy Stewart, had been her camp counselor years earlier when she was a teenager in Vermont. She also mentioned that Carly Simon was one of her camp buddies. Neat!
Day 2: Baking with Erin Jeanne McDowell and Brian Hart Hoffman
The second day featured two more amazing recipes, Concord Grape Hand Pies with Erin and Homemade Bear Claws with Brian. I was fascinated by the grape filling because I had never even seen a Concord grape before. The puff pastry we made for both recipes was a bit tricky and time consuming but so satisfying once finished. Both desserts were completely delicious.
We also got to taste Rose’s famous and beautiful cover cake, La Porcelaine, French for “Porcelain.” It’s a light and airy yet rich chocolate cake, incredibly chocolatey, with an exquisite chocolate raspberry ganache frosting and a homemade chocolate fondant covering that’s surprisingly delicious.
I also loved that Rose and Woody have given themselves the nickname “RoseWood,” which is how they signed my fresh new copy of The Cake Bible. I thought that was just the sweetest thing. They really are such a kind and endearing couple.
A Weekend to Remember
The entire weekend was such a memorable experience filled with learning, laughter, and inspiration. Meeting three baking legends in one weekend was such a gift, and being surrounded by fellow baking enthusiasts made it even sweeter.
I left Birmingham feeling motivated, grateful, and full of new ideas to bring back to my own kitchen. I can’t wait to bake some of these recipes again soon and share more of what I learned with all of you.
It was wonderful to meet lots of new baking friends too, of course! These are the bakers from my little corner of the kitchen for the retreat weekend.
My hubby, Jay and sweet puppy, Spencer were my traveling companions which was also special!
Related Recipes
Love this recipe? If you try it, be sure to tag me on @Instagram! You can also find me on Pinterest, YouTube and Facebook.
Leave a Reply