The following is a sneak peek from our December issue, heading to newsstands soon.
Black Wick Bakery's Apple Cake (Photo by Tyler Darden; food styling by Dianna Jeffra; prop styling by Giulietta Pinna)
’Tis the season for celebrations, family heading into town and overindulging in holiday treats. We’ve uncovered desserts that blend Grandma’s secrets with sprinkles of contemporary culinary finesse.
Clockwise from left, Bell Cafe's sernik, Africanne on Main's bread pudding, Westhampton Pastry Shop's fruitcake, Whisk's bûche de Noël and Black Wick Bakery's apple cake (Photo by Tyler Darden; food styling by Dianna Jeffra; prop styling by Giulietta Pinna)
Bell Cafe: Sernik
8319 Bell Creek Road, 804-746-4647
When Tiffany Ingram was growing up, the holidays meant time in the kitchen watching her grandmother prepare traditional Polish recipes. Now, as co-owner and baker at Bell Cafe, Ingram eagerly awaits the colder months, so she can showcase her grandmother’s delights, including sernik, a Polish cheesecake. The key ingredient is homemade twarog, a classic Polish cheese bursting with creamy flavor.
Cost: $40, add ganache $5, add berries $8; order: 24 hours in advance
Black Wick Bakery: Apple Cake
804-629-0888
Martha Miller, the owner of Black Wick Bakery, has embraced tradition in the form of her family’s celebrated apple cake while introducing a secret ingredient: spicy pecans. “It’s not overwhelming; it gives it a balance,” says Miller, who roasts cayenne-sprinkled pecans for the dessert. Each tier of the lofty three-layer cake gets a fine dusting of maple cream cheese frosting. Miller employs the “good stuff” for the maple syrup frosting, using less sugar so all the other flavors can shine, especially the fresh apples.
Cost: $50; order: three days in advance (a week is preferred); free delivery for Ashland residents
Africanne on Main: Bread Pudding
200 E. Main St., 804-343-1233
Chef Ida MaMusu’s catch phrase is “It’s OK to lick your fingers here,” but in the case of her holiday bread pudding — which has no added sugar and explodes with mango, pineapple, a trio of berries, guava and coconut — you’ll most likely be licking the remnants of its tart lemon glaze off your fork. MaMusu uses a recipe handed down from her grandmother, who passed away in the ’80s. “Every time we had a family gathering,” MaMusu says, “it was her famous bread pudding.”
Cost: small pan $25, large pan $65; order: at least three days in advance
Westhampton Pastry Shop: Fruitcake
5728 Patterson Ave., 804-282-4413
The holiday fruitcake is often the recipient of straight-up ridicule. At Westhampton Pastry Shop, they ditched the citron, and that tweak turned the dessert into a crowd-pleaser that keeps “closet fruitcake fans” coming back, says longtime employee Diana Rogers, whose husband, Guy “Boot” Rogers, owned the business from 1990 to 2016. Despite ownership changes, the fruitcake recipe lives on. During World War II, the Rogers men baked 24 hours a day around Christmas to send their light fruitcake — with pineapple, cherry, raisins and pecans — to soldiers.
Cost: $41, fruitcake cups are $1.50; order: a week in advance
Whisk: Bûche de Noël
2100 E. Main St., 804-728-1576
Morgan Botwinick created her first bûche de Noël, or yule log, while at culinary school in New York City. Now she reinvents the classic with a modern spin, offering flavors such as hazelnut and white chocolate-peppermint. “I think the yule log is meant to be a centerpiece,” she says. Botwinick’s elegant hazelnut sponge cake topped with chocolate mousse is accented by a dark-chocolate ganache glaze, then adorned with candied hazelnuts that shout holiday showstopper.
Cost: $65; order: Whisk will begin to take orders Dec. 1, and pickup days can be requested.
