We at Choyde Kreyol are firm believers that everyone can learn how to bake, you too! And with practice, you can make fantastic baking treats for your loved ones.

Our joy for baking led us to become makers of excellent French Caribbean pastries, and we want to share our passion for baking with you. Let’s start with something fun and easy; here are a few ways to make box cake better.

1. Add an egg

When in doubt, add another egg. That’s what experienced bakers always say, and it’s particularly true with improving the texture of a box cake. Eggs add a tender texture to the cake and a much-needed richness that will truly take it to a new level of enjoyment.

2. If Water is called for, Use Milk

Never add water to a cake, especially if it comes from a box. Water will just dilute the flavors and give the cake a dry texture once it evaporates in the oven.

A clever alternative is substituting water with plain milk in equal amounts. This is perhaps the easiest way of improving the flavor and texture of a box cake, but one of the most effective.

3. Never Use Oil, Use Butter Instead

Many ready mixed boxed cakes call for some oil in their recipe. It’s customary, but a grave mistake. Oil makes cakes taste, well, oily, and that’s not a pleasant mouthfeel.

Whenever the recipe calls for oil, use unsalted butter instead in equal amounts. You’ll end up with a fluffy cake with gorgeous aromas and a buttery flavor hard to forget.

4. Some Creaminess Won’t Hurt

The most common complaint when it comes to box cakes is that they’re dry, and they are. Luckily, this is easily fixed by adding 1/4 cup of sour cream, heavy cream, or even full-fat yogurt to your batter. Dairy will add an unctuous creaminess and moisture to the cake without changing its flavor.

You’ll be surprised to see how a small amount of your favorite dairy will change your cake for good.

5. Go Nuts with Nuts

Nuts add flavor, aromas, and texture to cakes. And there are many nuts available out there. Hazelnuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios, or walnuts, they’re all great options.

Remember to crush those nuts well and fold them into the batter from the start. You’ll add a lovely crunch to each mouthful, and this works with vanilla, chocolate, and red velvet cakes — everything tastes better with some nuts.

6. Poke and Soak

Here’s a pretty neat trick to improve your box cake. Bake your boxed cake and let it sit for a while. Once it’s manageable, poke it with a toothpick or a knife to make way to the next step of the trick.

Pour some sweet condensed milk or a few ounces of simple syrup to add some moisture and sweetness to your cake. Make sure the whole cake is nicely soaked; that’s the secret.

7. Real Chocolate Trumps Ready Mix

Chocolate box cakes usually come with some sort of chocolate covering or frosting. Although the cake is not all that bad, the frosting usually gives away the cake’s box origins.

Instead of using the chocolate that comes in the box, make a chocolate ganache yourself. Get yourself a fancy baker’s chocolate, melt it on a bain-marie and mix it with a dollop of cream. Now you have a proper frosting for your cake, and this is bakery quality, absolutely delicious.

8. Go For Unusual Toppings

Your cake’s flavor is essential but looks matter too. Some creative and fun toppings can make any cake the center of attention and a conversation starter.

Think of m&m’s, grated coconut, mini snicker bars, crushed Oreo cookies, pretzels, or even some fancy candied fruit. The sky’s the limit! Let your creativity flow and top your cake with anything you can imagine — the bolder and more colorful, the better.

Get your kids to help out; the small ones might have some splendid decoration ideas.

9. Booze it up!

Bake your cake and let it cool. Before you add any frosting or decoration, use the ‘poke and soak’ technique explained above and add some liquor to your cake. Just enough to add some grown-up feel to it.

Rum and brandy are fantastic with vanilla and yellow box cakes, and bourbon will beautifully liven a chocolate cake. Please don’t overdo it. Liquors and spirits are fun, but they’re bitter as well, so add an ounce or too just to aromatize your cake.

10. The Citrus Hack

If you don’t want to do any of the above and keep your box cake nice and simple, but still incredibly tasty, remember the citrus hack.

Get yourself limes, lemons, grapefruits, oranges, or tangerines. The riper, the better. We’re not using the actual fruit, but its zest. Grate the citrus fruit and add the fresh, aromatic zest to your cake batter. Use some to top your cake too. You’ll end up with a refreshing and tropical cake that no one will believe came from a box.

What Are Your Favorite Ways of Making Box Cake Better?

We’re sure by now you’ve got a pretty good idea of how to improve the bland box cake ready mix. Now it’s time for you to experiment on your own and make your own improvements.

Baking is a creative endeavor, and with significant risks come great rewards. There’s lots of room for creativity in baking, and even a boxed cake can become a wonderful cake worthy of the most memorable occasions, birthdays, and get-togethers.

Share our tips with your baking buddies and share your own with us; let’s make our baking community grow!

The post How to Make Box Cake Better appeared first on Chodye Kreyol.

Adding spices to your cooking can be a bit intimidating, but it shouldn’t be. Spices are your friends, and when used right, they take a good dish and turn it into a great one.

At Chodyè Kreyòl, the best pastries in New Jersey, we support everything related to learning about cooking, so here is all you need to know about cooking with spices. How to enhance flavor with spices and how to use the most important spices on the planet. If you’re ready, let’s get started!

What are Spices, Anyway?

Spices can be anything. Some are fruits, like black pepper and cayenne pepper. Some are barks, like cinnamon. Some are seeds, like fennel or mustard, and others are flowers, like cloves. A few spices are roots, like ginger and turmeric, and others are leaves, although we often call these herbs rather than spices.

Some spices are used for their aromatics, while others are prized for the flavors they add to food. Other spices are used for their color, and a few of them are used for their health benefits. Spices can do it all!

Here Are the Most Common Spices to Enhance Your Food.

Allspice

If you like the aromas of cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon, you’ll love allspice, also called Jamaican pepper. Allspice is a dried berry, and it’s widely used in Caribbean cuisines. The spice adds a warm aroma and an exotic feel to stews and all kinds of dishes, including the famous Jamaican Jerk Chicken.

You can use allspice in sweet treats as well, and it’s this versatility that makes allspice a well-rounded, highly prized ingredient in many cuisines.

Cardamom

Cardamom in Native to India and Indonesia, but it has conquered the world for its uniquely sweet taste. You’ll probably recognize it in dishes like curries or basmati rice, but actually, the spice is used widely. Scandinavian countries use it to flavor bread, and Middle Eastern countries add cardamom to their coffee!

Cardamom is one of the most expensive spices on the planet, only surpassed by saffron and vanilla. Interestingly, the largest producer for the spice is Guatemala, a small country with a Caribbean spirit.

Cayenne Pepper

The cayenne pepper is a hot chili pepper, grounded into an intensely colored red powder, and it’s obviously used to add some color and heat to food.

The red spice can be present in hot sauces, but it’s also used as an ingredient. Deviled eggs and omelets can benefit from a little cayenne pepper, and so do seafood dishes, stews, and casseroles.

The secret behind the spiciness in hot peppers is a compound called capsaicin, and it’s the same element used in pepper spray! Use cayenne with caution, or you’re in for a heated surprise.

Cinnamon

The heart-warming cinnamon is the inner bark of a tree, and we’re sure you’re quite acquainted with it — it’s reminiscent of the holiday season and many sweet baking treats.

Actually, the spice is quite versatile too, and it has made its way to savory dishes as well. Cinnamon is part of the famous Chinese Five-Spice, it’s the heart of the pumpkin spice blend, and is an essential ingredient in the Indian garam masala.

Ensure you get the authentic stuff because another bark called cassia, AKA fake cinnamon, is far more common than the real deal.

Coriander

Coriander seeds are quite impressive. The whole plant is edible, and the leaves are sometimes called cilantro. The seeds, though, are a true spice with earthy, citrusy, piney, and peppery flavors.

Coriander seeds flavor wheat beers and Indian curries, sausages, and pickles. There are more uses for coriander seeds than you can imagine. If you have never used the spice, start with just a pinch and go from there, coriander seeds can be overpowering, so you need to master it with practice.

Cloves

Cloves are dried flowers, but these are some very aromatic flowers indeed! The earthy, pungent, and sweet aromas in cloves make the spice instantly recognizable.

Mexican cuisine, but also curries and a wide variety of baking treats, make the most out of cloves, and a little goes a long way. The nail-shaped spice is so potent, you need only to add a few of them to flavor a whole stew.

Ginger

Ginger is a rhizome or a root which makes it rare in the realm of spices. When used fresh, ginger can liven stir-fries and lots of savory dishes, but it’s mostly used as a spice for sweet food when dried. Close your eyes and picture a gingerbread cookie; if you’ve tried them before, we know you have ginger’s warm aroma in mind.

Ginger ale and ginger beer are also examples close to our hearts, but you’d be surprised to see how versatile ginger really is.

Turmeric

Last but not least, we’d like to introduce you to turmeric. This is a root, too, and it’s easy to recognize for its bright orange color. Turmeric gives color to yellow curries, and it adds an earthy, pleasantly bitter, and peppery taste to food.

From satay meat skewers to a fancy mac & cheese, using turmeric is not hard at all, and it’s well worth it. Turmeric is one of the healthiest spices on earth for its anti-inflammatory properties, and many people use it as a health supplement.

What are your Favorite Spices?

When it comes to spices, we all have our favorites, and that’s a good thing! The spices we use are our special touch, our signature — our very own cooking style.

At Chodyè Kreyòl, we specialize in delicate pastries with all the flavors of the Caribbean, and all our sweet and savory patties and nicely seasoned with spices. You’ll have to try each of our specialties to see what we mean.

If you’re around New Jersey, order your patties and enjoy our seasoning. And don’t forget to make spices part of your life, spice things up a little!

The post How to Enhance Flavor with Spices appeared first on Chodye Kreyol.

It doesn’t matter if you’re craving something sweet or savory. You don’t even need experience to undertake these fun baking projects, but remember, if you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right.

Baking pastries is all about crafting something to eat for your loved ones, and in the process, you add some of your love for them in each treat.

Let’s get started. Get your oven gloves ready and put on your apron. Let’s bake some pastries and have some fun in the kitchen!

Crispy Cheese Twists

Who can say no to crunchy, crispy, and delicious cheese twists? We’re pretty sure these are impossible to resist. When you see how easy they are to make, you’ll want to make these sticks every time your acquaintances visit.

The secret behind the cheesy sticks is sourcing a good cheese. Think Parmesan, Manchego, or even an Aged Cheddar — the better the cheese, the tastiest the cheese twists.

Other than that, you’ll be needing baking staples, including flour, eggs, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Add some paprika and cayenne pepper to add some color to your cheese twists and a bit of spiciness too!

See the recipe here

Apple & Blueberry Danishes

Puff pastry treats are fantastic. Your guests think you spent the whole morning in the kitchen, but these apple and blueberry danishes are ready in less than an hour. That includes half an hour in the oven.

Apples and blueberries are not seen together often, and that’s too bad because the tartness and the sweetness in both fruits are super compatible. Try to find authentic demerara sugar for these ones, it’s raw and caramelly, and you don’t want to miss on that.

Find the recipe here

Plum Tarts with Honey and Black Pepper

Plums, honey, and black pepper, really? Trust us on this one; the spicy black pepper lifts honey’s sweet flavors, adding a savory kick to a fabulous puff pastry. On top of that, we’re sprinkling our baking treats with a bit of salt as well.

Together with ripe red plums, or any other fresh plum you can find, you’ll have a wonderful two-biter to swoon your guests.

See the recipe here

Almond & Raspberry Cruffins

What happens when you put together croissants and muffins? You get yourself a cruffin, and it’s a fantastic flaky treat. You can make your cruffins anyway you like, but the almond and raspberry combination is a classic. Nutty, sweet, and buttery, this pretty baking project will prove to be a challenge, but an enjoyable one.

Dust your cruffins with icing sugar for the best presentation, and a few sliced almonds will certainly help too.

Find the recipe here

Glazed and Flaky Apple Tart

The key ingredient behind this colorful tart is halved apples, not sliced. That’s a statement, an homage to the tart and sweet fruit livened with maple syrup, a splash of brandy, vanilla extract, and pure raw sugar. This tart need nothing more. It’s perfectly balanced in sweetness and flaky crispness.

Serve this apple tart with a scoop of high-quality vanilla ice cream for the wow factor, although it’s totally delicious on its own. With or without ice cream, you want to try this recipe.

Check out the recipe

Brie, Apple & Onion Tart

Once you get some confidence baking puff pastry treats, you can start experimenting with bolder flavor combinations. Combining savory ingredients with fruit, like we’re doing in this recipe, renders fabulous results.

The creamy and slightly tangy Brie cheese, combined with apples and sweet caramelized onions, is a match made in heaven. There’s more. A touch of Dijon mustard will take this tart to new heights, and it will push your creativity to the limit.

Don’t worry, you’ll love the taste of this tart, and you’ll never see apples and onions in the same way.

Find the recipe here

Hogs in a Pretzel Blanket

Pigs in a blanket are every kid’s favorite snack, but we can make a grown-up version with a salty pretzel blanket. With few ingredients, quality matters a lot, so source the finest sausages you can find, something really special. The rest is easy.

The best part? You’ll learn how to make pretzel dough as well, and that opens a world of possibilities for your next baking projects! Pretzels are the most famous salty baking dishes on earth.

See the recipe here

Smoked Salmon & Poppy Seed Palmiers

Six ingredients are all you need to make these pretty palmiers, and the small, dark poppy seeds add a lovely crunch and a nutty flavor to every bite. Besides, there’s nothing cream cheese can’t make better, and we’re using quite a lot of it.

You might want to bake a large batch of these palmiers because everyone will want two or three. By the way, they’re ready faster than you know, and that’s a huge bonus.

As for the salmon, fresh smoked salmon, thinly sliced will work beautifully. You can buy it pre-sliced and save some time and energy.

Check out the recipe

Which Are Your Favorite Pastries to Make at Home?

Baking is a hobby that grows in you, and you get better with every baking tray you put in the oven. Bake for your friends and family, but also do it for you. Baking is empowering and tons of fun!

Share your baking projects with us, and if you don’t feel like baking. Remember, we have the best Patties, both sweet and savory, and we deliver them to your doorstep. Let’s all get hyped for baking pastries and share our passion with everyone. Share this post with your baking buddies, because sharing is the best way to show you care!

The post Fun Pastries to Make at Home appeared first on Chodye Kreyol.