An interview with Rose Levy Beranbaum

EYB Members love Rose Levy Beranbaum’s baking books. Rose has been called the “Diva of Desserts” and “the most meticulous cook who ever lived.” 

Rose’s first book, The Cake Bible, was the 1989 winner of the IACP/Seagram Book of the Year and the NASFT Showcase Award for the cookbook that has contributed most to educating the consumer about specialty foods. A culinary best-seller, The Cake Bible is currently in its 52nd printing. It was listed by the James Beard Foundation as one of the top 13 baking books on “the Essential Book List,” and was included in 101 Classic Cookbooks.

Now Rose can add another accolade to the list for her classic tome – it is the 2017 inductee into the IACP Cookbook Hall of Fame. Just after this news was announced, the blog The Secret Ingredient interviewed Rose about this latest honor. 

When asked about why she decided to write the cookbook, Rose said she was “frustrated by baking books that listed several recipes for the same cake or buttercream but didn’t explain what the results would be.” She also wanted a repository for all of the recipes she had created for her business, Cordon Rose, and she wanted to share them with people “to empower them to reproduce them.”

In the years that have passed since she wrote this book, Rose has changed the way she bakes somewhat. One of the first to embrace weights in a cookbook, Rose now is delighted that more cookbooks have adopted weight measurements and that grams are taking the lead over ounces. She thinks the biggest accomplishment from the book was her innovative technique for butter layer cakes “of mixing all the dry ingredients together, mixing in one quarter of the liquid, and then mixing in the remaining liquid and eggs in three parts,” noting that this is not only easier, but also “results in a more tender and even cake.” You can read the full Q&A on The Secret Ingredient website.  

Rose is one of the authors we have produced a complete recipe index for – from her books, magazine articles and her blog.