Baking at the 20th Century Cafe: Iconic European Desserts from Linzer Torte to Honey Cake

Admit it. You're here for the famous honey cake. 

A glorious confection of ten airy layers, flavored with burnt honey and topped with a light dulce de leche cream frost­ing. It's an impressive cake, but there's so much more. Wait until you try the Dobos Torta or Plum Kuchen or Vanilla Cheesecake.

Throughout her baking career, Michelle Polzine of San Francisco's celebrated 20th Cen­tury Cafe has been obsessed with the tortes, strudels, Kipferl, rugelach, pierogi, blini, and other famous delicacies you might find in a grand cafe of Vienna or Prague. Now she shares her passion in a book that doubles as a master class, with over 75 no-fail recipes, dozens of innovative techniques that bakers of every skill level will find indispensable (no more cold but­ter for a perfect tart shell), and a revelation of in­gredients, from lemon verbena to peach leaves.

Many recipes are lightened for contem­porary tastes, and are presented through a California lens — think Nectarine Strudel or Date-Pistachio Torte. A surprising num­ber are gluten-free. And all are written with the author's enthusiastic and singular voice, describing a cake as so good it "will knock your socks off, and wash and fold them too."

Who wouldn't want a slice of that? With Schlag, of course.

About the Author:

Michelle Polzine is the chef/owner of 20th Century Café, and one of San Francisco’s best pastry chefs. She began cooking in North Carolina in 1992 and got her big break in 1995 at Chapel Hill’s Pyewacket restaurant. Polzine made the restaurant’s famous dinner rolls, and a pastry career was born. She has since worked at some of San Francisco’s best restaurants, from Delfina and Chez Panisse to the Range. She has been covered in Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, and the New York Times, among other publications, and has been nominated as Outstanding Pastry Chef by the James Beard Foundation. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and cats. Follow her on Instagram @20thcenturycafesf.