Cakes to master

At Maggie Austin Cake, there is no such thing as instant gratification.

Cake artist Maggie Austin LaBaugh spends months designing the elaborate wedding centerpieces that have earned her worldwide fame. It takes several more months to craft the delicate decorations – ruffles, botanicals, animals, anything that crosses her or her clients’ imaginations. There are sugar flowers to form, rice paper to paint. She sculpts models to create custom silicone molds used to shape fondant.

And that’s all long before the actual wedding. As the day approaches, LaBaugh and her sister and business partner, Jessica Rapier, will jet to the reception site with plans to stay as long as a week, if necessary. Ideally, everything will arrive intact and fit for display, but if not, they have the time and materials to rebuild or tweak, even if it means re-coloring the sugar flowers to ensure an exact match with the fresh ones provided by the florist.

After everything has been confirmed perfect, “we make a graceful exit before anyone arrives,” LaBaugh said.

Still, despite all her success, or perhaps because of it, she felt something was missing. So when a local restaurateur asked her the question “What do you want?” LaBaugh immediately knew the answer: She wanted to bake things you don’t have to be royalty to afford.

Even before a foot injury derailed LaBaugh’s dance career and led to her transformation into a couture cake artist, the New England-born-and-raised 35-year-old had been baking almost her entire life.

“She would get the stool and stand next to me at the counter,” recalled her father, Ross LaBaugh, who recently moved to Alexandria, Va., to be closer to his two daughters. LaBaugh and Babin, founder and owner of Buzz parent company Neighborhood Restaurant Group, had been introduced by mutual friends. Sometime around the middle of 2014, LaBaugh invited Babin over for lunch at the now-closed studio in Old Town Alexandria that doubled as the home she shared with her husband, Robert Lusk. For dessert she served the restaurateur her “signature” rum cake.

“He was hooked,” LaBaugh said.

“It’s like the perfect model of a rum cake,” Babin said, and while it might not have directly resulted in the eventual appointment of LaBaugh as Buzz’s culinary director, the dessert “was definitely an eye-opener.”

Neither had gone into the meal thinking it would result in anything beyond possible referrals from NRG to the cake business. Even though former executive pastry chef Tiffany MacIsaac had left the group that year, “things were in a pretty good place” at Buzz, Babin said. “The team that she had created was still there and doing the same work they had been doing before.”

“Until I met Maggie, the thought of redoing Buzz . . . wasn’t in my head,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting to find out that she was just as interested in the more everyday cakes and sweet things. That was interesting.”

Maggie Austin’s Apple Bread

12 to 16 servings (makes two 8 1/2-by-4-inch loaves)

Easy to assemble and terrifically fragrant as it bakes, this bread is a family recipe of professional cake baker Maggie Austin LaBaugh, and now it’s made daily at Buzz Bakeshop, where she’s the culinary director.

Once the apples are cut into thin slices, you can cut them further into pieces of any size.

MAKE AHEAD: The loaves can be wrapped well and kept at room temperature for several days.

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2 cups flour

4 medium apples, cored, peeled and thinly sliced, then cut into pieces (4 cups packed)

1 1/2 cups pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 loaf pans with cooking oil spray.

Whisk together the cinnamon, allspice, salt, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, vanilla extract, eggs and oil in a mixing bowl until well incorporated. Stir in the flour just until no dry spots remain, to form a stiff batter, then fold in the apples and nuts; the mixture will look more like coated apples and nuts than like cake batter.

Divide the batter evenly between the loaf pans, smoothing the tops. Bake (middle rack) for 60 to 75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each loaf comes out clean. The tops will be firm and browned. Cool in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then dislodge from the pans and place on the wire rack to cool completely before serving or storing.

Per serving (based on 16): 320 calories, 3 g protein, 39 g carbohydrates, 18 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 150 mg sodium, 2 g dietary fiber, 25 g sugar

Maggie Austin’s Brunch Cups

12 servings

Cake baker Maggie Austin LaBaugh came up with this recipe for her sister’s family because they love savory, eggy breakfasts. The cups have become a breakfast-on-the-go staple at Buzz Bakeshop. It’s the perfect meal to make with any leftover croissants or cooked bacon you have on hand.

You’ll need a standard-size 12-well muffin pan.

MAKE AHEAD: You’ll have some of the spice blend left over; it can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for several months. The unbaked brunch cups need to be refrigerated for at least 3 hours and up to 24 hours. Baked brunch cups can be reheated in a 325-degree oven for 8 minutes or in the microwave on MEDIUM for 20 seconds.

3 tablespoons kosher salt

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

3 butter croissants, preferably stale, cut into very small cubes

1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (220 grams)

6 teaspoons coarsely chopped chives, plus more for garnish

7 or 8 strips (7 ounces total) bacon, cooked, drained and cut into 1/4-inch dice

6 large eggs

About 1 1/4 cups (9 1/2 ounces) whole milk

Generous 3/4 cup (6 1/2 ounces) heavy cream

Combine the salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper in a small bowl. You’ll need a total of 1 1/2 teaspoons of the spice blend for this recipe; reserve the rest for another use.

Grease the muffin pan wells with cooking oil spray.

The layering begins in this step; make the croissant and cheese layers as even as possible. Use half of the cubed croissants to create a bottom layer in each well, pressing them in slightly. Use three-quarters of the shredded cheese to create the next layer, then sprinkle about 1/8 teaspoon of the spice blend over each portion of cheese. Next, scatter 1/2 teaspoon of the chives in each one, then divide the bacon evenly among the wells. Use the remaining croissant cubes to create a layer on top of the bacon, then the rest of the cheese on the croissant layer.

Whisk or use an immersion (stick) blender to combine the eggs, milk and heavy cream in a mixing bowl. Pour this mixture over each cup, filling just to the rim of the well. Press down slightly to ensure the ingredients will be soaked, adding more of the egg mixture as needed. (You might not use all of it, depending on the freshness of the croissants; leftover egg mixture can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.)

Cover the muffin pan tightly with plastic wrap; refrigerate for at least 3 hours and up to 24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Discard the plastic wrap; if there’s room, top off each cup with any leftover egg mixture. Bake (middle rack, straight from the refrigerator) for 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pan from front to back halfway through, until the internal temperature of the brunch cups registers 165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. The brunch cups will be puffed and lightly browned.

Let the cups sit in the muffin pan for 5 minutes before dislodging or serving.

Serve warm, garnished with chives.

8 Per serving: 230 calories, 10 g protein, 8 g carbohydrates, 17 g fat, 9 g saturated fat, 115 mg cholesterol, 440 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber, 3 g sugar