Our friend Giada De Laurentiis is back — and she's sharing a Torta Caprese recipe in honor of her new show, "Winner Cake All!"
After she and Rach made this decadent (and gluten-free!) Italian chocolate and almond cake, they sat down to have a bite and do an audience Q&A.
When one studio audience member, named Jill, asked the pair for their thoughts on getting kids involved in the kitchen when they're young, Rachael and Giada shared similar personal experiences.
"My mom always had us in the kitchen with her," Rachael says. "From birth! Those are my first memories… being in the kitchen on my mom's hip and with my grandpa as well."
As Food Network OGs and lifelong foodies, both Rachael and Giada would encourage any parent to start developing their kids' palates as early as possible.
Rach says that when her niece and nephew were younger, her sister would give them plastic cutlery and kitchen tools so they could mimic her without actually playing with knives when they were 1 or 2 years old.
Giada agrees with Rach, saying that she used to have her daughter, Jade, sit in a swing and watch while Giada cooked in the kitchen.
"I think that the sooner you do it, the better!" Giada says. "Children are sponges and they say that from 0-3 is when they absorb the most. So the more that you give them at that time [the better]."
The idea is that babies get used to the aromas and the motions used in the kitchen, just by watching what you're doing.
"My mom also never bought baby food," Rachael adds. "She would just blend up whatever she was making and eating."
"That's what my mom did, and that's what I did!" Giada says.
