Baked Sunday Mornings: Classic Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but… I really wanted to make a layer cake. There was a time not so long ago that I dreaded the Baked Sunday Mornings assignments for layer cakes. So much work, so much time, so much potential for things to go wrong… But I’ve come a long way since those […]
Bake for the Gold: Olympic Rings Cupcakes
If you’re anything like me, you are watching the Winter Olympics every night with baited breath. (Or maybe you’re not quite as nerdy as me, but keep reading anyway.) Every time I watch, it makes me want to pull on my ice skates, jump onto my snowboard, or take up skiing… none of which I […]
Cinderella’s Midnight Snack: Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes
So, after Cinderella’s unfortunate midnight pumpkin incident and prior to her “rescue” by Prince Charming, very few people are aware of her actual activities. (Disney always softens the ugly truth– have you read the original version of The Little Mermaid?) I’ve come to learn from anonymous sources that what she was doing on that sad, dark […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Mile-High Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream
By definition, a recipe with the words ‘mile-high’ and ‘chocolate’ in the title really couldn’t be anything but mind-blowing; at the very least, it certainly got my attention. I had been really looking forward to the Mile-High Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream from Baked Elements on the Baked Sunday Mornings schedule for some time, and […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Oopsy Daisy Cake (aka Milk Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cake)
I finally did it. Good god. After a number of failed, frustrated, and expletive-filled efforts, I finally made BAKED‘s buttercream frosting right on the first try! This frosting has inspired rage in my soul and a near-attempt to throw my beloved mixer over the balcony, but it is SO. DAMN. GOOD… I just couldn’t give up. […]
Sweet & Sour Serendipity: Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie
I was afraid of this thing called “rhubarb” for so long. I really couldn’t articulate any specific reason, other than that lame excuse of being afraid to try something new and unfamiliar. Then, at a tiny café near Yosemite recently, I tried Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie on a whim. What on earth had I been waiting for?? […]
The Bee’s Knees: Pull-Apart Honey-Cola Cake with Lemon-Vanilla Bean Crème Anglaise
I live in California. What we call “winter” is a pathetic shadow of what the rest of the country endures for several months of the year, and it seems that this year’s cold season has been particularly long in many regions. I have reveled in our 70°+ March and April days, weeks-long stretches of brilliant […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Sunrise Key Lime Tarts
This has been a very busy week of pastry research for me– simultaneously glorious and oh-so-gluttonous… As I was on Spring Break from work, I had the opportunity to play in San Francisco to my heart’s content, and play I did. I’m working on a separate blog post about my “Pastry Crawl“, so why do […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Aunt Sassy Cake
Updated photo from Spring 2013 remake– update at the bottom! Pistachios are such curious little nuts. I don’t think I’ve ever really examined them before– I generally just crack them open and pop ’em in my mouth without a whole lot of thought. For this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings assignment, I got up close and personal […]
Tastes Like Luck: Chocolate Shamrock Sandwich Cookies
Got luck? I love shamrocks. They make me happy– any time of year, really. The symbol of the shamrock is of course associated with Ireland today, and has come to be synonymous with St. Patrick’s Day. The word comes from the Irish-Gaelic seamróg, meaning “little clover”. Legend has it that St. Patrick used this 3-leaf […]