Right Side Up: Rye & Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

Soooooo, I am hardcore fangirling over rye flour right now. (Yes, those are the sorts of things that bakers fangirl over.) For that matter, I’m fangirling over rhubarb, but I guess that happens every spring nowadays, doesn’t it? Normally, I am fairly lukewarm when it comes to fruit desserts; I will almost always choose chocolate […]

My (Bitter)Sweet & Salty Muse: Walnut Shortbread Sandwich Cookies with Caramel Cream

Apparently I’ve been living under a large rock for quite some time, because even throughout my many pastry “research” excursions in San Francisco, I had only recently become familiar with Yigit Pura and his magnificent pastry shop, Tout Sweet. I first sampled his fabulous French macarons and other creations at the SF Ferry Building Farmers’ Market, […]

Baked Sunday Mornings: Orange Almond Ricotta Cheesecake

I almost threw it away. I almost threw it away. I was going to write a sob story about how I ruined my cheesecake and wasted $24 worth of fresh ricotta cheese… but then it rocked my world. I thought I would have to re-bake my second cake in a row– I hope these things […]

Baked Sunday Mornings: Malted Madeleines

“And soon, mechanically, dispirited after a dreary day with the prospect of a depressing morrow, I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and […]

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 […]

Cutting Full Circle: Chocolate Disks

I am forever searching for new ideas to decorate cupcakes. Some may say, a little obsessively. (Don’t judge.) I saw this idea in the Butch Bakery cookbook, which is *highly* underrated, by the way– every recipe I’ve made from that book has been awesome. This is a New York City delivery-based bakery that makes “cupcakes […]

Baked Sunday Mornings: Honey Banana Poppy Seed Bread… with Fluffernutter Drizzle

More bananas. *sigh* Baked Elements has a whole chapter on them, and this is the first Baked Sunday Mornings recipe from the new book using those wretched mushy, slimy things… I was not excited about this. However, I have to admit that the other recent recipe that we made from Baked Explorations, Bananas Foster Fritters, was […]

Sealed with a Kiss: Chocolate Heart, X & O Cakes

The symbols of X & O representing kisses and hugs are of course among the most recognizable symbols associated with love and, by extension, Valentine’s Day. I never really knew where this came from, though I assumed that the letters simply resembled their corresponding affectionate gesture: X looks somewhat like puckered lips, and O looks […]

Baked Sunday Mornings: Chocolate Ginger Molasses Cookies

I have been having a blast researching Valentine’s Day baking recipes for the past couple of weeks, as this is my first V-Day since beginning this blog. I’ve got some cute stuff coming in the next several days, though this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings recipe, Chocolate Ginger Molasses Cookies from Baked Explorations, didn’t really set off […]