The Stuff of Valentine’s Dreams: Vanilla Bean Cake with Pomegranate Buttercream
Some days I’m wrapped up in daydreams of fluffy, buttery, happy, vanilla-scented cake. On some of those days, I’m also enthralled with thoughts of creamy swirls of tart, fruity, billowy pinkness. Today is one of those lucky days. A good vanilla cake is remarkably challenging to get right, though it sounds like such a simple thing. However, I’ve […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Toffee Coffee Cake Surprise
Sometimes in life, we’re asked to do things we don’t want to do; other times, the requests aren’t so bad. In the category of “HELL YES”: when Baked Occasions tells me to put toffee in a cake, I listen. Toffee Coffee Cake Surprise was one of the recipes that I was very curious about when I first got my eager paws on the […]
Channeling Sicily: Blondies with Salted Pistachios & Lemon
When I saw this recipe for Blondies with Salted Pistachios & Lemon in December, my first thought was, “This screams January,” so I tucked it away for after the holiday madness; it feels so far removed from the gluttonous chocolate, peppermint, and gingerbread that we were happily stuffing in our faces just a month ago. Then, lo […]
The Polar Espresso: Stumptown Shorties
I feel like an Ovenly fan-girl– I just can’t say enough about their magical little cookbook. Every recipe I’ve tried (here and here, plus Eggnog Sandwich Cookies) has been terrific; not since BAKED have I crushed so hard on a particular bakery’s treats. Brooklyn bakeries have captured my heart! One of the best things I had when I visited the […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Gingersnaps with Lemon Sugar
We are a couple of weeks into 2015 now, and I, for one, have so far failed miserably at my goal of eating less sugar. I try not to set “resolutions” per se, because we all know how that goes, but I did go into the year with the very real intention of getting back to […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Hair of the Dog Cake
Happy 2015! As usual, it’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone, and that the whirlwind of the holidays is behind us. This holiday season was chock-full of baking for Christmas, Chanukah, and plain ol’ winter joy; there were all manner of cakes, cookies, bars, and candy– for once, I baked pretty much […]
Champagne Wishes, Caramel Dreams: Butterscotch Blondie Bars with Peanut-Pretzel Caramel
Happy New Year, friends! As 2015 begins, I’m sure many of us are reflecting on the past year and forming hopes and dreams for the upcoming one. I, for one, always strive to grow in my baking and pastry arts each year by trying new things and bettering my old favorites. In reading through some of […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Wintermint Cake
Gone are the days that I used to dread making layer cakes. When a layer cake would come up on the Baked Sunday Mornings schedule, I used to feel a mixture of elation, anxiety, and mortal fear; but thankfully the latter two have eroded as my experience with BAKED‘s cakes and frostings has yielded more successes than failures in recent […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Date Squares… with Toffee Sauce
Let’s begin with a quote from the illustrious Ms. Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen: “Prior to last month, I had spent exactly zero minutes of my life thinking about date cake, craving date cake or noting the absence of date cake in my life and/or site archives.” This precisely sums up my feelings about baked goods […]
Autumn’s Last Stand: Salted Apple Bread with Brown Butter & Hazelnuts
Oh Autumn, you are ever fair and fleeting; I am not inclined to give you up after such a brief encounter. Even here in California, where the seasons quietly and seamlessly blend into one another, you are trying your hardest to chill the air and flaunt your stunning colors… And so, I shall prolong your loveliness just a […]