“If you imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it.” Ah, graduation time. It’s such a special time to enjoy with family and friends, and to really be proud of this huge accomplishment and milestone in your life. You did it! Now you should enjoy some cake pops, grad style 🙂 (P.S. sorry the photos aren’t great. These were my first ever cake pops- done a year ago, before I really tried to take pretty pictures of my baking. However, I still really wanted to share them because they are such an…
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Continue Reading“A party without cake is just a meeting” -Julia Childs The wisdom of Julia Childs – so true though! Let’s talk about mousse and Neapolitan for a second. Mousse is a French dessert that is sooo light and airy, while Neapolitan is originally an Italian ice cream of three different flavors – usually chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. So basically, this cake combines the awesomeness of both of those things, and mixes it up a bit. You get a cake that is so light it almost doesn’t feel like you’re eating cake – according to my taste testers who loved this…
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Continue Reading“Say! I like green eggs and ham! I do! I like them, Sam-I-am! And I would eat them in a boat! And I would eat them with a goat… And I will eat them in the rain. And in the dark. And on a train. And in a car. And in a tree. They are so good so good you see! “- Dr. Seuss How about green tea matcha icing atop mini chocolate cake? Would you eat that if I bake? What if it had pistachios too? If yes, then let me share with you! (I tried! ) Mini…
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Continue Reading“If in doubt…bake a cake.” So I wasn’t reeeally in doubt about baking a cake, because, I mean, why wouldn’t you bake a cake? 🙂 However, I wasn’t sure in exactly the format I wanted to go with my tiramisu cake (once I decided on that). Tiramisu is a traditional Italian dessert, which is usually created with alternating layers of ladyfingers and a mascarpone-egg cream, with some good espresso and rum mixed in. I knew I wanted to do that cool ladyfinger lining on the outside of the cake though – which by the way, technically makes this tiramisu cake…
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Continue Reading“Sometimes you have to turn your world upside-down to see it right side up.” I had never tried making an upside-down cake before. Seemed pretty straightforward; but the more and more I read about it, the more I realized the great question that exists with upside-down cakes – how long do you keep them upside-down (once out of the oven), before you turn them right-side up?! If you let it cool too long, you won’t be able to get it out of the pan. But – if you don’t let it cool long enough, the juice from the fruits…
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Continue Reading“A balanced life is chocolate in both hands.” This is why I made brownies and chocolate cakes for breakfast. Sounds about right. But really though – I recently learned to make mousse and it is amaaazing. Mousse is so light and fluffy and it almost makes you feel like you didn’t just eat a whole cake. For the record – these are mini dome cakes, so it’s all good! Flourless Chocolate Brownies (This makes the base of the cakes and the extras make for ooey gooey brownie goodness just on their own) 4 eggs, separated 1 cup sugar (separated…
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Continue Reading“Wherever you go – no matter what the weather – always bring your own sunshine.” So if it’s winter, and you’re going to a party, bring your own bright yellow cake! That would be the literal interpretation of this quote, right? I’d been wanting to do this petal frosting thing for a while, and I finally did it. Good thing it was a mini cake (well, two of them), because it actually took a while! Maybe that was also because I did an ombre version that twisted around in a swirly pattern. I also did it late at night…
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Continue ReadingWhen life gives you oranges…make orange juice! (and then use it to bake? Is that how it goes?) This weekend seemed like a good time to finally put all those oranges from the orange tree we have to use. I had recently bought some fresh cranberries (too many fresh cranberries) and decided if the two work well together in a cranberry relish on Thanksgiving, why shouldn’t they work well together in a nice little bundt cake? So that’s what I did. Only I still had a LOT of cranberries left over. I thought…perfect…two bundt cakes! But then this funny…
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Continue Reading“Friends knock on your door. Best friends walk into your house and start eating” Not sure where this quote is from – but I like it! This week I baked a white cake for my best friend’s birthday. She wanted a white cake, and it had to have strawberries somewhere. But I also knew it had to be special. When you’ve been friends with someone for almost 20 years (!), you know they deserve a darn good cake. I’m pretty happy with my frosting recipes, but I was definitely worried about the painting aspect. Most things I could find…