It dawned on me after making this cake that the rules I set up for this project don’t really allow for me to take time to perfect a recipe. Because if the rules did allow me to perfect a recipe, this would be a recipe I’d want to perfect.
I made this cake on a weeknight so I was looking for something quick and easy and I figured coffee cake would be a nice breakfast treat to have around. I looked up some recipes and found this one, but then took a good deal of creative license, adding Kahlua (you know, ’cause it’s coffee cake), buttermilk, and cake flour and doubling the crumb topping. I also baked in a springform pan, which also wasn’t in the original directions. (more…)
Have you heard of diet soda cakes? Well, now you have. The idea is simple. You select a cake box mix and instead of adding oil, eggs, and water, you simply add a can of diet soda. “But how is that possible?” you ask. Well, I’m not entirely sure. But it works! I read somewhere that when boxed cake mixes first hit grocery store shelves, they simply required that you add water and bake. They didn’t sell well. Customer research revealed home bakers felt that the process was too easy. So the cake box people adjusted the mix and directions to require eggs, oil, and water. But I suppose there’s still some sort of loophole in which you don’t have to add so much fat to cake mix to make it work. (more…)
Friday was my friend Talia’s birthday and this was her cake. Talia works with me and also makes beautiful, handmade jewelry under her Piedra Studio brand. You should check it out.
Talia and I love to muse about our favorite things, which in no particular order include cruising, real estate, home shopping, reality television, antique jewelry, faux fur… I could on forever. But something we differ on is preferred cake flavors. As you probably deduced from my birthday Chocolate Bacon Cake, I prefer fatty, heavy, chocolatey cakes. Talia prefers light, elegant, sophisticated flavors. And that’s why I was more than happy to bake her this Lemon Buttercream Birthday Cake, because I want my 52 cakes to have variety and this is a cake I’d never choose for myself. (more…)
*Caution: this post contains several different types of nuts.
This peanut butter & jelly cake is an “I’ll have just one more piece” kind of cake. This is dangerous stuff, people. So be warned.
My boyfriend, Chris, had a birthday this week. His birthday is 9 days after mine and it’s just shy of 3 weeks after Christmas so we’re kind of partied out over here, but there’s still cake to be made. 51 more cakes, to be exact. (more…)
This week’s cake was a special peanut butter and jelly cake for a special person. Will post the recipe shortly, but for now here’s what it looked like.
My first cake of 2012 was my birthday cake, which was an exciting way to launch the project, but also carried with it some pressure. I started thinking about it over a month ago and even created a pin board on Pinterest for it. I had a lot of grand plans, which at one point included fondant snowflakes. But when it came down to it, I just wanted a great tasting cake that looked decent. I have a year to work on my decorating skills, but flavors are easier to master.
I decided on chocolate bacon, which a lot of people I initially told seemed horrified by. I’m not sure why. Bacon’s really having a moment right now. It being one of my favorite foods, why not throw it into the batter of the cake? My original plan for the frosting was to make maple buttercream. I thought it would complement the flavor of the bacon and chocolate nicely. But I didn’t plan far enough in advance and couldn’t find maple extract in time. After the third store I visited, I settled on almond buttercream. So that was the thought process behind it all.
And so it begins. I just put the finishing touches on my first week’s cake, which is also coincidentally my birthday cake. There she is, chillin’ in the fridge, just waiting to be devoured tomorrow afternoon. I chose chocolate bacon with almond buttercream. If the batter, cake crumbs, and frosting licks are any indication, this cake is going to be out of this world.
Check back later on this week for the full recipe and how-to.
