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  1. Week 9: Turtle Cake

    March 11, 2012 by Nina Spezzaferro

    Before I  baked a Turtle Cake, I was curious as to how the term “Turtle” came to be associated with chocolaty, nutty, caramel goodness. According to the DeMet’s website, “TURTLES® are chocolate confections that are shaped like Turtles. They consist of milk chocolate, caramel and some variety of nuts.” And according to the Wikipedia page: (more…)

    Category 52 Cakes | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

  2. Week 8: Strawberry Ginger Cake

    February 29, 2012 by Nina Spezzaferro

    Since I started this project, the cake recipe that generated the most enthusiasm was my Dr. Devil’s Food Cake aka Diet Soda Cake. I could see why. It’s easy, cheap, low calorie, and more importantly, delicious! I was pleased when so many friends tried the recipe for themselves. (more…)

    Category 52 Cakes | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

  3. How to Melt a Cutting Board in Your Oven… (And How to Remove the Evidence)

    February 23, 2012 by Nina Spezzaferro

    Let me tell you about the time I melted a cutting board in my oven. I hope this experience provides you with a dash of humor wrapping up in an important safety lesson. Like most people who live in New York City, I’ve never been blessed with a large kitchen. And because of that, I used to store things in my oven. When you think about it, it makes complete sense. It’s a space that doesn’t get used frequently, so why not store kitchen-related items in it?

    My first New York apartment was very tiny. There wasn’t even counter space, so I bought burner covers for the stovetop to create extra surfaces. Naturally, I used the oven to store the few pots and pans I owned. Now that I think of it, I don’t believe the inside of the oven was ever used in the one and a half years I lived there with a roommate. And therefore there were never any mishaps with melting the contents of the oven. (more…)

    Category Miscellaneous | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

  4. Week 7: Mardi Gras King Cake

    February 20, 2012 by Nina Spezzaferro

     

    Laissez les bons temps rouler!

     

    Happy Mardi Gras! What better way to celebrate than with a traditional Mardi Gras King Cake?

     

    Now I have to preface this post by saying I haven’t tasted king cake for about 8 years, so I didn’t really remember what a king cake was supposed to taste like. I perused a few recipes and came to the conclusion that king cake isn’t very cake-like, but more like a breakfast danish with either a cream cheese or pecan filling. I love pecan anything so I went with an adapted version of this Mardi Gras King Cake recipe.

     

    I made this sans baby. You see, traditional king cake has a tiny, plastic baby hidden inside. Whoever has the good fortune of getting the baby in their piece is obligated to supply the king cake or host the king cake party the following year. I have issues with the little, plastic baby. It seems like a choking hazard and it looks like a prop the anti-choice movement might use. So for those reasons, there was no baby in this cake.

    Category 52 Cakes | Tags: , , , , | No Comments

  5. Love Muffin (A Cupcake Story)

    February 20, 2012 by Nina Spezzaferro

    The following is a guest post by my boyfriend, Chris. You may recall he was the recipient of Week 2’s Peanut Butter & Jelly Cake. Enjoy!

    In honor of President’s Day, I thought it appropriate to post a tale about the founding of another great entity, Chrina. No, we really don’t call ourselves that, but since I think dated cultural references are funny, I’m going to address the Chris/Nina relationship as such for the duration of this article. Now where was I? Oh yes. Three years and thirty pounds ago, I had asked Weekly Cake founder, Nina, to be my girlfriend. She didn’t have a fancy blog at that time, but she did have a passion for the kitchen and a chubby chaser fetish that I would one day grow into.  (more…)

    Category Miscellaneous | Tags: , , | No Comments

  6. Happy Valentine’s Day!

    February 14, 2012 by Nina Spezzaferro

     

    This is the result of my attempt to bake a Valentine’s Day cake, a cake that has yet to come to fruition. Last Sunday night I was getting the ingredients together for a fabulously amazing heart-shaped Red Wine Chocolate Valentine’s Day cake. I stepped onto a chair to put the sugar and cake flour away when something happened to my left knee. I gingerly stepped down and realized it hurt to put weight on that leg… a lot. And this wasn’t the first time I injured this particular knee so I knew exactly what to do. I stopped everything I was doing, applied ice and elevated the leg.

    It’s feeling a little better and the doctor’s diagnosis is that I tore a muscle and should heal just fine. The downside is that it’s Valentine’s Day and there’s still no Valentine’s Day cake. However, Chris and I are celebrating our anniversary this Friday so Valentine’s Day cake just may become Anniversary cake.

    Category Miscellaneous | Tags: , | 4 Comments

  7. Week 6: Beer Cake

    February 11, 2012 by Nina Spezzaferro

    I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I bake it into a cake.

    I baked this cake for Super Bowl Sunday, and I have to say it was a real touchdown (apologies for the pun). I’m not into football, but I love a food holiday. Super Bowl spreads don’t traditionally include dessert, which I find to be a real tragedy.

    Before baking this cake, I asked around about which type of beer I should use. And I was happy it incited some debate. The most popular answer was Guinness. However, I baked with Guinness a few years ago and I was… unimpressed. I once heard that when cooking with wine, you should never use a wine you wouldn’t drink. I don’t drink Guinness, not even on St. Patrick’s Day. So I opted for Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale. The description on the bottle says, “An abbey ale crafted with roasted malts, hint of Belgian sugar, and a touch of wheat. Rich caramel and toffee notes.” Sounds like dessert to me! (more…)

    Category 52 Cakes | Tags: , , , , , , | 14 Comments

  8. Week 5: Coffee Cake

    February 5, 2012 by Nina Spezzaferro

    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…)

    Category 52 Cakes | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

  9. How to Crack an Egg

    February 3, 2012 by Nina Spezzaferro

    The topic of cracking eggs recently came to mind when I knocked an egg on the floor and decided to take the opportunity to photograph it. Then on the recent finale of TLC’s Next Great Baker, Buddy posed an interesting challenge to the contestants. They had to crack as many eggs as possible (no shells!) in one minute. And during the demonstration, Buddy himself was using the side of the container to crack the eggs. (more…)

    Category Tips | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

  10. Week 5: A Sneak Peek

    February 1, 2012 by Nina Spezzaferro

    Here’s a sneak peek of this week’s cake. It will be known as the mediocre coffee cake. Stay tuned for what made it mediocre.

    Category 52 Cakes | Tags: , | No Comments

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