Don’t you love ‘style’ foods? New England style clam chowder or Chicago style pizza…is it really from those places? Anyway, this coffee cake recipe is from the Baked cookbook, whose authors are from New York, so perhaps this is true to form. Well, at least that’s what the story leading up to the recipe says. I mean, I’m just a girl from Central Mass…what do I know? read more »
I have no words for this cake. I got in from the fabulous website Sprinkle Bakes, who really means it when she says that she combines art with baking. I envy her beautiful baking and superb photography. I also envy the people around her who get to eat all of that deliciousness. On a side note, I will one day live in my fantasy world where Ina Garten is my friend and makes me fabulous meals that we eat on the beach or on a boat in that Hamptons. Who are these people and how do I get their lives? read more »
I don’t think you will ever mistake me for a cake decorator. I definitely dabble in it, but prefer to maybe pipe on some swirls without any fanfare. My friends and I decided to have a large Valentine’s Day potluck (I’m a bit behind on blogging) and this day deserved a special cake. I wanted to make something completely over the top, pink and girly.
If you’ve been on the internet, you’ve probably seen cake balls recipes. I’m not sure who started it, but bakerella is most definitely the queen of them. She even took it a step forward and became the queen of Cake Pops, which she really does an amazing job with. Anyway, I’ve made both cake balls and cake pops before and have usually gone the boxed mix route because seriously, you’re going to crumble up a cake and combine it with frosting–are you really going to start with a homemade cake? Bakerella often uses red velvet cake mix, which must be a southern thing because I had never found it, until one day when I squealed in delight when walking through the baking aisle at the grocery store and saw a Duncan Hines red velvet mix. I highly anticipated making the balls with the red velvet mix, but imagine my surprise when they came out, well, lacking. I guess I’ve spoiled myself with ‘real’ cake enough that this wasn’t cutting it. Not that I’m above using shortcuts or whatnot–I buy crushed garlic in a jar from Trader Joe’s. What? I hate those stupid skins! read more »
I think in high school I had the realization that the actual season for citrus is in January/February. It was about the time when my mom brought home a box of Clementines. I had never seen them before and were a much needed blast of sunshine in the middle of a typical long, dreary New England winter. Since then, as soon as January hits, oranges, clementines and grapefruits make their way in my kitchen. I was lucky that in my CSA share this winter, they started giving us some citrus with our vegetables. After a week of grapefruit halves though, I was looking for some other way to use up my fruit. read more »
I know, it’s January and I’m still talking about Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I’m still working on catching up to all the pictures I have taken and couldn’t possibly waste them! Anyway, I know I’ve talked about my Thanksgiving a lot, but one of the major forces of it is that we always have the the same menu. Seriously, every year, same thing–down to dessert. When I had made the cakes for the summer party, everyone enjoyed them, but wished I had made a red velvet instead. I know, you just can’t please everyone, can you? read more »
I’m a little out of order with my blogging. I was apparently cooking much more than I realized and have a bunch of backlog that I haven’t written about yet. Well, lucky you, you get more recipes! read more »
Do you ever get an idea in your head that you just can’t shake? I had read about this pie one afternoon on Pioneer Woman. I really wanted to make something with fresh cranberries this fall and liked the look of this recipe, so I filed it away. A couple days later, I was sitting at my desk doing some work. I knew we were going to my parents’ house for dinner and got mad at myself for not thinking of a sweet treat to bring with us for after dinner. Suddenly, I HAD to make this pie. I think I pretty much dropped my work right where it was and went to the grocery store to buy whatever ingredients I didn’t have. Let’s be honest, it doesn’t take much to get me to abandon schoolwork. read more »
Unfortunately for you, this recipe comes way too far into fall to be useful. But if you’re anything like me, it always takes me a little while to wrap my mind around a new recipe or technique, so maybe this will prepare you for next summer. Anyway, I finally stepped into the jam-making arena, though I took a very baby step. I feel very intimidated when I read about canning and the pots, the sterilization and the fact that if I do it wrong I could potentially kill everyone with a random bacterial infection. In addition the thought of buying all that equipment and boiling everything in the high heat of summer is not very appealing.
Cake, DIY, Jam | 
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This summer, my parents decided to resurrect the summer party. About ten years ago, they had a ‘wine tasting’ where they invited ‘the kids’ and we had some good grilled food and a ton of wine. It was especially fun for me, since I wasn’t actually 21 yet and I got to drink some wine. We somehow convinced my parents to throw another party this summer and it happened to be right around the birthday of one of our friends. I nearly jumped out of my chair at the chance to make a cake as I usually never need to make an entire cake.
