Ok, so I have to tell you right now: this cake has salad dressing in it. Don’t leave. I promise there’s a method to my madness. Have you ever had mayonnaise cake? If you have, this cake won’t seem so strange to you. Actually, my mom’s recipe for Crazy Cake (which I know just about every family has their own version of) calls for vinegar and oil – the two main components of vinaigrette – so using a vinaigrette-style salad dressing in a cake didn’t sound completely off the wall to me....
Dark Chocolate-Coated Cranberry Cake Bites {7 Days of Festive Holiday Treats}
I have a stock-pile of recipes building up. I’m not quite sure how that happened since I’ve been posting much more than normal lately, but I’m definitely not going to complain! However, I’ve noticed quite a few treat recipes that are fall-ish and/or perfect for festive holiday gatherings, and I wanted to get them all posted before this holiday season has come and gone....
Autumnal Afternoon Tea
A couple weeks ago I hosted a cozy afternoon tea with an autumnal flair. It was so much fun and there was talk of making it seasonal affair, which I think is a wonderful idea! I’m going to be sharing the recipes I made throughout the next month or so, but for now I’m going to let the photos do the talking....
Individual Boston Cream Pies in a Jar
For Christmas Eve dessert my brother asked for something called Christmas Custard Pie. No one else in the family had ever heard of it before (including me) and he had no explanation for it other than the obvious (custard and pie, lol!). When asked where he heard of it, he was strangely cryptic and didn’t really say; in an effort to find out more about it, I looked it up online and even though I found a few different recipes, nothing really stuck out as a must-try. But by that point I was definitely in the mood for custard so I decided to go with […]...
Butter-Rum Brown Sugar Cake
Does anyone remember butter rum flavored Life Savers candy? (By the way, what happened to those? I haven’t seen them in years.) When I was a kid, my grandmother always used to have a roll (or two) tucked away in her purse, and they made an exceptional (albeit, very rare) treat when my sister and I could convince my mom to let my grandmother give us one! (I guess my mom ran a pretty tight ship, lol.)...
Chai-Spiced Ricotta Cake with Nutmeg-Scented Glaze
I love ricotta cheese. So much, in fact, that I could (and do) eat it with a spoon. It sounds weird, but it really isn’t so different from cottage cheese. (Which I know, a lot of you out there probably don’t like…if you can get past the way it looks, it really is delicious, lol!)...
Chocolate Sauerkraut Cupcakes
I love how random Google searches can sometimes be. I have no idea how “chromebar” and “poisonous mushrooms” are two of the all-time top key search phrases that lead to my blog, but I guess I’ll take it. Also along the lines of random Google searches, I love how a couple weeks ago when I was looking for a recipe for stuffed chicken breast, all the sudden I happened on the next best thing (to me) since sliced bread…chocolate sauerkraut cake!...
Spumone Pudding Cake {With Avocado}
Despite our hot and humid weather, I recently found myself in the mood to bake. I had about a quarter of a bag of cherries in the fridge and I knew I wanted to incorporate them into some kind of cake. I was thinking about making something with cherries and cream cheese, like cherry cheesecake cupcakes or cherry and cheese Danishes. Fate had other plans for me though. My visions of cherries and cheese were quickly altered when I opened the fridge to take out the cherries. There in the back of the fridge was a lonely (and kind-of sorry-looking) avocado. Now, there are plenty of things […]...
Individual Cheese, Honey, & Cornmeal Cakes with Prune Compote
I’ve had a bag of cornmeal in my pantry for quite some time and I knew wanted to make cake out of it. This recipe was inspired by three staples of the ancient Roman diet: whole grains, honey, and cheese. Separately they might not sound extraordinary, but when combined they form something truly magical. One of the most interesting things about ancient Romans’ eating habits was how they would recline while eating their largest meal of the day, which typically consisted of three courses. These little cakes are the type of sweets that I imagine would be found gracing the third course of such a […]...
Classic Yellow Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream (A.k.a. Inside-Out Twinkies)
Be careful, these cupcakes are dangerous. And I don’t just mean because they’re addictive. The other day my husband tried to convince me that it’s been a “really long time” since I had made sweets of any kind. I reminded him of the wonderful giant Hoho birthday cake a few weeks ago, but he had a point, it wasn’t his birthday cake. Anyway, I caved and these cupcakes ensued. Mike loved these cupcakes so much he wanted to share them with his coworkers. I arranged the cupcakes on a plate and sent my husband off to work. Mike put the plate of cupcakes on the […]...