Chocolate-Peanut Butter Birthday Cake
When my daughter said she and her boyfriend would be coming to the beach the weekend before her birthday and that “maybe we could celebrate my birthday early,” I jumped into planning mode. In my mind, her comment translated to “can you bake a cake?” In trying to decide what kind of cake to make, I ended up offering up a few flavor suggestions and when she reacted to “chocolate and peanut butter,” I knew it was time to make the Zoë Francois chocolate-peanut butter cake.
Devil’s Food Cake with Seven-Minute Frosting
Happy first heavenly birthday to my mom. She would have been 83 today. I wish I could talk to her one more time. I’ve been thinking a lot about her lately. Mom was the one behind our family traditions and she always made holidays and birthdays special. I’ve said before that many of my kitchen memories and favorite foods come from my childhood. My mom stopped baking years ago … maybe that’s why I took it over. I grew up with a cake on the table after dinner more nights than not. Today in memory of my mom, I made a simple two-layer Devil’s Food cake with her recipe for fluffy 7-minute frosting.
Lemon Meringue Bread
I’ve recently been intrigued by a variety of recipes where the addition of meringue gives a traditional recipe a new twist. I don’t know if it’s a trend or if I’m just catching up, but I’m in love with these “fancy” riffs on cakes and breads. It may have all started with the Sweet Potato Tea Cake in Tartine: A Classic Revisited where the loaf cake is topped with vanilla meringue that bakes up crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. I’ve also seen recipes for meringue-topped flourless chocolate cake, carrot cake, pumpkin loaf and lemon bread, with more than one citing the Sweet Potato Tea Cake as inspiration. I was nspired to tackle the Lemon Meringue Bread first.
Double Strawberry-Pink Cupcakes
If you live in the PNW, you know that spring typically needs some help when it comes to springing! April showers, and even hail, are real. I attribute the dreary weather with why I’ve been unmotivated in the kitchen and hence haven’t been writing here on my blog. (Well, that and we’re prepping for a big move that has me distracted!) But the promise of spring flowers, and longer days have me excited to start making all the pretty pastel Easter-y dishes and desserts. Cheery shades of yellow and orange, springy green, bright pink and even robin’s-egg blue are giving me inspiration. But for now, I want to share my spring dessert debut: Double Strawberry Cupcakes from Tieghan Gerard of Half Baked Harvest. These are chockful of strawberry goodness in the form of homemade strawberry jam and freeze-dried strawberries. Cupcakes that are sure to make you happy with that little sprig of chamomile smiling up at you.
Coconut-Cardamom Cupcakes
Earlier this week my husband and I were just minding our own business eating dinner, totally oblivious to what was going on outside our windows. When we went upstairs to close the blinds, we were delighted to see snow coming down steadily. The next morning (coincidentally it was “Twosday” 2/22/22) we woke up to glorious sunshine sparkling across a blanket of snow and lighting up a stretch of dark Pacific NW winter days. I’m typically over the snow after Christmas but this time it felt like nature was giving me an opportunity to reset and start the year fresh with new hope. The wintry view also put me in a baking mood and reminded me that I had wanted (back in December) to make the Coconut-Cardamom Cupcakes from Sarah Kieffer’s Baking for the Holidays cookbook. Lucky for me, this recipe is listed in the “Beyond Christmas” section so I had all the permission I needed. Also, I serendipitously had some freshly ground cardamom in my pantry waiting for just the right recipe.
Fall baking: Cue the apples and pumpkin
I have slowly and a bit reluctantly let go of summer, inched into the fall season, and started dreaming of fall baking complete with warm spices, apples, pumpkin, pears and maple-flavored everything. I mean, isn’t that what fall is all about? (Okay, maybe some football too.) In my divine order of fall baking, apples come first. After all, apples are equated with teachers and back to school. I also happen to live in the beautiful state of Washington, where apples are aplenty; the state produces over half the Nation's domestically grown apples. Or maybe apples reign first for me because I refuse to give into the societal pressure related to pumpkin spice lattes re-joining the Starbucks menu in late August. Hold on pumpkin, wait your turn. My first little fall baking task was the Zoë François Apple Almond Galette. However, I’m proud to say that I waited until the calendar officially declared it was fall and then the very next day, I baked a pumpkin chocolate snack cake.
Spaghetti and Tiramisu Birthday Cake
Another trip around the sun and we are still in pandemic mode. At times it feels like we’ve lost a year (going on two). But in reality—a lot has happened since this all started. Life goes on and we’ve all had to find creative ways to celebrate special events in our lives. My daughter turned 30 earlier this month, which made me reflect on all the birthdays we’ve celebrated. I was the mom who started months in advance with planning a themed birthday party for my kids. My daughter was more into it than my son (go figure). Fast forward to my daughter’s 30th. We were traveling over her birthday, so once we were back to our respective homes, I wanted to properly celebrate with a birthday dinner and cake. She lives three hours away, so the transportation of said cake needed to be considered. I decided to make spaghetti-sauce-to-go and a tiramisu cake that could travel without too much trouble.
80th birthday picnic: pulled pork, potato salad & cakes
Recipes for Amy’s Barbecue Sauce and Shirley’s Potato Salad
We recently celebrated my mom’s 80th birthday with a family picnic at Wayne Morris Ranch in Eugene. The picnic shelter includes limited kitchen facilities (sink, stovetop and outlets) but no barbecue grills. So, we decided on a menu of pulled pork sandwiches, an assortment of salads, baked beans and birthday cake! My sisters and I made all the food between us. For the pulled pork, we used the recipe for barbecue sauce from my friend (and work-twin) who self-named her recipe: Amy’s Famous Barbecue Sauce for Pulled Pork Sandwiches. We had a variety of salads including coleslaw, fruit salad, tomato-basil pasta salad and my mom’s potato salad recipe — Shirley’s Potato Salad. Our dessert table included German chocolate cake with coconut pecan frosting, lemon cake and funfetti cupcakes. Anyone who knows our family, knows one dessert option is not enough!
Orange you glad it’s citrus season?
One of my favorite bright spots in the wintertime is all the beautiful citrus fruit. Oranges are actually the largest citrus crop in the world, with the United States accounting for about 10 percent of the world’s production. Florida grows about 70 percent of the US orange crop followed by California, Texas and Arizona. I lived in a Phoenix suburb for many years and would commute daily through the fragrant orange groves. I used to love that time of year when I could drive through the groves with my car windows down and inhale the sweet scent of orange blossoms. A side benefit of living there was coming across the extra oranges, grapefruits and lemons that people who had more citrus than they could eat would leave at the end of their driveways or on their porches. Navel oranges were the most common. It was only after moving back to the Pacific Northwest, that I started eating the smaller (and easier to peel) varieties and when I discovered the sweeter versions like Cara Cara and blood oranges.