When I was little, my birthday always fell during April vacation. I never got to celebrate my birthday at school, and my name never came on over the announcements so that people would know to celebrate me. However, that always meant that I got to go visit my grandmother in New Jersey for my birthday …
Continue reading Coffee Hazelnut Cake with Mocha Buttercream
Since this whole coronavirus thing began, I haven't baked any large, two-tier, frosted cakes. We are only a family of four, and a giant cake on a regular basis would be a bit much for us to handle. However, now that the weather is a bit nicer, it’s possible to have our neighbors visit at …
Spring has, at least for the moment, finally sprung. Yes, we are all social distancing, but that doesn’t mean the leaves aren’t budding and the daffodils aren’t popping up their bright, sunny faces. Meanwhile due to some shortages of certain flours at the grocery stores, I find myself with quite a surplus of white whole …
My cousins recently moved into a beautiful historic Victorian home and they invited us over for dinner. I wanted to make a dessert that was thematically consistent with their home, so I decided to make a Victorian Sponge. I mean, Victorian is in the name. Also, after years of watching The Great British Bake Off, …
Whenever my sister decides we’re going to have a dinner party, it can never be easy. I am well versed in dinner parties. I even hosted one for my 21st birthday. For a successful dinner party, you stick to recipes you’re familiar with. That doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t try something new, but it helps …
My neighbor and father’s best friend's birthday was last month, and my dad wanted to surprise him with a birthday cake after taking him out to dinner. I was thinking about cake flavors that he liked, when my sister reminded me that it was a tradition in his family that for every birthday he or …
Early September is always a funny time of year. It’s still summer, but there is the slightest hint of crisp autumn air just starting to creep in. You can smell it when a breeze blows at just the right time of day, and you shiver a little despite the warm sun. My family was throwing …
For my father’s annual college reunion, I wanted to make something very summery. He suggested lemon cake, so I scoured the internet for some ideas. I stumbled across this recipe from The Brick Kitchen, which has quickly become one of my favorite baking blogs. I more or less followed the exact cake recipe, though I …
We were having one of our neighborhood summer barbecues, and I wanted to make something with the beautiful peaches that were in season. I love stone fruit, so when it’s in season I try to eat as much of it as possible. Once I decided to use peaches, I immediately thought about what nuts would …
This was my very first foray into the world of gluten free. We were invited to my neighbor’s house, and his son’s girlfriend can’t have gluten. No problem, I thought, I’ll just replace normal flour with almond flour. Not so fast. What I failed to take into consideration was that almonds are already full of …
Never Enough Counter Space 