Recently, I looked around to discover that Christmas had well and truly ended and therefore all the treats that my grandmother brought were but distant, happy memories. That meant I had a house without a cake in it, and what am I meant to do with that? Clearly, it was time for me to start …
I have been baking almost non-stop during this quarantine. As my Instagram will attest, I have been making loaves of bread and cream puffs and fruit tarts and cookies and even some cupcakes. The other day, there were no sweets in the house and my sister was genuinely confused. However, I haven’t gotten to make …
Continue reading Strawberry, Whipped Cream, and Chocolate Mousse Tart (aka Ava’s 25th Birthday Tart)
With flour still unavailable in almost any grocery stores, I decided to delve into the land of gluten-free baking with these cookies made of almond flour. I have had mixed success with almond flour, such as with this cake, because I always fail to take into account the amount of fat almonds naturally contain, and …
Continue reading Chai(ish) Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies (Gluten Free)
It’s raining and cold so, of course, I’m baking. I’ve also tried to make my house as cosy as possible to keep from slipping into social distancing depression. We have a fire going well before usual and I finally caved and signed up for Disney+, so I’ve had Fantasia on as background baking entertainment. I …
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 …
For our annual polo tailgate, at the invite of some friends, I wanted to make something traditionally English. Mostly because the visiting team happened to be English, but also because a posh, English dessert seemed particularly apt for the occasion. However, it had to be a dessert that could survive being in a car and …
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 …
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 …
My sister’s 24th birthday was much less stressful. I asked her a full week in advance what she wanted her cake to be this year. She was certain she wanted the same chocolate cake base as last year, but went back and forth flavors before deciding on raspberry. Her birthday is in September, so fresh …
No beautifully staged photo for this cake...read below for why It was my sister’s 23rd birthday and I made the rather last minute decision to take the train home to spend it with her. She had decided that she wanted to have some family over for a dinner party, and she and my mother picked …
Never Enough Counter Space 