Joy the Baker

These are pretty, right?  Hot diggity dang, I think they’re precious.  

In the middle of frosting these cupcakes I looked down at my hands.  No big deal.  I was simply looking down at the cupcake in one hand, and frosting covered knife in the other.  I had to see what I was doing, right?  When I looked down at this particular moment, I saw… my grandmother’s hands.  There they were, the worn and wrinkled hands that had absolutely fascinated me as a child… only now spotted with powdered sugar and tinted with food coloring.  

When I was a kid I would hold my grandmother’s hand in my lap and study it like it like I might study my favorite picture book.  Somehow her hands weren’t at all different from reading an intricate a story.  

So there I was, frosting a cupcake with my grandmother’s hands.  The image was so strong that I even put down the cupcake and knife and bent my left index finger with my right hand.  It ached a little.  I don’t know why.  And just like that… those hands were gone from me.  

That was simultaneously perplexing and so comforting.  I had to share that with you…  I now only hope that I live long enough for my hands to be read like a story book.  

Now let’s talk cupcakes!

Read more »

Ok… first of all, stop looking at me like that.

Yea, I can see that crazy look of your face.  But it’s me.  The same person that brought you amazing Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls and Perfect Lemon Pound Cake. We trust each other.  We have an understanding.  Just go with me on this.

Something about hot summer weather gets me to thinking (or melts my brain) and brings some strange recipes to the surface.  Remember last year’s Blueberry Ice Cream with Homemade Hot Fudge?  Yea… I got a few strange looks for that too.

Because I still see those raised eyebrows on your face, let me tell you a little about this beast of a cake.  Believe me, I was super skeptical too.

The vegan chocolate cake is dense and moist, and everything you might want from a chocolate cake minus the eggs and butter.  The fat in the cake is almond oil (or anything you have on hand) and one whole mashed avocado.  It’s lovely, and I didn’t taste a lick of avocado in the cake.

The avocado buttercream is a dash more strange.  Yes, it’s bright green.  Yes, the only fat in the buttercream is avocado meat.  It’s sweet with slight hints of citrus.  I had my doubts, but when combined with the chocolate cake… holy wow!  It actually worked!  It was honest-to-goodness delicious!  Not to mention vegan and full of healthy fats!

Your thoughts?  Have I scared you off?

Read more »

 By Sunday, my fridge is usually full of baking leftovers from the week-  a bit of cookie dough, scraps of cake, a tiny bit of frosting.  What to do with all these treats sometimes perplexes me.  This week, I married the leftover cookie dough I had in the freezer from my cookie extravaganza, and the Swiss Meringue Buttercream from my Blackberry Jam Cake.   Oatmeal sandwich cookies!  They’re great wrapped in wax paper and stacked in the fridge for a sweet snack.  They won’t last very long, I guarantee.  

Read more »

I come from a food lovin’ family, so nearly all of the treats I bake are an effort to rekindle a fond memory from my past.  My sister and I are so fixated on food, that all of our family vacations growing up are remembered soley for the food we consumed.  About 15 years ago, we took a 2 week long family trip to Washington DC.  It was a big deal for our middle class family, and my parents even took us out of school for the two week period with the gaurantee that we would write a full report on our educational trip upon our return.  After a tour of countless museums and battlefields, the only two things my sister and I remeber are- Uno Pizza and Cheetos.

Criminal isn’t it?  We ate at an Uno Pizza somewhere along the trip.  It was delicious.  Obviously.  And one day in DC, my parents let us buy a bag of Cheetos (we didn’t get to eat a lot of junk food) and my sister and I followed my parents around the city sharing our Cheetos with little brown birds on the street.  My sister and I now call those little brown city birds Cheetos…. still.  The school report, was probably a glowing review of Uno’s deep dish pizza crust.  Oh my.

What does all of this have to do with Blackberry Jam Cake?  Have patience and continue reading.

Read more »