We need to talk about the cake that changed everything. Look. I was ready to call it. The Empress and I? We were done. After my underwhelming tea experience—tepid brews, mediocre scones, and cucumber sandwiches that tasted like leftover tragedy—I’d mentally filed the whole place under “Fool Me Once.” But then this little box of magic walked into my life. Even the Box Had Main Character Energy I’m not even joking. This dessert box was so pretty it practically had its own skincare routine. Creamy vanilla, trimmed in gold, so elegant I briefly wondered if I should cradle it like
Tag: dessert
Chouquettes (Sugar Puffs)
I think we all, at some point in the middle of being locked in at home, will run out of frozen dinner and start to actually cook. Or in my case, BAKE. I love to bake. The end result is most likely yummy and full of sugar, two elements that I love to have incorporated into my food. You can see why chouquettes sounded good. They’re sugar puffs. That must mean yummy. Sugar + yummy makes me happy. My chouquettes turned out… a little deflated. Let’s just say that they did NOT look like what I saw on Chocolate and
Maple Oatmeal Scones
I’ve had quite a scornful relationship with scones. In my childhood, my family would always by them at the State Fair, cost a small fortune, and usually consisted of generic jam stuffed into big hunk of dry bread like substance. Everybody praised them as being awesome while I would mistakenly give them a try (again) and finding myself hacking up crumbs that got stuck in my throat. Yuck. But then I got to thinking. I like tea. Scones are supposed to go great with tea. Maybe I was eating the wrong scones at the wrong time. Maaaaybe, if I added
The Pumpkin Chocolate Tart by Any Other Name Would Be…
The Fuck Yeah Tart, or so the writer of Wholy Goodness believes. Sorry for the coarse language, but it IS what she called this vegan and refined sugarless masterpiece. Except, I didn’t make mine vegan. When it said to add coconut milk, all I could think was “HEAVY CREAM!” while grocery shopping and OOPS, I bought the heavy cream instead of the coconut milk. It was no accident and I’m SorryNotSorry. I’ll be honest, I gravitated towards this recipe because the man in my life is bemoaning the amount of sugar loaded treats I’ve been baking. So this is how
Chocolate Pound Cake
from Paris Sweets by Dorie Greenspan This ain’t your grandmother’s pound cake. Or maybe it is if she’s French and uses chocolate. And if it IS your grandma’s recipe? You are one lucky grandchild. This pound cake isn’t so much a cake as it is some really good bread that happens to taste like chocolate. It’s not make-you-sick sweet, and it barely registers as dessert… but it satisfies my sweet tooth. I particularly like slicing into this while enjoying a cup of black tea! The two go perfectly together. Will I make this again? Absolutely! As a matter of fact,
Punitions
from Paris Sweets by Dorie Greenspan Punitions, or “Punishments” in English, is a butter cookie which lends itself well to different topping. According to Dorie Greenspan and her research, this cookie gained i’s name through grandmothers wheedling children by telling them to take their punishment and giving them a cookie. Cute, eh? That was SO not my childhood. And like any sane person on hearing the title of the cookie, my boyfriend said, “Are you sure you want to make those? They sound… ominous.” But I went THERE. I made them. And you know what? They tasted like hella good
Almond Orange Panna Cotta
I felt so elegant whipping up this Panna Cotta. That is until I screwed up one of the steps and then hastily tried to readjust the amount of gelatin that ended up in the pot, but whatevs. It sounds posh. I made Panna Cotta. AND it was an almond orange flavor. So there. This was quite the delicate little treat. You got the undercurrents of orange and almond, rather than having it be in your face. The texture was a wee bit thicker than pudding. I felt like someone with too much money and not enough good sense to get
Basic Yellow Cake (Covered in Chocolate Frosting)
I have a special place in my heart for yellow cake. I guess I have a special place for *all* cakes, but yellow is my favorite. It’s my preferred birthday cake. Having come to these conclusions years ago, I was a bit miffed with myself when I realized the only yellow cake I’ve ever had was from a box (shout out to Duncan Hines!) and maybe it was time to make one from scratch. I surfed the net (as you do) and settled on the Basic Yellow Cake recipe from Foxy Folksy. This is one dense cake! It was also