Category Archives: Cake & Cupcakes

I live in a valley with major fruit growing operations. This time of year, driving down many streets includes waiting while the big picking machines move from field to field to brush the blueberry bushes and gather up the bounty. There are lots of recipes for cakes that include cooked fruit but this time of […]

Looking for something to help you believe that summer is on it’s way? No fresh local grown fruit yet? What better way than something that just glows with thoughts of swim up poolside bars and warm breezes? Pina Colada is a pineapple, coconut, rum flavour combination. The name means “strained pineapple” as the original beverage […]

What can I say, it is rhubarb time again; a symbol that spring is truly here and something I ( or my black cat ) will happily do a little jig about. The items used to celebrate festival days come mostly from what is happening and available around us in nature. The first of the […]

One last ode to the Irish before March 17th. If you have never heard of a “Hot Whiskey” you might have come across a “Hot Toddy”. Same church, different pew. Hot Whiskey is a classic Irish answer to the onset of any cold, including an imagined one or for simply taking off the chill of […]

The top layer of a tea tray contains the “sweets”. In this case cake, cookies and chocolates. I used a recipe posted in March as a starting point, Apricot Almond Whipping Cream Cake. The full post is here. To the recipe I added, 1 teaspoon of nice, warming ground cardamon and baked the cake in the 11 […]

We are getting down to the wire. A fortnight from now, the streets will be filled with a wild and wonderful assortment of other worldly creatures in crazed search of sugar. If you are the type of person who likes to plan ahead or just need something to keep slightly older apprentice witches out of trouble, […]

These days there can be very little difference between a muffin and a cupcake. Bran and Oatmeal has given way to Banana Chocolate Chip and Blueberry Coffeecake Crumble. This offering swings both ways. Served plain with butter and honey for breakfast or topped with a maple cream cheese frosting for a special fall occasion. It uses precooked […]

Many gluten free cakes benefit from being chocolate as the extra flavouring helps to cover the taste of the substitute flours. This cake does not even pretend. It goes the alternate ingredient route with beans that add moisture, substance and disappear into the batter just like the zucchini does. I added a cube of my frozen blackberry […]

I could tell lovely stories of dark chocolate cake uses for symbolizing lightless Winter Solstice nights but really, if you like chocolate cake, you are good to go any time of the year and since this one has half a dozen eggs in it, it would be more than a bit of a stretch to suggest this harkens […]

Food has fashion. Popular flavours and food ingredients come and go. Some like bacon, hang around for a little longer….but eventually change comes. The hot “new” thing these days are naked cakes. I see them at weddings and on display in bakeries. For me, the really nice thing about the current fashion is the ability […]