Alex’s birthday celebrations ended up taking 3 days. 3 because her party had to be on a Sunday, we hosted playgroup on Monday and celebrated her birthday, and her actual birthday was on Tuesday. I did not go crazy with the food all 3 days, of course, but I did make cupcakes for playgroup, which…
A Buckle Recycled: Lemon-Lime Strawberry Buckle
Every spring I start getting excited for berries. And every spring I watch as berries pop up everywhere on the net, and realize that we still have a loooong way to go here in the Midwest before there are any decent berries to speak of. We do start getting some ok strawberries around this time…
Great Grandma Kelly’s Jam Cake
Admit it, you think this is my great grandmother’s jam cake. Oh no my friend, this is my grandmother’s great grandmother’s jam cake. My mom and I did the math and we are figuring this recipe is at least 130 years old. And this is the best part, check out what my mom emailed me…
The Much Delayed, Somewhat Anticlimactic But In No Way Disappointing Trio Of Chocolate Mousse Cake
This has been an insane winter. In the space of 2 months, I moved into a new home (that we built), my dog and companion of my entire adult life, the last 13 years, died, my grandma died less than a month later. And I got strep throat–for the first time in 20 years–postponing our…
Laura’s Orange Scented Take on Shirley’s Even Greater American Pound Cake
As far as I can tell every baker I know–or every cookbook-collecting baker, maybe not my mom who buys about 1 cookbook per year–has run out and bought a copy of Shirley Corriher’s Bakewise. So how could I do otherwise? I got a good deal on it, which was happy given that I try to…
The Hilarity Of Grief Or How Many Bundt Cakes Is Too Many Bundt Cakes? (Double Chocolate Peppermint Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake)
Some people react to death and the trappings of death (funerals, etc) in a very somber, dignified fashion. And some people crack jokes, even while crying. My family would fall in the camp of the latter. I think I have laughed more this last week than I have the entire previous year. I’m not entirely…
Lime & Thyme Blueberry Pound Cake
I got this great new bundt pan recently from Williams and Sonoma–a gift to myself with a credit card rewards gift card. I am obsessed with this pan. It is the Heritage bundt pan and strangely enough it is the first 10 inch (12 cups) bundt pan I have owned. Obviously anyone who reads this…
Pumpkin Patch Spice Cupcakes (You will just have to pretend you can see them!)
So I am extra sad I cannot post any photos right now because Sammy’s birthday party was this past weekend. A little more low key than her first or Alex’s third, but a splendid occasion nonetheless. So many of our (children) gift giving occasions are dominated by big gifts that they can share, but this…
The Sad Tale Of Finnegan And The Black Chocolate Zinger
I love my dogs. I am a dog person, and their presence in my life has always been non-negotiable, so of course it was inevitable that my husband should feel the same. He might not have had dogs as a young, single person, but he understood why I did (I had one dog, Loki,who is…