Almond & Raspberry Cattails Cake

My dad really likes cattails.  I also like them (although not nearly as much as he does).  I think they evoke an image of a still, quiet pond, on which you while away an afternoon in a boat.  So, I decided to make a cattail-themed cake for my dad. 

Raspberry & Aprium Mini Pies

Summer is for fruit pies!  And summer has finally (finally!) come to Seattle.  Luckily, farms, grocery stores, roadside stands, and farmer's markets are bursting with berries, peaches, plums, cherries, and fruits that I have never even heard of.

White Chocolate Cheesecake Mini Cupcakes with Raspberry & Blueberry Whipped Cream

Happy Fourth of July!  What an excellent day!  I woke up this morning to a star-spangled Space Needle, and ended the day with grilled shish-kebabs and corn-on-the-cob for dinner.  Because I had no work today (yay!), I decided to revisit cheesecake cupcakes - this time, with some patriotic red (raspberry) and blue (blueberry) whipped cream.

Red Velvet Graduation Cake

My cousin graduated from high school!  My aunt asked me to make a cake for her graduation party, and I was happy to do so.  This is a 12" square red velvet (my cousin's request) cake with white chocolate cream cheese frosting.  It's the largest cake I've ever made and I learned a lot throughout the process.  In total, it took me approximately 10 hours to complete (including planning, practicing, calculating, etc), although much of that time was spent desperately trying to recover from some...unexpected challenges (more on that later).  Most importantly, my cousin liked it!  Yay!

Battenberg Cake (Daring Bakers' Challenge)

This month's Daring Bakers' Challenge was a type of cake I'd never heard of before: Battenberg Cake.  The first Battenberg Cake was a wedding cake for Queen Victoria's granddaughter and the Prince of Battenberg.  The two-color checkerboard pattern is known as Batternberg markings.  This challenge was very fun (and very British) - my favorite so far!

Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.

Amish Friendship Bread

When I was young, I would often watch my mother make bread.  I was particularly fascinated by the weird bubbly yeast - even more so when my mom told me the yeast was "alive".  She told me we needed to feed the yeast with sugar and make sure the water wasn't too hot so that we didn't kill it.  I became very concerned for the welfare of these little yeast creatures (especially because I knew they eventually ended up in the oven), so I asked my mom if I could keep some yeast as a pet.  I think I watched my yeast pets do absolutely nothing in a bowl for a little while, and occasionally fed  them sugar, but I eventually grew pretty bored with them.

Cinnamon Latte Cupcakes

Every morning, I walk to work, go to my favorite coffee place, and nod my head in affirmation to the barista's question, "You want your regular?".  My regular is a double tall latte with lots of cinnamon.  The coffee house that I go to has a special name for this - it's called a Caffé Viennese.

Whenever I make coffee at home, I'll also dust some cinnamon on top.  I got a craving for coffee cupcakes the other morning, and decided to make some - topped with cinnamon frosting of course.