Orange Cake

I made Orange Cake this morning for a birthday celebration.  The journey began by preparing three bowls: a bowl of sifted flour and baking soda, a bowl of yogurt, orange juice, and a little salt, and a bowl of creamed butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and orange rind.

After combing the three bowls into one, I baked the batter in a loaf pan. The cake baked pretty quickly and got nice and brown on top.

So, after the cake cooled, I inverted it onto a plate and made the glaze. Sugar, orange and lemon juice, and a little orange liqueur bubbled away on the stove.

I used a toothpick and poked the bottom side of the cake all over. I thought that by doing this, the glaze would really get down into the cake!  To be honest, I don't think this method really worked, and next time I will probably just follow Mollie's directions and pour the hot glaze on top.

I sliced up the cake and set it out on a plate. I was worried that it hadn't completely cooked through, but it had! The cake was sweet, but not too sweet. Next time I might try using frozen orange juice concentrate instead of fresh ... which I kind of can't believe I am saying! The orange flavor just wasn't particularly strong.

Carrot Cake

This dense and spicy Carrot Cake was fantastic. I halved the recipe, as the original made two loaves. Ingredients included shredded carrot, lemon zest, lemon juice, brown sugar, butter, raisins, cinnamon, and allspice. I also lined the loaf pan with poppy seeds, which seemed like a groovy idea at the time, but made the crust of the cake really hard. I don't think I'll do it again!

The inside of the cake didn't cook completely, no matter how long I kept it in the oven. I'm not sure if that was an issue with my appliance... or just a stubborn loaf of bread.  Either way, this cake, which seems more like a bread, still seems like a success!

Ricotta Cake

I made Ricotta Cake this weekend for Charlie's birthday. Charlie is an avid ricotta fan, his love for this cheese is apparent whenever we make lasagna or calzones. I was surprised that Charlie had never had ricotta in dessert form prior to this weekend. When I found this Moosewood recipe, I knew it was the perfect chance to introduce it to the birthday boy!


Two pounds of fresh ricotta cheese, eggs, white sugar, flour, salt, vanilla, almond extract, fresh lemon juice, and lemon rind... all blended up until smooth.


Not gonna lie, I was totally excited to use my new Microplane grater for this project. The grater is amazing! Doesn't pull up any pith and the small plane makes grating more manageable.

After combining everything, I baked the cake, watched the World Cup, cooled the cake, studied some schoolwork, chilled the cake, checked my email, cross my fingers, popped the cake from the spring form pan, sipped hot coffee, and decorated the birthday cake with freshly picked blackberries and raspberries. Of course, no birthday cake is complete without a smattering of candles:

Happy birthday, Charlie!

Cardamom Coffee Cake

Mmm, I do love a coffee cake! Cardamom Coffee Cake was dense and rich, spiced with cinnamon and cardamom. The original recipe called for 4 sticks of butter and 2 cups of brown sugar... yikes! I halved this recipe, filled two 9-inch cake pans, and the results were divine. I was worried that there would be trouble transferring the cake out of the pan, but the flip was executed beautifully.


Cardamom was a new spice for me; something I had never baked with before. It's quite aromatic and reminds me of ginger and roses. It definitely gave this cake a depth I had never experienced before. I can't wait to try some cardamom in drip coffee, per PCC's recommendation. Just sprinkle a little in with the grounds before you make drip coffee for an extra hint of spicy flavor!

Date-Nut Cake

Come in! Well, well, well, look who's here! I haven't seen you in many a year! If I knew you were comin' I'd have baked a cake! Oh! But I did bake a cake! A Date-Nut Cake!


We can laugh about how ugly is was once I flipped in out of the pan. Next time: more butter in a more forgiving cake pan.


Then we can drown our ugly cake sorrows in whipped cream. Vanilla and powdered sugar filled whipped cream. Mmm, emotional eating tastes good! Howd-ya do, howd-ya do, howd-ya do!

Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake

Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake: A super delicious, incredibly buttery cake. Grated lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon extract, and fresh blueberries were folded into the batter. We forgive you, special birthday cake for not flipping perfectly out of the bundt pan. You acted as a beautiful comfort food for my family and I this week!