Orange Olive Oil Cake

Orange Olive Oil Cake

With the upcoming holidays, I’ve been looking for some simple, but flavorful, dessert recipes to try out for Christmas.  I like to stick with ingredients that are in-season if possible – so for winter in Southern California… that means citrus!  I love the bright & tart flavors that citrus fruits impart to cakes… the inclusion [...]

Vegan Coconut Rum Cake (no eggs, no dairy)

Vegan Coconut Rum Cake

This evening, I needed to make a birthday cake for a vegan friend… and I’ve already made her a Chocolate Bundt Cake with Peanut Butter Glaze several times (based on the cake portion of my Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake recipe which doesn’t require dairy or eggs)… thinking it was time to bake something different, I modified [...]

Caramelized Apple & Pumpkin Upside Down Cake

Caramelized Apple & Pumpkin Upside Down Cake

So I guess it’s now autumn and we have to say goodbye to summer (although you wouldn’t know it from today’s 91 degree weather)!  With autumn comes some really great things… Pumpkin spice lattes, warm apple pies, spiced cider, Halloween candy… but I would say the fall flavors that I most look forward to are [...]

Cake Style Donuts (Baked recipe)

Homemade baked cake style donuts

Several months ago, I bought 3 sets of the large Wilton donut pan!  This pan is awesome!  Each pan will make 6 regular sized cake donuts – and with three pans, I can make the entire bowlful of batter (from 1 box of cake mix) at the same time!  Because I use doctored cake mix for [...]

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ganache Cake

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ganache Cake

For the last few weeks, I’ve been on a mission to use up all the items in the refrigerator, freezer, and pantry.  I have way too much stuff in the cupboards… and it seems like a waste to go shopping and not use up what I already have!  Among those items… half a bag of [...]

Ombré (Blue or Pink) Baby Shower Gender Reveal Cake

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Recently, a friend of mine asked me to bake a cake for a small gender reveal gathering of close friends and family.  I guess all the bakeries she contacted will not bake a blue or pink cake… they will only use blue or pink filling for a white cake (which she didn’t want).  I can [...]

Lemon Pudding Bundt Cake

Lemon Pudding Bundt Cake

At home, I have this old beat up bundt pan from the 1980′s – it has dents all over, and the inside is really scratched up.  Despite the condition of the pan, it was one of my favorites… mainly because it’s one of the first cake pans I used when I learned how to bake [...]

Lemon Poppy Seed Mini Bundt Cakes

Lemon Poppy Seed Mini Bundt Cake

A few years ago, I got a Wilton Mini Bundt Pan.  I really like the size of this pan because you can make smaller mini bundt cakes that can be given away to friends and family (or as gifts)… while still keeping some cake for yourself!  For portion control, these smaller cakes are also great [...]

White Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

White Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

This is one of my favorite cupcake recipes… white cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese frosting!  One of the reason that I like this recipe so much, is that it is very customizable.  The white cake is a good base for pretty much any flavor you want to add (vanilla extract, almond extract, lemon extract, pandan [...]

Decorated Cupcakes ideas for a Baby Shower: Fondant flowers and Baby Pea in a Pod

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This past weekend, I made cupcakes for my sister-in-law’s baby shower.   I wanted to make something really special for them… and when my sister-in-law requested cupcakes, I figured I would try using fondant to make some cute decorations.  On pinterest, I saw a cute idea for “baby in a pea pod” cupcakes… and thought [...]