The Pastry Hustle

French pastry and I are acquaintances, like that hip mom “friend” you admire from afar but who you really know is much too cool for you. Ok that’s a stretch, but I’m leaving it there. All that to say I love to look at French pastry and eat French pastry and dream about making FrenchContinue reading "French Pastry – The Croquembouche"

It’s been a long time since I’ve taken this blog seriously. I’ve thought about it. Intended to do it. The bakes have continued, but I just haven’t been inspired to write about them. I’m older. My daughter’s older. My husband though younger than me is older. Time keeps moving whether we like it or not.Continue reading "Time to Start Anew … But Not Right Now"

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I haven’t had a ton of time to bake since getting a job in May, but I had to make the hubs a birthday cake. I’m out of practice in the decorating department, but I guarantee this chocolate peanut butter cake will satisfy. Happy Almost New Year!

I like to challenge myself when it comes to baking. Something about pulling ingredients together that on their own aren’t very tasty but when combined make something delicious. I can’t take credit for this analogy. I heard a rambling variation of it at a funeral recently and it resonated. In his example it was bananaContinue reading "Smashing!"

Blossom Bundt cake pan I received a fancy bundt cake pan for Christmas. Have you ever just wondered what the heck a "bundt" is? Whenever I hear the word bundt I'm reminded of the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. There's a scene where the anglo American parents come to meet the Greek girl's parentsContinue reading "A Fancy Bundt"

They call it the Polar Vortex. Basically, the North Pole and the South Pole are duking it out and the North Pole is winning by sending bitter arctic air over the region. We're talking frigidly cold here in Northeast Ohio. Brutal. We haven't seen temps over 25 in days. As I type this, it isContinue reading "Still Truckin’"

Pictures of bakes. Maybe one day I’ll write more. Happy Halloween. Sugar skull cookies. I think I finally have a go to recipe for decorated sugar cookies. Pumpkin empanadas. Not the best but they looked nice. “Just because” cake Birthday cake made for a neighbor. Another birthday cake. I was sick when I made thisContinue reading "Still baking. Writing – Not So Much"

It’s been a while since my last post. I was tempted to ditch this blog entirely, but now I find myself wanting to write again and what better reason to start writing than to bake a lot of things and discuss all the things about baking that I love. I don’t know that I’ll everContinue reading "The Big Move and the Rona"

I made this cake for a friend's birthday. I decided to challenge myself and man, did this cake fit the bill. I'll post more about the process later. In the meantime, here's the cake. Was it perfect looking? Nope. Did it taste good? Yep. Chocolate with Swiss meringue buttercream and marshmallow fondant.

It's work keeping a starter alive. I just kept forgetting to feed it. I let it go for a couple of weeks and it has this funky liquid on top. They call that "hootch." Yep. Alcohol. I poured it off, added more flour and water, and transferred to a clean container. A couple of weeksContinue reading "Sourdough – again"