Cardamom Pistachio Cake with Coffee Glaze

Well firstly, Happy New Year!! 2014! I am so truly excited for this new year. New goals, new experiences, new memories, and new recipes. This year I did not make a New Year's resolution, but instead made a list of very achievable goals to complete throughout the year. Goals that I have been meaning to work on or complete for some time, and what better time than a New Year. One goal of course is more blog posts. And to enhance this blog further, another goal is to invest in a very nice quality camera. So expect some beautiful pictures very soon, wink wink. I want to use the camera for this blog, but also to invest some time into photography. Snapping photos of things that I find most beautiful, intriguing, inspiring and then using these photos as inspiration for my pastries and cake designs. This photo above was taken simply. A rustic photo of a rustic cake on a rustic table, no background scene, icing drizzles and pistachio crumbs on the cake board. But with this new year and a new camera, the photography will be so much more in depth. New backgrounds, new scenes, new inspiration.

Christmas Sugar Cookies

Alas I have included Christmas cookies to this sweet blog. I mean, it's a must. I made sure of this too: I baked them in the morning before work and finished them late at night after a busy day. Despite the hard work involved, there is something truly magical about baking and decorating Christmas cookies. To me Christmas cookies are such a part of Christmas joy. They are such a part of Christmas traditions. That is the wonder of food. It brings people together and makes them truly happy. In my family, we long for my mom's cookies, which she starts baking about a week before Christmas because there are so many types. These cookies are a part of breakfast and a huge part of dessert. They are dessert on Christmas Eve as well as Christmas. I eat about eight to ten cookies both days (I have to be honest with you). And I do not feel bad about that in any way. Eating the buttery, sugary little cookies brings me happiness. You should not limit yourself from happiness. Every day is an occasion, so we must treat each day just as that.

Chocolate Candy Cane Loaves

Count down to Christmas is here. I am so excited and trying to enjoy every minute of it, minus the stress of course. The holiday's are about spending time with the ones you love most and celebrating the joys and blessings in your life. I can truly say that I am blessed for everything and everyone in my life. I give thanks every morning of every day, and I write ten things I am thankful for each day in my happiness journal every night. I cannot help but smile at this time of year, looking at the beautiful lights and decorations, and watching my most favorite movies, especially my all time favorite It's a Wonderful Life.

Chocolate Gingerbread Cake

Firstly, I sincerely apologize for the lack of posts. I have been so busy with the holidays and working. And very busy making pies for Thanksgiving. But I am back and ready to tackle all of the Christmas recipes that I have been longing to make. After Thanksgiving, Christmas is in full swing. In my home however, the Christmas trees go up the week of Halloween, but that is besides the point here. My goals for the Christmas sweets season are as follows: something gingerbread, something peppermint, something white and snowy (perhaps coconut or white chocolate), homemade baked gifts, and a vast amount of cookies. I am going to bake as much as I possibly can this month, and I will be sharing it with all of you. Lucky you are...

Coconut Cardamom Date Bread

A good morning in the life of me involves a cup of coffee, mediation in the form of prayer, the food section of the newspaper, and a good breakfast. A tasty wholesome breakfast that pairs extraordinarily well with coffee or tea (I have to have my caffeine, caffeine addiction since high school, yes it happened). I can skip lunch on occasion, but I can never skip breakfast. The day I made this bread, it was snowing. The first snow of the season that stuck, but thankfully it did not stay for too long. Regardless of this matter, it was very cold, wet and snowy outdoors, so of course I decided to bake. I had a little bit of remaining heavy cream from making the s'mores cake and I knew exactly what I wanted to use it for. Tender, delicious quick bread. The bread came together very quickly, the very beauty of quick breads, and the house smelled absolutely lovely. I immediately felt warm inside as I looked out the window at the wet snow rain, as I like to call it.

Dark Chocolate S'mores Cake



Birthdays call for specialty cakes. A dark chocolate s'mores cake is a special cake alright. My sister turned 25 on Saturday and I wanted to make her a special treat for her special day. She has a love for anything chocolate, especially dark chocolate so this cake was perfect. A little combination of dark chocolate with the sweetness of graham cracker and marshmallow, how can you go wrong?

Strawberry Ale Floats

After a long day, a cold brew really hits the spot. Well for someone who is not one for beer, strawberry ale hits the spot. But tonight, I wanted to turn my ale into this a whimsical boozy dessert, as part of a birthday celebration treat to my sister. When I was a little girl, I would always go to my classmates birthday parties and there would always be the same punch.: sherbet, 7-up and lime concentrate. As a child, this was pure sugary heaven, but as an adult, there are so many more options for "punch" why would I stick to just the one? With a creative mind, the options are quite endless. We are lucky now-a-day's to have a liquor store full of flavors and flavor combinations and the same goes for sherbet, sorbet, gelato, frozen yogurt and ice cream. Every time I go into the grocery store it seems like Ben and Jerry's has a new flavor they have whipped up. For me personally, I like to go local with the products I use, which is exactly why I purchased my sorbet from work.