Category — Dessert + Sweet Recipes

All of a sudden, Hummingbird Cake is everywhere. I saw it on two popular blogs the day after I first tried it at Dixie in San Francisco. I had questions, like what the heck is it? Why is it so good? And why is it called “Hummingbird Cake?”

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I know what you’re thinking: cake? For breakfast? I say yes, yes, unequivocally yes. If it helps, you can think of it as a giant blueberry pancake. It’s just the thing for a lazy summer Sunday, and is so full of berries that it’s practically health food.

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We have been getting the most gorgeous strawberries from a local farm stand out near Petaluma. In fact, we bought a 3-pack on Sunday morning and they were gone within a few hours. We stopped back at the stand for a full flat that afternoon, and after eating, sharing, and cooking pounds and pounds of strawberries for 24 hours – by Monday night they had all somehow disappeared.

One of the best things to come out of this strawberry extravaganza was these brown butter shortcakes. With the strawberries baked right into the fluffy, slightly sweet biscuits, all you need is a little ice cream or whipped cream and you’re good to go.

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There really is nothing better than a spoonful of slightly warm, wobbly, vanilla-scented custard… is there? I think it’s one of the most satisfying and comforting desserts of all time. This version is simple to make and comes out fabulously every time.

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I don’t know why more folks don’t use wine in cake batter. It makes for a very tender crumb and adds richness and acidity that’s especially welcome in a berry-laden cake like this one. And keeping the strawberries in big chunks lets them sink into the batter and transform each bite into jammy, gooey goodness.

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My little guy is one year old today! So I made this birthday cake to celebrate.

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When life gives you lemons… don’t make lemonade. Make cookies!

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Wouldn’t it be great, amazing, stupendous even, if you could make delicious cookies using only bananas and oats? It would, right? You could eat like 10 cookies but in reality all you ate was a banana and half a cup of oats. Because you are so smart and so healthy and good at life.

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Winter is one of the best times for baking, because there is so much wonderful citrus to juice and zest. I am not a huge fan of straight lemon desserts, but I really love mixed citrus as a flavoring. For this cake, I used sweet, juicy clementines and Meyer lemons to give it a bright flavor, plus a bit of Greek yogurt and almond flour for an almost pudding-like consistency.

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Lately it seems like everything that’s caramel is salted caramel. Now I like my salted caramel as much as the next gal, but I feel like it’s time to think about other kinds of caramel for a change. Like caramel that’s infused with something wonderful. Like lavender caramel.

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