Who doesn't love blueberries and lemon?  For the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group, I made the Curd, Cream, using fresh blueberries as my berry of choice. The cake is a delightful, tender cake, especially when soaked with an orange/lemon syrup.  The layers are filled with a mixture of mascarpone, whipped cream, and whipped egg whites, then topped with the blueberries and homemade lemon curd.  As you can see, I was very liberal with the lemon curd, one of my favorite treats.. I chose to make half a recipe (a 6" cake is exactly half of a 9").  It was the perfec ..read more

  This month, our Kitchen of the Month is Aparna, of My Diverse Kitchen.  Aparna asked us to bake a very interesting bread:  Korean Cream Cheese Garlic Buns, a popular street food that is both sweet and savory.  It is a delicious bun filled with cream cheese and dipped into a garlic butter sauce.  Who knew that a sweet garlic-flavored filling would taste so good?    This was a straight-forward recipe to make, with good results.  I passed on the panko crumb topping, but that would add an extra crunch.  I also didn't refrigerate the leftover buns (b ..read more

  Two great selections from Baking with Dorie this month. Today's post features a Mocha Walnut Torte, a flourless, chewy, nutty cake with chunks of walnuts and dark chocolate and a hint of coffee.  It lasts for several days, and can be baked ahead of time. As an add-on this time, I'm also including the Cinnamon-Raisin bread from earlier this month.  It's a high-rising, delicious bread that I would definitely make again.  I used golden raisins as they are my preference in breads. Once again, Dorie has offered two more great recipes!  Check out the Tuesdays with ..read more

  The Kitchen of the Month for March was Elle, of Feeding MyEnthusiasms.  Elle chose Horiatiko Psomi, or, Greek Village Bread.   My first thought was – Yay!  A bread I can’t screw up!  No special ingredients, minimal kneading, Dutch oven baking.  Ah, but that last item did cause an issue.  Why don’t recipes tell you the size of the Dutch oven?  There are a range of sizes, and mine happens to be a 4-quart.  Many of these recipes require a larger pot.   So, I ended up making this bread twice.  First time, I followed the recipe.  ..read more

    For the second February challenge, I made the Swedish Fika Cake.  I love the Swedish Visiting Cake, so I was looking forward to giving this one a try.  It turned out to be a moist, tender cake with a fine crumb, and the almond topping reminded me of pralines.  Using my serrated bread knife made slicing pieces a breeze, and the cake, itself, held up over several days.   I did end up baking it about 10 minutes longer than specified, but that was the only change.  Definitely a keeper! Great choices for this month's baking over at Tuesdays with Dorie ..read more