Welcome to TBLSPOON
Follow along as I document my adventures in baking. I hope it inspires you to try something new.
Thanks for visiting,
Sarah
Follow along as I document my adventures in baking. I hope it inspires you to try something new.
Thanks for visiting,
Sarah
All in Cakes and Cupcakes
The little cakes are full of flavor from almond flour, lemon zest, and honey. Sometimes cakes made with honey can end up dry, but these were moist and delicious on day one and also on day two. Check out that nice crumb in the second photo!
I recently had brunch with a couple of girlfriends who kindly shared some saffron and home grown oranges with me. I thought it would be fun to make something using both. Well, that same weekend I received “Sweet” by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh as a birthday gift and wouldn’t ya know, there was a recipe for Saffron, Orange, and Honey Madeleines. Destiny. Out of the oven, they get brushed with honey and dipped in pistachios. Pretty fabulous.
This beauty is an easy poppy seed almond cake with a light, brushed-on, citrus glaze. Just beat together the wet ingredients, beat in the dry ingredients and pour it in the pan. It came out light, moist (sorry), flavorful and delicious. I'll definitely make this one again. And really, any activity that ends in fabulous cake is a good activity, yes?
There's something deeply satisfying about sinking your teeth into chewy mochi and these bars are no exception. Tropical coconut mixed with juicy, sweet blueberries make for an explosion of flavors and textures.
This berry-almond combo is a personal favorite, and this year I'm riffing on it again with raspberries, lemon, and coconut for a slightly tropical twist. I love the blend of nut flavors and brightness that the lemon brings. This is an easy stir-together recipe that you can make from start to finish in about an hour!
Not quite a blondie, not quite a cake, but tender, chocolatey, with a little crunch from the pecans and full of warm fall flavors. These pumpkin bars are an easy, stir-together recipe, no mixer or beaters required.
Happy Halloween! To celebrate, I made this Pumpkin Roll Cake filled with a decadent cream cheese filling accompanied by little homemade Peanut Butter Candy Pumpkins. Pumpkin and cream cheese is a classic combination with the sweet, tanginess of the filling complimenting the spiced cake. I put this cake in a Halloween setting, but it would be great alternative to pumpkin pie at your Thanksgiving table. Maybe just leave out the jack-o-lantern :)
I love the toasty crunch of pecans and the slight, sweet heat from the mix of warm, fall spices and crystalized ginger in this pumpkin bread. I put together this recipe in an attempt to recreate the one my mom used to make. Somehow we’d never see her making her amazing pumpkin bread, but it would magically appear on fall weekend mornings, beautifully spiced, lightly sweet, and just on the right side of moist. I still like mine for breakfast, spread with a little cream cheese with a strong cup of coffee.
A flavorful almond loaf dotted with juicy blueberries for unexpected but perfect end-of-summer dessert.
A rich almond and sour cream cake, brightened by fresh strawberries and orange zest, with a little nutty crunch from sliced almonds on top and poppyseeds dotted throughout. So flavorful. It’s the kind of cake you savor at first bit, but then demolish pretty quickly, or at least that’s what happened in my house!
This simple, beautiful cake is ideal for those spring or summer nights when you want to delight family or friends with a surprise weeknight dessert. It comes together quickly and no fancy equipment is needed - just a whisk. The lemon is allowed to really shine thanks to the light flavor of ricotta and restrained amount of sugar.
Here’s a perfectly sized little Apricot Ginger Upside Down Cake designed for those days when you have cake cravings but don’t want to end up with a bunch of leftovers staring at you all week. This 6-inch number is crowned with a pinwheel of caramelized apricot slices and hidden diced candied ginger for that surprise bit of sweet heat when you take your first bite. The brown sugar and buttermilk cake has a melt-in-your-mouth texture, and is sweet and tart and spicy and fruity all at once.
This week started off with the Memorial Day holiday which signals the start of summer here in the U.S. and it’s also “retro dessert" week in my bakeoff group, so I chose a classic Strawberry Shortcake to celebrate both. Nothing says summertime to me like a pile of juicy strawberries and whipped cream.
Namoura is a semolina cake sweetened with a floral syrup that gets poured over top after baking. A classic dessert of the Middle East, it goes by different names in different regions: Namoura in Lebanon, Hareeseh in Syria and Palestine, and Basbousa in Egypt. The cake is rich in flavor, moist in texture, and surprisingly not sticky sweet or dense given the quantity of syrup that it gets soaked in. The nuttiness of the semolina and hint of tang from whole milk yogurt do an excellent job balancing it out.
Get tips and tricks for making Dutch Butter Cake from blogger and home baker Sarah Marks.
