• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 over ripe banana, mashed
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9 inch square baking pan. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat together the sugar and butter until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure the first egg is fully incorporated into the batter before adding the next. Stir in the baking soda with the sour cream then add to the mixer. Add the pumpkin and banana and mix until combined. Add the flour and baking powder. Mix well. Stir in the vanilla. Pour the batter into the pan.

Topping

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 5 tbsp cold butter
• 1 cup pumpkin seeds

Add the sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter to your food processor. Pulse until combined. Stir in the pumpkin seeds. Drop little chunks of the mixture over the top of the cake batter. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you find the cake is browning too fast place a sheet of tinfoil over the top of the pan near the end…after about 45 minutes.

Caramel sauce

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp + 2 tsp cream
• splash of vanilla

In a small pot over medium heat whisk together the sugar, butter and cream until it comes to a boil. Continue to whisk at a boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let sit for a minute. Add the vanilla then whisk in the icing sugar. Add more icing sugar if you want a thicker sauce.

To serve: Drizzle caramel sauce over the cake. Cut and enjoy!

*recipe adapted from allrecipes 

Recipe adapted from Heather Christo

Today is my sister Emma’s 30th birthday. I had hoped to take her out to brunch but she was far too hungover for that. Since I wasn’t able to get her to leave the house I decided to whip her up a little personal sized cake and bring it to her. I hadn’t planned on making a cake so I had to use a recipe that called for ingredients I had on hand. This is what I came up with.

Happy Birthday Auntie Emm!!

cake: 

1 1/2 cups gluten free flour

1/2 cup organic cane sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp allspice

1/3 cup pumpkin puree

2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

2/3 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup coconut milk

In a medium bowl sift together the dry ingredients. In a small bowl combine the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix well. Pour the batter into a parchment lined 4 1/2 inch cake pan ( my pan is about 3 inches high and I filled it 2/3 of the way) Bake at 350 for 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted all the way thorough the center. Let sit for 5 minutes. Remove cake from cake pan, place on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes. Once cake has cooled compleatly cut into 3 using a serrated knife.

*note: If you wish to keep this cake vegan, switch out the cream cheese and use your fave vegan icing!

icing:

2 tbsp coco natura, room temp

1/4 cup coconut spread, room temp

1/3 cup cream cheese, room temp

1 1/2 cups icing sugar ( use a bit more if you like thicker icing )

In a stand mixer whip together the coconut spread, cream cheese and coco natura. Add the icing sugar and whip until light and fluffy.

To assemble:

place first piece of cake on a small dish, top with a thick layer of icing. now add the second layer of cake and top with a thick layer of icing. Add the third layer of cake and frost the entire cake! sprinkle with a little unsweetened coconut. Enjoy!

*note: you can make mini muffins with the left over batter. in a greased mini muffin tin, bake for about 25 minutes.

*adapted from Nigel Slater’s Tender volume 2- A Cake for Midsummer

This cake is so good. It is resilient and easy and tastes like heaven. I made it at the cottage where I was missing a few of the key ingredients and didn’t have a proper pan but it still ended up devine. This time I made it at home with the proper pan and swapped out the apricots for peaches and threw in a few blackberries to mix it up a bit. The bones of this cake are perfect to add on to. You can have fun with it. Next time I think I’ll try plums. I love this cake and so has everyone I have served it to. It will continue to be a regular at my table for years to come.

• 3/4 cup butter, softened to room temp
• 1 cup light brown sugar, no need to pack it when measuring
• 2 medium sized ripe peaches, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1/2 cup blackberries
• 2 large eggs, room temp, slightly beaten
• 1 1/3 cup self-rising flour – you can make it or buy it
• 1 cup ground almonds
• 2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8 inch round baking pan ( springform if you have one ).

Cream together the butter and sugar using your stand mixer on med speed. You will know it is properly creamed when it has almost doubled in size and has turned a nice yellowish-white colour and little peaks start to form, 5-6 min. Add the lightly beaten eggs to the creamed butter and sugar a little at a time making sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the mixer.

Mix together the flour and almonds, fold into the batter in three seperate batchs on low speed. Add the milk. Now fold in the fruit until evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Scrape mixture into prepared pan and bake at 350 for one hour and ten minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out for the most part clean. Let the cake sit for 10 minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a rack to finish cooling.

Sprinkle with icing sugar or serve as is. This cake is great as dessert or served with a cup of tea. Enjoy.

I wanted to make Poppy a mini birthday cake that she would smash to bits and then devour because she loved it soooo much. Because of this I spent a long time searching for the perfect recipe. I wanted it to be healthy but also super yummy. I got a lot of flack from family and friends all of whom shook their heads at me in disapproval: ” it’s her first cake – make it a REAL cake,” they all said. I had a very different take on the subject. I knew for a fact I could make a healthy and delicious cake for Poppy without using a ton of crap. Also if Poppy has never eaten a sugar filled cake before she would never know the difference. I settled on this cake from Hellobee but struggled finding a healthy icing recipe that would be able to hold its form when piped ( I really wanted the cake to be pretty ). After a lot of internal struggling (lol) I decided to make a healthy cake with a regular cream cheese frosting

The party started at 4:30 and as the guests were flooding into our home I stood in the kitchen frantically trying to ice the cake. After spreading on the first bit of icing I tried to change my mind and toss the icing I had made and quickly whip up the healthy icing I had been looking at but my mother quickly talked some sense into me – ” dont be ridiculous, you are not throwing out all of this icing – just ice the cake”. So as our guests began to flow through the kitchen saying their hello’s I frantically iced Poppy’s cake…it was by far the fastest icing job I have ever done and it looked it… kind of defeating the reason I chose the sugary icing in the first place.

In the end non of this mattered. Poppy would not touch the cake. She hated the icing on her fingers and rather than licking the little bits off that we had to put on her fingers, she made mommy and daddy lick it off. It was a win win. No sugar ended up in her tummy and the next day I was able to do a beautiful photo shoot with Poppy and her cake! oh and after the photo shoot was over the grownups got to devour this delicious cake;)

*note:  I really wanted to start a few small but meaningfull/funny birthday traditions. This little pink hat is one of them. This hat is now Poppy’s birthday hat. Every year we will take photos of her in the hat….I’m sure you can see how this is going to become funnier and funnier as she grows. You’re welcome.

I love baking but this year I am tired. I am so tired I didn’t even bake a cake or make donuts for my twin sister Danie on her birthday! I honestly can’t remember the last time I didn’t bake for her. I feel awful but I honestly did not have the time or energy this year to bake for Danie annnd my Husband (whose birthday happens to be the day after ours) sooo I had to choose. I chose to make a cake for Kegan with the promise to Dan that I would make her the donuts and the tart she had asked for on a later date.. just not on her birthday. I will make them on a weekend when I have nothing to do but to take my time baking for Dan. This year Kegan’s Birthday was on a Monday so I spent the day with Poppy on my hip baking this strawberry and cream cake for Daddy. The batter may have been a little overmixed making the cake about half the height it was meant to be but I swear it was still delicious.  It definitely was not my best cake but I think given the fact that I had a very cranky babe glued to me I would say it was pretty darn good!

*Recipe from gracessweetlife

BUTTER CAKE:

- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp

- 1/2 cup white sugar

- 1 1/2 tsp almond extract

- 2 large eggs + 2 large egg yolks

- 1/2 cup whole milk

- preheat the oven to 350.

- Grease 8 inch round cake tin ( you can also use pam baking spray )

- In a med bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well with a whisk. Set aside.

- In the bowl of your stand mixer , using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla on high speed until fluffy.

- One at a time add the eggs and yolks, mixing well after each.

- Turn mixer to low and add the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with the milk in 2 additions. Start with the flour and end with the flour. Mix until just combined ( do not overmix!!! )

- Pour the batter into cake pan making sure it is evenly distributed.

- Bake, alternating half way through, for 30-35 min (until when poked with a toothpick it comes out clean)

- let cool for 10 min then transfer to a wire rack until it has finished cooling.

SIMPLE SYRUP:

3 tbsp honey and 1/4 cup water. Over high heat whisk until honey has completely dissolved. Set aside to cool.

STRAWBERRY CREAM TOPPING:

- 20 0unces fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced

- 1/2 cup white sugar, divided

- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, cold

- 1 tsp unflavoured gelatin

- In a med sized bowl mix together your strawberries and  1/4 cup of sugar. Set aside.

- Place 2 tbsp of cold water in a small saucepan, add the gelatin and let soften for 5 min. Over low heat whisk gelatin until it has completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool (keep a close eye on it or it will set and you will have to do this step all over again…which is not so easy to do if you have a baby on your hip but hey, now I know and I will try my best not to make that mistake again)

- In the bowl of your stand mixer, using the whisk attachment whip together the cream and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar until soft peaks begin to form.

- Continue to whisk and gradually add the gelatin mixture; beat until soft peaks have formed.

ASSEMBLING THE CAKE:

- Using a serrated knife cut the cake in half horizontally.

- Cut side facing up place the bottom half of the cake on a cake plate or cake stand.

- Brush cake with some simple syrup then add a layer of berries and a layer of whip cream. Repeat on second half of cake only first add the whipped cream and then top with berries.

* I spread the cream around the sides of the cake but next time I would definitely double the whipped cream recipe so I had enough to properly cover the cake and have a thicker layer of the cream in the middle layer. I might also use some homemade strawberry jam instead of simple syrup.

This weekend my sister and I celebrated our 32nd birthday. It was a wonderful weekend full of friends family, food and a few glasses of wine to wash it all down. I am so excited for what is to come this year. Growing up, Danie has always had some strange connection with the number 32…she would see it everywhere. We would be sitting having a conversation and she would look up just in time to see the clock turn 3:32 or she would glimps out of the window while driving only to be staring at this house on Gerrard #32, etc., etc., etc. To this day Dan sees 32 everywhere. I know to some people this may sound silly but I honestly believe something great will happen this year…32.32.32!

Last weekend was my little sister’s 29th Birthday! Emma has never been a dessert girl but since I was the one hosting her birthday dinner this year there was no way I was going to miss out on the opportunity to try and convert her to the sweet side. I gave her a call and had a lengthy discussion over what type of desserts she sometimes enjoys and what exactly it is that she dislikes about other desserts. What it came down to was that she doesn’t like plain old cake…she thinks it’s boring. She does like however: crumbles, pies and cheesecakes. I decided I would try to give her a bit of everything she loves in a dessert. This NY Cheesecake has it all, minus a pie crust.

FOR THE CAKE:

FOR THE BLUEBERRY SAUCE:

FOR THE CRUMBLE:

Make this ahead of time

• 1 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup old fashioned or quick cooking oats
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2/3 butter, cubed and softened

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl or stand mixer, mix the brown sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon, salt and butter with a fork or paddle attachment until crumbly. Spread mixture out on a baking sheet and bake for 7-10 min. Keep an eye on it as the sugar will burn quickly since the crumble is not on top of fruit while it is cooking like crumble normally is. When it is golden remove it from the oven and scrape it into a bowl. Once you have assembled the cheesecake top it off with as much crumble as your heart desires.

*Please note this crumble is quite crunchy, it’s more like a candy topping than a traditional crumble due to the fact that it is baked separately on a baking sheet.

We had a few friends over for dinner last weekend. It was great to catch up, but even better to watch our friends interacting with Poppy and Poppy interacting with our friends. I decided to go with a Mexican themed dinner and dessert. Dinner was fish tacos and for dessert I made these beautiful, creamy, rich, chocolatey mini cakes. Heaven.

For those of you wondering what happened to me being  ” off refined sugar ” – well I think it goes without saying that I am no longer going down that path. I did it for a few months and I felt no difference in my energy or in any area that I was hoping to improve. I am now back to eating as we all should…everything in moderation. Enjoy.

CAKES:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 10 ounces 56% to 70%-cacao baking chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 eggs
• 4 tsp all-purpose flour
• 2-3 tsp adobo sauce ( from the can of chipotle chile peppers in adobo sauce ) I used 2 tsp and couldn’t even taste a hint of the adobo, next time I will definitely use more.
• 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325 F. Lightly coat the inside of the ramikins with butter, then sugar. In a medium saucepan combine the 1 cup sugar and orange juice. Bring to a boil over med-high heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add the chocolate and butter, stir until melted. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Now stir in the flour, adobo sauce and salt.

Set the ramekins in a baking pan. Divide the chocolate mixture evenly among the 8 ramekins. Place the baking pan on the oven rack. Pour boiling water into the pan, enough to reach half way up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until the mixture is set. Using tongs, gently remove the ramekins from the pan placing them on a rack to cool. Serve in the ramekin or turn out onto dessert plates. Top them off with a generous drizzle of sweet crema.

SWEET CREMA:

• 3/4 cups Mexican crema or sour cream
• 1/4 cup sugar

Mix together

*recipe from Better Homes and Gardens