Melina Thompson

Spiced Red Pear Pie with Honey

September 18, 2017 By Melina Thompson Leave a Comment

I might be getting a little ahead of myself here, but I am in super fall mode. It was still a blazing 95F here in Dallas this weekend but that did not stop me from starting my fall baking with this Spiced Red Pear Pie with Honey. Yuuuum! I will always prefer a pear over an apple and will always pick pear pie over apple pie – as much as I love apple pie. Red anjou pears are my favorite although they taste almost like the green anjou pears, but I tend to think their flavor is more intense and sweet. Of course, you can substitute with any pear you’d like. And the combination of the pears with ginger, cinnamon and honey is soo yummy and super fall-y….

Honey Coconut Bundt Cake

September 3, 2017 By Melina Thompson 3 Comments

I cannot believe it is already September… time if flying! Summer is almost over and I have to admit, I am really excited about fall. September is my birthday month (am I really turning 32?!) and, it is also national Honey Month! Did you know that? I thought I celebrate with this extremely moist and tasty Honey Coconut Bundt Cake. I have to say that this cake was a total experiment but I hit the jackpot! It is unbelievably moist and soft thanks to coconut milk and honey, and, I think coconut and honey is one of my new flavor combos. Sooo good. Jackpot….

Old Fashioned Blackberry Cobbler

August 28, 2017 By Melina Thompson Leave a Comment

Well, what a lazy cozy sunday. Hurricane Harvey brought quite some rain to Dallas this weekend so we spend the day at home making this super easy and delicious, old fashioned Blackberry Cobbler. I’ve been making this recipe for years now and I’m glad I finally came around to posting it. It is actually the first and only cobbler recipe I ever made and it was so super easy and delicious, I stuck with it. And before I forget to mention it: serving this with vanilla bean ice cream is a MUST!…

Coffee Chocolate Fudge Cake with Ganache Frosting

August 18, 2017 By Melina Thompson 4 Comments

I made this Coffee Chocolate Fudge Cake with Ganache Frosting for a birthday card photo shooting about 2 weeks ago and realized that this is the first time I am posting a chocolate layer cake on my blog. How can that be?! So I figured it’s way overdue. This chocolate fudge cake is made with a whole cup of coffee which makes it extra moist and and adds a lot of flavor. Coffee and Chocolate is such a classic and one of my favorite flavor combos. Although the recipe calls for coffee, I actually used cold brew. And as if the cake itself is not rich and chocolate-y enough, it is frosted with chocolate ganache made of 70% dark chocolate, butter and cream. Do I need to say more? Chocolate heaven.

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Hibiscus Honey Sorbet

July 31, 2017 By Melina Thompson Leave a Comment

I’ve been wanting to make ice cream for a long time and my daughter has been talking about making popsicles so we met in the middle yesterday and made this Hibiscus Honey Sorbet. Well, I also ran out of sticks for my popsicle mold, so… Anyway, this sorbet was super easy and has only 3 ingredients! Plus, it is sugar free. I know I always post a lot of decadent recipes here full of butter and sugar but I am actually living a pretty healthy lifestyle and eat very well, believe it or not, and I always like finding recipes that are yummy and guilt-free or healthy. Especially for my daughter. This sorbet is made of hibiscus tea with honey and agave syrup. If you don’t have an ice-cream maker, fill it in popsicle molds instead! It actually makes awesome popsicles….

Vanilla Chiffon Cake with Blueberry Buttercream

July 26, 2017 By Melina Thompson Leave a Comment

I made this Vanilla Chiffon Cake with Blueberry Buttercream for the first time about 4 years ago for my husband for Valentine’s, but didn’t get a chance to document it. I’ve been meaning to make this again ever since because it was so pretty and delicious (even my husband loved it! He’s not the biggest cake eater, ironically…) and I finally came around to it when Challenge Butter asked me to come up with a buttercream recipe for their Community blog.

There is just something about the combination of vanilla and blueberry – such a classic. This one here is made of light and moist layers of vanilla chiffon cake and blueberry Italian meringue buttercream. I love using chiffon cake for layer cakes because it is so incredibly soft and light and does not contain any butter, so when I refrigerate the cake, it does not get hard like most other, butter-heavy cakes.

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Soft Toasted Oatmeal Cookies with Toasted Hazelnuts

July 23, 2017 By Melina Thompson 6 Comments

These Toasted Oatmeal Cookies with Toasted Hazelnuts are super chewy and soft, and the rich toasted flavor of the oats and hazelnuts will blow away your taste buds. With just a few simple and wholesome ingredients you can whip these up in literally no time, and I will share with you the secret step to achieving the ultimate flavor in your oatmeal cookies – toasting!

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Rhubarb Almond Cake (Gluten-free)

July 5, 2017 By Melina Thompson 3 Comments

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! I snatched some rhubarb at my local grocery store this weekend (I know, rhubarb season is almost over, lucky me!) so I made this Rhubarb Almond Cake for dessert today. I love rhubarb, it is so tart and almost sour, yet sweet once it’s cooked. It goes best with vanilla and almond (see these Vanilla Bean Polenta Cakes with Rhubarb) so I combined it with a very old almond cake recipe that I’ve had for decades. It is a super simple cake recipe using very few ingredients, and it happens to be gluten-free! It is actually a kind of chiffon cake, you beat the egg yolks and sugar and then fold in beaten egg whites and almond flour to achieve a super airy, fluffy and moist cake….

Apricot Tarte with Vanilla Custard

June 22, 2017 By Melina Thompson 2 Comments

I LOVE this Apricot Tarte with Vanilla Custard for 3 reasons: 1) It is one of my two favorite cakes my grandma used to make and takes me right back to my childhood, 2) it is super easy and quick (if you have the pie crust already made) and 3) it is damn delicious. The sweet and sour tartnesss of the apricots and the smooth vanilla filling in combination with a buttery and crunchy pie crust – divine!…

Bourbon Chocolate Pie with Meringue Topping

September 18, 2016 By Melina Thompson 1 Comment

I am super excited about this post for 2 reasons: 1) this pie is absolutely awesome and 2) my husband made it! I have to say that I am more than impressed. He’s really been wanting to make a whiskey cake for my blog for a while and came up with this idea. It tastes absolutely amazing. The crust is a regular graham cracker crust, filled with a flourless-chocolate-cake-like filling boasting with rich whiskey flavor, topped with meringue. While it is currently still about 100°F out here in Texas, it did not bother us the slightest bit and this pie will definitely be part of this year’s Christmas or Thanksgiving menu. And fall ist just around the corner! This is just perfect for the cooler cozy days of the year….