Making life a little sweeter since 2012
This Toasted Vanilla Meringue Cake is the perfect brunch addition for the Easter holidays: elegant and delicious, yet light and super easy to whip up. The cake is make with a few simple ingredients, and just one bowl. Because let’s be real, the holidays are stressful enough and we want something yummy that requires minimal time and effort – and dishes!…
Holy pumpkin what a game changer: Golden Vanilla Pumpkin Bread. Actually, it is so incredibly moist and fluffy, I should call it a loaf cake rather than a bread (more on that below). You know when cake is so moist that when you squeeze it it makes that moist squishy sound? Yep, exactly that. Now, I am a huge fan of pumpkin spice, don’t get me wrong, and I love me some classic pumpkin bread. But I also love, LOVE vanilla – probably one of my absolute favorite flavors – and this pumpkin bread is made with a whole vanilla bean instead of pumpkin spice. That’s right. NO pumpkin spice here. The flavor of the vanilla bean (and don’t skip the whole bean, vanilla extract won’t do, sorry) is so intense and goes insanely well with the pumpkin….
This Cranberry Vanilla Pie might be your pumpkin pie alternative for Thanksgiving this year. It’s festive, easy and delicious! If you’re like my family tough and won’t budge on the pumpkin pie, this will also make a great dessert for Christmas, or just anytime during the holiday season….
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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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….
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!…
Lemon cakes are some of my all time favorite cakes. Loaf, tarte or bundt, I take them all! This Ricotta Lemon Bundt Cake with Zucchini is the latest addition to my lemon cake recipe repertoire. You might think: zucchini? Wait, what? Yes! While zucchini and chocolate almost became a staple by now let me tell you, this combo…. It really just makes this cake so dense and moist, enhancing the flavor of them lemon….
Merry Christmas everyone! Baking Christmas cookies is just one of the most exciting parts of this season. There are the fancy Christmas cookies, the ones you use to impress your family and friends with, and then there are the simple yet delicious ones. You know, the ones your Grandma used to make that now remind you of Christmastime during your childhood.
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Happy Easter! This Easter is going to be extra super specials for me since from now on, I will have a little one hunting Easter eggs and (hopefully) believing in the Easter bunny for a very long time. So I am celebrating this very special Easter with these Vanilla Cotton Candy Easter Cupcakes! Vanilla bean mini cupcakes topped with cotton candy and Cadbury candy coated chocolate eggs – yum! They are also super easy to make and the perfect decoration for any Easter table….
If you liked my Peach Petit Fours from last week, you will love these Peach Cupcakes with Bourbon Vanilla Buttercream! Fluffy cupcakes with pieces of peach topped with buttercream that is packed with vanilla bean and good old bourbon.
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my name is Melina, I’m a passionate cake baker/eater and food photographer born and raised in Germany... Read More…
