I sing the praises of the sheet cake for big holiday and family gatherings. Sure, they are not showstoppers like tiered and layered confections artfully piped and swirled. They aren’t tabletop sculptures like molded Bundt cakes. But they are easy to make, easy to serve and feed a ravenous crowd. And for a busy Thanksgiving feast, what more could you want? I go full Southern … [Read more...] about Sweet Potato Sheet Cake with Caramel Icing
Sweets
Peanut Butter Chess Pie with Strawberry Jam Whipped Cream
So here is an admission that as a food blogger, maybe I shouldn’t make. I eat a peanut butter sandwich for lunch most days. Not an Instagram-able composed salad or an exotic, multi-layered bowl of grains or noodles. I do that sometimes, but most of the time, peanut butter on whole wheat bread (no jelly, though I do like it that way). It’s easy, its transportable, it produces … [Read more...] about Peanut Butter Chess Pie with Strawberry Jam Whipped Cream
Pecan Cake with Bourbon Buttercream
Pecans are one of those ingredients that sing of the South to me. Driving through the Mississippi or Arkansas Delta, or rural Tennessee, you see groves of stately pecan trees, sometimes with a home nestled in amongst them. It is an evocative image for this child of the South. Growing up, my aunt and uncle would bring paper grocery sacks full of unshelled pecans when they … [Read more...] about Pecan Cake with Bourbon Buttercream
Fig, Bourbon and Vanilla Bean Upside Down Cake
I consume a lot of figs when they are in season. I get to the farmers market early to make sure I get them – and I have been known to buy them all! One of my favorite uses is Fig, Bourbon and Vanilla Bean Jam, which I give as gifts and get many, many requests for. It is fantastic on a cheese or charcuterie board! So when I set out to make a lovely fig cake, I knew adding … [Read more...] about Fig, Bourbon and Vanilla Bean Upside Down Cake
Pimm’s Bars
Nothing but nothing sings of spring and summer and lovely outdoor weather to me than a Pimm’s Cup, the traditional English cocktail of Pimm’s liqueur topped with sparking lemonade and served with garnishes of fresh fruit and mint. And it is to me, quintessentially British. The taste of my time at Oxford and my many, many visits since. So it is only natural that I distill this … [Read more...] about Pimm’s Bars
