Neapolitan Birthday Cake

 

One of the best parts of being a baker with a birthday is that it's the perfect excuse to make whatever kind of cake your heart desires.  No need to cater to anyone's taste but your own.  For my own birthday this year I had my friends over for a full meal of my favorite comfort foods - fried chicken, buttermilk biscuits, mac and cheese... I spent the whole day in the kitchen and it was well worth it.  But the cake is the star of any birthday, so I wanted to make something a little special. 

Healthy-fied Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

It's a new year, which means New Year's resolutions are upon us.  I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who ate a little too much pie and candy over the holidays and have resolved to eat healthier, at least for a couple of months.  Here are some of the guidelines I laid out for myself last year:

5 Ingredient Nutella Mini Brownie Bites

Nutella is a dangerous thing.  Sure, it looks innocent with its cute little jar and its use of "wholesome" ingredients like skim milk, but let's not kid ourselves - this is pure chocolate-y, sugar-laden, spreadable indulgence.  And it's far too easy to keep a jar in the pantry for use on toast, fruit, pretty much anything you can get your hands on.

Thick & Chewy Molasses Chocolate Chip Cookies

Like many bakers, I'm constantly in search for The Perfect chocolate chip cookie.  I make batch after batch of cookie dough, varying the ingredients by degrees each time in the hopes of one day biting into a fresh cookie and knowing - this is The One.  I'm starting to think that day may never come.  I'm also starting to think that might not be a bad thing.  It just means I'll never stop making chocolate chip cookies.

S'mores Pie

Some desserts are so universally good, you feel like they could probably make you 100 new friends, end decades-long feuds and generally make the world a little better if only everybody could have some.  This is one of those desserts.  S'mores Pie.  Who doesn't like S'mores?  Nobody.  Nobody is the answer to that question.  Even people who think they don't like S'mores are probably just mistaken.  They'll figure it out one day, and then they'll look back at their old, S'mores-hating self and laugh at how wrong they were.