One thing I have learned over the years. It's okay to be unhappy recipe. Everyone has different tastes and sometimes you just won't like how a baked good tastes. For instance, I made some of the most impressive looking Irish Soda Bread from one of my favorite youtube baking channels. In fact, I...
My brother wants a birthday cake. Thursday is my brother's birthday. He asked me to make him a cake. In my mind, I imagine all the possibilities: genoise, swiss roll, red velvet, chiffon, devil's food cake...and my thoughts are interrupted. "Are you listening to me?" Oops. "Sorry, what did you...
A lemon curd mishap turns into cake. I decided long ago to show the bad along with the good. I call it the "learning curve." Too often, you see people posting the joys of baking and when you attempt their recipe, you have a hideous mess and want to know what went wrong. They never explain it to...
Looking for a recipe to use up those leftover egg yolks? This egg yolk recipe may be just what you are looking for! This dozen egg yolks pound cake was an invention after learning how to make french meringue in combination with a birthday request. My brother likes to talk about his birthday months...
Betty's beautiful banana bread is a treasured gift from a friend. If you have been following along, you'll remember my post about the disastrous attempt to make banana bread after losing my beloved recipe in a move. I reached out on facebook to my friends for moral support and a bit of laughter....
Eventually, you'll need a layer of caramel for a recipe that is chewy and not like a sauce. For instance, my millionaire's shortbread has such a layer. But what if you are not ready to make your own? It can be intimidate to work with, I agree. If you are not quite ready to take that step, this is...
For the fear that they may lose followers, bloggers don't always tell the truth about recipes. Feeling pressure to gain more viewers for monetary reasons or just plain vanity, authors often feel the need to post their best work. And it is actually quite understandable. People want to see gorgeous...
When experiments fail, you are still learning. So don't fret if you have an occasional bright idea that goes dim. I was making truffles for a friend when I wasn't paying attention and used the wrong chocolate for the ganache. I meant to grab the bag of 60% cocoa nibs and instead took out a...
When you are on a budget, it behooves you to learn to reduce, reuse and recycle items. Think outside the box. Or in this case, think inside the box. Yeah, I know. Stop trying to tell jokes. Back on topic, I found a quick way to save money. Learn how to make your own candy box by using what you...
Let's discuss why you should switch to weighing ingredients when baking. When you bake a cake, bread or cookie recipe, it's not uncommon to get varying results from batch to batch. A famous thing to do is to blame the weather, especially when making bread. The recipes for a basic white bread...
A Somewhat Expensive Science Experiment Let me save you some trouble. This milk chocolate bar recipe was a total disaster. This guy isn't the only one sharing this recipe, it's on many youtube channels and blogs. But when science disproves recipes, you know the author...
I had butter that was about to expire a while ago and came up with a great idea: freezing ingredients for quick biscuits! Since I wanted to use up entire sticks of butter, I made a bigger batch than I would for normal baking. As I want biscuits often, it's simple enough to scoop...
Sit back and relax while I tell you the tale of the two thermometers. I tried a new recipe and a new thermometer at the same time. See how this is already shaping up? The cheap Acu-rite thermometer from Walmart works great, but my eyes don't. Since it wasn't as detailed as...
Caramel can split or separate for a variety of reasons. Fixing split or separated caramels is possible, but let's discuss how it can happen in the first place. By doing so, hopefully you can prevent it in the future! For those that don't know what this means, it's when the oils and fats separate...
Tonight, I had a quick bread disaster. I totally forgot to put in the leavening. Since then, I decided to post this so you can see the importance of those two little ingredients in quick bread. I had this amazing recipe for banana bread. It developed it over the years from a recipe I found on...