LEMONS, FOUR WAYS

Posted in Cake, Cookies, Desserts by sallybr

If you are a lemon lover, this post is for you. A fantastic five-layer cake, deliciously chewy cookies, baby little “pies”, and a posset. Let’s start with the cake, maybe my favorite of this series, courtesy of Helen Fetcher, my beloved baking guru…

SPLIT LEMON LAYER CAKE
(from Helen Fletcher’s blog)

for the lemon filling, to be made the day before:
4 large egg yolks
1 ¼ cups water
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar (250 grams)
⅓ cup cornstarch (45 grams)
½ teaspoon table salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter (45 grams)
1 tablespoons lemon zest (from 1 large lemon)

for the cake:
3 large egg yolks
1 cup sour cream (225 grams)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups sifted cake flour (300 grams)
1 ½ cups granulated sugar (300 grams)
1 tablespoon 1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons lemon zest (from 2 large lemons)
¾ cup unsalted butter, softened (170 grams)

for the lemon buttercream:
1 pound powdered sugar
1 cup lemon fillng
¼ cup butter, softened (60 grams or 4 tablespoons)

Make the lemon filling: Whisk everything together in a medium size sauce pan. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Transfer to a storage container, cover the top of the filling with plastic wrap and let come to room temperature. Store in the fridge for 2 days. or at least overnight to firm up.

Make the cake: Heat the oven to 350°F. Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper and spray the paper only. Try not to spray the sides. If you do, wipe them with a paper towel. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, ¼ cup sour cream and vanilla. In the bowl of a mixer, combine the dry ingredients and mix on low for 30 seconds to blend. Add the softened butter and remaining ¾ cup sour cream. Mix on low until moistened. Then increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 ½ minutes. Add the egg mixture in three additions, beating on medium 30 seconds each time, scraping down as necessary.

Dollop the batter in the half sheet pan. Using and offset spatula, spread it out evenly. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes until a tester comes out clean. Place on a cooling rack until cold. At this point, it can be frozen in its pan well wrapped. Or you can refrigerate and continue assembling the cake later. It is easier to deal with layered cakes when they are very cold, so keep that in mind.

Make the lemon buttercream: Add all the ingredients to a mixing bow. Beat on low to bring together. Raise the speed to medium and beat until smooth. Raise it again to high and beat for 5 or more minutes until light and smooth with no grittiness from the powdered sugar.

Visit Helen’s site for a clear visualization on how to cut the cake to obtain 5 equal layers and one extra that will be processed for crumbs. You will use 1/4 cup of lemon filling spread over the layers, and then frost the cake with the buttercream, glueing cake crumbs to the sides and making a pattern with a cake comb on top. If desired, add some piped buttercream with a 1M tip or another one of your preference. Allow the cake to to sit in the fridge for a few hours before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I urge you to visit Helen’s site to get the detailed step-by-step photos. Helen makes the most complex bakes feel simple and approachable. This cake is spectacular, and the use of cake crumbs glued to the sides makes frosting a lot less stressful. It is incredibly lemony. Thank you, Helen!

CHEWY LEMON SUGAR COOKIES

CHEWY LEMON SUGAR COOKIES
(from Scientifically Sweet)

⅔ cup (150g) salted butter, softened
1 cup plus 2 tbsp (225g) granulated sugar
2 tablespoon lemon zest
1 large egg room temperature
1 large egg yolk room temperature
1 tablespoon (15ml) lemon juice
1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla extract
2 cups (284g) all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder ee notes in above FAQ section for baking powder quantity alternatives)
¼ teaspoon salt

Lemon Sugar:
3 tablespoon (40g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest

Combine soft butter, sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl and use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, then add the egg and mix until well incorporated. Add egg yolk, vanilla and lemon juice then mix until smooth and creamy.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to blend evenly.
Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the butter mixture and fold it in until evenly incorporated. The dough will be soft but not sticky at this point.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.

Heat the oven to 350°F. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper. Make the lemon sugar. Combine sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and rub it together until the sugar smells fragrant.

Use a cookie scoop to portion dough and roll into smooth balls. Roll the balls of dough in the sugar so they are evenly coated.

Place dough balls on the lined baking trays spacing them 3 inches apart and bake for 9-11 minutes until lightly golden on the edges and still slightly soft in the middle.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: These cookies are addictive, they have a super clean and bright citric flavor, and perfect texture. I made them on a Wednesday and donated two days later, so I tried one to make sure it was still ok, and had to exercise self-control to keep my taste-test to a single cookie. Make them, and you can thank me later!

BABY LEMON IMPOSSIBLE PIES
recipe can be found here

Those are simple to make, and a lot of fun to serve and enjoy… Not quite sure why they are called “pies” but whatever you call them, they won’t disappoint.

LEMON POSSET

LEMON POSSET
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

2 cups heavy whipping cream
2/3 cup granulated sugar
5 Tbsp lemon juice
blueberries, optional for serving

In a small saucepan, heat the cream and sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a boil, then adjust the heat so it doesn’t boil over and keep it at a medium boil for 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice, then set aside to cool for 15 minutes. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve set over a large measuring cup with a pouring lip.
Divide the mixture between 6 ramekins, filling them about 3/4 of the volume.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until fully set, then top with blueberries, if you like.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

I love lemons in sweet and savory concoctions, so I hope you’ll give some – or all – of this recipes a try…

1 YEAR AGO: Lemon Layer Cake with Dulce de Leche Filling

2 YEARS AGO: A Duet of Springtime Macarons

3 YEARS AGO: Fiesta Bakes for Cinco de Mayo

4 YEARS AGO: Thai-Meatballs Over Wilted Bok-Choy

5 YEARS AGO: Asparagus with Gunpowder Masala

6 YEARS AGO: The Home Bakers Collective, April Project

7 YEARS AGO: Asian-Style Eggplant Meatballs

8 YEAR AGO: Uzbek Flatbread

9 YEARS AGO: First Monday Favorite – Black Sesame FOUR

10 YEARS AGO: Chocolate Orange Mini-Cakes

11 YEARS AGO: In My Kitchen, May 2015

12 YEARS AGO: P90X3, a Review of Tony Horton’s Latest Fitness Program

13 YEARS AGO: Pasta and Mussels in Saffron Broth

14 YEARS AGO: Triple Chocolate Brownies

15 YEARS AGO: Shanghai Soup Dumplings

16 YEARS AGO: Bite-sized Chocolate Pleasure

14Apr2026

WHIMSICAL CUPCAKES

Posted in Cake by sallybr

Today I share a small series of cupcakes that celebrate Easter and Spring…

For the cupcakes I have used either this recipe (for chocolate flavor), or this one for a basic vanilla. The buttercream used this basic recipe.

EASTER EGG BASKET CUPCAKES

The cupcakes were chocolate, and to make these more special, I made the wrapper component as a compound chocolate concoction, so the whole thing was edible. I painted aluminum foil cupcake wrappers with melted compound chocolate, in two steps, to make them sturdy. First step I left them at room temperature for 15 minutes, painted once more and put in the fridge for 10 minutes. Then carefully peeled off the paper wrapper, and laid the baked cupcakes inside. The handles were also made with compound chocolate piped on parchment sheets and carefully placed over the buttercream while still soft. I used a grass piping tip to cover the cupcakes, and placed three eggs on top.

I love the way these turned out!
.

EASTER EGG NESTS CUPCAKES

These were vanilla cupcakes, the buttercream was dyed pastel green or pink, and piped with a petal tip (#104) or a closed star tip. Little eggs added on top…

TRICOLOR SWIRL CUPCAKES

Chocolate Cupcakes were frosted with buttercream divided in three portions and dyed pink, blue and the third portion left without any color. The buttercream was laid over plastic wrap in three straight lines, closed as a sausage and piped using a 1M icing tip. Sprinkles added right after piping.

SPRINKLE BORDER CUPCAKES

Cupcakes were vanilla. Buttercream was divided in two portions, half dyed teal and half left white. Buttercream was placed in a large piping bag, piped as a border and immediately covered with sprinkles. The center was piped right after.

These technique will work with many color combinations, of course…

RED AND WHITE ROSE CUPCAKES

Cupcakes were chocolate. To get this precise two-tone effect, the buttercream was dyed in two portions, red and white. A very small amount was dyed green for the leaves. The red buttercream was carefully laid inside the piping bag covering the edges, and the white placed at the center. Piping tip 1M was used to pipe the flower. The leaf was added right after piping the rose. You can see exactly how to prepare the piping bag watching this youtube video.

SPRING CELEBRATION CUPCAKES

For these vanilla cupcakes, I made buttercream dyed pastel yellow and white, and used a variety of piping tips to pipe swirls (1M tip) and little blobs (French star tip). Golden sprinkles added a final festive look.

1 YEAR AGO: Pasta Frolla for Linzer Type Cookies

2 YEARS AGO: Ravioli Cookies, the Shortest Path to Insanity

3 YEARS AGO: Peanut Butter and Jelly Babka and a Cookbook Review

4 YEARS AGO: Painted Sourdough

5 YEARS AGO: Over-the-Moon Blueberry Lemon Macarons

6 YEARS AGO: Springtime Macarons Bake-Along

7 AGO: Macarons for a Little Princess

8 YEARS AGO: Gilding the Sourdough Loaf

9 YEARS AGO: Lolita Joins the Bewitching Kitchen

10 YEARS AGO: Cashew Cream Sauce

11 YEARS AGO: Blood Orange Margaritas

12 YEARS AGO: Smoked Salmon Appetizer

13 YEARS AGO: Clementine Cake

14 YEARS AGO: Springtime Spinach Risotto

15 YEARS AGO: The end of green bean cruelty

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Torta di Limone e Mandorle

22Mar2026

A DUET OF ST PATRICK’S BAKES

Posted in Breads, Cake by sallybr

If you follow my baby blog, perhaps you’ve noticed I ran out of time to blog about St. Patrick’s cookies? It turns out I also got in trouble right here in the Bewitching Kitchen. Today I share a bread and a batch of cupcakes made in honor of that special holiday. Included in this post, a little cupcake decorating video, that you can find right after the recipe.

Better late than never, let’s start with the bread…

SHAMROCK SOURDOUGH
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

450g bread flour
25g spelt flour
25g dark rye flour
75g sourdough starter (stiff or 100% hydration)
10g salt
360g water
Thai rice flour (or tapioca flour)
shamrock shape cut from edible paper

Mix all ingredients in the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead gently for about 4 minutes (first or second speed maximum).

Transfer dough to a lightly oil bowl and do a bulk fermentation with 4 folds made 45 minutes apart. Before you start the fermentation , remove a very small amount of dough to a small glass container (like those that hold spices), and mark where the level of the dough is with a permanent marker. Keep that at room temperature to monitor fermentation.

After the last folding cycle, keep an eye on the fermentation using the small vial. Ideally you want to let the dough ferment until it is double in size. Depending on the day, temperature of your kitchen, it might take 8 hours or more.

Once bulk fermentation is over, shape the dough as a round ball. Place in the fridge overnight.

Next day, freeze the dough for 30 minutes in the banetton, to make it easier to score later. Invert the dough on a paper liner, add the shamrock shape in the center, and flour the region around it (I used Thai rice flour). To make the paper stick, you can spray the surface VERY LIGHTLY with water. Score the perimeter of the shamrock and the outer area of the dough, and place in a Dutch oven.

Close the pan and bake at 450F for 30 minutes, open and allow the bread to brown for a further 15 minutes.

Cool completely over a rack before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I used my Supersonic blade to score the dough, but a sharp razor blade will do, of course. This composition of sourdough, with mostly white flour, but a touch of spelt and rye might very well be my favorite these days.

Moving on, time for cupcakes!

ST PATRICK CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

makes 10 cupcakes

100g all-purpose flour
20g cocoa powder
140g granulated sugar
1/8 tsp salt
40g unsalted butter
1 large egg
120ml milk
1 + ½ tsp baking powder
buttercream for topping
Mini-golden Oreos painted with gold luster powder + vodka

Heat your oven to 350F and line a muffin tray with cupcake liners.

In a small, bowl, whisk the milk and egg with a fork. Reserve.

Put the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, butter, sugar and salt into the stand mixer
bowl with the paddle attachment. Mix on a medium speed until the butter turns into the consistency of sand.

Pour in half of the milk and egg mixture into the stand mixer bowl with your other
ingredients and mix on a slow speed until it all fully combines and becomes a thick
paste. Pour the remaining milk mixture and mix on low-speed until the batter is smooth.

Fill the lined pan with batter, a little more than halfway full. Bake for 16 minutes, testing with a toothpick. Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove the cupcakes to a rack to cool completely.

BASIC BUTTERCREAM FOR CUPCAKES

226g butter, unsalted, softened
452g powdered sugar
pinch of salt
Vanilla extract, about 1 tsp or more to taste
a couple or more tablespoons of milk (to adjust consistency)

Place the softened butter in the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer with the paddle attachment, add the pinch of salt, and whip at high speed for about 7 minutes. It needs to be really soft and lighter. Stop the mixer. Eyeball the amount of powdered sugar, add 1/3 and mix at low speed at first, once the sugar is starting to get incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high.

Add the second portion of the sugar, and incorporate the same way. Add the final portion, start at low speed, clean the sides of the bowl well with a spatula, add the vanilla and increase the speed slowly all the way to high. Whip it until very smooth. Add milk to desired consistency. Divide the buttercream in two portions, dye one with light green, one with darker green. Place both portions over a plastic wrap, enclose them as a sausage, drop inside a large piping bag fitted with an open star tip. Decorate the tops of the cupcakes as shown in the video. Add the gold Oreos.

EENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I was pretty happy with the way these cupcakes turned out. It was fun to decorate, and to show the process in more detail, here is a little video for you.

That’s all for now, friends! If you like a little St. Patrick’s trivia, here is a very interesting article for you…

ONE YEAR AGO: Happy Birthday to me!

TWO YEARS AGO: Incredibly Simple: Air-Fried Salmon Bites

THREE YEARS AGO: Chocolate-Covered Oreos

FOUR YEARS AGO: Pan-Steamed Broccoli with Miso Vinaigrette

FIVE YEARS AGO: Cookies and Rubber Stamps

SIX YEARS AGO: Macarons for all Seasons and Reasons

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Lentils and Radicchio? Yes, please!

EIGHT YEAR AGO: Tres Leches Cake

NINE YEARS AGO: The Joys of Grating Squash

TEN YEARS AGO: Auberge-Pecan Walnut Bread

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Gluten-free and Vegan Raspberry Bars

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Lasserre, a French Classic

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Sourdough Bread with Walnuts and Dates

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Braised Brisket with Bourbon-Apricot Glaze

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: The Real Vodka Sauce

SIXTEEN YEARS AGO: Pork Tenderloin and Blue Cheese

14Mar2026

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE ENTREMET CAKE

Posted in Cake by sallybr

Ready for a true labor of love? Full disclosure, it was a case of self-love, because I made it to celebrate my own Birthday! I spread the preparation over three days, you can definitely make it in two, but sometimes it is best not to rush. Since it’s been many years since I made this type of cake, I decided to take my time and enjoy the ride.

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE ENTREMET CAKE
(from Sugar Geek Show)

for the cake component:
3 large eggs
1 cup white sugar (220 g)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup mayonnaise (180 g)
1 + 1/2 cup all purpose flour (180 g)
1/2 cup cocoa powder (45 g)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup water (185 g)

for the ganache center:
1 Tbsp (15 g) white sugar
1 tsp glucose or Corn Syrup
1/2 cup (120 g) whipping cream
50 g dark chocolate
40 g milk chocolate
2 tsps of unsalted butter

for the chocolate mousse:
3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp whipping cream (200 g)
200 g dark chocolate
3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp heavy cream (200 g)
3 egg yolks
60 g white sugar
1/4 cup (60 g) water

for the chocolate mirror glaze:
1 cup granulated sugar (200 g)
1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp water (100 g)
2 drops red food coloring (optional)
1 cup heavy whipping cream (220 g)
1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp corn syrup or glucose (120 g)
1 + 1/2 cups cocoa powder (130 g)
6 gelatin sheets (16 g) – I used Platinum

Make the cake: Line a 1/4 inch sheet pan with parchment paper and heat oven to 350 F.

In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract, mayonnaise, and water. With an electric mixer, set on low speed, gradually add the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients until combined. Then increase the speed to medium and continue to mix for one more minute until the batter is fully combined and smooth. Spread the batter onto the pan and bake for about 15 minutes or until the center of the cake is set.

Let the cake cool for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and cover in plastic wrap and freeze until you are ready to start assembling the cake.

Make the ganache: Break up the dark chocolate and milk chocolate into small pieces and place into a heat-proof bowl; set aside. In a medium-sized sauce pan, bring the cream, glucose or corn syrup, and sugar to a boil. Pour 1/3 of the hot cream mixture over the chocolate pieces, whisking vigorously until the chocolate starts to melt. Pour another 1/3 of the hot cream over the chocolate while whisking, continuing until the cream is all used up. Place the butter in a tall container or pitcher and pour the ganache over it. Using an immersion blender, mix the ganache and butter together until smooth and shiny. Pour the mixture into a bowl, cover with plastic touching the surface and let set for 5-6 hours at room temperature. You can also do that the day before.

After the ganache has set, remove the chocolate cake from the freezer and use a 3-inch cake cutter to cut six small cake rounds (each cake round should be about 1/4 the height of your cake ring). Place the chocolate ganache into a piping bag and pipe about 2 teaspoons of ganache in the center of each cake round). Place in the freezer for at least one hour.

Make the chocolate mousse: the mousse is made up of three components: the whipped cream, the chocolate ganache, and the egg yolks whipped with hot syrup (pâte à bombe). First, whip the 200 g cream until soft peaks form and set aside. For the chocolate ganache, break up the dark chocolate into smaller pieces and place in a heat-proof bowl. Bring the 200g heavy cream to a boil and then pour 1/3 of the hot cream onto the chocolate, whisking vigorously. Working in thirds, continue to pour the hot cream onto the chocolate until all of the cream has been used, whisking in-between each addition. Set aside.

For the pâte à bombe, place your egg yolks into a heat-proof bowl. In a large saucepan, heat the sugar and water together until the temperature reaches 244 F. Slowly pour the hot mixture onto the bowl holding the egg yolks, whisking continuously until the mixture thickens and turns a pale yellow.

Combine all three components: first fold the whip cream into the ganache, then pour the egg yolk mixture into the bowl of the mixed chocolate ganache, then fold all ingredients until smooth. Transfer mousse to a piping bag and coat inside of each metal cake ring with cooking spray. Line inside of each cake mold with acetate. Pipe the mousse into each cake ring, filling 3/4 of the way to the top. Gently press each frozen cake ring (topped with the ganache) into the ring with the ganache facing downward. The mousse should gradually move up toward the top of the ring. Flatten out the mousse and scrape off any excess mousse. Freeze each cake overnight.

Make the chocolate mirror glaze: first, place your gelatin sheets in a bowl of cold water for about 5 minutes to soften. Heat the water, sugar, and a few drops of red food gel on the stovetop until the mixture reaches 222 F. In a separate bowl, mix the glucose (or corn syrup) and cream together then microwave for one minute until warm. Now pour this into the pan holding the sugar/water mixture, whisking continuously, then bring to a boil. Add the cocoa powder, remove from the heat and continue to mix.

Squeeze out the excess moisture from the gelatin leaves, then place in a pitcher or large measuring cup. Pour the sugar/cocoa mixture on top of the gelatin and mix with an immersion blender until all bubbles are gone. Let temperature reduce to 104 F (40 C) while preparing your cake molds.

To unmold the frozen entremet cakes, use a hair dryer to heat up the sides of the cake ring for a few seconds, then gently push the cake out of the mold onto a cooling rack placed on top of a baking sheet. Remove the acetate sheet from the cake. Before applying the glaze to the cake, make sure the glaze temperature is 104 F (40 C). Gradually pour the glaze onto the cake starting from the center outwards, fully covering the top and sides. (The excess glaze that has accumulated in the pan can be scraped up and re-used).

After the glaze settle a few minutes, transfer the cake to a serving dish; decorate with some gold leaf and serve.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: The link associated with the recipe will take you straight to a video showing every single step of the preparation, so even if you have no previous experience with entremet cakes, you’ll be able to tackle it. Here is my way to approach this adventure:

Day one: baked the chocolate cake, wrapped it and froze it

Day two: made the ganache early in the morning, cut cake slices and topped with ganache around noon. Made the mousse and assembled the cake rings around 5pm. Froze everything overnight.

Day three: Made the chocolate mirror glaze, while it cooled to the pouring temperature (I used 110F instead of 104F), I removed the frozen cakes from the rings, took the acetate out, and placed them back in the freezer until the glaze was ready to pour.

The only problem I had – and that was a big problem that led into severe hyperventilation – was right after glazing the cakes. The video gave a super cool tip to hold the cake with a stick to roll the base over sprinkles, but it is VERY important that you do not stick that too deep, or you won’t be able to remove it without destroying the little cake. I almost lost my Zen. So, if you make them, insert the skewer just a little bit, it will be a bit wobbly but then you will remove it without issues, and the gold leaf or another decoration of your choice will hide the small hole left on the glaze.

I was totally thrilled with the outcome! Especially because I had not worked with mirror glaze in such a long time. Consider investing in a Bamix handheld mixer, it is the best tool to remove bubbles from this type of glaze, although for extra safety I always pass it through a fine sieve (they did not use it in the video, but I advise you to incorporate this extra step). I’ve had the Bamix for many years, found a great deal on eBay at the time, probably around 2018.

This is a real rich dessert, we shared one and then Phil had a couple of bites from the second one, leftover was his breakfast next day. If you don’t have gold leaf to decorate the top, a small fondant decoration or even sprinkles will do.

I truly enjoyed making these cakes, and now I wonder if I really need a super special occasion to justify bringing it to our table… Life is short, not a bad idea to indulge every once in a while, right?

ONE YEAR AGO: Cake Pucks

TWO YEARS AGO: Haniela’s Cheese Crackers

THREE YEARS AGO: Shrimp Tacos with Jicama-Mango Salsa

FOUR YEARS AGO: Mini-Egg Brownies

FIVE YEARS AGO: The Luck of the Irish

SIX YEARS AGO: When life gives you Eye-of-the-Round

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Carrot Cake Macarons

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Soup Saturday: Say Goodbye to Winter

NINE YEARS AGO: Manchego and Poblano Soup

TEN YEARS AGO: A Smashing Pair

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Crispy Chickpea and Caper Spaghetti

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Spring has Sprung!

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Chickpea and Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Double Asparagus Delight

SIXTEEN YEARS AGO: Sun-dried Tomato and Feta Cheese Torte

13Feb2026

BAKING WITH LOVE

Posted in Cake, Cookies by sallybr

Valentine’s Day is just about here! Today I share a few ideas to sweeten up this special weekend… Make sure to visit my cookie blog tomorrow for a series of cookies that celebrate love. And now, let’s get started, shall we?

I open this post with a Vanilla Pound Cake with Hibiscus Glaze

VANILLA POUND CAKE WITH HIBISCUS GLAZE
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

for the cake:
3 sticks (339g) unsalted butter, softened (room temperature)
8 oz Cream Cheese, at room temperature (one regular package)
2 + 1/2 cups (500g) sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla paste or extract
6 Eggs, at room temperature
3 cups (375g) flour

for the glaze:
3 tablespoons hibiscus tea
200g powdered sugar
squeeze of lemon juice

Heat oven to 325F.

Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar with hand mixer until light and fluffy. Pound cakes do not contain leavening agent, so make sure to work the butter until fluffy. Add salt and vanilla, beat well.
Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Gradually mix in the three cups of flour.

Pour into well greased bundt pan. Bake for about 90 minutes, covering with foil if the top gets too brown before a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Wait for 15 minutes before un-molding over a rack. Let the cake cool completely, then make a glaze whisking all the ingredients. Pour the glaze over the cake, decorate with sprinkles, if desired.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe click here

Comments: The Bundt pan I used is this one. Any cake will look good with a simple dusting of powdered sugar, but I decided to go with a light glaze and sprinkles.

CHOCOLATE-COVERED
BROWNIE HEARTS

If your heart is set on chocolate, but you don’t feel like a simple tray of brownies, here is a very cute idea… Bake the brownies in a heart-shape silicone mold, then use the same mold to coat each piece in chocolate (I went with compound chocolate dyed red). I used these molds to bake and coat the brownies. And my favorite recipe for the little cakes (check here).

When you bake the brownies, the bottom side, that touches the mold, will be super flat. You can flip them when you coat and place the non-flat side touching the chocolate. That will end up smooth, so both sides of your little cakes will be nice and flat.

So the process goes like this: bake the brownies, cool them completely in the mold. Freeze for 10 minutes to make sure the brownie will be nice and firm. Remove cakes. Wash the mold, dry well. Melt compound chocolate in the color of your choice, add a layer to the bottom of the mold and immediately insert the cake back. Push gently all the way down. Make sure you see the chocolate coming up a bit around the edges, no need to come all the way to the top. Freeze for 15 minutes. Un-mold, and decorate.

Once they are coated, you can pipe a drizzle of melted chocolate and add sprinkles.

CHOCOLATE-COVERED OREOS

No need for recipe, just a little festive decoration, made with Royal icing and sanding sugar. Leftover melted chocolate was used to form little hearts using this mold.

VALENTINE’S SQUARE CAKE

I cannot share the recipe, as it is copyrighted. Published as Sunny Sprinkle Layer Cake, it is in a great book by Molly Gilbert called Sheet Pan Sweets. I baked it in a half-sheet pan, then cut 4 squares to make the layers, used a simple American Buttercream to frost it. It was not easy to frost smoothly a square cake, but oh, well. What does not kill you, makes you stronger.