crepe cake

Salted Caramel Crepe Cake

Just when I thought I had salted caramel in about every dessert I could think of, I got the idea to create a salted caramel crepe cake. Known in French as a gâteau mille crêpes, a crepe cake is made up of “thousands” of crepe layers filled with pastry cream. A thousand (mille) layers is obviously an exaggeration, but it’s generally what the French tend to name desserts that are made up of many, many layers. 

honey and orange madeleines

Honey and Orange Madeleines

I’ve always been naturally inclined to love anyone or anything with the name Madeleine. This is because I used to be obsessed with the cartoon “Madeline” as a young girl. I loved to watch the 12 little French girls go through daily life in Paris and experience French cultural traditions, such as enjoying a gouter, or late-afternoon snack, like most French children do. Le gouter can be anything sweet, like a chocolate biscuit, bread with jam, or even these honey and orange madeleines.

hazelnut chocolate cake

Hazelnut Chocolate Cake with Caramel Marshmallow Ice Cream

On occasion, I get the temptation for something utterly tantalizing and decadent. Actually, who am I kidding? I constantly find myself battling the temptation to indulge. In Paris, this battle proves to be most difficult and constant since there are an endless amount of patisseries lined up along the cobblestone streets of the city, featuring gorgeous cakes, tarts, and confectionaries. While indulgence can come in the form of a butter cake, such as the creme brulee cake I made last week, I find that nothing beats an intensely rich and moist chocolate cake. This hazelnut chocolate cake is the kind of cake that commands you to close your eyes and release a sigh of pure contentment. And if that wasn’t enough, I paired this cake with my favorite no-churn, caramel marshmallow ice cream for ultra decadence. 

buche de noel cake overhead shot of entire yule log cake

Bûche de Noël Recipe (Yule Log Cake)

One of my favorite cakes to make during the holiday season is this bûche de nöel. The cake is a holiday tradition for the French made during Christmas time. In America, we know the cake as a yule log cake, but the reason I love it so much is that it’s such an easy way to make an impressive, festive cake without any fancy cake decorating skills. I’ve seen tutorials for painted cakes with marzipan-crafted toppings that are beautiful but incredibly time-consuming and require extensive skill to actually execute. But not this cake! This chocolate bûche de nöel will make you look like a total cake boss in front of your family and friends. 

Saffron Pear Cake

Saffron Pear Cake

Like any dessert aficionado, I appreciate a wide range of sweets, from delicate tarts to basic sheet cakes. That said, I prefer to leave the fancier stuff to the true experts. We could all probably make a beautiful dacquoise if we really tried and put the effort into it, but I have a feeling that the majority of us wouldn’t be up to all the fuss that goes into making it. Maybe once, for a very special occasion, but probably never again. That’s why I’m always looking to create and share recipes that are as enjoyable to make as they are to eat. This saffron pear cake exemplifies this concept perfectly. 

french pumpkin cheesecake

French Pumpkin Cheesecake

When I share recipes here, I like to give the majority of them a twist that’s unique to my point of view. I wish I could say that I’m a culinary mastermind that dreamt up every recipe here from scratch, but the truth is that most of them have been inspired from another recipe and played around with to make my own. I try not to share recipes that can’t or shouldn’t be tweaked because, well, they’ve already been posted somewhere so what’s the point? But! Sometimes a recipe is just so incredibly delicious that even though it lacks any of my personal twist or originality, I just have to share it. This French pumpkin cheesecake is one of those recipes. 

dark chocolate cake with red wine glaze

Dark Chocolate Cake with Red Wine Glaze

I think most women share a universal bond when it comes to our role in society and the struggles we face. No doubt that each human being has their own journey and their own obstacles, but as women, I think it’s fair to say that we deal with some common issues that men just don’t (or can’t) face. There’s the famous phrase that gets tossed around, which says, “If men got pregnant, the human population would die off,” and many more that refer to the amazing strength and endurance of the female population. I hate to devalue the hardships of men (sorry to my male readers), but I have witnessed and personally felt the unique burden placed upon women to “do it all” and come out of it with a sane mind and sense of calm. The demand to multi-task throughout the day, support, lead, inspire, encourage, compensate, and maintain our own can be overwhelming and unmatched. That’s where this dark chocolate cake with red wine glaze comes into play. 

spiced walnut cake

Spiced Walnut Cake

I love carrot cake, I really do. But shredding all those carrots? That’s not really my idea of a fun and relaxing baking sesh. I imagine that’s why I’d make a really lousy line cook and why my future in the restaurant business looks bleak. I mean, I’m willing to knead dough for several minutes, or dice pungent onions, but please don’t make me peel and grate carrots.  I love you, carrots, I do…but I just tend to love you more once you’re in a finished cake, you know? And for this reason, I don’t make carrot cake very often. I do, however, love all those wonderful spices that you find in carrot cake, as well as the surprise raisins and nuts you’ll often find in a traditional slice. That’s why I tend to make a lot of spiced cakes when this time of the year rolls around. With this spiced walnut cake, I get all of my favorite things about carrot cake sans the effort of peeling and grating those pesky carrots.