Easy Raspberry Meringue Cake with Chocolate Ganache

The first time I made a meringue cake was during Passover. Flourless and usually dairy free, well, that is if you serve it with just fruit, meringues make a perfect, usually light dessert which makes them well suited after a heavy, filling meal. In this case, with a ton of chocolate and exquisite raspberry flavored filling, this cake made for a decadent affair. I think everyone kept the

Maple Pecan Cream Cheese Pound Cake and a #Whole Foods Giveaway

"A perfect dessert for Thanksgiving...Maple Pecan Cream Cheese Pound Cake"







I made Manservant very happy. Not that I don't make him happy often, and maybe it was the fact that I'd been gone so long; in any case... he loved this cake. It's a splurgie kind of cake in the sense that I use real maple syrup on it and in it. Real maple syrup is a treat and so much better than the corn syrup

Apple Brown Sugar Sharlotka and a #Whole Foods #Giveaway

  
October is here and to me that means apples and pumpkins and lots of leaves to rake! I've already filled my freezer with tons of applesauce and my fridge is filled with grape, plum and raspberry jams. I still have to make the last of my oregano and basil into pesto and then I might be ready for the chill of winter. But I'm skipping ahead, aren't I?

Fall is one of my favorite times of

Red Canyons and Black Bottom Cupcakes

 Sometimes I think spring break was invented just so I would want to go to college. Of course, I didn't know that until I went to college, but I have to admit that upon graduating college, (yes, I did!) I really missed spring break. It took about 10 more years in the work force and then 5 more years before my kids were old enough, to start back down the spring break road. And now I miss

Flourless, Gluten Free, Passover Fudge Cake and My Passover Menu

Ach! Such a crazy title for a very simple cake. I'm not sure when flourless chocolate cake became the rage, only to be followed by little molten lava cakes, but I know that every restaurant seems to have one or the other on their menu. And just like they are everywhere so are the numerous recipes that extoll their virtues. I'm not sure how old I was when my mother gave me the recipe for her

Gingerbread Pear Upside Down Skillet Cake and Three Winners!

I know. You are probably looking at the above and wondering, trick or treat. I know. She looks like crap. Like she sat in the sun too long. She maybe got a bit burnt. But she didn't. And she isn't. Crap, that is.  In fact, she is really good crap. She happens to be one of the best cakes, I've made, well,  since my last best cake. We loved this cake-manservant and I. It is the perfect cake

Chocolate Lava Cake And a Birthday

 A long, long time ago or once upon a time, (but it really doesn't matter as this fact is not essential to the story), two people met at college and fell in love. After 4 years of dating, 3 college degrees and a move to Florida, they got married. They traveled and worked and had dogs. They ate and cooked and made lots of friends. They moved back to Colorado and were very happy but something

Cream Cheese Pound Cake - Or If I Were A Cake...

 I think, if I were a cake, I would be this cake. Don't get me wrong, I love my chocolate, but I would want to be something basic, something reliable, something strong. Something you could dress up and take anywhere or be perfectly happy with having all to yourself. At home, on the couch, or in bed, and especially at a picnic. Yes, I would be this cake. It has withstood the test of

Coconut Rum Tres Leches Cake and A Special Request

 I'm really good at special requests. And they make me feel so special. I mean no one asks you to do something unless they think you can do it- right?  And that, to me, is flattering. I get it all the time in my small business because all I do is custom work. Now that wedding season is upon us I am doing lots of custom gifts for people needing special gifts. Generally, I take

Texas Sheet Cake

The rabbit catcher is from Texas. Houston to be exact. A long u please.. That's how they all say it when they talk and catch up, y'all. We met in Colorado where we both moved to escape our various climates and to go to school. Yes, I did go to school, kids, even if I met your daddy there. And I did graduate and not just with an MRS as some like to say. And thirty some years later we are

Run Like the Wind or a Quick Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Cake and Pinwheels!




 Race Day is now behind us and surely the next race is yet to come. It appears recovering from tendonitis needs to happen before she can think about San Francisco. My daughter, the runner. Who ever would have thought? Not me. But competitive she is. Not only did she surpass the goal of raising $2500 per runner she had her PBR or personal best record as

Brown Sugar Spice Cake with Caramel Glaze or Friendship Cake

Brown Sugar Spice Cake with Prunes and Caramel Glaze

 Baking a cake is something that happens rarely in our home. I love to bake but generally it is cookies or brownies or other sweets that appear on my plate. It is not that I don't like cake. I love cake but usually two people have a hard time finishing off an entire cake. Cookies can be frozen and well, it's just easier to pick up a

New Orleans and King Cake

King Cake






  I’ve got New Orleans on my mind. Way back in the 80’s
we were able to visit several times. Twice for a conference, once just for fun,
one with sadness attached. I love New
Orleans. I love the energy that it gives me. N’awlins
makes me feel like I’m in another world and I could use that feeling right now.
When I think of the Big Easy I think of my husband’s relations

Chocolate Krantz Cake or Babka and Jerusalem

Chocolate Krantz Cake



Sliced!



                           
 It has
been almost a year since I’ve been in Jerusalem.
It is calling me. The past year was difficult as many things that were supposed
to happen didn’t and well-that’s the way the cookie crumbles-so to speak. Being
Jewish I get the equivalent of two new years and I really do try to make both
count. This year is all

Chocolate Fudge Cake and an 81st Birthday

Chocolate Fudge Cake





It is a
new year. It will be a good year. (I’m supposed to say this twenty times a day
for 3 weeks and then my brain will start believing it.) I read that somewhere
but I won’t bore you with the other 19. It will
be a good year but right now I feel more optimistic telling you what will taste
good this year. I have made this triple layer chocolate fudge cake  for

My Mom and Martha Mervis's Coffeecake

                          My Mom's and Martha Mervis's Coffeecake

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti



A few weeks ago I went home. Well, not really home, because it wasn’t where I grew up. But when I see family it conjures feelings of home.

Kadaif or Middle Eastern Cheesecake

Kadaif





St. Patrick’s Day has come and gone. I did not see a rainbow or find a pot of gold. However, I did make a delightful new dessert that glistened with honey which may be as close as I ever get to a pot of gold. A friend came over on Sunday to see the photos of my trip and I decided to make a Middle Eastern Spread. Just the mezze (appetizer) part-after all, us girls have to watch our

Hot Fudge Cake

Hot Fudge Cake




 I love Friday. Though I never have any weekend plans I like to believe I’m entitled to lay in bed and read the paper. And oh, that feels so good. But my weekend starts with Friday night and I usually try to make a comforting dinner. You know-to start things out right. So when I got home from Israel I didn’t find much in the fridge. However I did find a clean house and clean

Ilse's Passover Mocha Nut Cake or more simply Ilse's Cake

I’m not sure how my Papa Alex fell in love with our beloved Ilse, but I believe it had something to do with her cooking. I was young when my Bubby died and I know my Papa was very sad. However it wasn’t too long until he found Ilse and we all discovered that the way to a man and a family’s heart is through their stomachs. Ilse was a tremendous comfort to Papa which made me comfortable

Sugar Cake

Sugar Cake
 It was one of those days that began with a special surprise from a certain dog that shall remain nameless. I guess she was worried maybe I forgot to wake up. I didn’t...


And then my dear friend Commander Bill from the Disabled American Vets called. He’s been calling now for over 30 years and his voice never changes. I feel like saying, “Bill, if you want to come clean out my crawl