Would you believe me if I told you that once upon a time it took me hours to frost a smooth buttercream cake? It was mainly due to my perfectionism,…
How to Crumb Coat Cakes (and Why it’s Important)
In the cake making process, you might be tempted to skip ahead to your final coating of frosting after you fill and stack your cake layers. If you’re a perfectionist…
How to Fill and Stack Cake Layers
Have you ever had a fiasco with your cake filling? I have. Between it bulging out between layers or straight up oozing out of the sides because it’s just too…
A Magical Maternity Photoshoot in the Rose Gardens
There’s this magical place in Portland called the International Rose Test Garden, where there are over ten thousand roses in bloom all at once. It’s apparently the longest running rose…
How to Level and Torte Cake Layers
Whether my cake layers come out of the oven with a domed top or a flat one, there’s one step I never miss once those cakes are cooled: torting the…
How to Prepare Cake Pans for Easy Release
Before you mix up your cake batter, there are two things you’ve got to do to set yourself up for cake baking success: preheat your oven and prepare your pans….
Common Reasons Why Cakes Sink
It happens to the best of us: you spend all this time mixing up cake batter and feeling extra optimistic about those future cake layers, come to find that when…
The Tastiest Strawberry Cake Recipe
A few years ago, I created this Strawberry Lemonade cake that became an instant hit: cake flavored with fresh strawberries (pureed and reduced), filled with strawberry buttercream, topped with lemon…
Toasted S’mores Cupcakes
I can’t tell you how many requests I’ve gotten for a cupcake version of my S’mores Cake with Toasted Marshmallow Buttercream. It’s one of my all-time favorite recipes (s’mores fan…