Oh, 2023. I loved this year a whole lot and it was filled with so much goodness. It’s the year I published my first cake book after so many months of hard work and dedication. I still get a thrill whenever I see people reading and baking from it all over the world!
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Just a few months after the release of Anyone Can Cake I gave birth to another sweet baby boy and I’ve been soaking up time with our little family ever since. I’m finding that time goes so much faster the second time around, so I’ve really been trying to hold on to every little thing. It’s been a really sweet year.
Started off fast-paced with a major book launch, finished slow with another baby in my arms. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Here are some of your favorite recipes and tutorials I posted through it all:
Strawberry Buttercream with Fresh Berries
I am a huge fan of using freeze dried berries to flavor buttercream because they add so much powerful flavor without adding any liquid to buttercream. Too much liquid makes a buttercream split, curdle, and basically turns it into a soupy mess. But after some experimenting, I figured out how to add fresh berries to buttercream while keeping the flavor spot-on and the consistency perfect for cake decorating! Turns out you loved this fresh strawberry buttercream recipe just as much as I hoped you would.
Raspberry Pistachio Cake with Mascarpone Buttercream
2023 was the year I finally tried making a pistachio cake recipe! I’m so happy to say that it was a hit. This recipe features layers of soft, moist pistachio cake with delicious raspberry buttercream filling, topped with creamy mascarpone frosting.
Easy Heart-Shaped Cake
If you didn’t make this cake last year, put it on your list for this Valentine’s Day! This tutorial shows you how to make a heart-shaped cake from round cake layers. You’ll never have to buy a heart-shaped pan (unless you want to)!
Dye-Free Black Buttercream
I already had this black buttercream recipe that uses minimal food coloring, but I wanted to see if I could make a completely dye-free black buttercream recipe for Halloween and after lots of experimentation, I made one! This is my new go-to black buttercream recipe that uses absolutely ZERO food color gel. All you need is this black cocoa powder and you’ll end up with a dark black buttercream that tastes like Oreos.
The Fluffiest Lemon Layer Cake
I’ve already got a couple lemon cake recipes on my blog, but while I was developing recipes for Anyone Can Cake I made a NEW lemon layer cake that’s probably the softest, fluffiest cake recipe I’ve ever made. I showed a little bit of the process on Instagram and TikTok and you all LOVED it there, which is why I’m including it here in this list. It’s exclusively available in my book as part of the Lemon Raspberry Painterly Cake recipe (page 180).
Black Velvet Cake
In 2022, I made this all black cake for Halloween and it turned out to be a mega-hit on Instagram and TikTok, so I thought I’d re-post it for Halloween 2023 and it went viral all over again. The cake recipe now has ZERO food coloring in it (thanks to the magic of black cocoa powder!) and it was so fun to see how many people made it for Halloween in 2023.
Berry Chantilly Cake
Inspired by the classic Whole Foods recipe, this berry chantilly cake features perfectly light and fluffy white cake layers, chantilly cream frosting, and fresh berries throughout. I absolutely love the hint of mascarpone in the chantilly cream frosting and it’s the ideal cake for people who don’t love super sweet frosting.
Lavender Buttercream
This lavender buttercream recipe has the perfect floral flavor (not overpowering or soapy) and pairs so well with so many cake flavors! The key to the flavor is in the magic of steeping dried lavender. So fun to make and absolutely wonderful to eat if you love lavender.
Gold Ganache Drip Cake
This was my first tutorial of the year in 2023 and it turned out to be something that a LOT of you wanted to learn. It’s my favorite way to make a gold ganache drip that looks amazing and actually tastes good.
The Perfect Vanilla Cake Recipe
It’s so awesome to see this vanilla cake recipe continue to be a hit on my blog and beyond. I re-designed the decorating for a Reel this past year and now I want to update all the photos. If you need a great vanilla cake recipe, this one is soft, moist, and imo one of the closest things to boxed cake mix I’ve ever baked from scratch.
2023 was such a great year and I’m looking forward to ringing in a whole new year of possibilities! I’m wishing you all the very best in the coming year and hope you have great memories to look back on from this past one.
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