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…
Coming Soon: Cake Basics
One of the biggest reasons why I started blogging about cake is because I fell in love with helping people. It totally makes my day when I read messages from…
Vanilla Buttercream Recipe
I’ve tested a ton of buttercream recipes in my day, but my go-to is a super simple American buttercream recipe that I’ve tweaked to my liking. I’ve used this recipe…
Sugar & Sparrow is TWO!
And just like that, Sugar & Sparrow is TWO years old! It feels so young and so old at the same time. This past year was all about growing in…
Pip’s “Heart of Gold” Coconut Chai Cake Recipe
One of my favorite things to do in Portland is go meet a friend for Pip’s Doughnuts and Chai. Their tasty mini doughnuts are hands down my favorite in the…