Raspberry Rosé Cake

You know how they say that you shouldn’t go to the grocery store hungry, because then you’re just going to buy all of the bad food? WELL! That’s sorta, kinda how this recipe stumbled into my head…

I was, as always, craving cake, but then also the day was pretty spectacular—the warmth of the summer sun was upon my skin, the sound of birds chirping was all over, the flowers were blooming gorgeously, and people were just happy. It’s days like these that no matter what, I can’t be brought down—and then I thought why not add a little rosé wine into the mix?!

And so I did.

I went to the store and bought too many bottles for a little taste-testing afternoon. No regrets!

…Except maybe the fact that I have been missing out for a whiiilllle. Like, can someone please tell me why I’ve never been a rosé drinker? Because I sure can’t! I’m a true Riesling gal in the warm months, I can’t get enough of it—but this cake has led me rethink my summer beverage choices. The crispness, slight sweetness, with just the hint of a red wine, there are no bad qualities to this wine!! Well, maybe the fact that I drank an entire bottle while perfecting the recipe—hey, what can you do!?

So, along with the glorious addition of wine to this recipe, fresh fruit also shows its face. Like, hellooooo juicy and luscious raspberries. Gosh, I am so obsessed with this season and all of the beauty it produces, fruit will be making many, many appearances over the next few months for sure! Et voila my friends, a masterpiece was created, and just in time for the true start of the summer—Memorial Day Weekend!

Yes, a barbeque, a big fruit salad, some cold beers, that may be your go to, but I promise that this cake will 1. Be a huge hit, 2. Fill up those alcohol filled tummies and 3. Get people to switch to an ice-cold glass of rosé…quite a classy BBQ if I do say so myself!

Oh, and did I mention that I soak the raspberries in the wine as well?! You’re welcome.

…And now we are at the end of this nice long rant about my newfound love for pretty pink wine. So see, my hunger made me want cake, which made me step out into the beautiful sunshine to pick up some fresh fruit, then some rosé, and then I made a beautiful, Welcome Summer cake. Not all cravings are bad, and I sure hope that this one satisfies yours!

cake ingredients

Butter, room temperature—4 oz, or 8 TBL

Sugar—8 oz, or 1 C

Eggs—2

Vanilla—2 tsp

Flour—12 oz, or 2 C

Baking Powder—2 ½ tsp

Salt—½ tsp

Milk—4oz, or ½ C

Lemon Juice—3.5 oz, or ½ C

Lemon Zest—2 medium

process

Preheat your oven to 350˚ F.

In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter and sugar.

Once light and fluffy, add in the eggs and vanilla. Scrape.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Alternating between the sifted ingredients and the milk/lemon juice, slowly add to the mixer in 4-5 increments.

Add in the zest.

Once you have all of the ingredients combined and mixed together, pour into 2-6” cake pans that have been sprayed with nonstick spray and lined with parchment or a light dusting of flour.

Bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes, until the top springs back slightly when touched.

*Note: if you do not have 2-6” cake pans, cut the recipe in half and just make in two separate batches!*

Allow to cool completely before building your cake

buttercream ingredients

Butter, room temperature—12 oz, or 1 ½ C/3 sticks

Confectioner’s Sugar—18 oz, or 4 C

Vanilla—1 tsp

Rosé Wine—2 oz, or 4 TBL

process

In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter until very, very smooth.

In a separate bowl, sift the confectioner’s sugar, and then slowly add to the creamed butter.

When all smooth and incorporated, add in the vanilla, and then slowly stream in the rosé.

Optional—if you want a light pink color, add in just the smallest drop of red food coloring!

Turn the mixer up to high and whip the buttercream for about a minute, this will make it light, fluffy, and easy to apply to the cake!

filling ingredients

Raspberries—6 oz, or ~1C

Rosé—2 oz, or 4 TBL

process

In a small bowl, combine the berries and the wine.

Smash a little bit with the back of a spoon, and allow to marinate just slightly before putting them in between your two cake layers.

assembly

Once both of your cake layers have cooled completely, trim off the tops of each of the cakes so that they are flat in both sides.

Place one cake layer on either a plate or a turntable, whatever you are going to decorate on.

Fill either a piping bag, or a plastic baggie that seals shut, with the buttercream; make a moat around the outside edge of your cake, about ½” thick—this will help make sure that your cake is level, and the filling will not ooze out of the cake.

Take a dollop of buttercream and spread evenly inside of the moat you just made.

Slightly strain the wine soaked raspberries, and add on top of the buttercream.

Place your second layer of cake on top of the first, making sure to press just slightly.

Take another big spatula-full of buttercream and place on the top of your cake, smoothing it out.

Now, some of that will go over the sides, which is great, and you can just use it to cover the sides of your cake as well.

Once you have finished and are satisfied, you make decorate however you would like—naturally I went for the star sprinkles—and take a nice big piece to enjoy.

Bon Appétit!

Chocolate Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

It’s Mother’s Day, it’s Mother’s Day!

I mean how can one not be this excited?! I am in love with my mom and my birthday always falls right around this weekend (sometimes on the big day!), and so there are always celebrations galore. Go figure that I would do another muffin recipe—last year I literally posted Mother’s Day Muffins…

This year we are going crazy with freshness, lightness, and chocolateyness. I don’t know about you, but it seems like moms are just obsessed with that in desserts. Something about the simplicity, the vibrancy, the freshness in lemon that seems to scream Moms are going to love me!

Then I added in chocolate, because, well, chocolate, my friends…and topped them with a crumb. Let me tell you, a lemon poppyseed muffin with a crumb topping is a game changer! The addition of a couple of unexpected things in these little muffins is what really makes it unique for me—who am I kidding, was chocolate really a huge surprise?! But definitely a good one!

So, my friends, if you’re looking to wow mom, who you all should if you’re close enough to be with yours (sadly, West Virginia to Maine isn’t driving distance…), these will do the trick! I mean how many times has she woken up to breakfast in the oven, the coffee brewing, maybe some beautiful tulips on the table and Michael Bublé playing in the background?! For the almost 26 years of my life, my mom always does all of those things for me, she’s basically Superwoman, and I have no clue how she gets it all done.

This Sunday I encourage you to swap places with her for just the one day—let her eat in the living room and you make her bed!—all starting with a little coffee, a couple of these Chocolate Lemon Poppyseed Muffins, and a crazy amount of love!

crumb ingredients

Brown Sugar—2 oz, or ¼ C

Flour—3 oz, or ½ C

Butter—2 oz, or ¼ C/4 TBL

process

Combine brown sugar and flour together in a bowl.

Cut the butter up into hazelnut-sized cubes.

Add the butter in with the dry ingredients and mix.

Using either a pastry cutter or your hands, rub the butter into the sugar-flour until it resembles little bits of sand.

Set aside until ready to use.

muffin ingredients

Butter, room temperature—4 oz, ½ C/8 TBL

Sugar—6 oz, or ¾ C

Eggs—2

Greek Yogurt—4oz, or ½ C

Vanilla Extract—1 tsp

Flour—12 oz, or 2 C

Baking Soda—1 tsp

Baking Powder—1 ¼ tsp

Salt—½ tsp

Poppyseeds—0.25 oz, or 1 TBL

Lemon Zest—1 medium lemon

Lemon Juice—4 oz, or ½ C

Dark Chocolate Chips—6 oz, or 1 C

process

Preheat your oven to 375˚ F.

In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.

Scrape down the sides of your bowl and add in the eggs, one at a time.

Add in the vanilla and Greek yogurt—mix until all combined.

Sift together your flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Add the lemon zest and poppyseeds.

Slowly add this to your mixer, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl when needed.

Once you have added all of the dry ingredients, slowly stream in the lemon juice.

Add the chocolate chips.

Line a muffin pan, and fill each cup ¾ of the way with muffin batter.

Sprinkle a healthy sized portion of the crumb you made on top, making sure to cover the top completely.

When you have filled all of your cups, put in your preheated oven and bake for 18-20 minutes, until slightly golden on top.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before eating.

Bon appétit!

Lemon Honey Poke Cake with Lavender Cream

April showers bring May flowers, right? Well with all of this rain that we are experiencing in Charleston right now, there better be a dang field of flowers growing all over this entire city once May hits! Yes, I love the rain, I love the smell, I love how peaceful it can be if you happen to be walking in the rain—with a parapluie of course—I am all about the rain, don’t get me wrong! Yet this kind of rain isn’t the cute kind, isn’t the let’s go dancing in it and splash in puddles and be adorable, it’s the aw shoot. We are about to get some slight flooding, some really drenched lawns, and I’ll definitely be getting splashed walking to work—that kind of rain.

So, my ever so sweet baking friends, I have decided to play a little bit of pretend!

Don’t worry, I realize that I am almost 26, but this is the acceptable kind of make believe.

While making this recipe, I turned on some good ol’ Edith Piaf and pretended it was springtime in Paris; just another reason that rain can be absolutely gorgeous and romantic. I then began to daydream about this time last year, when I was actually in Paris, having my fair share of Champagne and people watching, which is probably one of my best talents…

…

…Okay, back to reality! Yes I love rain, I love France, I love springtime, and what do all of those add up to? Me craving lavender. Lots and lots of lavender. And voilá, I give you a cake that is soaked in lavender! Of course, mes amies, you read that right, and it’s every bit delicieuse as it sounds. I made these little cakes, well, petits! In my opinion, single serving, and when you drench the lemon honey cakes in lavender infused cream, I mean, need I say more?!

Oh and remember why rain is so magnifique?! This cake was born during a terrible rain storm, yet filled with the most love and happiness and lavender!

Here you have it, my April showers please bring May all of the flowers poke cake—poking being what you must do to the cake in order to create some nice little homes for the lavender cream to seep into! As I listen to the rain come crashing down outside, my ears are filled with a little bit of “…je ne regrette rien…” and my tummy is stuffed full of a yummy, light little cake!

cake ingredients

Butter—2 oz, or ¼ C

Sugar—3 oz, or ¼ C + 2 TBL

Honey—1 oz, or2TBL

Eggs—1

Flour—6 oz, or 1 C

Baking Powder—1 tsp

Salt—¼ tsp

Lemon Zest—1 lemon

Lemon Juice—1.5 oz, or 3 TBL

Milk—4 oz, or ½ C

process

Preheat your oven to 350˚ F.

In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter, sugar and honey.

Add in the egg, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the lemon zest to the dry ingredients.

Alternating between the milk and dry, add to the mixer, while on low speed.

When you have finished, add in the lemon juice.

Scrape down the bowl one final time to make sure that everything is combined.

Spray 4-4” can pans, I used our Le Creuset mini cocottes for this, with nonstick spray.

*Note: if you would rather use a larger 6” or 8” cake pan and just make one big cake, that would be equally as delicious! Make sure to bump up bake time.*

Fill each one up halfway.

Bake in your preheated oven for 30 minutes, until the top springs back when touched and the cake is a light golden color.

Allow to cool completely before adding in the Lavender Cream!

lavender cream ingredients

Whole Milk—4 oz, or ½ C

Dried Lavender Buds—2 TBL

process

In a small saucepot, combine the milk and lavender; bring to a boil.

Once at a full boil, turn off the heat and cover the pot.

Allow to steep for 10-15 minutes.

Strain the lavender buds, keeping the milk.

When you are ready to use for your cakes, poke little holes all over the cake for the cream to soak into.

Pour a few spoonfuls all over your holey cake and let sit about 1 minute.

Top with fresh fruit (Strawberries work wonders!), whipped cream, or nice and simple by itself, and enjoy!

Bon Appétit!

Lemon Cranberry Swirl Bars

When it comes to Thanksgiving, lemon may not be something you instantly think of. There are always those pumpkin, apple, or pecan pies, which are amazing, don’t get me wrong, but why not something a little lighter? A little something something to refresh that palette after you eat 5 helpings of mashed potatoes and way too many servings of stuffing (if there is such a thing!)?

These lemon cranberry swirl bars, I believe, are the answer to all of your “I’m so stuffed, I can’t eat another bite of anything else” feelings. I always thought that my mom was silly for being absolutely in love with any dessert that involved lemon, I mean come on mom, no chocolate = no dessert. But these bars have changed the game completely.

Maybe you aren’t sold because you’re not really a lemon meringue pie type of person, or, you’re like me, who needs something super rich and way too decadent to even consider it a dessert. WELL MY FRIENDS, this has even me converted.

It could be the fact that the crust is like one big sugar cookie…

Oops…

But let’s look beyond that! There’s this amazingly tart, yet sweet, lemon curd that has these mesmerizing cranberry swirls all over it. How can you not just love that? While lemon may be a far-fetched flavor during November and December, cranberry is certainly going to making its appearance more than once.

So, there you go my lemon lovers and soon-to-be, a dessert that is equally refreshing as it is vibrant in all sorts of intense flavors. Plus there's the added fun of making the cranberry swirl in any design, I could do that for hours. I guess my mom will start needing to share her part of the dessert table this year!

crust ingredients

Butter—14 oz, or 3 sticks + 4 TBL

Sugar—7 oz or 1C – 1 TBL

Eggs—1

Yolks—2

Salt—½ tsp

Flour—20 oz, or 4 C

crust process

In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter and sugar.

Once light and fluffy, add in your egg and yolks.

When combined, add in the flour and salt.

Mix until your dough is formed, refrigerate to chill and until ready to use.

When you are ready to prebake the crust, preheat your oven to 350˚ F.

On a floured work surface, knead the dough so that it becomes more pliable and easier to roll.

Roll out your crust into a rectangle that is about ¼” thick and is about an inch bigger than the size pan that you’ll be using. I use a 9” x 13” pan, therefore rolling my dough into a 10” x 14” rectangle.

Take your crust and press it into your pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray.

Poke holes in it with a fork, this works as a vent, therefore no big air bubbles will come up in your crust while it is baking.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, just until the crust begins to become slightly brown.

Let it cool until you’re ready to use for the filling.

filling ingredients

Lemon Juice—4.25 oz, or ½ C

Sugar—22 oz, or 2 ¾ C

Cranberries—4 oz, or 1 C

Water—2 oz, or ¼ C

Eggs—3

Yolks—3

Flour—4 oz, or ¾ C

filling process

In a small saucepan, combine the cranberries, water and 2oz/¼ C of the sugar.

Over low heat, stir the berries until they begin to simmer and pop open.

The cranberry mixture will begin to thicken, this should take anywhere from 8-10 minutes.

Once all of the berries are cooked and very thick, strain them. Set aside until you are ready to use.

Preheat your oven to 350˚ F.

In a bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, remaining sugar, eggs, yolks and flour.

Add a few spoonfuls of this lemon mixture to your strained cranberry purée.

Pour the lemon juice filling into the par-baked crust.

Drop spoonfuls of the cranberry purée around the lemon filling, and then proceed to swirl with a knife.

When you are satisfied with how your beautiful cranberry swirl design has come out, bake for about 35 minutes, until the filling has set.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool.

Finish with a nice dusting of confectioner’s sugar and enjoy!

Bon Appétit!