Does Mr. Presley Approve?

You better believe he would. After all, this week brings Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Banana Butter Frosting. As that very combination – PB and bananas – was one of Elvis’s favorites, this is exactly the sort of treat that’d leave the singer All Shook Up. Of course, the beguiling aroma drifts through the kitchen, and…

The Citrus Will Remember

Over the next few months, as we wait for fresh produce to return from winter vacation, citrus will spring gloriously into season, returning the brilliant sunshine it spent all summer gathering.  With so many limes, oranges, clementines and grapefruit filling the shelves, the sheer exuberance alone is sufficient to warm the spirits until local farms…

In the South, Maybe the Far South

About forty years ago, a recipe appeared in Southern Living magazine, and it soon took the region, then the country, by acclaim.  Thus, Hummingbird Cake was introduced to the culinary world.   One bite of the lusciously moist cake is enough for many to proclaim it the best cake ever.  Easy to understand why, what,…

Hidden Raspberries

Yes, the fresh fruit atop today’s offering sets the marker for raspberries, but do you really expect to encounter a perfect ribbon of sweet berry preserves when biting into the soft vanilla cake, past the creamy lemon frosting?  Well, you do now, but before reading this paragraph and seeing today’s picture, it would’ve been quite…

Rock the Casbah!

What if  a successful afternoon of shopping the markets in a casbah, the Near Eastern equivalent of a town square, yielded a fragrant haul of cardamom, rose petals, almonds and pine nuts, and what if you were to take these flavorful aromatics and infuse a cupcake with them?  Perhaps nobody has asked this question before…

Walking Cupcakes

One of the nearby bakeries, Prantl’s, has created an almond torte of such lusciousness, it fevers the imagination.  The yearning becomes almost unbearable among those who have moved to another city, leading Prantl’s to offer mail-order service to deliver its celebrated confection to nostalgic, hungry expats.  It calls these sweet shipments, as well as a…

Good Choice. What Next?

Any journal is a profoundly self-centered endeavor, perhaps unavoidably so.  The entries, after all, are about what tempts the author, what sounds good (Sounds good?  What are we, whales?).  Many of you have offered excellent ideas, and today’s try is the first attempt at one of those great suggestions. A long-time reader requested Butter Pecan…

A Reese Heir Must’ve Talked

Despite inducements advanced to the Reese family, nobody has unlocked the formula for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.  The candy remains a mystery, its special combination hidden, its secret perfection never quite replicated. This applies to what’s found in stores,  but today’s submission takes a new approach.  Cupcakes have that unique power, don’t they?  The notion…

Sweet Sunshine

A few weeks ago we reached the solstice, meaning we, at least those of us in the northern hemisphere, began leaning toward the sun again.  Eventually we’ll banish the cold and the land will spring, as it were, exuberantly back to life, but it’ll take a while for this to happen. Fortunately,  our wait won’t…

Cupcakes, Two Ways…

Actually, while the cupcakes themselves come in two varieties, Chocolate and Vanilla, both welcome the public the same way, with a rich dulce de leche cream frosting sprinkled with chocolate shavings and caramel bits.  There should be a deeper meaning in all of this, but that’s a discussion best left to the philosophers. We’re here for…