buttermilk layer cake with chocolate frosting

Classic birthday cake

Categories: baking journal · cakes, cupcakes, and muffinsTags: · · · · · · ·

I’d love to have a yellow layer cake recipe in my list of go-to recipes — those recipes that I know work, taste great, and don’t demand great feats (or fancy ingredients) to make. I’ve made a couple of attempts at this classic (once as a small layer cake and cupcakes, and as mini vanilla cupcakes). And those were made with freshly milled soft white wheat flour. For my husband’s birthday, I splurged on cake flour that I had leftover in the pantry rather than whole wheat. So I was able to follow a recipe for buttermilk cake as written. Well, almost….

Baked croissants

Croissants

Categories: baking journal · pastriesTags:

Croissants have been on my list of things to make for quite some time. My goal is to come as close to the French style as possible — crispy on the outside, with tender, buttery layers on the inside. But for a variety of reasons this project kept getting pushed to the back of the line. For one thing, I wanted to make my first batch of them following the traditional instructions that call for all purpose flour, in order to get the feel of what the experience would be like under normal conditions before using home-milled whole wheat flour. And since…

Ginger spice apple cake

6-inch ginger spice apple cake

Categories: baking journal · cakes, cupcakes, and muffins · recipesTags: · · · · ·

When I read Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery + Cafe, the recipe for Apple Snacking Spice Cake jumped out at me as a must-make. I made an apple cake once before that was delicious, but didn’t include the ginger and cloves. I cut the recipe in half in order to use my smaller 6-inch cake pan, which I bought so we wouldn’t have so much cake sitting around the house. It came together really well at this size. It’s not too rich or sweet, and is a really pleasant little cake, somewhat similar to an unfrosted carrot cake. It would also be…