Category Archives: cake

A Cheesecake for the Conscientious Glutton

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jessica's dinner party, cake, cheesecake, birthday

January may not be the best time to post a new cake recipe, especially with all those new year’s resolutions to “eat healthier” and “lose weight.” However, deprivation is anything BUT what this site is about. Detoxes and crazy wheatgrass diets have never helped me achieve those goals in the long run.  Aside from the obvious: exercise regularly and eat balanced meals, the best strategy I keep for myself is: glutton prevention. It may sound funny, but I can eat a lot.  I always get my money’s worth at a buffet, and have at one point out eaten 99% of the people I know (adolescent boys included).  When I was 16 that was ok, but today not so much.

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Noces de Diamant

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I’m back in Paris and even though school is already going at full speed, I still have Korea on my mind.  It was such a memorable winter with it being my grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary, or as the French say Noces de Diamant. All the family gatherings and holiday festivities really felt like a lead up for the big party we held for them just before the new year.  It felt even more so that way for me because I spent a lot of time thinking and planning about how to make their tiered celebration cake!
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Carrot Cake For a Birthday

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I’ve always been quite reserved when it comes to picking favorites.  When people ask me what my favorite restaurant, movie, book, or ice cream flavor is, I’m always stumped for an answer.  I definitely have long lists of likes (and very short lists of dislikes), but it’s hard for me to pick just “the one.”  It’s probably because I take it too seriously.  After all, “What is your favorite blank?” is used mostly during small talk conversations and with acquaintances.  I highly doubt my opinion would make a profound impact on someone I just met, or that they would even think twice about it.  I know it’s not a big deal, what I say today can change tomorrow, tastes evolve, and trends will turnover, but for some reason I still feel the need to be brutally critical and a little bit too thoughtful when it comes to this favorite business.

With that said, it can be duly noted that when I say carrot cake is my favorite cake, I truly mean it.

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Dessert First: Green Tea Layer Cake and Ginger Brownies

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When it comes to dinner parties, I like to make dessert first.  In general, baking takes more time and careful precision than cooking.  So, before the kitchen becomes loud with banging pots and chopping knives, I like to have dessert completed.  The great thing about cakes is that it can be started a day in advance.  Usually, cake layers taste better the next day because the flavors are given time to rest and settle.  While baking is done the day before, I always frost and assemble my cakes in the morning of the day of the party.  I think frosting always tastes best the day it’s made.

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Tiramisu Black Forest Cake

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Even since it has been made known that I love to bake I have been getting a few birthday cake requests.  I am by no means a professional (yet!) and my skills quite limited that I was shocked that someone would ask me to perform such a task!  However, I felt very flattered and was most of all excited to have the opportunity to play-ette the role of “baker” to a “client.”  I had so much fun planning and researching recipes that I think I probably enjoyed making the cake more than everyone who ended up eating it.

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