Desserts

There are few things better than a warm blueberry muffin and a hot cup of tea in the early morning drowsiness of waking up.  This is a very good muffin. Actually, it is a small loaf, baked in my small loaf pan shown below.  My…

This  Zoe Francois plum cake is absolutely wonderful. In the introduction to the recipe, she writes that this plum cake is her favorite cake in her cookbook, Zoe Bakes Cakes. (There are some outstanding cakes in that cookbook, by the way! So, that’s high praise…

A rose is a rose is a… strawberry.  Strawberries, North American natives,  are in the rose family. Grown in abundance by North America’s indigenous people, the pretty sweet fruits were part of the Columbian Exchange once European explorers and colonists arrived. Among other crops, Europe…

  This is a delightful little snacking cake. It’s got all the flavors—molasses, allspice, cinnamon, ginger. Oh. espresso. It’s got espresso flavor, too. It is just the kind of flavor bomb you need to jolt you out of your late afternoon funk…or your just-outta-bed bleariness. …

Every month Blue Cayenne features recipes from our archive of more than four hundred recipes. These recipes are our “Oldies But Goodies.” Today’s Oldie But Goodie recipe is perfect to celebrate spring and this year’s exceptional strawberry crop. This is a recipe for Strawberry-Pistachio Cake.…

I don’t know about you, but corks don’t sound all that appetizing to me. Nevertheless, these chocholaty treats, Bouchons au Chocolat,  are basically called “little corks.”  This Bouchon au Chocolat recipe is from Aleksandra Crapanzano’s wonderful cookbook Gateau: The Suprising Simplicity of French Cakes. Crapanzano…

Best cookies in Los Angeles! Three years in a row! That’s what the cookbook author says about these cookies and we can’t disagree. This recipe is from Rose Wilde’s cookbook Bread and Roses. The cookbook is available through your local bookstore and from Amazon here. Here…

Got ripe bananas? Got a chocolate craving? Can’t face one more banana bread? These muffins are for you. Eat them for breakfast, dessert, midnight snack, mid-morning snack, midnight and mid-morning snack, afternoon tea, party treat. Heck, slip one in your purse.  They’re a compact, very…

Do you love pistachios? Do you love a decadent cake? If you’ve answered “yes” to both of these questions, this is the cake for you.  Plus, if you love food trivia, here is a bit of pistachio trivia to regale your friends when you serve…

I had buttermilk I needed to use. I had over-ripe bananas. (I ALWAYS have over-ripe bananas.) And, after a stressful couple of weeks, I needed cake.  So, this Bon Appetit recipe for Buttermilk Banana Cake called my name and it is (was) excellent. The sweet…