• Frosted chocolate animal cookies

    frosted chocolate animal cookies

    One of my awesome co-workers, June, recently had an incredibly adorable baby boy. But before she left for maternity leave, we had a shower at work to shower her with love… and cookies. The decorations for the shower were zoo animals, so I decided that frosted animal cookies — like the pink and white kind I […]

  • Chocolate souffle cupcakes with chocolate buttercream

    mexican spiced chocolate souffle cupcakes

    Since Valentine’s Day is creeping up on us, I thought I’d start my Super Bowl recipe sharing with these amazingly rich, fudgy (and gluten-free) chocolate cupcakes. Whether you decorate them like footballs or sprinkle them with hearts is up to you. The first thing you need to know about these cupcakes is that there is […]

  • Banana coconut cake with chocolate frosting

    It has been far, far too long since I posted a cake recipe, y’all. But today I’m going to remedy that with a doozy — an easy three-layer banana-coconut cake with simple, perfect chocolate frosting, toasted coconut and chocolate ganache. A-maze-balls. And tomorrow? Chocolate mint brownies for St. Patrick’s Day. Party!   You’ll need a […]

  • Chocolate layer cake

    About a year and a half ago, I met and interviewed a really amazing person: Gunnery Sgt. William J. Dixon, the Marine Corps funeral director. I have seen him a few times since, and was always surprised to see he hadn’t been promoted yet. So I was excited to get an email a few weeks […]

  • Devil dogs

    Depending on where you grew up, devil dogs may be a kind of hot dog, a kind of snack cake (akin to a Twinkie or Ding Dong) or a Marine. I’m in the latter camp — which is why I knew I had to make them. I had been thinking about making these for a […]

  • Hummingbird cake

    As I mentioned before, my grandmother died recently. She loved to cook and bake, and one of her favorites was hummingbird cake. I wanted to bake one in her honor — though unfortunately I don’t know any Carmelite monks to give it to, like she would have done. Instead, I gave it to a bunch […]

  • Chocolate-peanut butter cake

    Imagine moist, chocolatey cake, enveloped in fluffy peanut butter-cream cheese frosting and topped with a layer of peanutty chocolate ganache. It’s like what would happen if a peanut butter cup accidentally wandered through some radioactive ooze. It’s a teenage mutant ninja peanut butter cup cake. You can use any kind of cocoa powder. I had […]

  • How to frost a cake

    So you bake a lovely, moist cake. And you whip up some fabulous frosting that is a different color. And then you realize — I have no idea how to combine these items without it becoming a big mess. Don’t worry. The secret is a crumb coat. If it’s a layer cake, the first thing […]

  • Chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting

    As you may remember, my mom made me a Ding Dong cake for my birthday. Well, kind of. The thing is, I love the combination of chocolate and marshmallow. So I didn’t really care about having the chocolate ganache at the top. I just wanted lots of marshmallow-y goodness all over. This chocolate cake recipe […]