September 19, 2008 
Let’s turn the clocks back to the beginning of Joy the Baker. This extra dreamy lemon pound cake was one of my very first Joy the Baker posts. I nabbed a friend’s fancy camera and after a 15 minute crash course, started baking and shooting my favorite pound cake recipe. Those were the humble beginnings of Joy the Baker. Let’s face it, this is still a humble sight, but I’m dreaming big. Hopefully some of those dreams will bring some fun changes to this sight in the coming months.
I’m bringing you a repeat today because I’m still in the weeds with Joy the Baker life. Want to know what’s going on? Let’s just say it involves learning (and tasting) about 90 international cheeses and memorizing their flavor profiles. Don’t even get me started on the insane wine… that’s a whole other beast.
Sourdough starters? Have I let you down on the starters?
Here’s what I did with my starter- After 7 days of dumping and feeding at room temperature, I fed my starter one last time and put it in the fridge. I plan on using my starter for pancakes on Sunday morning, so I’m going to take my starter out of the fridge Saturday morning, feed it and leave it ajar at room temperature until Sunday morning when I’m ready for my pancakes. I sure hope you’re still playing along!
Want to know more about this incredible pound cake!? Lemon Pound Cake with Warm Blueberry Sauce.
September 14, 2008 
Joy the Baker has gone off the deep end a bit. My schedule for the next week is simply beyond what I can even comprehend. I need a body/baking double.
Right now I’m dealing with the stress by madly pacing my house and shoving handfuls of Reese’s Pieces into my face. I wish one of you were here to stop me.
I know we’re in the middle of our sourdough starter madness. Tomorrow is the seventh day of my starter. It’s bubbly and smelly (in a good way), so I’m going to feed it, cover it and toss it in the fridge until I have a moment to bake up some bread and pancakes. How are your starters going? Have any questions?
While I’m away, take a moment to revisit this Joy the Baker Classic- Blackberry Jam Cake.
August 11, 2008 
We’re going back to the beginning with this cake. Ice Cream Cakes- that’s what started it all. Can I tell you a story?
I moved from Los Angeles, California to Burlington, Vermont when I was 18 and straight out of high school. I had it in my head that I didn’t want to go to college right away, and that I wanted to do some soul searching, as far away from my parents as I could get. I landed in Burlington with one suitcase and the phone number to one friend that I knew there. My friend Niki graciously let me stay in her apartment, and her Lisa friend gave me a job at the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream flagship store. Miraculously, I had it all worked out. I had a place to stay and a job. There was just one small hitch- I was TERRIFIED. I had never been so far away from home and out in the world on my own. I literally stayed in Niki’s apartment for a full week. I never even cracked the door open. I knew that I was in a strange place, surrounded by people I didn’t know and I, frankly, didn’t want anything to do with any of it. I stayed in that apartment listening to Niki’s entire music collection and taking lots of baths. That’s when I discovered I loved Billie Holiday and grapefruit bubble bath.
What finally drove me out of my cave? Food of course, I ran out of food and I’m no good with hunger pains.
Once I was out of the apartment and well fed, I realized that my new surroundings were actually pretty awesome. People acknowledged me as I walked down the street. I lived right around the corner from the most beautiful lake, a glass blowing studio, a picture perfect chapel and a culinary school that fed me samples of their student food every day. It was the most beautiful, friendly, warm and open place I’ve ever been.
My job scooping ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s quickly turned into the head cake decorator position. I could frost and decorate an ice cream cake like maniac. And because we’re talking about wild and wacky Ben and Jerry’s, the flavor combinations and signature tie dye frostings were completely over the top.
I loved my job. I loved Vermont. I met some characters that I won’t soon forget.
Once I stepped out of that apartment door, after a week of solitude and regret, I felt that I was blazing forward on the life I knew I wanted for myself. I also learned how to make a killer Ice Cream Cake along the way. That’s was almost ten years ago…. wow.
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June 22, 2008 
This endeavour was in no way glamorous. If nothing else, these Homemade Twinkies highlighted my ability to make something from nothing. I knew I wanted to make Twinkies, which if you aren’t familiar with, are white cake like treats with a light marshmallow-ish cream center. Amazon sells do-it-yourself-Twinkie-pans, but sometimes I prefer the uphill battle.
So when the need for a Homemade Twinkie strikes, I get out my roll of foil and spice bottle, and I make my own pan. Well, I’m being generous in calling it a pan. I essentially made foil boats for cake batter. I know. Kinda madness. I didn’t dream this notion on my own- thank you YouTube.
I’m almost embarrassed to share this with you…. they were so tasty, but the road getting there wasn’t so glamorous. Sometimes these things happen in my kitchen.
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June 2, 2008 
Praise the heavens! I got a new cookbook! I think I was in a cookbook rut. I found myself relying on the same two cookbooks day after day for my baking indulgence. Granted, they’re great cookbooks- charming, attractive and funny- but I had heard all their stories, seen all of their dress shirts, and laughed at all their jokes. I needed something new.
Just when I was about to accept my circumstance, a charming new love came into my life. Sweets by Patty Pinner is my new darling. This book is more than just a collection of recipes. Sweets is a gathering of family memories. In my life food is all about family and memories, so this book has quickly become so so dear to my heart.
Sweets is a southern style cookbook. The recipes are extremely approachable. Some of the cakes are made with (gasp!) cake mix, and then fancied up with additional ingredients. The family pictures are utterly charming and the stories that go along with each recipe are really touching. I read this book, cover to cover on an airplane, like a novel. I just love it!
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May 26, 2008 
In my life, the topic of food is completely inseparable from the topic of family. I know this connection isn’t unique to me. I’m sure you can all relate in one way or another. My family comes together in the kitchen. It’s like we’re a gang of rebel pirates (yes, pirates) and my dad is the captain. He’s the sauce man, the dip man, the master biscuit maker and the pie guy. He’s got it all covered and my sister, mom and I just follow directions. We all have our jobs and our strengths, and together we take no prisoners in the kitchen. We are pirates, after all.
The end product is always such a joy. We laugh over huge pans of cheesy enchiladas, we celebrate with bowls of pasta and homemade marinara sauce, and we sometimes mourn over dense, sweet cakes. We run the gamut of emotions always together, always in the kitchen.
This Memorial Day weekend we came together in San Francisco. Yes, I stepped out of my kitchen for a day… and into another, much more rowdy and crowded kitchen.
It was also my birthday and my sister and mom made me the beautiful Hummingbird Cake that you see above.
After the jump, my birthday Sunday, in seven pictures. Sorry kids, no recipe in this installment, just pretty pictures.
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May 19, 2008 
Kids between the ages of 3 and 7 are pretty amazing. They’re little screaming, snotting, jumping, and crashing balls of honesty. If they don’t like you, you know it. If they recognize you for the poopoo head that you are, they’re not afraid to tell you- to your face, in ear piercing tones. They haven’t yet developed the ability to filter their opinion of you. It’s simultaneously refreshing and completely unsettling.
That’s why, whenever I meet new kids, I come with cupcakes. Not just cupcakes, but cupcakes with sprinkles. It works every time. It’s irresistible. It’s my dirty little trick. Walk into their house with cupcakes and a smile on your face, and you’ve got an instant friend. And when they come and thank you for the cupcake with chocolate all over their face- well, there’s nothing better.
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April 1, 2008 
It’s Tuesday and I’m back with Dorie. She and I had broken up for a few weeks- some misunderstanding with snails and flan, but we’ve got it all sorted out. A love like ours, afterall, couldn’t be denied for long. So we’re back and better than ever with a gooey chocolate love to show for it!
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March 12, 2008 
Frosting a two layer cake doesn’t have to be daunting. You don’t have to be a math genius, or an abundantly creative person. It’s just cake! You’ll just need a plane cake, some frosting, a smile on your face, and a few basic kitchen supplies.
Ok, the smile is optional, but it generally helps.
Make the jump and let’s frost a cake!
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March 12, 2008 
How do I describe the taste of Red Velvet cake? Well, it’s not vanilla cake, but it’s certainly not all chocolate. Red Velvet cake, for lack of a more creative vocabulary, tastes like sweet red cake. Without rich and decadent frosting, this cake is light, moist, quite tasty and yes, red. My favorite Red Velvet cake is relentlessly smothered in brown sugar cream cheese frosting. The recipe for both just a jump away.
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March 10, 2008 
The title to both this post and this dessert is a little hum drum. Russian Grandmothers’ Apple Pie Cake… it just doesn’t set off fireworks in my head. And frankly, I always feel a bit off put when apostrophes are in strange places (here I am considering s’ strange). I was an English major in college, and I still just feel put out with the apostrophe after the s. I actually have to think about the Pie Cake, and who, and how many Grandmothers it belongs to. It’s a lot. I know! Well let’s just clear things up right now and say that this Apple Pie Cake belongs to many Russian Grandmothers. That’s what the whole s’ was trying to tell us.
I would also like to informally change the name of this recipe to The Apple Pie Cake that belongs to Many Russian Grandmothers. I don’t think Dorie will mind.
Grammar lesson, over.
Recipe and more cake talk after the big jump.
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March 1, 2008
I come from a food lovin’ family, so nearly all of the treats I bake are an effort to rekindle a fond memory from my past. My sister and I are so fixated on food, that all of our family vacations growing up are remembered soley for the food we consumed. About 15 years ago, we took a 2 week long family trip to Washington DC. It was a big deal for our middle class family, and my parents even took us out of school for the two week period with the gaurantee that we would write a full report on our educational trip upon our return. After a tour of countless museums and battlefields, the only two things my sister and I remeber are- Uno Pizza and Cheetos.
Criminal isn’t it? We ate at an Uno Pizza somewhere along the trip. It was delicious. Obviously. And one day in DC, my parents let us buy a bag of Cheetos (we didn’t get to eat a lot of junk food) and my sister and I followed my parents around the city sharing our Cheetos with little brown birds on the street. My sister and I now call those little brown city birds Cheetos…. still. The school report, was probably a glowing review of Uno’s deep dish pizza crust. Oh my.
What does all of this have to do with Blackberry Jam Cake? Have patience and continue reading.
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February 27, 2008 
This breakfast cake is a bad influence. Not possible, you say? Well, when chocolate and coffee join forces against me, I crumble. This cake made me want to call in sick to work this morning, and just spend the day on the couch with cake. I didn’t, but oh, oh the temptation! Maybe it’s the coffee and chocolate combination or maybe it’s the fact that I’m eating cake for breakfast, but it just makes me want to indulge in every other part of my life. These days, my indulgence involves my pajamas, the couch, The Gourmet Cookbook, and well… this cake. It’s cake for breakfast! Try it and indulge.
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February 20, 2008 
I think I’m supposed to hate cake mix. I think, once you get a chef’s coat, you are supposed to turn you nose up at all things packaged, pre-mixed, and all around too good to be true. Well the truth is, I don’t hate cake mix, or at least I don’t hate it as much as I should.
I could bore you with a pro and con list detailing my love hate relationship with cake mix, but I won’t. I’ll just say this- I love cake mix because my Mom buys it for 35 cents and then passes it along to me, with that oh-so-great-I-found-a-bargain feeling. Cake mixes are easy beyond belief, moist every time and really hard to screw up. But the truth is, even easy to make, 35 cent cake mix isn’t really a bargain. It’s filled with loads of oils and sugars that I can’t even pronounce. If I can’t pronounce it, there’s a good chance my insides that don’t what to do with it either. So, you win and you lose. Sounds a lot like life, doesn’t it?
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February 12, 2008 
I can’t leave well enough alone. Nothing illustrates this fact better than my adaptation of Dorie Greenspan’s perfectly great recipe for Brown Sugar- Apple Cheesecake. If the recipe says round spring form pan, I want to use a square baking pan. If the recipe calls for apples inside the cheesecake, I want my apples on top. Call me a rebel. So in the world according the Joy, this cheesecake is served in bars, with browned apple and sugar goodness adorning the top. It’s delicious any way you slice it. Oh yes it is.
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