Everything is as sweet as dessert in the summertime.

Living is totally easy:

Morning warmth and sunshine.  Just like dessert.

Granola with berries and sweet coffee.  Reminds me of dessert.

Chicken salads and pink wine for lunch.  Desserty.

Peachy blue sunsets, popcorn for dinner, and roasted apricots for dessert.

Gin and tonics.  Totally dessert.

Sleep.  Wake.  Repeat.

(Oh, but let’s not forget the fact that we still have to totally work hard, and get our hustle on, and keep our eye on the prize, and keep our nails did, and eat our vegetables, and pay our bills, and stay inspired, and just when we think we’ve worked hard enough… we have to try to work a little harder)

But other than that… summertime is totally all dessert, all the time.

Summer fruit is just stunning.  I ate most of these fuzzy little apricots just standing in my kitchen, trying to dream up a way to bake them.  They’re delicate and sweet, and absolutely my favorite fruit of summer.

Wait… did I say that about peaches last week?  Did I say that about strawberries the week before that?  I can’t decide.  I’m in summer heaven.

I dipped apricot halves in granulated sugar and roasted them under the broiler.

The fruit stays firm, but the tops get crunchy crisp, as the melted sugar creates a light candy shell.

I topped these little gems with honey sweetened marscarpone cheese and a bit of mint and lemon balm.  Lemon balm is like lemon mint.

So simple.  This dessert takes 5 minutes to create.

You could also try this recipe with ripe plums, ripe peaches or nectarines.  It feels fancy… but it’s really just good, simple, summer food.

I realize that I haven’t been the most reasonable person lately.

I’ve been tempting you with Doughnut Muffins topped with glossy chocolate glaze.

Those Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts were pretty absurd, right?

And Buttermilk Onion Rings?  Come on… it’s just too much.

Maybe I’m trying to make up for something.  Maybe what I don’t want to tell you about it the array of stoooopid movies in my Netflix queue. Maybe I want to distract you from the ridiculous amount of money I paid for a sweater at The Gap, of all places.  Geez… Gap… like it’s the 90′s again.   (I obviously used to shop at The Gap a lot in the 90′s… whatever.)

The point is, I busted out the whole wheat flour today… as a sort of apology.

Moreover… if you can count the number of sunflower seeds in this picture I’ll give you two thousand dollars.

Not true.  But I did just say ‘moreover’…. that was mildly entertaining… to me at least.

I’m fond of this quick bread recipe.

Sunflower seeds are roasted and salted and folded into a simple whole wheat and buttermilk batter.

The bread is pretty dense, but not dry.  Let’s call it… hearty.  It’s not too sweet and has just a touch of salt and crunch.

I like it best served slightly warm with a bit of butter and honey.  Yes… I just added more fat and sugar to my healthy bread.  I can’t really help myself.

I want a hamburger.

with cheese and pickles and too much ketchup.

And chocolate milk.

This is not that… but this is still good.

Why would I crank up my oven and make a spice cake in the middle of summer?  I dunno.

Why would I make this cake when what I really want is a giant hamburger and chocolate milk?  I dunno.

Why haven’t I gotten my stupid shaggy hair cut yet?  Don’t know.

What the heck is going on with Frank on The Bachelorette and why did he has to go all the way to Tahiti to drop bombs?  I do not know.

Why the deep V?  Why?

We’re going to get to the bottom of this Bachelorette thing.  We’re going to talk about it.  I really have a few things I need to get off my chest.

Seriously.

This spice cake with beer and honey is from a book called Booze Cakes. Pretty self explainitory, right?  It’s a pretty cute book from two Los Angeles based ladies.  If you have a sweet tooth for things like Jello Shot Cakes, or if you were just dying to find a way to get tequila into your cakes… this is totally the book for you.

This spice cake is pretty interesting.  It’s got a heartwarming combination of spices, and a super moist crumb.  This cake stays moist for daaaaays.  The recipe called for granulated sugar, brown sugar aaaand honey.  That’s a lot of sugar.  Even after cutting back on the sugar I thought it was dang sweet.  You might be able to cut back on the sugar just a touch more.

Can you taste the beer?  Just barely… and it’s not really beer-y.  The hoppy beer is a great compliment to the spice and honey.  It really rounds everything out.

Can you replace the beer with anything not beer like?  No… It’s a Honey and Beeeeer Cake.  Just go with it.

If beer offends you, how about Honey Whole Wheat Pound Cake? Super yum.  Trust.

With barely sweetened cream and salty roasted nuts, I say this cake is pretty swell.

If you have a mega sweet tooth, Cream Cheese Frosting would set this cake over the top!

It would seem that you can throw just about anything into an 8×4-inch loaf pan and have some sweet smellin’ magic come out of your kitchen after an hour or so.  What’s more, pulling a beautifully risen quick bread out of the oven is sure to make you feel like your a prime-time, super legit baker.  

Here’s a peek at my favorite quick bread recipes.  

Oh!  Happy Wednesday to you.  Also… you look pretty today.  I like what you did with your hair.  

Low Fat Oatmeal Banana Bread.  Still moist.  Still all sorts of delicious.  I even counted the Weight Watchers points on this one.  Whaaaat!?  Yea.  That happened. 

Raspberry Almond Bread.  Yes, after it’s baked the bread turns a touch blue from the raspberries.  What’s the science on that?  Can we get Bill Nye the Science Guy on this one?

Zucchini Sweet Potato Bread.  Fresh grated zucchini.  Raw grated sweet potato.  It’s unique, full of spice and delicious.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.  It’s chocolate.  It’s for breakfast.  If this offends you… I’m not sure what you’re doing here.  I mean that with love and respect.  

Lemon Drenched Lemon Cakes.  Ok… so maybe this is more of a pound cake recipe than a quick bread recipe.  This cake is too good to pass up.  Lemon plus lemon syrup plus cake.  I vote:  awesome. 

Honey Cranberry Cornmeal Quick Bread.  Have any leftover cranberries in your fridge?  Me too.  

Fresh Mango Bread.  I never would have thought to put fresh mango in bread until Dorie Greenspan told me it was ok.  

Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread.  Dense and moist.  Who says you need butter and eggs to make awesome bread!?  Whoever they are… kick ‘em in the toe.  They’re wrong. 

Persimmon Bread.  You are mighty strange persimmon bread, but I love you just the same. 

Honey Whole Wheat Pound Cake.  Dense.  Nutty.  It’ll charm your pants off.  Be prepared. 

Let’s play a game called Usta Wanna or… I Used to Want To.

I usta wanna be brave enough to go down the free fall water slide at the water park.

I usta wanna be a traffic cop… the kind that would dance in the street on occasion… the kind that I saw at the end of a slow evening news show sometime when I was about six.  I actually still want to be one of those traffic cops.  No joke.

I usta wanna take the swim test at overnight summer camp privately.  Something about doing my life saving dog paddle in front of the entire girls camp made me nauseous.

I usta wanna design a postage stamp.  This is the precious dream of a young girl whose parents both work at the post office.

Between the ages of 13 and 15, I usta wanna eat nothing but popcorn and orange juice.  I dunno…. I never claimed to be reasonable.

I usta wanna completely negate whole wheat from my life.  If I could have eaten Wonder Bread and ignored the whole wheat millet bread my parents bought as I was growing up… ooooh, how dreams would have come true.  Because whole wheat seemed to be impossible to escape, it would seem that somewhere along the way I grew fond of it.  For this reason, I bring you…  Honey Whole Wheat Pound Cake.

Let’s talk about it.

Let’s talk about how lovely this pound cake is.  It was nutty and full-flavored, without having an overwhelming whole wheat density.  I used white whole wheat flour instead of regular whole wheat flour.  If you can, use a good raw honey for this cake… something like Bee Raw or Ames Farm.  The honey add a sweetness with character and depth, making the pound cake really delightful.  I love this cake.  It’s a definite go-to classic in my world.

Honey Whole Wheat Pound Cake

makes 1 9 x 5-inch loaf and 6 muffins

Print this Recipe!

2 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks (12 Tablespoons of butter), at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup honey

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter and flour the loaf pan and muffin tins.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, whip the butter, sugar and honey on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Add the vanilla extract.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about one minute after each addition.  Scrape down the bowl as needed.  Add the dry mixture and buttermilk in three additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Stop the mixer and scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula to make sure everything is evenly incorporated.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pans.  Smooth the top down and bake the cake for about  hour and the muffins for about 20 to 25 minutes.  The cake will be a lovely golden brown and a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake will come out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Well geeeez!

Remember that Mother’s Day giveaway!?  Yea?  Just barely?

Big warm hugs and a giant thank you to all of you who shared stories about your amazing mothers.  Your stories… phew!  You got me cryin’ a few times… I can’t lie.  Thanks for being so open and lovely about your moms.  I loved reading all of your entries.

The winner of the dreamy Lavender Honey?  Amy of Sing for Your Supper.  Right on Amy!  Way to go being comment 58!  Way to go Random.org for being great at picking random numbers… like 58.  Sweet!

I’ll be the first to admit that I had some pretty ugly teenage years.

Sure. I had awkward limbs, a face full of acne, and was otherwise unfortunate looking, but I’m talking about what an utter brat I was for a solid two (plus) years.

Did you go through some seriously bratty years?  Just say yes.  We’ve all been there, right?  If you try to tell me you were a perfect angel, I just won’t believe you.

I seem to remember the distinct feeling that I knew everything there was to know about the world at the ripe old age of fifteen.  I thought most everything was beyond “annoying”, and I used that word… to death.  If eye rolling were an Olympic sport… gold medal… me.

I also had this obnoxious habit of assuming that everything that belonged to my mother, somehow also belonged to me.  From her favorite stationary, to her hidden stash of chocolates and the entire contents of her jewelry box, I acted as though it was all up for grabs.  Terrible, right?  Only when I was out in the world trying to save up my pennies to buy myself a nice box of tea, or my favorite rose lotion, did I realize that my mom deserved to have her treats without my mittens all up in them.

While I can take my obnoxious teenage years back, I suppose my real penance will come when my own teenage daughter pillages my valuables.  Until that joyous time, here’s what I’m going to do:  I’m going to give one of you a jar of beautiful French Lavender Honey.

Leave me a comment in this post and tell me this:

Tell me how your mom is spectacular, despite your possible teenage indiscretions.

I know a lot of you are moms, tell me what makes it all worthwhile.

I’d really like for this lovely honey to go to a Mom… it is, after all, Mother’s Day.  Maybe that means you’re a hard working Mom and need a tea and toast break.  Maybe that means you win this honey and give it to your Mom as a “thanks for being awesome” gift.

Comments close Thursday at midnight Pacific Standard Time and the winner will be chosen by the Random Number Generator.  Happy Mother’s Day!