Coconut Caramel Samoas Bundt Cake #Bundtbakers

A long time ago, when one of my neighbors decided to lead and manage a Girls Scouts troop, I was over the moon. Yes! You read that right! “I” was over the moon. My daughter had no idea she was going to be a Girl Scout. Her mom had made the decision that she was going to be and that was that. Since I was then a recent transplant from India, I found the Girl Scouting culture fascinating and empowering. It was something I never got to do as a young girl and I wanted to have my daughter the …

Pepperkoek – The Dutch Spiced Cake #Daring Bakers

For the month of December, Andrea from 4pure took us on a trip to the Netherlands. She challenged us to take our taste buds on a joyride through the land of sugar and spice by baking three different types of Dutch sweet bread. Out of the three sweet breads she suggested, I picked the pepperkoek – the dutch spice cake as I had just made a batch of gingerbread spice.   The Pepperkoek or the ‘pepper cake’ is a popular Netherlands cake. Also known as ontbijtkoek  and kruidkoek.  Peperkoek  was a special and expensive treat in the old days as …

Bienenstich Kuchen – Bee Sting Cake

“The measuring and mixing always smoothed out her thinking processes – nothing was as calming as creaming butter – and when the kitchen was warm from the oven overheating and the smell of baking chocolate, she took final stock of where she’d been and where she was going. Everything was fine.”
― Jennifer Crusie, Maybe This Time

Swedish Princesstarta : Daring Bakers

  In a “celebration” of past Daring Baker and Daring Cook challenges, Lisa challenged all of us to search through the Daring Kitchen archives and pick any one we’d like!  Since  the Swedish Princesstarta has been on my mind for months if not years, I knew I finally just had to do it. This challenge was actually posted by Korena of Korena in the Kitchen in May, but I was not able to finish it then.  It has been a challenge to actually finish things on time, after the car accident.  Things that took me moments to do, now take an overwhelming amount …

Traditional Panettone with the Daring Bakers

Light in texture, filled with fragrant citron peels, lemons, candied fruits and spectacular to look at – The Traditional Panettone. The much loved sweet bread enjoyed on Christmas and New years in Italy, Southeastern France, Brazil, Peru, Malta, Germany and Switzerland. There are many legends about the origins of the bread. One of them says that Panettone was born at the Sforza times, in Lombardy, Northern Italy, when an absentminded cook burnt the dessert he was preparing for a Court dinner on Christmas Eve. One of the kitchen helpers, whose name was Toni, made use of the leftover bread dough …

No Bake Kiwi Cheesecake

Cheesecake! You want it. Really really want it and then you think of all the extra workouts eating one slice or half a slice of it will entail and then you either eat it anyway and feel guilty or you don’t eat it and feel deprived of a decadent treat. The mini No bake  Kiwi Cheesecake is indulgent yet the smaller size makes it a smart treat too.  These are not sugar free or low fat.  These are very much the real deal.  The smaller size makes it a perfect dessert if you are having many people over.  They are …