• Bourbon bundt cake

    Rainbow sprinkles and coconut were perfect for my birthday, but for Toby’s birthday? I obviously needed something spiked with bourbon. Luckily, I had just seen a recipe for bourbon cake in a cookbook a few days before, so I decided to try it. It was definitely a good call.   This recipe is super easy, […]

  • Coconut rainbow sprinkle cake

    I love coconut cake, but I’ve had some issues trying to bake myself one for my past few birthdays. This year, my first try was fine but not great. Then, Toby had the brilliant idea of combining rainbow sprinkles with coconut.   It was the perfect birthday cake. The cake itself is very light and […]

  • Orange cream cake

    Do you like Creamsicles? Dreamsicles? Orange-cream slushes at Sonic? Anything with orange and cream together? I love them all. Orange + vanilla might seem like a weird combination if you’ve never had one of those frozen confections, but I promise it works. Which is why I was intrigued when I saw this cake on Rosie’s […]

  • Ombre cake (almost)

    You may have noticed that I like pink. So it stands to reason I would want to make a super pink cake for my party. I used a Sweetapolita recipe, but I split it into six equal layers and dyed each a bit pinker than the last.     Since the cake and frosting were […]

  • 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 […]

  • Secret-ingredient chocolate cake

    Did you know that putting beets in chocolate cake is a thing? Apparently it’s a thing. I wasn’t really sure how to feel about the idea, though. I’m not exactly a huge beet fan (although I reportedly loved them as a baby). But I figured it couldn’t possibly be as bad as that time I […]

  • Tomboy cake

    I was super excited when I got the October 2012 issue of Bon Appetit with “best-ever layer cakes” on the cover. But not all of them looked that exciting, honestly. Then I signed up to help Zach and Clay of The Bitten Word with their cover-to-cover project — in which readers made every dish in […]

  • Cranberry upside-down cake

    Whether you pronounce it pee-can or puh-kahn, I love pecan pie. So much so that when I was in Afghanistan (as a reporter) and the rocket attack siren went off in the middle of dinner, I took my slice of pecan pie with me to the bunker. I may have looked ridiculous eating pie in […]

  • Lava flow bundt cake

    Those of you who know me in real life would probably guess that my favorite drink is a margarita. And, yes, I am definitely pro-margarita (on the rocks, no salt). But my actual favorite drink is (and has been since elementary school, sans alcohol of course) a piña colada. I mean, come on. Pineapple and […]

  • Coconut cake

    As my mother and most of my friends will tell you, I may have been the pickiest child on the planet. I am a lot better now — although I still won’t eat lunch meat or cold sandwiches, mushrooms, fish, raw onion, cantaloupe or many breakfast pastries — but even at my pickiest, I loved […]