vanilla

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Carrot Cake

Sugar used to be really expensive so people used carrots instead. That’s how carrot cake came to be. Someone couldn’t afford sugar, so they put carrots into their cake. Seems counter-intuitive now, but back then it was perfectly logical.

Carrot cake with pineapple chunks and raisins, coated in cream cheese frosting. Folks, this is the BEST CARROT CAKE EVER. Click for the recipe!

Turns out that carrot cake is one of the unhealthiest cakes you could eat, even though it’s full of carrots. With all the oil, butter, cream cheese, and sugar (yeah.. this is a modern recipe), it’s pretty bad for you. It’s really tasty, but really unhealthy. It’s a once in a decade type of treat.

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Profiteroles

I’ve made choux paste so many times. In fact, I think I have more choux paste recipes than I have cake recipes. It’s probably because of how delicate and wonderful choux is. It’s slightly crispy on the outside but melts in your mouth as soon as you take a bite. Whether you make churros with your choux paste, éclairs, or something else delectable, it’s guaranteed to be delectable. Since if you’re making something delectable, it has to be delectable to be delectable, if you catch my drift. It’s also because the golden rule of baking is that if it’s made with choux it’s made with awesome. Yeah, the golden rule of baking is much better than the golden rule of life – you know, the one that says do onto others as you’d like them to do onto you. This one involves choux paste after all.

Cream puffs filled with vanilla pastry cream and dusted with icing sugar

Choux paste is pretty easy to make but it can look really impressive. It’s essentially just boiling water with some butter, stirring in flour, and then beating in a few eggs. The real magic of choux is in the oven, where it expands from tiny dollops of an off-white paste to large puffs of perfection.

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Raspberry Pistachio Tartlets

This isn’t exactly a seasonal dessert. Unless you read this about half a year from now. If you’re reading this in the future, I have two things to say. First, congratulations – raspberries are in season and you probably have a few boxes in your fridge to make this right now and therefore you should make this right now. Your future (future) you will thank you.  Second, you’re awesome.

Raspberry and pistachio tartelette with vanilla pastry cream and a thin layer of white chocolate

If you’re not from the future well, that sucks. You’re going to get an awesome recipe for a raspberry tart in October though. I would’ve made it earlier but I was too busy with other things. Yeah, I know, it’s a pretty lame excuse. I was just so busy with sugar, schoolwork, and butter though. There’s something about creaming butter and sugar together that’s kind of mesmerizing (and tasty).

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