cake

Porkchop Jaconde

It's been many years since I made Biscuit Jaconde, this month's Daring Bakers challenge, but what a wonderful way to spend the day. The last time I made this sponge-type cake was in pastry class with Emma, and this time was no different. She shared her kitchen (and ingredients!) with me and jaconding we went.

My paisley/yin-yang didn't turn out quite the shape I'd intended, but it was a fun polka dotted porkchop anyway. I filled it with sponge cake a little citrus gelatin and pudding to make a free-standing trifle. A porkchop-shaped free-standing trifle.

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What You Should Know Before Picking Your Wedding Cake

Fall leaves are on the ground and you've had your first eggnog latte. It's the holiday season, right? Wrong. It's wedding cake season.

All of the summer and fall engagements have been announced to the families, and just about now's when the brides (usually) get down to tacks about their upcoming summer nuptials. This is where people like me and Emma (Cook Craft Grow) speak up and say, 'WAIT!' before you finalize your cake plans. We have some things you might want to consider.

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All Purpose Chocolate Layer Cake

Ever get nostalgic for those boxed layer cakes your mom made for you as a kid? I do, and I've finally found a homemade cake recipe that is just as fast, is super moist, and tastes even better.

If you decide to bake these, bake a double batch and store them in the freezer. One batch of this recipe makes 3x9" rounds about 1" high, giving you plenty of options. What can you do with pre-baked cake rounds? Here are some things I like to do:

• Layer and frost them with a simple frosting
• Layer and coat them with poured chocolate ganache

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Italian Creme Cake

Over the years, I’ve been known to rummage through used book bins in search of out-of-print gems. I’ve got some victory garden cookbooks, and plenty examples of ‘modern cooking’ books that proclaim the wonders of microwavery and a balanced meal of meat and potatoes. I especially enjoy finding old regional collections – usually from ladies’ clubs, rotaries, churches – when they’re the genuine article and not just simple reprints of the box recipes from Kraft products.

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