Tres Leches.

Incredible. I had only tried this cake once before, and my brother Trent requested it for his birthday. Having no money to go out and buy all the ingredients for a strawberry whip I decided to give it a google and see how difficult this cake could be. Not. Difficult. At. All. Probabally the easiest cake I have made from scratch...ever. And oh so good. Ingredients included, AP flour, butter, sugar, vanilla, and eggs. That's all for the cake. Simply delish. Then stab away after the cake is cooled, get your tres leches mixed up: evaporated, sweetened condensed, and whole. Soak your cake for a couple hours and frost. Frosting consists of more vanilla, sugar, and whipping cream. That's all she wrote. Add some strawberries to the top for some tartness to break the cream. I will definetly make this again...this weekend? Ha...most likely.

Bake it Off.

April 20th huh? Close to three months since I have last been here. Well, I think I once heard a saying that pain takes you back. Either that or I made it up, whatever. Happy 4th of July, that's painful to me. I would say that the majority of people associate loneliness and the past with holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving, maybe even a birthday here or there. Not me. He and I had some great 4ths. Actually the three of us did. He, I, and the city. Boston. It is such a special place to experience this day. You walk outside not knowing if the sun will warm you or rain will soak you. I was fortunate enough to experience the former two years in a row. But today I am here. I am not by the Charles nor in the atlantic watching blue whales. So I scrap myself out of bed, and into the only place I know I can count on to distract my empty self, the kitchen. It's good to be back. Great to have a haven to help me. Chocolate chip cheesecake. No recipe folks, I just kinda read a little and remembered what I had seen others doing. It was good. Easy, quick, pretty...the cheesecake. A little too chocolatey for me, but I am anxious to try new flavors. Glad to be back, maybe we can start again.

M.I.A.

Funny that my last post was called constant, because baking has not been in my life. So so much has changed since March 16th. I got a full-time job at a bakery, love it! I also moved to LA to be closer to work. A friend of mine found a great deal on an apt and I jumped at the change. So I have been unstable. But I did do last month's DB challenge. I made the lemon cake for Easter, and I loved the cake. The lemon buttercream turned out to be too buttery, and didn't come out quite right. The texture of mine was too thin at first and then I put it in the fridge and it got really hard. Sorry I don't have all the details of the recipe, I just got my camera back and wanted to post. Hopefully life will slow down a bit and I can bake it up!

Constant.

I don't find myself to commit to much lately. I buy running shoes and don't run or think of some brilliant idea and then it just slowly lingers into a small thought. I can gladly admit that this blog has been a constant in my life. Which is how I know that baking is here to stay. I never get sick of it or forget about it. There is so much to read about and great people to learn from. Speaking of which the blog that started this all for me is Tartlette. I don't remember how, I was probably looking for a tartlette recipe and found her on google. Her beautiful blog is home to some beautiful macaroons. Being used to coconut macaroons I finally found the time to make the French ones. They were easier than I imagined but I don't think I got it quite right. I also made some trusty brownies...can't really mess a brownie up it's chocolate either way. The recipe was from Baking with Julia and those brownies were delicious. So dense and rich...love!

Tart.

So I got these blueberries on sale from my local Ranch Market. Originally their purpose was a nice chilled high fiber snack for myself. But as I laid in bed tonight, that thing cam on again. You know, you get to thinking about the practice you need or a treat you had that was delicious, and the over-whelming urge to recreate hits you. Or at least me. Blueberry Muffins. Honestly I am not a big fan. Too commercial, yet so are donuts ;) Maybe the blueberries trick my mind into thinking that the muffins are too healthy to be bad. Although we all know this is not the case. Tart. Blueberries are tart, and when I want sweet, I want SWEET. Lemon curd being a total exception. My resource was the Joy of Baking website. Blueberry Struesal Muffins. They turned out like the picture, beautifully, but they weren't sweet enough if you ask me and my brotha. Moral of the story...just because you look good on the outside...doesn't mean you are good. You may be okay...but not necessarily delicious.

Yet another high or binge...whatever you want to call it.

Because I was so happy with the Brioche recipe I used in my last post, I decided to play some more. Last night I made the dough, and stayed up till 2:30am. This morning I was up by 7:30am at it again. Baker's hours. In some make believe world I was working in my own bakery. Right? Who else makes, Sugar Brioche Buns, Chocolate Brioche, Sticky Buns, and Twice Baked all in one day? I do. I promise I didn't eat all of it. Really, I swear. I just love the recipe. The bread turns out so soft, fluffy, sweet, and well...real!

My New Friend

About a week ago I was wondering around the bookstore when I ran into, "Baking with Julia." I skimmed over it and left the bookstore stomach growling, empty handed. The next day, after I received my paycheck, I returned. Forgive me for saying this, but up until lately I was not familiar with Julia Child. But don't worry we have caught up over a brioche and sticky buns. The brioche recipe in the cookbook will stay with me for life. I have made a lot of bread before and to be honest I am never thouroughly satisfied with it. Sometimes it doesn't rise enough or it is a bit too tough. Child's recipe was the real deal. I am thinking it may have to do with the dabbing of butter on the dough, folding, rolling, and relaxing. I have never heard of that before, but I followed her directions and turned out the best loave and buns I have ever made. Next up...well you'll see