Fresh lemon pound cake

Babies are cute and adorable but they’re also a handful – their moms usually do not have time for anything else but them. A very good friend of mine is the mother of a beautiful baby boy and when she invited me to first visit her son I knew I could not go empty handed: besides a present for the baby I brought a freshly baked cake for her, too (which she told me later made a wonderful breakfast)

Dark chocolate, pear and pistachio cake

A long time ago I told you that I was addicted to IMDb’s movie trivia – I still am, therefore it was a joy for me to find Gabrielle Wee’s gorgeous Tumblr: just be careful because you’ll probably lose track of time reading it (I speak of personal experience). :D

On that same post I also told you how much I loved browsing Gourmet Traveller’s recipes – I still do, and this delicious cake comes

Little lemon syrup soaked coconut cakes

I’ve probably written about this already here but there it goes: I usually fear (a little) watching again now the movies I loved as my much younger self – there’s always the risk of deception, the “what the heck was I thinking?” feeling. Luckily this hasn’t happened often and the movies I’ve seen lately have permanently cemented their place in my heart. One example is “The Crying Game”: I

Almond and passion fruit drizzle cake

One of my (many) favorite things about Donna Hay Magazine is that every now and then it carries passion fruit recipes; I love the fruit and its juice is one of my favorite beverages – back in my college days I used to drink it by the bucket, especially during exam weeks (passion fruit juice is supposed to calm people down). :)

My love for passion fruit and my current obsession for almond cakes

Nutmeg butter cake - perfect with a cup of tea

As much as I love gooey, chocolatey baked goods like last week’s rocky road brownies my Achilles' heel is, really, the simple cakes (as you already know). This butter cake, perfumed with freshly ground nutmeg is the kind of cake I crave most of my days, and even more in cold ones like today because it goes perfectly well with a cup of tea. I’d thought of skipping the glaze all together but at

Almond and raisin cake

I love movies with strong female characters – you know I like them complex – and last week, besides Saoirse Ronan’s amazing Hanna, I got to know Jennifer Lawrence’s brave Ree. The fantastic “Winter’s Bone” is another example of the theory I wrote about a couple of posts ago: the story is perfectly told and directed, and the performances are excellent. Jennifer Lawrence, talented as hell, is the

Sticky lemon and poppy seed cake (with a secret ingredient)

Not that I need a reason for baking a lemon cake (we all know that) but to be honest this recipe got my attention because of the addition of finely ground oats to the batter – what might seem like a plan to trick picky eaters into eating more fiber turned out to be one of the best cakes I’ve made: great texture, moist and oh, so delicious.

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I can’t remember how I got to this link, but I

Simple cardamom sponge + Jason Reitman

I watched “Young Adult” last Saturday in an almost empty theater and at the end of the movie, to my surprise, most of the viewers were saying awful things about it; I understand that Jason Reitman’s kind of humor is not the very popular kind (thank heavens!) and I’ll admit that his movies should come with a bar of chocolate attached – a little mood enhancing for the end of the session – but to

Tangerine-poppy seed chiffon cake

Up until a couple of weekends ago the only chiffon cakes I’d baked were layer cakes: they were delicious and perfect for birthday celebrations, but I wanted to make one of those tall, elegant chiffon cakes (baked in tube pans) I’d seen on some cookbooks and blogs. I chose this recipe because I love tangerines and the idea of a cake made with them sounded very refreshing, exactly what that very

Cinnamon pound cake with macadamia spice ribbon + "A Single Man"

Keeping up with my 2012 film goal, I watched “A Single Man” last night and what a surprise it was for me: I already expected something good – Colin Firth and Julianne Moore can do no wrong – but the movie is so visually striking that I felt like writing Tom Ford an email, asking him to make another movie soon.

*spoilers*

I love the way Ford works with the colors: a friend of mine called it “

Butterscotch banana cake

And just when I thought that Flo Braker’s banana cake would hold the title of “best banana cake ever baked in my kitchen” forever Mr. Dan Lepard showed up with the idea of caramelizing the bananas before adding them to the cake batter – how great is that? The cake turned out absolutely tender, with a deep, beautiful golden hue and a delicious, strong banana flavor.

Inspired by one of my

Frangipane ripple chocolate pound cake

I love almonds – they’re my favorite nut. But for far too long I avoided recipes that called for almond paste because I’ve never seen the ingredient around here. Then it suddenly hit me: if I made eggnog from scratch for a pound cake recipe, why not almond paste? I do not know why it took my brain so long to come to that conclusion. :)

The homemade almond paste – recipe from this gorgeous book

Cherry-cornmeal upside down cake

It’s no secret I’m a big Martha Stewart fan – her recipes are delicious and work every time; I sometimes wish I were more skillful so I could make all the other beautiful projects on her website (I would love to learn how to sew and even bought a book on the subject a while ago). Speaking of that, would you please tell me if you know any good blogs on the subject? That would be really helpful!

Dulce de leche pound cake

As I was updating my list of books – a couple of new additions as I told you a while ago – I kept thinking of ways to make it more functional and interesting: therefore, I’ve changed it a bit. I hope you all like it.

Oh, aside from books, there is cake here today, too – and it is absolutely divine. :)

Dulce de leche pound cake
slightly adapted from O, The Oprah Magazine

1 ½ cups (340g/3

Banana and coconut cake with lime icing

I used to love pink as a kid – as I told you a while ago – and I love Lisa Yockelson’s “Baking by Flavor”; therefore, the minute I saw this book I knew I had to have it. Oh, I’m really shallow sometimes, I’ll admit it. :)

This delicious and super moist banana cake comes from Lisa’s very pink and girlish book – if the book was a director it would certainly be Baz Luhrmann. :D

Banana and

Almost mother-in-law cake – a cake that was baked because of its name (but turned out delicious)

Despite my promises of not buying new cookbooks I ended up with a handful of new titles at home; one of them is “From Season to Season – a Year in Recipes” and after going through the beautiful book I chose this delicious cake to be the first recipe to be tried from it, and I even made my own candied orange zest to use in it: after all, how can one resist a cake with a name like that? ;)

Eggnog pound cake with crystal rum glaze

I told you I was going to make Flo Braker’s eggnog pound cake, didn’t I? I am so glad I did – this cake is delicious! Very tender, with a crunchy glaze and a boozy touch – perfect.

I finally watched “TRON: Legacy” this weekend – I hate 3D movies, that is why I did not watch it in the theaters; up to this moment I still haven’t decided what I love the most about the movie: the creative plot,

Marbled gingerbread almond loaf cake

It’s not every day you’ll hear me say (or read me write, for that matter) that I would choose an almond cake over a lemon one: this delicious and very moist cake made me believe that ginger has found a better friend in nuts rather than in citrus.

This loaf cake did not rise and split in the center like I expected it to (and I’ve made it twice already), that is why I drizzled it with the icing

Simple orange cake (that got devoured in a couple of hours) + a lovely movie

I thought I was the only one around here who loves simple cakes, but apparently my coworkers share my opinion: this orange cake got devoured in a couple of hours and was elected their favorite baked good – who would imagine that orange could beat chocolate and caramel?

Speaking of favorites, I watched “Restless” last Saturday and absolutely loved it – sensitive, delicate, with nice dialogs,

Lemony nectarine cake + Bill Condon

I always say that a good director can get blood out of a stone – that is why I had a feeling that “Breaking Dawn” would be the best movie of the Twilight saga. I adore some of Bill Condon’s work – both "Gods and Monsters" and "Kinsey" are part of my list; he got a good performance out of Brendan Fraser – a miracle! – and made it possible for me to stand Beyonce and Eddie Murphy for two long