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

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 truffles

The eggnog flavor, here transformed into truffles (a very easy recipe that does not call for many ingredients) has already been around my kitchen in cookie, crème brûlée and ice cream form; I loved each and every one of the twists on that classic holiday flavor and maybe, if there’s still time, I will also try Flo Braker’s eggnog pound cake.

Another twist on a classic I adore is Eric Prydz’s “

Nigella’s everyday brownies

These are called “everyday brownies” but that doesn’t mean you can eat them every day – that would be nice, though. ;) Or you can just pretend you never read my post and eat them on a daily basis – who am I to judge, anyway?

For some reason the chocolate chips sank to the bottom of the pan, but let me assure you that it did not make much difference as far as flavor is concerned – it just

Honey and dark chocolate truffles - a great gift

Cookies are my favorite things to give as gifts – they’re super tasty, easy to package and everyone likes them. But facing a lack of butter – I know, what kind of baker forgets to buy butter? – I turned to truffles. And it ended up being a smart choice – my friend was delighted to receive a box of these and told me they were absolutely delicious. And to make things even better I got to use a

Chocolate cake with cocoa glaze

One look at the list of cakes I’ve posted so far and you will see that chocolate cakes are not very popular around here (and we’re talking almost 5 years of blogging, people); lemon (surprise!), apple and banana are the usual suspects. But the photo of this cake on Rose's book made me really curious about it: the shiny, dark glaze looked so beautiful. Almost supernatural. I had to make it

Texas sheet cake

Grandma-style-cake again – but this time, there’s chocolate involved. ;)

I needed a large cake – the idea was to share it with 12 of my coworkers – and the Texas sheet cake recipe I found at "Bon Appétit Desserts" seemed perfect [yes, I am obsessed with this book, and I know how understanding you all are]. ;)

Both the cake and the icing were delicious and were wonderful together – a day after

Chocolate pecan puddle cookies

Would you believe me if I told you that I made these cookies using only egg whites, cocoa, icing sugar and pecans?

I must confess that I doubted Aimée’s post at first – sorry, sweetie! – but since I was feeling pretty fearless I decided to see it for myself. And wow – these are so good! Sinfully delicious!

Now it’s your turn to be fearless and make these cookies – just be aware that they’re

Chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies

No Christmas food series would be complete without a gingerbread recipe – these are from Martha’s website and they are delicious!I placed the cookies in little bags and tied them with a red ribbon: they are going to be one of the gifts to my coworkers – I hope they like them!Are you making edible gifts this year, too? I’d love to hear about them.Chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies196g (7oz)

Dark chocolate, cinnamon and hazelnut truffles

A quick look at my sweet recipe index and you'll notice that I don’t make truffles very often – I love working with chocolate, but mostly stick with cookies and cakes. To me, truffles are such a special treat they call for a special occasion as well – like that gorgeous pair of shoes you’ll only wear on your birthday or anniversary. :)

These were made for a special someone, a dear friend of

Pear and chocolate fudge tartlets

My brother and I got a dog when we were 4 and 6, respectively – I found the following photograph while going through some of our old stuff at my father’s:



That’s me and Xuxa (her name), when I was about 9 years old. :D

My brother used to feed her just about anything – every time he was eating something, he’d share it with her, and that included bread, yogurt, and all kinds of sweets. But

Triple choc brownies

Several months ago I told you how much I wanted to see “The Reader” – back then, there wasn’t even a release date for the movie in Brazil. Time went by, the movie premiered here, Kate got all the awards and I had not watched it. It’s now been released in DVD, I’ve finally seen it and knew that the beautiful poster was just the tip of the iceberg – the movie is sublime and so is Kate. I should

Chocolate ice cream with macadamia brittle

I’ve already told you how much I love blogging and the several reasons for that – being you, the people who read me, an amazing one.Another favorite reason is that I’ll write what I want, about what I want... About people I find beautiful and talented, or ugly and shallow – it is MY blog, after all. You have the right to disagree with me and we can have a nice “conversation” this way - because