Beyond the Box: Baking from Scratch

I've lost track of how many times I've rewritten this introduction paragraph because I just haven't gotten my ducks in a row and published it. I baked this back in March for my husband's birthday, and it was a hit. And now that it's summer, strawberries are in season and this cool refreshing dessert is a beautiful, refreshing, and delicious treat for you to try for yourself. The Fraisier cake was a technical challenge featured in the same season of Great British Bake Off/Baking Show as the doughnuts that I made previously. It appeared on week 9, patisserie, of series 3, available on PBS as season 5 and on Netflix as Great British Baking Show: The beginnings. This recipe is also featured in a Masterclass episode, also available on Netflix. Because the cake is from week 9, or the semifinal , it is probably going to be quite a bit more difficult than the bakes I've done so far. It also features crème pâtissière, which I have never made before. We might end...

Good morning (afternoon/evening/dusk), my lovelies! We've almost made it though winter! Spring is almost here! The days are getting longer, early flowers are popping up! Let's celebrate, shall we? Let's celebrate with doughnuts! You don't have to say it; I already know that was a pretty weak introduction. If you'd be so gracious, I'll give you my best excuse: Words are hard. Normally, if I may say so myself, I'm a pretty decent writer. Many who make this claim will also claim, as I am doing, that talking is much more difficult than writing. This presents itself differently for different people, but my sudden failing of words is more than just not finding the right  words. Most of the time, if I don't have something to say, I just don't talk. Fellow introverts can attest that this often unfairly paints one with a brush of coldness. Just because I don't want to make small talk with you doesn't mean I don't like you. (In fairness,...

Hello, again! I hope you all survived the ridiculously cold temperatures of this past week! We had it relatively easy with the lowest temperature reaching about 9 degrees. I don't remember what the windchill was, but it was too cold to take Pippin for a walk, so he was fairly pouty all week, but we managed to stay warm. After eating all that  bread  two weeks ago, I thought I would need a break from flour-based goodies for a while, but I dutifully checked my blog schedule and saw what I had previously picked to make next, and I got excited about baking all over again. Well, truth be told, I got excited about eating , but I knew that I would have to bake first, and immediately decided it was well worth it.  Our lovely bake this week comes from the most recent series of the Great British Bake Off/Baking Show (series 9, or available on Netflix in the US as Collection 6), and was the technical challenge from the first week, Biscuits. This bake is Paul Hollywood'...