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Maple Pecan Pound Cake with Maple Glaze

Maple Pecan Cake with Maple Glaze

The Flavors of Fall in Maple Pecan Pound Cake


Of course it occurred to him that he might be wrong, that some misbegotten shadow had fallen across his face and warped his seeing. And so he cast back to the sharp picture in his head and knew that the eyes were smiling too. Twisted light could do one or the other but not both.
East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Pumpkin spice fatigue? Election anxiety? Its real and I have the antidote. The Maple Pecan Pound Cake with Maple Glaze makes a fall statement with browned butter, toasted pecans and real maple syrup. The aroma of buttery pecans and maple syrup are guaranteed to bring the fall cozy into your kitchen. Cozy is what we all could use. I’m determined to keep my sanity. My distracted mind can be coaxed back into focus by keeping my hands busy. I’ve ripped out most of the summer garden and started sewing again. It brings me joy that I have this place to share my passion for baking. Baking is special, it’s a bonus in our busy lives. A quick project for my hands and mind. A time to stop and enjoy.

Rich buttery pecans and real maple syrup come together in The Maple Pecan Pound Cake with Maple Glaze that satisfies that craving for something sweet with fall flavors. Browned butter coupled with maple extract, bring more intense fall flavor. The aroma of the Maple Pecan Pound Cake baking is more than enough reason to give this easy recipe a try. READ MORE . . .

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Fig Coffee Cake

Fig Coffee Cake

Baking my way to November

“I don’t know how it will be in the years to come. There are monstrous changes taking place in the world, forces shaping the future whose face we do not know.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Yes, I made another dessert with fresh fruit. Yes, I’m still baking my way to November. And yes, making dessert with fruit at peak harvest time is a personal obsession. Figs are one of those odd fruits, either one is passionate about them or ignores them completely. I adore them. My favorite way to enjoy figs is to eat them fresh and without anything fancy added. But a Fig Coffee Cake loaded with sweet, juicy figs and a layer of buttery streusel is really, really good too. READ MORE . . .

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Marie Hélène’s Apple Cake

Marie Helene's Apple Cake

The Season of Change

“Want to see a present I got for Lee? Look! She opened a little cardboard box. It’s a new kind of potato peeler. Takes off just the skin. It’s easy. I got it for Lee.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Apple season, a reminder, a wake up call, we are skidding along the ark of change. Soon it will be fall. There was a time that I dreaded apple season. It was long ago. Standing on a stool I was given a vegetable peeler and scraped and whacked away at the apples until the pile finally, mercifully grew smaller. Now I use a sharp knife to peel apples. In pastry school I learned to quarter the apples, remove the core and then swiftly peel away the skin of each quarter. Even though the work flow has changed there isn’t an apple that I peel that doesn’t bring back childhood memories. Doesn’t matter if it’s slicing an apple for a snack or making a cake, I vividly recall how overwhelmed I felt looking at the huge pile of apples. I don’t mind peeling apples anymore. I suppose its because I get to choose how many apples to peel. The cushion of time softens even the strongest of memories. READ MORE . . .

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Raspberry Cream Pie

Raspberry Cream Pie

Gray

“Adam seemed clothed in a viscosity that slowed his movements and held his thoughts down. He saw the world through gray water. Now and then his mind fought its way upward, and when the light broke in it brought him only sickness of the mind, and he retired into the grayness again.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

It was an unusually gray August. A mix of coastal fog and smoke from the Soberanes fire, left us feeling that summer must be somewhere, just not here. To be fair, the sun pushed its way through the gray many afternoons, at least for a few hours. Then the late afternoon fog swooped in from the coast and settled until the next afternoon, or the day after that. The Soberanes fire has moved south and so has the dusting of gray ash, on our cars, patio, plants and whatever else was outside. We will remember this fire for a very long time. After this raging fire Big Sur and the Los Padres National Forest won’t ever be the same. It was started by an illegal campfire on July 22nd in Garrapta State Park and it won’t be contained until the end of September. That’s right, over two months of fire. Every June, July and August I look for summer, knowing that it will arrive in September and stay through October. This is how we summer in this part of California. READ MORE . . .

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Blackberry Cobbler with Lemon Thyme

Blackberry Cobbler with Lemon Thyme

Oh August and Blackberry Cobbler!


He threaded among willows and sycamores and wild blackberry vines in the riverbed, patted the trunks of live oak and scrub oak, madrone and laurel.
East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Oh August! We still have fresh blackberries, raspberries, tomatoes, a new crop of crisp apples and pears too. I’m dizzy with possibility. I grew up devouring summer cobblers, crumbles and crisps. We scooped lush, sweet fruit into our bowls and went back to dig in the pan until it was all gone. Scraping the corners of the pan to get every last bit of sticky fruit was a must. My mom was known for her pies but when she was summer busy a cobbler topped with drop biscuits brought no complaints. Desserts with more fruit than topping, more fruit than sugar, just more fruit is the siren song of August in California.

A cobbler is a classic American dessert, lots of barely sweetened fruit topped with fluffy homemade biscuits. This is a recipe that takes the classic pairing of biscuits and jam and tosses it up in the air! It lands with more jammy fruit than biscuit. The pillowy biscuits are tender crumbed from butter and cream. Their bottoms nestle into the fruit while the biscuit tops reach high in the oven to gain their toasty brown tops. For a golden finish brush the biscuit tops with more cream and a sprinkle of sugar. READ MORE . . .