Ever since I remember I was crazy about lemon cakes. I never cared much for the chocolate ones but those flavored with lemon caused me to drool all over. This cake is exceptionally easy to make. It took me only 1 hour to finish since the moment I started mixing the ingredients to the moment I had a nice piece of warm cake in my mouth. The cake has strong lemon flavor, is just about right sweet and is incredibly soft and moist. When I took it out of the …

How was your Thanksgiving? I spent mine in Poland where obviously we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, so no days off, no turkey, no pumpkin pie for us. However since I love all kinds of holidays I had to at least prepare some kind of traditional Thanksgiving treat for my family. I brought with me from US few packages of pecans, which by the way turned out to be extremely similar in taste and appearance to walnuts, and I prepared a pecan pie. My version is slightly different because instead of corn …

Halloween wouldn’t be a Halloween if there was no pumpkin cake. My version is a combination of both pumpkin and carrot cake. I didn’t want to make a traditional pumpkin cake because certain person in this household is not very fond of all those pumpkin spices so I did not want to take a risk and be left with a huge cake to be eaten just by myself. My figure would never forgive me that. However carrot-pumpkin cake is much more mellow and universal so everyone will like it. It’s …

In the middle of October pumpkin season is at its peak. No matter where you go, everything is decorated with a vibrant orange color and pumpkin lanterns glow in storefronts. Saying goodbye to summer can be quite depressing but Halloween season with its omnipresent pumpkin really soothes down pain associated with cold weather. Markets are full of delicious pumpkin treats such as pumpkin pie or muffins. Pumpkin muffins or cupcakes are probably the most common Halloween treats and definitely my favorite treats to make. Beautifully colored and spiced with ginger, …

Whenever I go back in my mind to the times before I left my country, I see my family on Sunday afternoon, gathered by the table and eating a traditional three course meal. The soup and the main course were often different so we wouldn’t get bored with the same thing over and over but the dessert was usually the same each week, szarlotka. Szarlotka which is a Polish name for the apple pie, is a cake that originated in France but nowadays is mostly eaten in Austria and Poland. …

I love strawberries, to me they’re the kings of fruits. Well maybe together with blueberries and raspberries (I guess I’m a berry type of a girl). Sweet and juicy, they fit to almost any dessert recipe. I can never get enough of them especially now when they’re in season and are the most flavorful. I can’t believe that I haven’t made any dish with them yet but my palate preferences are more savory rather than sweet so desserts are not my first priority. I don’t eat much sweets and don’t …

So far that was the easiest recipe I’ve made, no thinking and no cooking skills required. I actually started making it yesterday night. I got my evening sugar cravings but did not feel like eating just chocolate. I opened the freezer and took out puff pastry dough but still wasn’t sure what to do with that. Then I remembered that I had poppy seed filling hidden in my pantry. It’s been sitting there for a while waiting for me to come up with some idea to use it. So I …

Oh what a mission it was to prepare these muffins. I really wanted them to be healthy with as little fat and white flour as possible so the first time I made them I used mostly whole wheat flour and  just a little bit of vegetable oil. The result was a disaster, flat, dry muffins that did not raise at all. I decided that next time I’m gonna stick to the more traditional way. I still used whole wheat flour but in smaller proportion and I added 1/4 cup vegetable. …

Panna Cotta is one of my favorite desserts, well maybe together with creme brulee and fruity desserts. It is easier to make than it looks. The method I’m using is adapted from Jamie Oliver’s recipe. He whips half of the cream so it comes out perfectly smooth and with an ideal consistency. My first attempt to make panna cotta wasn’t very successful, it was more like a milky jello rather than a mousse. Perhaps I added to much of a gelatine alternative. Anyway by doing the simple trick of whipping …