Welcome to my blog! My name is Stephanie and I was born, raised, and still live just outside of Boston. I’m a stay at home mom of two children that don’t really need me to stay home anymore, especially since one of them is in college. So I currently spend my days with my three insane dogs while owning a very small antique business. I love and appreciate all things old, whether antiques or architecture, and love to give items new life by repurposing.
I love food, too much, and I get immense joy from how my food can make others happy. One of the best compliments I have ever received was my daughter telling me that my cooking has ruined everything else for her. I’ll take that!
I’m much more of a baker than I am a cook. Not that I don’t like cooking, I just wish I didn’t have to do it every day. I’d much rather cook when I feel like it. But, since I don’t have a personal chef and my family is picky about eating every day, here I am. Part of the motivation behind this blog is not only to give me someone to talk to during the day other than my dogs, but to be able to share some of the recipes I’ve tried and really enjoy.
I also love to take pictures of every day things that just make me smile. So this blog is just going to be about “my slice of life” and I hope you’ll enjoy some of it!
A Hummingbird Cake isn’t one that many people have heard of, myself included until a few years ago. While I knew that a friend of mine always requests this on her birthday, I had never tried it and wasn’t even really sure what type of cake it was. I was thinking about baking something new and decided to give this cake a try, and I’m so glad I did!
After looking on-line at different recipes I realized the base of the cake seemed very similar to the base of my favorite carrot cake recipe, so I decided to work off of that. The other main ingredients of a Hummingbird Cake are bananas, pineapple, and walnuts. My family has nut allergies so the walnuts were instantly eliminated from the ingredients. However, if you are not allergic I would imagine some chopped walnuts would make a delicious addition to the cake.
Cake Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
3 extra large eggs (room temperature)
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour (plus 1 tbsp)
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
8 oz. crushed pineapple, drained
2 ripe bananas, mashed
Grease and flour two round cake pans. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl beat the sugar, eggs, and oil on medium speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine well with an electric mixer on low speed. The batter will be thick.
In a third bowl mash together the bananas and pineapple. Stir in to the batter.
Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool on wire racks before removing from pans.
Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:
8 oz. block cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
With an electric mixer on low speed cream the butter and cream cheese together.
Add vanilla and combine.
Add confectioners sugar and beat on medium speed until smooth.
Start frosting!
Once the cake is frosted keep refrigerated. Enjoy!
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease and flour two round cake pans.
In a large mixing bowl combine the sugar, eggs, and oil and beat on medium speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in the vanilla.
In a separate bowl sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture while beating on low speed with the electric mixer. The batter will be thick.
In a third bowl mash together the bananas and pineapple. Stir in to the batter.
Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees and reduce heat to 350 degrees. Continue baking for 20 – 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool in pans on wire racks before frosting.
For frosting, using an electric mixer on medium speed beat the butter and cream cheese until well mixed and smooth. Add the vanilla and beat just until combined. Beat in the powdered sugar until smooth.
There are so many flavors that go hand in hand with chocolate, mint being one of them. My family loves that flavor combination and my son especially loves Andes Mints so of course I needed to make him an Andes Mint inspired cupcake. You could also make this into a sheet or layer cake if you so choose.
As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, this is the only chocolate cake recipe I ever use and it is the only one you will ever need. Trust me. Super easy to make and it comes out moist every time.
Cake Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cups cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup boiling water
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. You could just grease the pan but liners are so much easier.
Sift all of the dry ingredients together. As I always say, it is really important to sift the ingredients and not just mix, especially when using cocoa.
Add the eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for two minutes while scraping the sides constantly.
Add the water into the batter and mix well with a spoon or spatula, the batter will be very loose. The water must actually be boiling or the cake will not turn out properly. Fill each cupcake about 3/4 full and bake for approximately 18 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool cupcakes on a wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.
Now for the Mint Buttercream Frosting!
Ingredients:
1 cup of butter, softened
4 cups confectioners sugar
2 tsp. mint extract
3-4 tbsp. milk
In a stand mixer or with a handheld mixer, beat the butter until smooth.
Gradually add the confectioners sugar until well combined. It most likely won’t be smooth at this point.
Add the mint extract and beat until combined.
Add the milk and beat for 3-4 minutes. It is better to start with less milk and judge the consistency before adding more.
I added some green food coloring as well and continued beating until well combined.
You can spread or pipe your frosting on to the cupcakes. I added a sprinkle of Jimmies and an Andes Mint as well.
Who doesn’t love sitting by a fire and toasting marshmallows until they are just right to make the perfect s’more. Chocolate, marshmallow, and graham crackers are such a perfect combination. Well, if you don’t have the fire or you just feel like having that amazing flavor combination how about a s’mores cupcake? I’ve also made a S’mores Pie and you can find that recipe in my Blog as well.
I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe, as I always do, and added a marshmallow buttercream frosting. I used Fluff because that’s what we use in my house to make Fluffernutters. Fun fact, Fluff was actually created in Somerville, Ma.
Anyway, let’s make some S’mores cupcakes!
Cake Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cups cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup boiling water
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. You could just grease the pan but liners are so much easier.
Sift all of the dry ingredients together. As I always say, it is really important to sift the ingredients and not just mix, especially when using cocoa.
Add the eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for two minutes while scraping the sides constantly.
Add the water into the batter and mix well with a spoon or spatula, the batter will be very loose. The water must actually be boiling or the cake will not turn out properly. Fill each cupcake about 3/4 full and bake for approximately 18 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.
This frosting is very sweet so if you aren’t a huge fan of really sweet things, you may want to play around with using less confectioner’s sugar.
Marshmallow Frosting Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
7 oz. marshmallow fluff
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
With an electric mixer beat the butter and vanilla until fluffy. Beat in the confectioners sugar on high until well combined.
Add the fluff and mix on high speed until it is completely incorporated with the buttercream frosting.
I used a piping bag to frost the cupcakes and the recipe only frosts 9-10 cupcakes. It will frost more if you are spreading the frosting. This recipe can also be doubled.
Once the cupcakes were frosted I crushed some graham crackers and sprinkled them on top. The final touch was a small Hershey bar.
I was trying to think of a nice summery dessert to serve to friends coming over and remembered I still had some of the beautiful strawberries left from when I went strawberry picking. While strawberry shortcake would have been delicious, I wanted a little bar type of dessert. Fruit bars with an oat streusel topping sounded perfect, and they were!
The strawberries I was using were very juicy and I was concerned the bars wouldn’t set properly, and when I first cut into them they were quite mushy. I ran out and bought a back up dessert just in case, but I put them in the refrigerator for an hour or so before serving and it did the trick. They were a huge hit! So good!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup flour
3/4 cup oats
1/2 cup, plus 1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups strawberries, chopped
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. cornstarch
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8″ baking pan with aluminum foil and coat with cooking spray. I only had a glass dish with me in Maine so I reduced the heat to 325 degrees.
For the bottom layer combine the melted butter, flour, oats, 1/2 cup sugar, and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl. It will be crumbly.
Set 1 cup of the mixture aside. With your hands or a spatula firmly press the remaining crumble in the bottom of the baking dish.
In a mixing bowl, I used the same one, combine the strawberries, lemon juice, 1/3 cup sugar, and cornstarch.
Spread the strawberry mixture evenly over the layer of crust.
Using your hands, crumble the remaining cup of streusel evenly over the strawberry layer.
Bake for about 50 minutes or until the bars are set and the juices are bubblying on the edges.
Let cool for a few hours before trying to cut. As I mentioned previously, they are quite messy when first cut so you may want to put them in the refrigerator before serving so they set fully.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8" square pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.
Combine the melted butter, flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl. Set aside 1 cup of mixture. Mixture will be crumbly.
Press firmly into the bottom of the prepared pan.
Combine strawberries, 1/3 cup sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch in a mixing bowl.
Spread strawberry mixture over crust. Top with remaining cup of crumble.
Bake for about 50 minutes or until bars seem set and juices on the sides are bubbling. Let cool for at least an hour before cutting. Best refrigerated for a few hours to fully set before serving.
I am pretty much always a “from scratch” person when it comes to baking, but every now and then I make an exception. Shortcake is one of them. While I have made shortcake biscuits from scratch, I really love the taste of making them from Bisquick. If it’s easier and tastes great, why not?
My daughter and I took a trip to a strawberry farm in Maine and picked these beauties. They made an absolutely delicious strawberry shortcake, that my daughter made for me this time!
Ingredients for the shortcake:
2 1/3 cups original Bisquick mix
1/2 cup milk
3 tbsp. sugar
3 tbsp. butter, melted
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl until it becomes dough.
Spoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet. This recipe makes six biscuits.
Bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes until brown.
To macerate the strawberries, combine 4 cups of sliced strawberries with 1/4 cup sugar and set aside. This will allow the juices of the strawberries to make a delicious syrup.
Top your shortcake with the strawberries and a little (or a lot) of whipped cream and that’s it!
I used canned whipped cream for these, but if you would like to make your own here is the recipe I use.
Whip 1 cup of heavy cream with an electric mixer until it is just about stiff. Add 1 tsp. of vanilla and 2 tbsp. of confectioners sugar and continue beating until peaks form. Don’t over-beat or it will start to get lumpy.
If you have never been to the Swan Boats in Boston you must add it to you bucket list. The Swan Boats are in the Boston Public Gardens which is a tranquil little oasis nestled in the middle of the city. I have been taking rides on these old wooden boats since I was a child, as my mother had since she was a child. I don’t believe there are any other swan boats other than those located in Boston, but I could be wrong.
The Public Gardens were built next to Boston Common in 1837. While Boston Common is a lovely park, in my opinion it is nothing compared to the Public Gardens. While the two parks are next to each other, I never walk through the Common unless cutting through, however I do walk around the Public Garden multiple times a year. In 1877 a catamaran type boat with a foot paddle was created and a swan was built to hide the operator and the Swan Boats were born. They have been run by the same family since the creation and were designated a Boston landmark in 2011.
Recently I was having lunch with a friend from out of town that mentioned she hoped to some day really see Boston. I asked if she had an hour or two for me to kidnap her and bring her to one of my favorite spots in the city. We zipped into Beacon Hill and with a couple of circles around the Public Gardens, found a parking spot. As if Beacon Hill isn’t beautiful enough as is, when you step through the old black wrought iron gates into the Public Garden you are taken to a different world. While you can still hear the hustle and bustle of the city, you forget it’s there.
You walk along the paved paths lined by many different varieties of trees, which I have always taken for granted not realizing what a treat this is for someone that doesn’t live in the area. Depending on the time of year you are treated by amazing beds of tulips, roses, and many other beautiful flowers.
I would say the flowers have gotten a little better over the years. Well, at least cameras have as well as my outfits!
Then in the middle of this wonderful park is the little man made pond graced with the old wooden boats peddled by a swan. Well, a person sitting in a swan.
After you pay the whopping $4.50 for a ticket, you will embark on your tranquil ride around the pond. At one end of the pond you will be paddled around a little island and if you have ever read Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey, you will know that this is the island Mr. and Mrs. Mallard decided to make their nest.
No matter which part of the pond you are on there is never a shortage of ducks ready to greet you.
You are no longer permitted to feed the ducks, but when I was a child there were vendors selling little brown bags of peanuts for feeding the ducks. You can see a little bag in my hand in the next photo. You can also see the boats appear to be the same boats used today except they were covered with canopies.
The next time you are in Boston, make a point to take a stroll through this beautiful spot and take a ride on the swans 🦢
I have been meaning to make a lemon cake for quite some time. Instead of trying to find a new recipe, I decided to take the yellow cake recipe I always use and tweak it a little. It came out moist and has a very subtle lemon flavor. Yum! I also love the combination of lemon and raspberry so I decided to add some raspberry preserves to the center.
What I love most about this recipe is that it is a one bowl recipe. You just can’t beat delicious and one bowl!
Cake Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup shortening
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 – 2 tbsp. lemon rind
3 large eggs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two round cake pans. After greasing and flouring the pans I also put parchment paper on the bottoms of the pans, and greased and floured a second time.
Squeeze and grate the lemons for the juice and rind. One tablespoon of rind give it a subtle lemon taste, if you prefer very lemony you may want to use 2 tablespoons.
Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Using an electric mixer or stand mixer, beat on low speed for 30 seconds scraping the bowl constantly. Increase the speed to high and continue mixing for 3 minutes while scraping the bowl occasionally.
Pour into prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. The pans I used took longer than regular 9″ round pans.
Cool in pans, then transfer to a wire rack.
Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
2 tbsp. lemon juice
3 tbsp. milk
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
Beat butter with an electric mixer until smooth.
Beat in lemon juice. Add confectioner’s sugar.
When adding the milk I started by beating in 2 tbsp. to see the consistency. I added 1 more tbsp. and it was perfect.
Continue beating on high for 2-3 minutes
Now it’s time to frost the cake!
As I mentioned previously, I put a layer of raspberry preserves between the two layers but you can also just put frosting.
Of course if I was going to make scones while I am in Maine they were going to be blueberry scones. And what better flavor to combine with blueberry than lemon. Yum. You may have already tried using my scones recipe, and this recipe is the same except for the addition of blueberries and the icing. Easy and delicious!
As I mentioned in my other scone Blog, this is a great base recipe to add other ingredients to. In the past I have added chocolate chips, yesterday I added blueberries and who knows what I might add next!
** Please note some of the photos are from my original scone Blog.
Scone Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
5 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup cold butter
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk or half and half
1 cup blueberries
Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Using a cheese grater, grate the butter and cut it into the dry mixture with a pasty cutter or a fork and knife. Make sure the butter is cold.
Put the beaten egg in a measuring cup and then fill to the 1 cup mark with the milk or half and half. I used a combination of half and half and milk. Mix the two together and add a little at a time to the dry mixture. You shouldn’t have to use all of it.
The dough shouldn’t be too moist, just add enough so that the dough will stick together once kneaded. It won’t look like it will in the bowl, but you can tell by using your hands and squeezing some together.
Now add the blueberries.
When I got to this step I thought, how the heck do I get the blueberries in the dough without making an absolute mess? I went and changed my shirt, make sure you either do that or are wearing an apron, and carefully started to stir them in as best I could.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead until it comes together. It is not easy to do without the blueberries exploding, but just take your time and it will work.
Roll the dough into a circle about a 1/2″ thick.
Use a pizza cutter or a knife to cut the dough into 8 pieces, this will make very large scones. If you would like them smaller divide the dough in half, then roll it out and cut into 8 pieces which is what I did.
Place the scones on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until brown. The smaller scones only took about 13 minutes.
Let the scones cool completely and then drizzle the lemon icing on them. For the icing, I used the icing I use on my Italian Lemon Cookies except I cut the recipe in half.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/8 cup water
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
Combine all of the ingredients until smooth. If the icing is too thin you can add more sugar until you get it to the right consistency.
This frosting recipe as well as so many of my tried and true favorites, came out of my Betty Crocker cookbook. As did the yellow cake recipe that I frosted with this yummy frosting. The frosting is delicious and tastes like fudge!
Ingredients:
2/3 cup butter, softened
6 cups confectioners sugar
4 tsp. vanilla
6 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate
6 tbsp. milk
Melt the baking chocolate and set aside to cool.
In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the confectioners sugar and vanilla, it will be very lumpy.
Add the melted chocolate and beat together, it will still be lumpy.
Add the milk and beat on low/medium speed scraping the sides frequently. Continue to beat on medium/high speed for a few minutes until smooth while scraping the sides occassionally.
If it seems too thick add more milk a tablespoon at a time. Now frost your cake!
