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roasted sweet potatoes with figs, goat cheese, and balsamic reduction
the middle east has mastered cuisine in a way unparalleled by any other region. most dishes are extremely healthy, consisting of seasonal produce, fresh meat, local cheese, or a combination of the three. middle eastern flavors are vibrant, diverse, and loaded with character. no offense to france, but i would much rather go on a…
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pancake cake
most children’s books depict pancakes in stacks of ten or more, drenched in maple syrup and topped with fat pats of butter. it’s such an unrealistic image. even ihop’s silver dollar stacks fail to meet the standard; lacking in both diameter and height, they only come in piles five high. this cake is how real pancakes SHOULD…
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lavender peach macarons
baking with lavender always makes me feel a little weird. it has a lovely taste, but using even a quarter teaspoon too much can quickly make a flavor go from ‘delicately floral’ to ‘hotel soap.’ in this recipe, finely ground lavender buds add character to the simple, meringue-based macaron cookie, and any soapiness is offset by…
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buttercream roses
decorating a cake with fondant requires its own special skill set: the ability to work with speed and precision (it dries out quickly), a good eye for size, hands that aren’t sweaty, money (it’s expensive!)… and so on. comparing fondant cakes and buttercream cakes is like comparing michelangelo’s david with the ceiling of the sistine chapel. each is a form of…
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dark chocolate clementine cake
clementines offer a brightness matched by few other types of winter produce. beets are earthy and evasive; radishes are spicy and curt; grapefruit packs a punch, but its bitter aftertaste offsets its initial sunniness. january’s gloomy nights, often solely illuminated by dull moonlight on dirty snow, parallel this cake’s dense chocolate sponge and thick, dark ganache. solace arrives in the form…
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billionaire’s shortbread
this is a classic millionaire’s shortbread, but i’m replacing the ‘m’ with a ‘b’ in honor of the $1.5 BILLION POWERBALL JACKPOT! i can’t wrap my head around how much money that is. the winner can literally book a flight with space adventures and take a trip to the moon. that’s probably what i would do.…
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gemstone cupcakes
welcome to the curio shop! hope you find what you’re lookin for. i’m pretty sure everyone who reads my blog is over the age of 50 and doesn’t get webkinz references, so in a nutshell: webkinz are stuffed animals that come tagged with a code. once you enter the code into the webkinz website, you’re free to…
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dark chocolate cake with blueberry preserves and liquid cheesecake
nick jr. usually stops showing peppa pig around 3 am, so if i’m still awake, i turn to infomercials to keep me entertained. early one morning, bleary-eyed after enduring a two-hour long ad for hip-hop abs, i was about to switch the tv off, when suddenly…….big letters and boldly colored fruits flashed across the screen! a hallucination? an…
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tomato can rapper cakes
hotline bling [drake on cake]: pink lemonade cake, lemon buttercream wild for the night [a$ap rocky road]: brownies, chocolate buttercream, marshmallows, walnuts lose yourself [eminem]: chocolate cake, vanilla buttercream, m&ms trap queen [funfetty wap]: funfetti cake, cream cheese buttercream
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coconut cake with kaya, strawberry preserves, and lemon cream cheese buttercream
kaya is a thick, milk-based spread with a fragrant nuttiness that comes from being cooked for a long time over low heat. comprised of coconut milk, sugar, and pandan leaves, the kaya in this cake adds a sweet layer of texture with a subtle coconut flavor. tangy lemon cream cheese buttercream offsets the sweetness of the…
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LENA'S LUNCHBOX 