"Why did Lena make a Christmas cake if she's Jewish?" "Why is Lena posting a Christmas cake on January 18th?" "Why hasn't Lena posted anything in five months?" Good questions, reader! First off, I made this cake for a friend to bring to a Christmas party. I spent Christmas Day driving to New Jersey with [...]
traditionally, religieuses are filled with crème pâtissière (pastry cream) and dipped in chocolate ganache. the chocolate coating is thought to resemble a nun's habit, hence the name religieuse, which means nun in french. these look more like a courtesan au chocolat — a fictional pastry from mendl's bakery in wes anderson's the grand budapest hotel [...]
i got accepted into the university of edinburgh! in scotland! yay! i'm so happy to have gotten into one of my top choice schools. my other top choices are tufts and northwestern, which i won't hear from until april, so it will be a long time until i make a final decision. but i'd really love [...]
scroll through the pictures again, but this time imagine that the frosting is stitched thread. it could totally pass for embroidery, right?! especially the bird with both of its wings spread (fourth from the top). otomi-style patterns come from the otomi people, who live in the sierra madre oriental mountains in hidalgo, mexico. the prints' figures are said [...]
i've talked about having trypophobia before (the fear of clusters of holes), so this cake was the ultimate test. it was totally worth the struggle, though — i love how it turned out. the cake layers are my (award winning!) honey spice cake. instead of using boring old costco honey, i used wedderspoon's amazing manuka [...]
i officially have The Best spice cake in north carolina! and the best sweet potato biscuits, too! i entered a bunch of different cakes and baked goods into the competition at the fair, and i won first place ribbons for both of those items. i also won second place for my white chocolate chip cookies and two [...]
i made this cake in honor of claude debussy! two days ago would've been his 154th birthday. debussy is amazing. his work is breathtakingly beautiful, and his nontraditional use of dissonances and intervals sculpted music's impressionist era and hugely popularized chromaticism. not only was debussy an incredible musician but he was also extremely eloquent. this is an excerpt [...]
i like some artificial fruit flavorings - banana laffy taffys, sour apple lollipops, and blue raspberry slushies are all delicious - but i have a strong aversion to anything made to taste like strawberry. that goes for strawberry milk, strawberry jelly beans, and store-bought strawberry ice cream. the quarts of neopolitan ice cream with chocolate, vanilla, [...]
i don't mean to brag, but i think it's safe to say that i was the tooth fairy's favorite little kid. our relationship went waaaay past the conventional money-for-tooth exchange. she left notes under my pillow every night, regardless of whether i'd lost a tooth. sometimes the notes were even accompanied by small gifts: a thimble, [...]
throughout most of middle school, i was set on pursuing a career in neurology. this was not because of a love for science or the medical field; rather, it was a result of reading ben carson's autobiography, "gifted hands," in sixth grade language arts. i grew out of the neurosurgeon phase, but carson remained in [...]
LENA'S LUNCHBOX 