Every once in a while I receive cake orders that are extremely specific. A customer might email me saying, "I'd like a 6-inch strawberry cake with vanilla frosting, decorated with three red buttercream roses, seven green buttercream leaves, and yellow sprinkles around the top edge." But most of the time, the orders I get are [...]
"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 [...]
While I've always loved cake decorating, my interest in baking is rooted in my desire to make things taste good. This blog has evolved into a creative outlet for my photography and writing, but at its core is a chronicle of the recipes I've spent years testing, developing, and perfecting. Over the past few months, [...]
there are few cakes that cross my mind as often as the pink champagne cake i made two years ago does. i think this is due to a combination of three things: 1) it's one of the prettiest cakes i've ever made, 2) my life was in complete turmoil when i made it, and 3) the [...]
i took the red-eye megabus home from d.c. last thursday night and arrived in durham friday morning, bleary-eyed but ready to bake in my own kitchen. i scrolled through pinterest and came across molly yeh's adorable sugar cookies, which seemed like the perfect way to start off my holiday baking, but after reading the recipe, [...]
i'd never heard of a "bap" until i read about it in my favorite little british breakfast book, posh eggs, a bap is a soft, round bread roll used as the foundation for a meat sandwich. in britain, baps are usually filled with sliced sausage and HP sauce, but i'm currently in sunny southern california, so i [...]
my list of new year's resolutions tends to change pretty drastically every year. i was looking at some old journals the other day and laughed when i realized my goals in 2014 were to lose weight, go to more parties, get straight A's, and get a boyfriend while 2016's were to gain weight, stay in more, stop obsessing over [...]
today's my senior prom! i'm actually feeling pretty sentimental; it will be my fourth and final year of attending. freshman and sophomore years were great (i felt very cool being surrounded by upperclassmen), but i think this year will be the best. there's something special about attending as part of the graduating class. but it's also crazy and sad that it'll be [...]
the world turned upside down last week at starbucks' introduction of the limited edition unicorn frappuccino. the drink is described as "a sweet dusting of pink powder blended into a crème frappuccino with mango syrup, and layered with a pleasantly sour blue powder topping." so basically blue kool-aid and mango juice blended into a vanilla [...]
it's so hard for me to choose a favorite between chocolate and vanilla cake. with most sweets, i have a clear preference — vanilla ice cream, chocolate pudding, white chocolate chips, chocolate cheesecake — but not with cake. i think chocolate cake is easier to "get right," because cocoa powder is deliciously complex while naturally [...]
LENA'S LUNCHBOX 