We made a cake!!!

This past weekend my sister and I baked a cake for my father's birthday. Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party cake filled with lemon curd and decorated with 7-minute frosting and fresh raspberries. It makes me think that spring is almost here!

Baked Mini Cake Doughnuts with Sprinkles

Brunch is a meal that needs to be shared. The other day I was lucky enough to share brunch with some lovely friends, and I made these mini doughnuts. This recipe really impressed me, they were very flavourful. I dipped them in lemon glaze and topped them with sprinkles. The sprinkles made them really beautiful.

Baked Cake Doughnuts - from Doughnuts by Lara Ferroni

Makes 18 mini doughnuts

3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp All Purpose Flour

1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (I used white pastry flour)

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup superfine sugar (I used regular granulated sugar)

1/4-1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp unsalted butter or vegetable shortening

1/4 cup milk, scalded

1/4 cup plain yogurt

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg beaten

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Sift the flours and baking powder together into a large bowl. Whisk in the sugar, nutmeg and salt. Add the butter and use your fingers to rub it into the dry ingredients as you would in making a pastry crust, until evenly distributed. Add vanilla, milk, yogurt and egg and stir until just combined. Do not overmix or else your doughnuts may be rubbery.

3. Use a piping bag to fill each doughnut cup about 3/4 full. Bake 6-10 minutes until the doughnuts are light golden brown and spring back when touched. Let cool slightly before removing from pan. Glaze as desired.

Lemon Glaze

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

3-4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Lemonade Scones

A few days ago while hopping from baking blog to baking blog, I happened across a recipe for Orange Creamsicle Scones on Your HomeBased Mom. I love scones and have about a million different recipes I want to try. However, this recipe jumped to the top of the list in seconds flat! I was all out of oranges and too lazy to go to the store, so I decided to use lemons instead. Besides, lemons were on sale a while ago and I kind of went crazy =)These are some scones! They are soft and sweet and not dry at all! I only made half of the glaze and had plenty for all of the scones. I made 16 smaller scones and brought them into work (except for the ones I ate), where they were promptly devoured. SUCCESS! And don't worry, I sampled them hot from the oven, still warm and at room temperature and they are great at each temperature. Aren't you glad I did the hard work for you? I bought oranges today... guess what that means!?! Have any of you baked with Grapefruit? I am extremely intrigued by it - I must give it a go. Here's the Recipe.