Lemon Blueberry Poundcake

   I can't recall eating poundcake during my pre- gluten free days.  Although I do remember my mom telling a story of when my brother baked a poundcake... and that it was a heck of a lot heavier than one pound!

   But have no fear.  This recipe yields the most amazing and foolproof poundcake ever.  {And it weighs the appropriate weight!}  

   Regardless of whether I've eaten the gluten-filled version, I am so happy that I have discovered poundcake now.  This recipe is knock-your-socks-off amazing.  Light.  Fluffy.  Bursting with bright lemon and moist blueberry.  Especially perfect for spring.  

   It is perfect for brunch, dessert, {lunch... dinner... midnight snack...}, friends and family.  It's also perfect for those crazy dairy free people in your life. 

   So what are you waiting for?  Get baking!  It's an incredibly easy recipe to whip up!  

Lemon Blueberry Poundcake  adapted from Gluten Free Easily

ingredients

   2 1/2 cups gf flour (I use this flour ratio)

   1 ½ tsp xanthan gum

   1 ¼ tsp sea salt
   1 tsp baking powder
   ¾ cup olive oil
   1 c - 1 1/2 cups sugar (depending on how sweet you like your cakes)

   2 Tbs orange juice or lemon juice
   2 Tbs lemon emulsion

   lemon zest (I zested one whole lemon)
   3 eggs
   2/3 cup full-fat coconut milk

   2 cups frozen or fresh blueberries

method

   1.   preheat oven to 350F

   2.   mix dry ingredients in medium bowl

   3.   in large bowl mix sugar, olive oil, lemon emulsion, orange or lemon juice, and zest

   4.   add eggs one by one into wet mixture then add milk and mix for 2 minutes.  add dry              ingredients and mix well.

   5.   fold in blueberries.

   6.  scrape batter into greased bundt pan, 2 bread loaf pans, or angel food cake pan (that's what I used).

   7.   bake for 50 - 60 minutes then cool fully and Enjoy!

Linking up at these Fabulous Parties: 

A Little Valentine's Day Cake

   I made a cute little cake for Valentine's Day.  Well, actually a giant cupcake of a cake.  Rich chocolate cake with vanilla almond buttercream.

    This treat was so scrumptious the hubs and I ate every last morsel in twenty four hours  :)  

Linking up at these Fabulous Parties: Made It By Monday @ Baked in the South, Made from Scratch Monday @ Living with Food Allergies and Celiac Disease , Mangia Mondays @ Delightfully Dowling, Tuesday Talent Show @ Chef in Training, Crazy Sweet Tuesday @ Crazy for Crust, Gluten Free Wednesdays @ The Gluten-Free Homemaker, Allergy Free Wednesdays, Sweet Treats & Swanky Stuff @ Something Swanky, Anything Goes Linky @ Bacon Time with the Hungry Hypo, Sweets for A Saturday @ Sweet As Sugar Cookies

Triple Lemon Cake

  Two weekends ago we had our first guest over for dinner at our new home.  I roasted huge artichokes in the oven, baked focaccia bread that would make Italians proud, and served a version of my Penne Primavera.

  

But of course, a dinner party is never complete without dessert.  I baked a Triple Lemon Cake complete with fresh lemon buttercream and homemade lemon curd.  To die for.

  I used Annalise Roberts' recipe which she calls "Lemon Layer Cake."  The lemon flavored cake alone was so light and delicate... this cake is going to become a regular in my baking repertoire.    

  I also made some simple yellow Apple Blossoms out of royal icing.  I think they add a simple yet elegant touch!

  I'll gladly make this for whomever visits us first out in California!

My Two Loves: Lieutenant Belanger & the Asian Market

I just wanted to take a moment to introduce my first most important love in the whole wide world... 

Lieutenant Belanger!

**cue fireworks**

This past week my hubby got promoted to Lieutenant in the Coast Guard and at the "ceremony" I pinned his new shoulder boards on  :)

I also brought cake.

Because that's what good military wives do  ;)

(but it got dug into before I could even take nice pics!  it was my best buttercream work I've done to date!)

But probably the most fun part about his promotion was our discovery of an Asian grocery store afterwards.  (we are such an exciting couple)

The produce, rice noodles, spices, and weird Asiany foods galore!  Ohhh and the prices = fantabulous:

Pacific Supermarket: 1015 El Camino Real, South San Francisco, CA

yeah, I took a picture of my receipt just to make ya'll jealous.

$19.47 for 20 awesome items. 

So guess who's going there this Tuesday at 8:50 am and waiting in the parking lot until they open?

You know who  ;)

And congratulations again to my Beau, the cutest military man ever!  Love you.

(us right before his graduation from the Coast Guard Academy  4 years ago!!)

My first Wedding Cake!

    I had the honor of making a wedding and grooms cake for Jodi and Andrew, an amazing couple who tied the knot this past Saturday!  Andrew was stationed on the USCG cutter Juniper with Beau back in Newport a couple years ago and now he's in flight school too!  And Jodi is a sweetheart from Pensacola.  They are so in love it's adorable  :)


  This wedding was also super special to me because it was my first wedding cake I've ever done!  And it went so smoothly and although I guess I'm biased, it looked so pretty!

three layer white wedding cake filled with strawberry, chocolate, and strawberry filling and covered in marshmallow fondant

full sheet cake made with yellow cake and vanilla buttercream

love sparkly luster dusts

I'm still nowhere near perfect at smoothing buttercream, but this is my best attempt yet

gold aviator wings made out of fondant and brushed with 24karat luster dust

cutting of the cake

Beau said I had to prove I made the cake so we took a pic of me with it!

Us all fancied up.  I loooove the white uniform.  Yum!

Something Swanky Sweet Treats Thursday

Eagle Birthday Cake

My largest cake order yet: two layer sheet cake for a Pensacola principal's surprise birthday party!

My customer wanted an edible, 3D bald eagle to grace the cake.  She said that bald eagles hold a lot of spiritual meaning in addition to it being the school's mascot.  She also wanted it to look like Alaska with the eagle perched on top of an iceberg (with all that gorgeous blue color!)

 So I sculpted an eagle out of rice krispies and covered it in gum paste.

36 eggs total in this cake!  I put 4 half sheet cakes together to make one huge double layer sheet cake.

Strawberry filling in between the layer... sealed in with my beautiful crumb coat layer... ;)

Covered in marbleized marshmallow fondant!  In hindsight I won't cover a cake this large with fondant again... I don't have the proper equipment to do so easily.  But thankfully the marbleized effect helped cover the two fondant pieces and it just looked more like water!

Iceberg made out of rice krispies as well.

I was very happy I had the opportunity to make this cake.  It pushed my creativity limit and I gained a lot of experience from it.  

Happy 50th Reggie!  Hoped you enjoyed your surprise party!!

Aviator Winging Cakes

I had the honor of making the cakes for this week's winging class at NAS Whiting Field!  This week I made three full sheet cakes (including a monstrous one for a birthday party).  Lots of prep work and late night bake-a-thons have turned me into one tired girl.  Wait, that's an understatement... more like one sleep-deprived, forgot to eat and drink, back-aching, sore handed, sugar coated girl.  Phew!  Saturday is one my one day break before I go back at it again...

Well, anyways, Congrats Wingers!

(my hubby will be one in about a month!)

fondant aviator wings dusted with gold

color flow squadron emblems

the frosting wouldn't crust on this chocolate cake  :(  

but my friend Christina had a good description for it: cookies and cream frosting!

I think we'll go with that description instead of speckled frosting lol

fondant wings before gold dust was brushed on

Color flow!  squadron HT-8

HT-18

HT-28 ... my hubby's in this helicopter squadron

Congrats wingers!