A Mexican Weekend

Mexico. I’ve never been but it seems like a wonderful place. While satisfying my recipe obsession, I came across this cinnamon, vanilla beverage. The element which originally sparked my attention was the rice additive. The flavor of white rice is simply delicious and the thought of it in the form of a cool fresh drink was irresistible. As you might’ve guessed, I was delightfully surprised by the outcome. The drink was unique and tasty to be sure.

Going along with this theme, I declared a Mexican weekend. Sunday morning Jessie and I prepared a batch of horchata with sweet, donut-like “churros” as a side. My goodness. Yum. We ate the entire plate for breakfast!

I hope you had a lovely weekend, spending time with family and friends.

Cake Challenge: August

Remembering what a hit January’s cake was, I decided to try it again but this time with a simple chocolate cake accompanied by smooth vanilla buttercream filling.

This particular cake was a surprise Birthday dessert for our good friends, the Gohs. A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Goh emailed my Mom about joining their family for Thai food at an eclectic restaurant in downtown Tianjin to celebrate Mrs. Goh’s Birthday. Of course Mom (the courteous mother she is) felt compelled to bring something along to the dinner. So she replied asking if we could provide the B-day cake for Mrs. Goh.  Mrs. Goh has always been a very encouraging supporter of my baking passion and she herself is a queen of creative scrapbooking so I definitely wanted to bake something special for her. This cake was the result…

our family met them at the restaurant and enjoyed a lovely dinner and (an even lovelier) cake. ~Unfortunately the Gohs arrived at the restaurant before we did and seeing 11 seats at their reserved table, Mrs. Goh soon guessed who would be joining them for dinner.

In the end, I have to say my favorite part of baking cakes are the memories I hold with those I share them with.

<Cake Challenge Series: is a collection of posts which document the cakes I bake each month. More specifically, I have a goal this year to bake at least one (hopefully spectacular) layer cake each month, and photograph/post them here. I hope you enjoy this collection as much as I enjoy baking these delicious desserts!>

Other Cake Challenge Posts:
January 
February
March 
April
May
June

 MAKE YOURSELF:

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Filling: find a thorough set of instructions here.

Espresso Drizzle: find recipe in the Cake Challenge: January post.

Click on this post to see recipe for Chocolate Cake (scroll to the bottom).

Cake Challenge: June

This is the first pound cake I’ve ever made and my first “successful” attempt at the bundt cake-shape. The dense texture of this cake was a much needed change from my usual 3-layer butter cakes. I think the best part of this baking experience was taking photos… finally, a cake that is both delicious and effortlessly beautiful. Bundt cakes are so pretty on their own without much fuss about icing colors, decoration ideas, or touch ups. I totally recommend this recipe if you’re looking for something quick and relatively simple.

<Cake Challenge Series: is a collection of posts which document the cakes I bake each month. More specifically, I have a goal this year to bake at least one (hopefully spectacular) layer cake each month, and photograph/post them here. I hope you enjoy this collection as much as I enjoy baking these delicious desserts!>

Other Cake Challenge Posts:
January 
February
March 
April
May