Life is Delicious Keep on Tasting

Phenomenal first mince pie of the season at in Galway. Set the bar very high. And the hot chocolate was superb too.

Nothing like farm-fresh eggs from to start the bank holiday off right! Delicious and super fresh. Just thinking what I'll bake with them next...!

Had an absolutely delicious lunch Brickyard Gastropub today. Korean chicken over waffles with real maple syrup. A delightful dance for the taste buds!

Had an incredibly disappointing experience Il Vicolo last night. Not a single staff member was masked. We certainly will never take our business back there. Public health and safety has to come first.

Had an incredibly disappointing experience last night. Not a single staff member was masked. We certainly will never take our business back there. Public health and safety has to come first.

The final in my trio of cakes I think was my favourite to make, and it was for the ultimate girly-girl Amelia's 7th birthday.

Amelia was treated to one of my unicorn cakes for her 5th birthday, and this year she wanted a flamingo theme! I'm the first to say I'm not artistic, so physically creating flamingos would be a challenge, but after consulting Amelia's mom and showing her a few pictures I got from Pinterest, I purchased some edible flamingos and dove in head first.

Amelia wanted a chocolate cake, so I went with a Sally's Baking Addiction triple chocolate layer cake. It was phenomenal. Instead of the chocolate buttercream in the recipe, I used Sally's vanilla buttercream and added the pictured colouring. Absolutely scrumptious. I built up the decorations at the side using two different blue sprinkles and added the flamingos right before the cakes were collected.

I'm told that Amelia is a bit fussy, and rarely finishes a slice of cake, but she finished her slice of this cake asked for more! I'll be using this recipe again, watch this space!!

Second up is a cake I made in August for a birthday and I think is delicious. It's a full-on Oreo cake - the cake tins are lined with Oreos before a chocolate cake batter is baked into them. When assembling the layers, an Oreo cream is spread in the middle and the cake is then iced with a chocolate buttercream.

Maria wanted orange incorporated into this chocolately goodness, so I imported Halloween Oreos from the US. These have spookyb imprints oh the cookies and orange cream, which undoubtedly looked pretty cool when the cake was sliced (see the cupcake!), and then crushed Oreos were patted up the sides of the cake. To add a bit more orange to the theme, we sprinkled orange and yellow sprinkles on the sides, which really made it pop! Delicious.

Keep your eyes on this page for a similar batch of spooky cupcakes coming soon!

Two weekends ago marked a day I haven't done since May 2017 - a marathon of cakes for three very special siblings.

First up right now is for baby Leon, who celebrated his christening with his oldest sister's first holy communion. Since Leon doesn't have a taste for cake quite yet, Mommy got her choice, and she opted for a salted caramel cake. Baked with and sandwiched between layers of homemade salted caramel sauce, and topped with a salted caramel Swiss meringue, this fluffy cake made his mamma happy after all the big things were done for the day.

Had an absolutely delicious slice of vegan Snickers pie at Social Fabric Cafe' Dublin in Stoneybatter this morning. The staff were stellar and the place was super clean. Definitely will go back there the next time I have a meeting in the area!

The first weekend of October calls for pumpkin French toast with lightly toasted pecans. Delicious!

If you're looking for a nice and easy Halloween treat and you're in the US, putting a Halloween Oreo at the bottom of the cupcake liner before pouring over the batter makes a lovely little surprise! (Photo 1)

You could go a step further and follow Oreo cake recipe and stuff the cupcakes with the creme. (Photo 2)

Just some ideas. Please share photos if you make them!

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/oreo-cake/

That day when my cinnamon rolls lasted a mere 45 minutes in the office. 😆

I wanted to send the lads off to the match with some sweet but power-packed goodness. I had courgettes that needed to be used so, voila!, courgette raisin bran muffins. Delicious!

BLUEBERRY VANILLA MONKEY BREAD

I loves me some monkey bread.

When my brother and I were kids and we'd be home for a snow day, my mom discovered a recipe for monkey bread, made with (American) biscuit dough, cut into pieces, shaken in cinnamon sugar and thrown into a bundt pan and then covered in a caramel sauce and baked until it turned into heaven. This is great for kids who, pre-Covid, could just pick bits off one at a time, kind of like monkeys, well, you know... Maybe best not to talk about how it got its name. 😆😆

I've made several iterations over the years, though I make my own bread dough, and this one was a little bit special. I layered blueberries between the dough and added vanilla to the sauce before pouring, making it that bit lighter and that bit more summery.

Survey says: amazing (as stated by the fussy young fella)!!

What flavour would you like me to make you??

I found a way to use the leftover pumpkin. 🤭

Pumpkin French toast on homemade sandwich bread. While delicious, I'm confident I can up my game next time by using brioche and stuffing it with Nutella, because !

I'm not quite sure when pumpkin spice season starts in the States, but it started in our house this morning.

A staple favourite, I used Sally's Baking Addiction Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancake recipe with pumpkin purée from the AmericanFood.ie online shop. An absolutely delicious way to kick-start the season.

Now, what do I do with the leftover pumpkin?!?!

Being from the States, iced tea is a thing. Like a big thing. Yes there's the stuff you buy in a bottle sweetened and flavoured with God knows what, but to me, a mark of a quality kitchen is if it has freshly brewed iced tea. If they say no, I'll opt for water, if they say yes, it's bottomless unsweetened for me! Given the ridiculous heat we're experiencing (thanks, global warming!), I didn't want to use any more heat sources than I had to for our socially distanced BBQ yesterday, so I threw a heap of Barry's tea bags in with a few raspberry peach herbal blends, added water and let the sun do its job. End result: glorious, all natural and it doesn't even need sugar!

What's your go-to treat on a hot day?

Brioche burger buns were requested for dinner last night, as and we only needed four buns, I used the rest of the dough this morning to make chocolate chip brioche buns! Can't wait to tuck into these beauties, and try my hand at other knot variations.

Sometimes only waffles will do on a Saturday morning.

Nothing like fresh muffins on a Sunday morning!

Banana oatmeal with chocolate chips topped with an oaty crumble.

Sometimes a baker needs to take a break and try new things.

One type of baking that I've never yet attempted is laminated pastry (e.g. croissants, pain au chocolate, etc.), mainly because it's a lot of work and you really have to put a lot of oomph into it with your arms and wrists, and my wrists aren't that strong!

Enter M E D I A L U N A - a local Dublin gem that makes artisan croissants. We ordered them yesterday morning to have for our brunch today and all I have to say is OMFG. Just watch the video in the contents section - OMFG!

While we're keeping the amazing looking banana bread for dessert tonight, I'm not even one bit ashamed that between the two of us we devoured the pain au chocolate (so many layers, amazing!), black pudding and Argentinian sausage roll (such lovely flavours) and a Nutella croissant (one each, those bad boys aren't for sharing). Ah-mazing.

It would be an understatement to say that I'm fussy, and that with baked goods I always find something to complain about. The only complaint I have is that we didn't buy more, but where would we have put them?? We're stuffed after our gigantic brunch!! I can't wait to go back and try more! An ideal treat to take home for Father's Day next weekend - try out .croissanterie as soon as you can, because and .

Enjoy!

Morning glory goodness for a rainy Saturday.

Another fun and educational hosted by Mother Macs Public House. Brandy is my go-to slow sipper, so I'm glad to know that bit more about it when we go to our next weekend! Looking forward to the upcoming American whiskey blind tasting. Until then, stay safe and !

Super excited to participate in Mother Macs Public House Brandy Blind Tasting tonight. The whiskey one on Paddy's Day was fab, I'm certain tonight's will be just as good.

Metamorphosis

Chocolate chip brioche buns with a cinnamon sugar crunch

Chocolate Revel Bars

I don't know does anyone else scroll through Pinterest for recipe inspiration, but when I saw a cross between my mom's jam oatmeal bars and fudgey goodness, I had to investigate. Voila! Delicious chocolate oatmeal bars, or as the Chocolate with Grace recipe calls them, Revel Bars! Devine winner, and would be delicious with a scoop of ice cream.

Happy Easter!!

I struggled with dessert inspiration this year, and in the end I went for a carrot cake, and I am so happy I did! As it's just the two of us again, I split it into two small bundts and four mini cupcakes. We had cupcakes with tea and gave the second cake away. Absolutely delicious. I love their recipes and miss being able to easily buy an oatmeal raisin cookie or a delicious loaf of sourdough whenever near

What sweeties are you eating today?

Went for a twist on the traditional hot cross bun (which I only just found out is a Good Friday thing, not just a general Easter thing) and made hot cross bun loaves! The dough was lovely to work with, and while it didn't rise as much as I'd hoped, it was delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Hoping to make French toast out of it on Monday.

What Easter recipes are you making this weekend? Are they old or new?

I've been wanting a waffle iron ever since I moved back to Ireland. In the US I was given a second hand restaurant grade one, and you can't really go back from that, so every time I saw one here in the sales they weren't deep enough for me. Last week, though, Lidl advertised a Salter one, touting that it's "three times deeper" than other ones. The price was right and we gave it our first go this morning. Mmmm... C'est magnifique! As a first go, I used a basic recipe, but now the possibilities are endless! What's your favourite waffle type and/or topping?