Bakers Spotlight

This is my first podcast on Megan Baking called Bakers Spotlight.  I talk about Batter’s Box Bakery owned by Shiloh in Northern, CA.  I highlight her blog, facebook, and twitter.  She uses social media to her advantage to move her business forword

Top Ten

Top 10

Here are my top ten favorite finds on Pinterest.  Some of them I have tried and some of them are part of my baking dreams.  They all look amazing.

10. Mug Cake

Mug cakes are great for a quick fix to any sweet tooth.  They are quick, easy and take very little ingredients.  I’ve tried many different mug cakes for the perfect recipe.  This one is great.  You buy the ingredients and have them mixed already for whenever you want a quick snack.

9. Cake Batter Puppy Chow

Chocolate puppy chow is amazing and cake batter puppy chow seems just as wonderful.

8. New York Style Crumb Cake

I absolutely love this crumb cake.  Regular crumb cake is good but when half the cake is crumb it’s even more amazing.

7. Cappuccino Cheese Cake

I love cheese cake and I love coffee.  This looks like the greatest dessert in the world.  This is a great combination for a cheesecake.

6. Moist Apple Cake

I always love my mom’s apple cake.  This looks just like it.  I love cakes that are super moist.

5. Triple Chocolate Chessecake with Kahlua Sauce

Oh.My.Goodness.  The more chocolate the better.  A super chocolatey cheesecake with Kahlua Sauce sounds absolutely wonderful.

4. Chocolate Crepe Cake

This takes me back to Paris.  I loved eating crepes with Nutella from a street cart.  This just might satisfy my dream to go back just a little.

3. Andes Mint Cookies

These are absolutely amazing!  So easy to make.  They are super soft and goey and have a whole andes caney on them.  What could be better?

2. Pumpkin Tiramisu

I love anything pumpkin.  Fall is my favorite just for this reason.  Pumpkin Spice lattes are my favorite and this recipe looks just like it but in cake form.  Awesome.

1. Ballerina Cupcakes

I love making cupcakes and as a dancer I love anything with a ballerina on it.  I love to decorate cakes and cupcakes and this looks perfect for any little girl’s birthday party.

A Real Kitchen

I love baking and food bloggers that seem like real people.  Now obviously since they are blogging they’re real…what I mean is that they seem like a real person, making mistakes, not knowing how to do something etc.  It’s more comforting than reading about someone who does everything perfectly.  Real Girl’s Kitchen is a great example of this.  Haylie Duff (yes, Hilary’s sister) is the blogger.  She has a great site with tips, recipes, and restaurant reviews.  Her site even includes a link to her twitter and posts any tweets that have to do with food or her blog.  Also, as a graphic designer, I must say I love the design of the site.  Haylie declares on her site that she’s not much of a baker, but occasionally shows a few of her finished products.  This is mostly a food blog, but the set up, dedication and effort put behind it makes this a great example of a blog that really tries to connect with its readers.

The Recipes and Blog section is wonderful.  Haylie posts her recent creations and how to make them.  She recently had a dinner party and shares the many dishes she created for the event.  I love that she posts pictures of her creations and her dinner guests (if you look closely you can pick out stars from 7th Heaven and 8 Simple Rules).  She’s just a normal girl having a cute dinner party with her girl friends.

Her Restaurant Review section is dedicated to the many restaurants she visits.  Most are in California and look amazing.  She reviews them and says what dishes she tried and liked.  She’ll talk about the atmosphere and traditions of each restaurant.  Apparently at Jason Mraz’s restaurant, on your birthday you’ll hear his rendition of Happy Birthday.

My favorite section is Everyone Should Know.  Haylie shares simple recipes and tips.  They aren’t always common knowledge type tips and recipes, but they’re simple and useful.  Once you learn them, you’ll want to use them all the time.  One recent post was how to cut a pepper.  I’ve cut bell peppers plenty of times but she shows a different way that gets rid of the seeds much easier.  Her little tips are helpful and make cooking and being in the kitchen that much easier and enjoyable.

Baking Blogs

Baking blogs have become increasingly popular. Many amateur bakers have taken up sharing their baking experiments and advice with the world. This has stemmed from the very popular food blogs. I found a great blog called Baking Bites. The articles give new and fun recipes for readers to try, while also give hints and tips about how to do different baking tricks. It also gives How To’s occasionally. A current one is How to Temper Chocolate. I would never know how to temper chocolate or even what it’s used for. It’s great to learn new tricks i would have never heard of through these baking blogs.  Baking Bites also wrote a post about baking blogs. It reviews other blogs and their recent posts. There are reviews of recipes and other uses for kitchen appliances. One talked about other uses of a waffle iron. The writer suggests to use it at a panini press and grilling french toast. Baking blogs have moved the art of baking much further. It allows recipes and tips to be shared much quicker and to a great amount of people.

Baking Ideas

I love to bake. Growing up, I have always helped my mom bake in the kitchen.  She taught me everything there is to baking.  I like that there are specific directions to get the right outcome.  I’ll admit my creations don’t always turn out as I hope but I love experimenting trying new recipes.  My favorite place to find new recipes is Pinterest.  It is my favorite site to waste time on.  It is an amazing site that lets its users share their internet finds on their pin boards.  Each user titles different pin boards with separate categories.  Users can peruse different categories on the site to find what they’re looking for.  My favorite areas to search are baking ideas and crafts.  I have a board specifically for my baking dreams.  I use this for any fun baking ideas I find throughout Pinterest.  I love how artistic bakers are with their creations.  I’m an Integrative Arts major with a concentration in Graphic Design.  I love that with baking I can incorporate my creative side, especially with decorating.  This site has wonderful ideas for any creative person.  I love to experiment with the ideas I find on the site.  It is a wonderful way for people all over the world to share they’re ideas.