SMiLes by Meg

Category: Cake

Father’s Famous Flying Flapjacks

I don’t know how I have other pancake recipes on this blog but not the most important pancake recipe in the world: my dad’s. He makes them for us maybe twice a year (Christmas and New Year’s), but they have always been my absolute favorite, and the standard by which I judge all pancakes. The recipe is simple – dump a bunch of stuff in a bowl, whisk it, and fry them up. Serve with plenty of butter and real maple syrup. Perfect for a family of four! This week, I’m in Alaska, and hadn’t done a blog post yet, …

Pumpkin Flan

This Thanksgiving, Erik’s sister, Sarah, hosted us in San Francisco, which is weirdly basically halfway between Boston and Anchorage. We got to spend the weekend with Erik’s family, which was lovely, and meant lots of good eating. For Thanksgiving itself, Sarah let Erik and I help out with dessert, which was pumpkin flan and blackberry pie. Erik is the flan expert in our relationship, so pumpkin flan was an obvious choice as our contribution. It was a team effort, with Sarah and Trevor staying up to take it out of the oven when the time difference finally caught up to …

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

This week’s recipe was a request from Madison, and I am so glad she thought of it. Though I was a little late to the pumpkin game this year, Madison is a HUGE pumpkin fan, and thought that there must be a way to make cinnamon rolls pumpkin. She was right, and these are them, and you need them next Sunday morning when you’re looking for something a little sweet and very Fall for breakfast. Start by heating the butter and milk over low heat just until the butter melts. Set aside. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle …

Cardamom Coffee Cake

Sunday Scaries are a weird thing. I had the most perfect weekend, and in particular a great Sunday, mostly because we turned the clocks back, and I had a full extra hour to be productive, which gave me extra time to be lazy. But it’s that time of year where, as corporate lawyer, clients start wanting things done by end of year, and there’s a general impending sense of a storm. So as Sunday has worn on, I’ve gotten that pit of dread in the bottom of my stomach. Fortunately, I know the perfect way to combat Sunday Scaries: Cake …

Apple Cider Donut Holes

This weekend, I was reunited with my favorite sous chef, the one and only Laura Bakst! Despite living on the same coast, I visited her for the first time since law school (which is slightly embarrassing – I blame her work schedule), and had just the perfect weekend. We walked all around, baked, ate good food, drank good wine, stumbled upon a pickle festival and generally got to just catch up on each other’s lives. I never realize how much I’m craving friend time until I get an uninterrupted weekend of it. When that friend time also includes frying donut …

Devil Dogs

One of my favorite places to look for inspiration for this blog is my mom’s recipe box. She has all of these cards from her mom and family, handwritten and passed down. A lot of things I’ve made for the blog come from those cards. This week, I started thinking I was going to make apple crisp. My mom said Grammy had a good recipe, so I opened up the box. I found an apple pie recipe, but then I found something even more exciting: devil dogs. Devil dogs are kind of like whoopie pies, but longer and with a …

Whiskey Cake

So in case you’ve been living under a rock, it’s September, and everyone in Boston is leaning hard into pretending it’s Fall, even if it’s still weather-appropriate to be in sundresses and sandals. Don’t get me wrong – I love Fall. And I think I finally get why everyone else does, too. You see, at age 28, I have finally found myself in a job where I’m working year round, straight through the summer. No summer vacation (RIP teaching career). No summer internships with big breaks on either end (RIP being a student). Just work. And I’ve found that while …

Banana, Date and Walnut Tin Can Cake

This is a recipe I’ve been excited to make since getting the Sweet by Ottolenghi cookbook. I started saving tin cans as soon as I saw it, and finally had an extra banana and some time to give it a go. And I’m so glad I did – this is like banana bread but better. There’s banana. There are walnuts. AND THERE ARE DATES. Which I love, and think make all things better. So this one starts by briefly toasting the walnuts. Spread them out on a baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. …

Lemon Ice Cream Cake

This weekend, I got to do lots of fun things! I went to Brad Paisley with my dad, for our fifth annual summer country concert. I spent the day at Green Harbor with my cousins, which I missed out on for the 3rd this year. And I got to make an ice cream cake that was surprisingly simple, despite how hard it was to find sweetened condensed milk! So this cake starts with making a REALLY easy ice cream. No machine required – just whisk some ingredients together and freeze it. With an ice cream cake, you’re less concerned with …

Simple Chocolate Cake

I know that today is National Ice Cream Day. And that it’s ridiculously hot up and down the east coast, and no one wants to turn on their oven. But I have ignored both of those things, and today I bring you something that you should start just keeping all of the ingredients on hand for: Simple Chocolate Cake. I’ve made other chocolate cakes in the past, but this one has fewer than 10 ingredients, can be made in one bowl, and can be dressed up as much as you want, or left alone without any fuss. It is, of …