Romy's Baking and Cake Decorating

  Gluten-free "mummy" cupcakes One of Bubby's friends who RSVP'd that he was attending the Halloween party follows a gluten-free diet.  I wanted to make some treats he could enjoy and decided to make cupcakes. I didn't want to invest in gluten free flour, because I won't use it often. So I decided to get a cake mix.  Earlier this year I had success with the Nature's Promise gluten free cake mix, but it doesn't seem to be available in stores right now.  Not sure if it's been discontinued or if it's out of stock. And the other mixes I saw were so expensive!  The budget for the party had already been exceeded, so I turned to good old Betty Crocker.  A name you (think you) can trust.   Was I ever wrong!  Though the cupcakes baked up OK, the taste was absolutely awful. This even though I tried to elevate the taste by adding buttermilk instead of water.  But they were dense and dry, only fit to be thrown away.  Unfortunately I didn't real...

Mini spice cakes with a Fall theme Wondering what to make for a small gathering on my patio to welcome Fall, I remembered my Nordic Ware pan.  I got it on sale at Sur la Table while visiting my sister in Arlington VA a few years ago, and I remember using the recipe that came with the pan to make some pretty tasty spice cakes.  I couldn't find the recipe, but a quick internet search uncovered it.   Here  it is, under the name Mini Harvest Spice Cakes.  I'm writing it below for future reference: INGREDIENTS 1 1/2 cups flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 Tbsp cinnamon 1 tsp ground ginger 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 1 cup sugar 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 3/4 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled 2 eggs, room temperature 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 cup milk DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare pan with baking spray containing flour or butter and flour. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Using a standing mixer, cream sugar and butter unt...

 I didn't get a picture of the White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Bars I made for my French groups gathering.  We had a potluck on my patio, and I wanted to provide a variety of desserts.  I had leftover raspberry sauce in the refrigerator, and several white chocolate bars I needed to use up.  So I decided to try  this recipe  from Sallys Bake Blog.   The recipe calls for a 9"square pan, which I don't have. I decided to make them in my 9 x 17 pan.  It's a plus that this pan has a lid so storing in the refrigerator overnight would be easy. Instead of regular Oreos like the recipe calls for, I used Whole Foods brand "Oreos".  They have better ingredients than Nabisco. I followed the recipe and processed 22, including the filling, but it far exceeded the 250 g called for in the recipe.  They were dry and made for a stiff and crumbly crust that wasn't coming together as it was supposed to. I had to eyeball adding more melted butter wi...

 A friend who is dear to me obtained her residency and was throwing a party to celebrate. I was delighted with the occasion and just had to make a cake for her!   I considered making some kind of "card" cake but couldn't come up with a design that pleased me. Instead, I decided on a sunflower decoration. This past Spring I gave her some faux-sunflower shoots, 

  Someone took a bite out of the star bread! On a lovely Fall Saturday we were invited to a friend's milestone birthday party and were asked to contribute a potluck dish. The party was at an outdoor picnic pavilion in the afternoon and we weren't    quite sure what to bring. So, I decided to make a Star Bread . Although it has a several steps, it's a reliably easy recipe and always makes an impact. I got up early the morning of the party to get the dough going for this recipe  from King Arthur Flour. Pretty soon I realized that the last time I made a savory star bread I had plenty of pesto and prosciutto at hand whereas now I did not. Instead, I decided to make an Herb-Parmesan-Kalamata Olive Bread since that's all I could find for the filling!  I followed the instructions to brush each layer with egg wash and also brushed it very lightly with olive oil.  I sprinkled dried thyme, garlic powder, shredded parmesan and olives on two of the layers and on ...

  Peach Pie Bubby asked very nicely why we haven't had pie, specifically Peach Pie , this Summer.  I know the feeling, the Summer of 2025 was difficult and disappointing in several ways for us and we didn't get to do a lot of our usual activities.  Over the past few years we've had summer get togethers with the extended family and I've usually brought pie.  When I spotted some beautiful organic peaches at just the right ripeness at Trader Joe's, I knew it was time to make that pie Bubby had been wanting! Lovely peaches in my vintage Jadeite bowl I've used  this recipe  from Sally's Baking before. I was confident that aside from the work involved in following all the steps it would be pretty straightforward to make the pie. How silly of me! The plan was to make the pie crust on Tuesday to let it sit in the fridge overnight, make the pie on Wednesday, and enjoy it on Thursday evening. I used  this recipe  also from Sally's Baking for a butter pie cr...