Lemon Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream

This cake is similar to lemon drizzle cake, but better. The major differences are: Lots of whisking to make it really light and fluffy Icing sugar as a glaze instead of regular sugar for the drizzle Swiss Meringue Buttercream This buttercream is absolutely delicious and not too sweet. And that’s coming from someone who doesn’t…

Rum and Raisin Cake

What book are you currently reading? My immediate family and my in-laws are all book lovers. My sister-in-law read 37 books last year. Everyone has their preferred genres. My husband’s is non-fiction and he has several going at the same time. My mother loves autobiographies but specifically of African women—lives that she can relate to…

Pumpkin Spice Cake

Wondering what to do with that leftover pumpkin your mum packed for you to take home? Or are you craving a warm moist spiced cake? If you can get your hands on some pumpkin or butternut, boil, steam, or roast it and then blend it into a puree and bake. What’s the name of that…

Red Velvet Cake

Ok, granted, my pictures don’t do this cake justice, but let’s take a moment and talk about the red velvet cake. Even its name is seductive: Red Velvet. It’s not one of those that just sits by the sidelines waiting to be noticed. It is pretty and dramatic. This in-your-face deep-red cake contrasts beautifully with…

Pound Cake

Bybron, this one is for you. I appreciate all your feedback. Also, this cake of all the cakes I made, used to be Eddy’s favourite. I’m sure he now has new favorites since he has his jaber who loves to experiment and learn. So just add this to the list. When kina Eddy would come…

Lemon Drizzle Cake

After a year in Upstate New York, it’s good to be back home. There is no doubt that the Hudson Valley is spectacular, with tons of amazing trails (at little to no cost). But the African savannah teeming with wildlife is unbeatable. Excuse my sad pictures—my husband is the amazing wildlife photographer. Nairobi National Park…

Coconut Chocolate Chunks Cake

(Disclaimer: The pictures were taken at the point when the recipe was worth sharing. However, the text was written the first time the cake was baked.) Recipe development chronicles By no means am I a recipe developer. It’s so much easier to copy recipes or just mess around with flavours. So I’m sharing my angst…

Plum Cake

Seasonal Eating – Kenya’s “Summer” Fruits Along the side of the road there are wheelbarrows with green and purple avocadoes neatly laid. Hanging on strings from wooden beams are the all-year round creamy yellow bananas. Wooden stands built any which way but straight, display the bounty of the mango harvest. Along what is meant to be the…

One Cake Recipe Five Different Ways

So this cake started out as a banana pineapple cake. Which is what is photographed. However, I learnt a few things along the way. Number one: Grating the pineapple is better for pineapple flavour than dicing it. When I diced it, it was more of a banana bread. But I really like the photograph of…

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Prelude Even as a child I was not a morning person and would be rushing out the door almost late for school. Mum too would be rushing. However before sending her offspring out into the world, she would inspect my brother and I. Mum could quickly see what needed rectifying. (I think it is a superpower…