Welcome to another installment of “Taiyyaba takes the credit, Betty Crocker does the work.”

Remember the mini pineapple upside down bundt cakes? They’re amazing at parties, because you bring out these little jewels and people think you’ve been slaving in the kitchen all day long. (Don’t tell them it took you all of 15 minutes active time to make).

Using the same concept of a butter-sugar caramel coating some kind of treat at the top of the cake, I made this pecan cake for my father in law (a nut-o-phile). The pecans came out crispy-chewy, coated with a sticky caramel, and the batter was just a plain old spice cake mix. The final cake looks spectacular, but no one has to know it only took you 10 minutes to put together!

Recipe here (more…)

I have two confessions to make.

(1) I’m sneaky. I like to bake, but I don’t have time to make amazing cakes from scratch (even though I have this jaw dropping book that i love to read for fun).

(2) I *love* caramel, especially with fruit. Pineapple upside down cake is one of my favorites - the drizzly brown sugar that coats the sour-sweet pineapple and bakes until the edges get all chewy. *sigh*

So, to solve these problems, I’ve learned that you can do spectacular things with a box cake mix if you just shake things up a little bit. My mom got me this mini bundt cake pan - it has six tiny bundt cake molds and one box cake mix can make at least twelve little cakes total. These cakes look super fancy, but they really are just fancy cupcakes. Pineapple upside down cake is perfect for this pan, because one pineapple ring fits perfectly in the bottom.

I love this with pineapple, but I ran out of pineapple rings and still had more batter - I subbed apple rings and found out that this works great with apples too. I’m basically using the side of the box, low fat version of a boxed pineapple cake mix - all that makes this fancy is the shape!

Recipe here: (more…)

There’s just something about the combination of savory spinach, crispy phyllo dough, and tangy-cool mint yogurt sauce that works beautifully together. I’d suggest adding a pinch of sumac to the spinach mixture if you have some; it gives it a tangy-spicy kick and a nice color.

Working with phyllo can be a little difficult, but it’s worth it. Follow the directions on the box for more precision than I’m giving here (in terms of how to defrost the phyllo and keep it from drying out).

These are great for parties because you can make just the filling or even the little patties themselves beforehand - just lay them on a cookie sheet and freeze, then bring back to room temperature before baking. The spinach filling is also a good stuffing for chicken thighs (maybe with some walnuts) or pasta shells or folded into an omelet!

Recipe here: (more…)

I started this recipe in the form of Applesauce Cake from a Martha Stewart cookbook (that’s the only way I can stand her - on paper) - but they’re oh so much more cute as cupcakes with DL’s Dulce de Leche swirled on top.

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This is a beautiful summer dessert when fresh citrus and berries are in season. For some reason I wanted it to be greener (it turned out yellow-green, which i suppose is because of the eggs), but the taste made up for the color. I think the zest was supposed to be minced finer, but even though I could see strips of zest, it still tasted just fine. In fact, I think i like being able to see that there was zest in it. It is quite tart, so serve each slice with big dollops of whipped cream and sliced strawberries.

This curd recipe was really easy, as it did not require a double boiler. I was apprehensive about pouring the curd mixture directly into a pan, but it turned out just fine!

Recipe here: (more…)