• Banana Dream Cake

    When it’s named the Banana Dream Cake, it better be good.  I’m just going to cut the suspense here and tell you that it is, in fact, a dream cake.  It’s dreamy, it’s banana-y, and it’s all covered in tangy-sweet-creamy-omgoshsogood cream cheese frosting. Dream Cake, for sure.  The brilliant Jessica over at The Novice Chef has done it again. I made this cake for our normal Sunday dinner a couple of weeks ago, and my brother is already requesting an encore for his birthday dinner…

  • Red Velvet Poke Cake

    Yep.  Kinda obsessed with the ol’ poke cake. I actually have yet another one coming soon.  But since I’m 100% convinced that you can’t have too many poke-cake recipes, I’m not going to worry about it one little bit.  The world cannot have too many poke cakes. And it’s possible that I say this about EVERY poke cake I make, but this one is my favorite.  There’s actually no contest.  This is the best.  Until the next one, I know, but still.  So far –…

  • Pumpkin Tiramisu

    SO MANY Thanksgiving desserts, so little time.  How can I make all of the desserts?  I’m having anxiety – I need to make them ALL!  My Pinterest boards are FULL of pumpkin and there are four days until Thanksgiving.  #igiveup You guys, we are mere days away from putting the pumpkin away for the year!  First, how the heck is that possible, and second – NOOOOOOO!  I’m not ready for mint and  white chocolate and toffee and cranberries and santa cookies yet!  I need another week –…

  • Chocolate Chip Cookie Layer Cake

    I’m in that place again.  I’m in that place where I have a birthday party looming in the not-so-distant future and I’ve done ZERO to get ready for it.  I haven’t ordered my decorations, started crafting my banners or even planned the meal.  The party is in eight days.  Oh, and I have that whole job thing, plus kids and dance classes and dinners and bathtimes and storytimes and homework and about eleventy-bazillion deadlines to meet before then. I am fuh-reaaaak-ing out. Why do I…

  • Salted Caramel Apple Slab Pie

      You guys, I’m coming up on my four-year blogging anniversary.  It was four years ago that I was planning my daughter’s fifth birthday party and had only just discovered food blogs myself.  Pinterest wasn’t really even a thing then.  Neither was Instagram.  In fact, it wasn’t until I was a year in to this whole blogging thing that I even had a Facebook page for Lemon Sugar, and now we’re going strong with over 28,000 friends. Love. It. To commemorate the big day, I’ve…

  • Cannoli Poke Cake

    There is a darling little restaurant in Kansas City called Cupini’s that I just adore – it’s cute, authentic, family-owned and operated and has some of the best pasta in the city.   The pasta is all homemade and totally delicious, but I think my favorite part of visiting the restaurant is the FABULOUS dessert case.  It’s full of beautiful pastries, cakes, tiramisu, creme brulee – you name it. And the cannoli – oh, the cannoli. The shell is delicate and crispy, and the filling is…

  • Super Simple Key Lime Pie

    You know when it’s the end of October and November is just around the corner and you’re all like, “I don’t want winter to be here,” so you think of the summery-est dessert you can and make it? Yup.  Just happened.  The end of October just screams Key Lime Pie, doesn’t it?  No? You guys, how in the world is summer overrrrrrrrr?  That had to have been the shortest summer on record.  My summer went like this:  5 year old birthday party, June at the…

  • The Ultimate Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

    So, yeah.  This might be a bit over the top.  It’s also messy, frumpy, and haphazard. But really, who cares?  When it comes to chocolate and peanut butter, you just can’t go wrong.  You just can’t.  And honestly, I love a cake that looks homemade.  I love soft, fluffy frosting, irregular and imperfect frosting techniques and drizzles, garnishes and sprinkles… Do NOT offer me a cake covered in fondant and shaped like some cartoon character.  It reminds me of the “bleedin’ armadillo groom’s cake” from…

  • Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Cake

    Helloooooo!  Happy fall! Ok, I know it’s not “technically” fall yet, but it was so beautifully autumn-like today that I think it’s time to take the leap.  It’s time to close up the pool, plant mums and start buying cans of pumpkin by the case.   I usually try to wait until after my birthday (in mid-September) before I whip out the pumpkin recipes, but the chill in the air this morning just put me in the mood!  This felt like a perfect transition recipe…

  • Three Layer Oreo Bars

    So my life goes like this:  yesterday my husband was out with his buddies, so I had an evening to myself.  The girls went to bed at 8pm, and I marched right now the stairs, made a big glass of iced tea, bought the girliest-chick-flick ever, and pulled out my big stack of neglected magazines.  It was awesome…for about three minutes. Precisely three minutes into my chick-flick, my youngest daughter was calling from the top of the stairs.  It was “fundering” and she was scared.…

  • Cookie Dough Brownie Cake | www.lemon-sugar.com

    Cookie Dough Brownie Cake

    You know when you make an awesome dessert, take it to your Mom’s house for Sunday dinner, and only eat a tiny piece because you’re too full from dinner to eat more?   And then you find yourself sitting on the couch at 9pm wishing you brought a piece home with you? I’m there. I ALWAYS do that.  I’m all like, “Nah, I don’t need a big piece of cake, I’m good with one little bite.”  And then at 9pm I’m trying to figure out…