• White Chocolate & Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

    I just looked over the top of my laptop at my husband, who’s sitting on the couch next to me, and said “I don’t have any wittiness for my blog post.”  He just looked at me funny. You guys don’t care about wittiness, do you?  You care about cupcakes.  I knew it.  You’re just using me. See?  No wittiness.  I’m not even sure I’m spelling that right.  Wittiness?  Witty-ness?  Wittyness?  My spell checker likes wittiness, so we’ll go with it. Have you ever said a…

  • Irish Beer & Whiskey Cupcakes

    If you’re like me, you might find yourself avoiding the plethora of “boozy” cupcake recipes that circulate the web.  Since I’m more of a wine girl, recipes cooked with beer, whiskey and other liqueurs didn’t ever really call to me. Yes, some recipes call to me.  And they don’t shut-up until I make them.  It’s a problem. I’m not sure why I finally broke down and made these.  Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I’ve come to really love St. Patrick’s Day. …

  • Carrot Cake

    This is the second time this carrot cake has appeared on Lemon Sugar, for two reasons.  One, it’s fan-freaking-tasticly the best carrot cake ever known to mankind.  It just is. Everyone who tries it says so.  And I’m not bragging, because it’s not my recipe, but holy cow is it delicious. The second reason it’s making another appearance is because my first photos were horrendous.  Bad lighting, bad frosting job, bad everything.  I was determined to make this humble looking cake look photo-worthy, and I’m…

  • Reuben Sliders with Homemade Thousand Island

    I’m pretty excited to share this recipe with you.  It’s a good one.  I love sandwiches, and I especially love warm, ooey-gooey slider sandwiches.  And I really love a good Reuben.  This is like, the nexus of the sandwich universe.  Or something. My family isn’t doing our annual St. Patrick’s Day dinner until next week sometime, so I know that tomorrow (on the actual holiday) I will want something corn-beefy to tide me over until next week when we can celebrate.  Since there is an…

  • Butterfly Cupcakes

    This past weekend we celebrated my baby girl’s second birthday with two family parties.  For me, it was a busy weekend of cleaning, cooking and keeping the girls entertained but it was all worth it.  I loved just watching how happy my girls were to be surrounded by everyone who loves them.  It wasn’t about the presents, the food or the decorations.  Especially in the wake of the tornado destruction in Joplin, MO and Reading, KS, I found myself counting my blessings.  It was a…

  • Pumpkin Donuts with Maple Buttermilk Glaze

    It seems like the minute the calendar turns from August to September I start craving fall flavors like pumpkin, apple, maple and sweet potato.  And since before we know it there will be snow on the ground and pumpkin will be replaced with peppermint, I feel like it’s my duty to cram as many of these flavors into September and October as possible.  About a year ago I found a recipe for pumpkin donuts but never got around to making them.  I was not going…

  • Turtle Cupcakes

    So, first things first, what do you think of the new look here at Lemon Sugar?  I’ve been working tirelessly with Cory at Zesty Blog Consulting for months now, trying to make my ideas come to life.  I have to say that Cory has done a great job, and I would highly recommend his work to any of you working on a blog or website.  He’s patient, quick and can make just about anything happen! There are a few changes to the blog as you can…

  • Spiced Apple Coffee Cake

    SERIOUSLY, what is with the ridiculous winter this year?  If I hear the term “Polar Vortex”  one more time, I just might lose it. Listen, I get that I live in the Midwest, and normally I am all about the changing seasons, but this winter has been particularly brutal and un-lovely. If it’s going to be minus umpteen million degrees, could we at least have a bit of snow?  And maybe ease up on the wind?   Please, Mother Nature? {Speaking of winter, I took…

  • Cream Puffs (Pâte à Choux)

    This is one of those recipes that I stumbled upon and automatically thought would be incredibly difficult and way out of my realm.  But, once I really took time to read the recipe I found it was really very simple.  Choux pastry is used to make cream puffs, eclairs and profiteroles.  It’s a very light, dry pastry and usually offset by some sort of decadent cream-type filling.  I used the traditional pastry cream to fill these and topped them with a liberal dollop of dark…

  • 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…

  • Pumpkin Dream Cake

    So, it’s been hovering around the 100 degree mark here the last few days.  In September. I know I live in Kansas, but that’s NOT ok with me.  September is in the fall section of the calendar.  Once Labor Day is over with, it’s pumpkin and legging season, dang-it! How am I going to wear my Uggs, hoodies and yoga pants  cute vintage boat neck tees and boyfriend cords if it’s 100 degrees outside? So, I’m officially rebelling against Mother Nature.  I lit my pumpkin…

  • Orange Sweet Rolls

    My to-do list today looked something like this:  clean the pantry for an upcoming photo-shoot.  Organize the mess on top of my desk.  Finish the laundry.  Go to the grocery store.  Decorate for Easter.  Put away the 2T clothes still in Mia’s closet *sniff*. See how productive I am in my head? Know what I actually did?  Yup.  I made Orange Sweet Rolls.