• Strawberry Fudge Cupcakes

    Happy Valentines Day!  This is just a quick update to post one of the goodies I sent with my husband to work today.  I made the Fauxstess Cupcakes again, and some Red Velvet Whoopee Pies (which I’ll post next time I make them, I didn’t get any pictures) but these were a creation of mine that I felt deserving of a blog post.  So, here we go! These are a fudgy chocolate cake, filled with a silky strawberry filling and topped with a basic cream…

  • Chocolate Toffee Cupcakes

    I’m back!  I know, I haven’t really been gone all that long, but it sure feels like ages since I’ve blogged.  November and December are just super busy months for me.  I know most of it is self-induced – if I could somehow just let things be less than perfectly planned for once, if I could just go with the flow and ignore my messy kitchen or the piling laundry for an evening…if I could just go to bed before midnight – I’m sure I would…

  • Strawberry Supreme Cake

    I am a cookbook junkie.  I have them all.  Yes – I’m pretty sure that I own every cookbook published after 2009. … Ok, this is obviously not true.  It’s not possible.  But judging by my overflowing bookcases, the baskets on my hearth and the stacks on my coffee table – I’m pretty sure I have most of them.  Especially if they have anything to do with baking or desserts or my blogging friends.  I might need an intervention. But see what I’m REALLY trying…

  • A Pantry Makeover Part 4: Glidden Paint

      Several weeks ago, we took on the daunting task of updating and renovating our walk-in pantry.  When we built our house five years ago, pantry functionality and design was, unfortunately, not high on our priority list.  Given how frequently we use that little room, it’s really a shame we put it off so long. My friends over at Glidden® paint made the process so much easier.  After submitting a few of my inspiration photos to their online My Image Inspiration tool , I was actually able…

  • Creamy Baked Pasta

    I love pasta.  I really, really love pasta.  I seriously think I could eat it every day and never tire of it.  Since my husband doesn’t really share my obsession, we don’t eat it as often as I would like, so I tend to save it for the nights he’s working and I’m just cooking for myself and the girls.  However,  I made this earlier in the week and JR really liked it too, so I guess that says something!  The best thing about it…

  • Sweet Cherry Salsa

    There are some things on this planet that were just meant to be together.   Peanut butter and jelly.  Wasabi and soy sauce.  Mashed potatoes and gravy.  Sweet cherry salsa and salty tortilla chips. Sweet.  Cherry.  Salsa. It’s sweet.  It makes me happy.  And with salty, crispy tortilla chips?  Holy cow you guys. This recipe came my way via my lovely sister-in-law.  She’s like, the queen of dips.  And parties.  She throws the best family parties and she makes the best dips. AND, she actually…

  • Peach Pie with Buttermilk Crust

    I’ve eaten approximately 167 peaches this week.  That’s because when I go shopping for produce, and I see big, fleshy, perfectly ripe, juicy peaches, I feel the need to buy three of four bags of them.  I can’t say no.  I’ve really tried.  But then, as I’m walking away, this little voice inside my head reminds me that peaches are not a year-round thing.  If I don’t eat them now, if I don’t stuff myself full of them, then it’s going to be a long,…

  • Neapolitan Cupcakes

      ho’s ready for dessert?  Let me just tell you that I haven’t had dessert (outside of taste-testing Iced Oatmeal Cookies and Chocolate Syrup Bundt Cake) since Christmas.  Like many of you I’m sure, we go on a bit of a detox at the first of the year to get off the holiday stuff-your-face-with-all-of-the-yum train, so our kitchen has been more spinach and less butter. It’s kind of sad, actually. But really, it’s good and it’s nice to get back into the swing of things…

  • 25 Amazing Cupcake Recipes

    I get many emails from readers every day, and 90 percent of them ask me one of two questions:  1) Can I make a gluten/allergy/fat/sugar/oil/butter/dairy free version of xyz recipe?  If so, how?  And two:  I have an event coming up and I need to make a dessert – what would you suggest? So, the answers are: 1) yes, but I’ve never done it so I can’t vouch for results and 2) um, all of them?

  • Friends of Lemon Sugar Series: More Fudge Less Pudge Brownies

    I am excited to bring you the first of many guest posters on Lemon-Sugar!  Erin at The Spiffy Cookie is an amazing cook, baker and person.  She’s a lot of fun to read, follow and has a ton of fabulous recipes on her site.  I mean, cake batter puppy chow?!?  Are you kidding me?  Amazing. I’m honored to have her contribute today, and ask that you all go pay her a visit and tell her I sent you.  Thanks again, Erin – take it away!…

  • Pumpkin BTS Cake

    So, I don’t really care what you call this cake.  Anytime you combine pumpkin, homemade whipped cream and caramel sauce?  Uh-MAZE-balls.  My last BTS cake has driven almost 120,000 visitors to Lemon Sugar, and is among one of my most requested desserts in my inner circle. Inner circle?  That means my family.  I don’t know why I called them my inner circle.  I’m clearly not Miley Cyrus.  I don’t have an “inner circle.” But if I did, I would totally feed them BTS cake. If…

  • 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…