The Tenor Chef

Today’s recipe features a lovely combination of flavors that I hadn’t tried before: ’s Raspberry Lavender Muffins!

The lavender flavor in this recipe comes from steeping lavender buds in melted butter, straining the buds out, and then adding the butter to the batter. The raspberries add a nice amount of moisture to these muffins, in addition to plain yogurt! The muffins aren’t too sweet, so I decided to top them with Dorie’s confectioner’s sugar glaze. My church choir friends enjoyed these—I’d recommend the recipe!

Today’s bake is the perfect little sweet treat to enjoy on a raining North Texas afternoon: ’s Lemon-Thyme Shortbread Cookies! 🍋 🌿

Note to self: add more fresh herbs to baked goods! Of you are wondering if the thyme in these shortbread cookies is too overpowering, I’m here to tell you that it’s not. The fresh herbs adds a lovely flavor note that plays beautifully with the bright lemon zest. The texture is perfect—firm, sandy, soft, and crumbly—don’t ask me how, it must be magic! These were a fun little afternoon project, and I’m adding them to the list of possible cookies to make this December at my cookie party. Jesse’s cookbook “Cookies” is filled with winners like this one!

Today’s bake is a bit retro and a whole-lot delicious: ’s Bonnie’s Pineapple Upside-Down Cake!

I found myself with an extra pineapple sitting on my kitchen counter this weekend, and I figured I would turn it into something fabulous. If you haven’t tried this recipe before, it’s fantastic—and it’s always a hit with my friends. Alison’s recipe uses fresh pineapple, maraschino cherries, lots of brown sugar, dark spiced rum, and buttermilk. The cake is perfectly sweet with just a hint of booziness, and the brown sugar caramelizes on the top into the most luxurious, gooey confection. You’ve got to try this recipe—it’s so much better than the boxed version your aunt used to make (and you know we have nothing against boxed cake mixes around here!).

Today’s bake is a unique and delicious cake, and I don’t think I’ve ever had one quite like it: ’s Grandma Gruen’s Molasses Cake!

At first glance, this appears to be a chocolate cake with a chocolate glaze. But there is actually no chocolate in the cake itself! It’s a rich and moist molasses cake (and the molasses flavor is perfectly intense from the blackstrap variety) spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. The fat in the cake batter is vegetable shortening, which is also quite unique! The glaze is pure chocolatey goodness—think the glaze on a chocolate-glazed yeasted donut. It’s the kind of glaze that hardens a little bit as it sets, so nostalgic and yummy! The cake is served with a dollop of orange-scented whipped cream (which truly does make it a little bit extra). Grandma Gruen ate with this one!

Today’s bake was inspired by the slightly-past-their-prime container of mixed berries in my refrigerator, a bit of left over buttermilk from a previous recipe, and the antique cake stand my mom brought me when she visited last month: ’s Mixed Berry Scones!

When I was a graduate student in New York, I would often visit Alice’s Tea Cup, a dainty, elegant “Alice in Wonderland” inspired tea shop on the Upper West Side. I loved the baked goods, and their cookbook has been one of my favorites ever since. These scones are quite moist from the buttermilk and berries, only slightly sweet, and perfectly buttery. They came together with ingredients that I had on hand, so no trip to the grocery store was necessary. I love this antique cake stand my mom gave me, and I wanted to bake something special to feature it. The embossed details on the surface are so beautiful. I hope everyone has a lovely weekend—bake something delicious! ❤️

Happy Easter, everyone! Today’s bake is a special one: my first ever Easter Lamb Cake! 🐑

I learned from my dad recently that my grandma Dorothy had a tradition of making a Lamb Cake on Easter, which she would decorate with shredded coconut to look like wool. I watched make her version shortly after, and immediately ordered a Lamb Cake tin from . I had so much fun baking and decorating this cake! I used the recipe that came with the pan, which makes a chocolate cake. I used recipe for Swiss meringue buttercream frosting, which I find to be a sturdy consistency for decorating. I think it’s pretty adorable! I hope everyone had a beautiful day!

It’s my birthday! 🎉 I’ve had a tradition for the past 10 years or so to make myself a carrot cake to celebrate. I like to mix up which recipes I use, and this year, I settled on the carrot cake recipe from the “Little Flower Baking” Cookbook. This is a massive cake—four tiers loaded with walnuts, golden raisins, and carrots, and spiced with cinnamon and ginger. This recipe also happens to be gluten free, as it’s made with white rice flour and oat flour. This will be the first carrot cake I’ve made that will also be able to enjoy! I opted to use ’s cream cheese frosting, which I think has the perfect texture. I had fun decorating it, and I can’t wait to celebrate later and enjoy a slice!

Today’s bake is perfect for spring, perfect for Aries season birthdays (👀), and absolutely delicious: ’s Lemon Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting!

I love baking layer cakes of all kinds from various cake cookbooks/food blogs, but I must admit that Yossy Arefi is my favorite cake recipe developer. Her cakes always yield perfect results. I always know when I select one of her cake recipes that it will turn out beautifully. This cake is flavored with lemon juice and lemon zest, and each layer is brushed with lemon syrup for extra moistness. The cream cheese frosting is the perfect compliment to the lemon. This was my first birthday cake of the year (my birthday is this week), and I shared it with my church choir friends! 🍋The recipe is available on .