Pastry Party, or Baking Bash?

Davisites, would you like me to host a "baking party" to celebrate the end of the quarter?
You sit around, I make you cakes and cookies, you eat them!
Sound good?

I will be posting a Facebook event soon. So RSVP!

Pastries after Paris

So I'm just over 3 weeks away from the end of my just over 2 month trip to France. I started out in Paris of course, and am now on the southern coast- the Côte d'Azur. But how my location relates to baking is that I am really astounded by the traditional bakeries, boulangeries, that you find on every street here- and especially back in Paris too. They're full of flakey, sweet, crunchy, soft, sugary, salty, bread-related deliciousness. I really want to try baking bread now, it seems somehow more rewarding than baking a cake!

Perhaps it's the need for yeast that makes it... special? I found this recipe at purplefoodie that I can't wait to try. Having never made bread before it's reassuring that this recipe is directed right at someone who's baked but not baked bread. And it sure looks delicious! I think I'll need to find a french kitchen to borrow, because I cannot wait 3 weeks to bite into this thing. At the moment a pure-cinnamon version sounds like the best way to go! Ah! The anticipation!

Summer Break

So the school year is officially over for me, I'm packing up and moving out of my apartment and looking for someone to sublease it while I'm away in France. This of course makes it harder for me to bake for people in Davis, but much easier to get goodies to folks in the East Bay, like my own dad! Here's a shot of some brownies I made for him a bit ago, warm and gooey, just the thing to defrost you from the inside out on a weirdly cold day like we've been having lately. I don't much mind the weather as long as I don't get sick, but it sure is odd for June in N. California!

Holy cow, Contest Winner!

A big congrats to my Davis friend Lance Kwan, who asked for Raisin Oatmeal Cookies in his entry!

I've baked these much before and love them, so it's going to be tricky to get them from the oven to his front door without making a violent detour towards my mouth and never returning!

Also, one of the main goals of hosting a contest was achieved! The Facebook Page has passed 25 likes- which means I was allowed to register an official URL, check it out, it's short and sweet- facebook.com/TaraBakes !
So I was pleased as... as Lance probably is right now! But the likes kept going for a bit, and now we're at 29, which is an awesome number too- because at 30 likes Facebook enables something called "insights", which apparently lets me see what things I post people respond to the best, sounds like a nifty lil tool! :)

That's all for now, I should have new photos up some time this week. Hope everyone's spring quarter is going swell so far, I sure am crazy busy! Remember to just contact me at TaraBakes@gmail.com if you'd like to order anything!

Both good & bad news.

First a little bad news. I'm holding a contest at the TaraBakes' Facebook page (Hey wait! That just sounds like good news?!), but people aren't really replying. I guess the offer of free, home-made, fresh-baked version of their favorite dessert is not tempting enough? That doesn't seem likely, so I'm chalking it up to my being too shy to shove advertising down everybody's throats every day. Also I've been very sick with a tonsil infection so I can't be online much at all anyways, that is my bit of personal bad news. Complain complain. It's really ok now. :)

So yes, the good news is that there IS a contest- and if you'd like to enter just comment on one of the announcements on the FB page stating your favorite dessert.
Don't worry about where you're living, if you win I'll figure out a way to get you your treat.

The other good news is that the page is INCHING closer and closer to 25 likes- that's the point at which I can give the TaraBakes page an official Facebook URL. Which will be convenient to type, easy to search and fit on business cards and the like much better.

Nutella Cookies & Chocolate Chip... Cake?

I'm thinking about making these Nutella-Filled Pinwheel Cookies for my friend, she is a super Nutella-lover. In fact most everyone is a Nutella-lover, so I might end up making 4 batches.

I've also been searching for chocolate chip cake recipes, I can imagine the flavor and how slicing it up will look so vividly, I absolutely have to make it! This recipe looks promising, but I don't know what to think of all the orange juice in it! Only one way to find out! If I don't like it there are many others to try instead. There's a very exciting idea from this recipe to use maple syrup in the glaze/frosting instead of corn syrup. Or I could give up on the idea of mimicking chocolate chip cookies and go with something super-rich like this here chocolate chocolate chip cake.

You can tell I like chocolate, yes?

Chocolate Raspberry Cake with Friends

Last night I baked a Raspberry-Chocolate cake and slathered it with Raspberry/Vanilla frosting, then garnished it with a squiggle of dark chocolate. People nicknamed it the zebra cake! Baking went a lot faster and easier thanks to the help of several friends, who were also pretty patient waiting for their dessert to be made! Thank you so much guys!

Look at more delicious photos on the facebook page!