Dark chocolate Buche de Noel with meringue mushrooms

This is the single, proudest moment I've had as a baker this holiday season. I really thought I lost my baking mojo until I produced this whimsical Buche de Noel. I'll admit I've made quite a few cheesy treats over my time. I like the glitz and the glam and the glitter and the flashing lights. I like the red and the green and the cartoon-type figures that please my toddler.

But a Buche de Noel, a traditional dessert served at Christmas, is for me evocative of a fallen log in a snow-dusted forest. It's untouched, it's pure. It's a quiet, delicious moment undisturbed by the usual din and racket. It's indulgent simply because it takes so long to create something that disappears in just a few minutes.

Sweetapolita's Inside-Out (Mini) Neapolitan Cake

Isn't this sweet? I made this mini cake with 4.5 inch springform fans for a dear friend of mine for her 30th birthday. I wanted to make something special so I thought I'd tackle a three-buttercream recipe. I was inspired from the cover of the latest cookbook from Miette (I just adore the bare edges) but mainly from Sweetapolita.

It was harder to make than I thought because I didn't level the layers of cake properly so one of them was at an angle, and it seemed to me like the cake would tip over.

This cake ended up being a bit of an investment because of the springform pans, but I'm so glad I purchased them because I am always looking for a way to indulge my friends and I think a mini-tiered cake is the perfect way.

I'll be honest. This recipe has completely changed the way I feel about buttercream. I love it now. This buttercream recipe is to die for. And you can play with it to produce strawberry, vanilla and chocolate buttercream as you see here.

Lemon-kissed buttercream cupcakes

While I tend to fall back on tried-and-true cupcake recipes such as vanilla bean or Devil's Food, sometimes I yearn for a little lemon.

I made these for a springtime party but I've also made them since then for a baby shower. I found this recipe online when I wanted something a bit more sophisticated at the last minute and I knew I had lemons in the fridge.