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This week’s obsession: A Flower Cake

"First day of meteorological spring."


This is a phrase that had not been on my radar until this year. Probably because I have never shared such a close connection with my mobile devices before. But since the pandemic hit, I’m now frequently reading about things I never knew about or really paid attention to before. A discovery I made about myself during my reading last week is that even though I never really knew about meteorological spring, I have ALWAYS conducted my (mental) life according to the meteorological seasons. Let’s break this down - these are the meteorological seasons:

Spring: March, April, May

Summer: June, July, August

Fall: September, October, November

Winter: December, January, February


Makes perfect sense to me!


During my school days, I would always wrinkle my nose about having to memorize the astronomical seasons and the specific dates of the equinoxes and solstices, because those weren’t the dates of when it REALLY started to feel like whatever season it was supposed to be.


You can decide for yourself; here are the astronomical seasons:

Spring: starts March 20 (spring has already started)

Summer: starts June 20 (summer has definitely already started)

Fall: Starts September 22 (I can accept this)

Winter: Starts December 21 (you're a whole month and a half into winter by now)


I guess in astronomical seasons’ defense, New Orleans summer starts in mid-March, so I didn’t grow up experiencing a very reasonable timeline for when the seasons were supposed to start anyway. But seriously, where does winter actually wait until Dec. 21 to show up though!? Also, San Francisco... I do NOT understand this weather (but that's a rant for another time).


However, now that I know this difference in seasons exists, I feel fully reasonable for giddily waking up on March 1 with spring bursting from my heart as the sunlight peeped through my window, knowing that I had to make a delicious, springtime themed cake for you! This was a very simple cake, but with incredibly fun piping as my decor which is why my video features footage of all of the piping. I got to use one of my Russian piping tips for this cake, and those are always so much fun, so easy to use, and such a pretty way to decorate your cakes, cupcakes, and cookies. Enjoy!

My tip for this week is in regards to dying frosting, cake batter, macaron batter, or basically anything that requires incredibly high viscosity to function properly. To dye items like these, be sure to avoid liquid coloring like the plague.

We really did a bad job of social distancing. Maybe we should have called it what it is - avoiding the plague. Maybe that would have resonated better. 🤷‍♀️

Ok, or maybe I should say, “avoid it like that creepy guy who keeps getting in your personal space to ask you out because he wasn’t taught to respect women when they say ‘no’ the first time.”

Yeah. We all know him. Avoid it like that guy.

You get it. Stay far, far away.


The reason it’s a problem is that the extra liquid will change the consistency of your batter or frosting to the point where it is no longer usable. It would be like trying to pipe decorations on a cake using applesauce. Or trying to pipe and bake soup into a structured final product (imagine trying to pipe macarons with batter that's the consistency of soup!? #disaster). Adding too much liquid to your frosting/batter/etc. would render the product completely and utterly useless. You'd be angry. miserable, and productless. And isn’t that a shame.

To preserve the structural integrity of the ingredient that you’re working with, if you must use coloring, opt for gel. (Also I’ve been hearing some buzz about food coloring powders coming out on the market recently and being extremely effective. I'm excited about them! Will check those out and report back!) I tend toward Americolor for my projects, but I would happily take some recommendations from anyone who has found a true treasure.

In conclusion, I highly reccomend investing in gel colors to dye your baking projects, whatever they may be. Also, I'm off to go order some powders because I can't wait to experienment with them and see how this goes.


Before you go, I hope you're planning to tune in next week. I have a new portion of this blog that I'm planning to launch, one that includes on-screen baking, a food and beverage pairing, recipes for you to use to bake along with me, and lots of laughs. Plus as I bake and bartend on camera, I share all kinds of tips and tricks to help make you a better baker in the long run. This is definitely something that you don't want to miss and I can't wait to share it with you! See you next week!


Happy eating, y'all!

If you tried this dessert or any other desserts in my blog, please share my Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram posts about them and let people know what you think! Mahalo!


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