My now wife and I asked a friend of her brothers to make us a wedding cake. We showed her the first photo as inspo and she said she could totally do that. Come the day of the wedding the second and third photo is what we received. The last is what my mother “adjusted” it to within the 30 minutes we had. Just curious what people think. Were we right to be slightly miffed??

EDIT: the friend claimed to be a business, we saw some of her previous work and it looked like she should’ve been able to do it, she claimed she could do it and she charged us more than the original quote. To clear things up my wife did cry when she saw the original but we aren’t mad now, we just wanted to share the laughter.

Went to pick up a custom chicken cake this morning, was 100NZD, very small size as it is for two people. I just can’t help but feel a bit disappointed. I sent two photos to the lady doing the cake and on pickup I wasn’t overly happy with how it looked but did not want to be rude as she put time and effort into the cake but in all honesty I don’t like the design and for the price I would have wanted edible chicken design. But I can’t help feel a bit disappointed… it feels like a children’s cake. I just want to get others opinions on the matter.

For reference, first two photos are the cake I picked up this morning, and the other two are the photos I sent to the lady.

Update:
Got a lot of comments on the post, a lot more attention than I thought it would the cake itself is actually very yummy two layers vanilla buttercream, I feel bad as the baker put a lot of effort into the cake, just wasn’t what I was expecting on pickup😅

HER INSTAGRAM IS @COFFEEFUELLEDCAKER

Update:THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH IT'S SO HADD TO UPVOTE EVERYONE LMAO MY MOM IS FREAKING OUT SHE LOVES THIS OMG. SHE NEARLY TEARED UP Update 2.0 My mom continues to be elated lmaoz. You guys are legit the best omg I love reading through the comments nd so does she omfg. She's based in ireland so sorry to ever1 else we can not currently ship to anywhere outside the country Would be nice if some of you could leave some lovely comments so I could show her. She can't focus on details that much for the time being so she's quitting cakes for a bit. This will be her last one for a while probz tyty:):) love ye lots omfg

I love making these, my goal is to always achieve the most spirals possible haha

My second bake. First sandwich loaf. How did I do?? It looks beautiful to me 😍😂

Corey's Sandwich Bread (Accidental One-Rise Version)

Disclaimer: This was only my second loaf of bread ever. I accidentally skipped the traditional first rise and let the shaped loaf do all of its rising in the pan. Somehow it worked.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups King Arthur Bread Flour
• 1 cup warm water (about 100°F. I used a thermometer)
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 packet (7g) instant yeast
• 2 tbsp softened lard
• 2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt

Method:

1. Mix the warm water, sugar, and yeast. Once the yeast becomes foamy, add the flour, salt, and lard. Mix until a shaggy dough forms.
2. Let rest 20 minutes.
3. Knead (10 minutes) until smooth and elastic. The dough may seem lumpy and rubbery at first but should smooth out as kneading continues.
4. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 1 inch thick. The shorter dimension should be about the same length as the loaf pan, while the longer dimension should be approximately 12 inches.
5. Fold the corners of one short end inward. Starting from that end, roll the dough tightly into a log. Pinch the seam and both ends closed.
6. Place seam-side down in a greased 1.25 lb loaf pan.
7. Cover and let rise until the dough crowns slightly above the rim of the pan. (Mine took significantly longer because I accidentally skipped the traditional first rise. Like maybe 2 hours..)
8. Bake at 350°F for approximately 30-35 minutes until golden brown.
9. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Notes:

• King Arthur Bread Flour
• USA Pan 1.25 lb loaf pan
• Lard instead of butter due to dairy allergy
• No scale was used; all measurements were by volume (Pyrex glass measuring cup)
• This loaf accidentally skipped the normal first rise and still turned out great

It's the same quantity of dough, they were together in the oven at the same time. I knew there would be a difference, but never expected it to be so great. I don't think I'll be using a silicon pan again...

EDIT- RECIPE IS NOW IN CAPTION

I always wondered why I couldn’t achieve that soft pillow like texture that I’d get outside from shops, so I did some further research and learned about tangzhong! I wish I knew about it sooner. I mean my cinnamon rolls were good before- but NOW? Oooooohmygoodness I’m in heaven 🤣 I’m a lil greedy so I like to make a bit more brown sugar/cinnamon topping to add after baking, that’s what’s in the pic before I add a cream cheese frosting

Tangzhong-
1/2 cup whole milk & 3 tablespoons of flour, mix completely, heat on medium until paste like, then add to your mixing bowl

Dough-
2/3 cup whole milk

2 1/2 cups bread flour (I actually ended up using around three cups because I added an egg even though it isn’t listed in the recipe I used.

1 egg (optional)

1 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons/entire pack of yeast

2 tablespoons of sugar

4 tablespoons of butter softened

One tablespoon of vanilla (optional)

For the filling I usually just eyeball everything but I used butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a tiny bit of vanilla bean paste.

Add the cold milk directly into the mixing bowl with the tangzhong, that will warm the milk up, then add your flour, sugar, yeast, salt, egg, butter & vanilla and begin to mix until you get a shaggy dough, then knead by hand for around 10/15 minutes or in a stand mixer until it’s smooth/elastic. Cover & let it rise for an hour or so. I actually forgot about my dough it was rising for about 2 and a half hours 😭but surprisingly didn’t rise as much as I expected it to.

Once it’s risen you can roll it out , add the filling, then shape your cinnamon rolls. I let them cold proof over night, let them get back to room temp before baking. You can definitely just let them set again for another 30 minutes then bake immediately, I had started them too late at night. I baked them at 350F for about 20 mins? I didn’t time it I just took them out once they started to brown on top

I use a cream cheese frosting that I also eyeball but there are plenty recipes for the icing of your choice!

*Unless it's from a reputable source*

My boomer momma sent me this. Heaven help the boomer mommas.

The kids at rhe

And that’s just the baking part.

This took me hours and hours while still forgetting to let the cream cheese reaching room temperature; so I had to wake up earlier to do the cheesecake.

I just apologized to my mom for not helping out more as a kid. She laughed and told me that she enjoyed making Thanksgiving dinner as much as she appreciates the help she gets, now that we’re older.

I hope you guys have a good day. 🥧

Its the biggest thing in baking. Every niche recipie talks about it and how it will "up your baking game!" I hate it!!!

I have to get it off my chest and scream into the void!!! You're right! I CAN tell you browned the butter in your chocolate chip cookies Margaret! It takes like weird OIL! I like butter, nothing wrong with butter, and I like cookies. What cookies?! Sugar, ginger snap, snicker doodle, any cookie! Ill slap that shit down pound by pound.

I go to cookie parties expecting to leave with an extra 10lbs of new years resolution im going to break and I find EVERY COOKIE WITH BROWNED BUTTER. My fat ass left hungrier than when I arrived after tasting those oily nonsense sugar biscuits.

I dont care what anyone says or how piping hot this take is. If I taste one more oily browned butter cookie this season, im going to fucking lose it. And I know it's the browned butter!! I myself fell into this trap! It does indeed make a nutty flavor! Why does my sugar cookie taste so savory?!?! This is not a roasted chicken, this is a mother fucking cookie!

Mods, delete me if need be to keep the browned buttered peace, but I know my truth and I seek only justice and retribution for all the ruined cookies this season and hope for a new unbrowned butter 2026!!!

One of the questions I get all the time:

"Do you use salted or unsalted butter?"

Salted. Every single time.

I know some bakers swear by unsalted butter because it gives you complete control over the salt level. And technically, they're right.

But after 20+ years in professional kitchens, I've never found the difference to be significant enough to make me keep two different kinds of butter around.

I use salted butter in cookies, cakes, muffins, brownies, cinnamon rolls... pretty much everything.

The amount of salt in modern salted butter is fairly consistent, and my recipes still call for a little added salt.

Could you adjust the recipe slightly if you're using salted butter? Sure.

Do I? Nope.

The cookies still disappear.

The only time I'd really pay close attention is if you're on a sodium-restricted diet or have a medical reason to monitor your salt intake.

Life's too short to make an extra trip to the store for unsalted butter.

Let's do it! 🍪👊

I am insanely excited to decorate this tomorrow!!! (Yes they are fully cooked). It’s a lemon cake, so it doesn’t brown much on the top

I’ve never ordered a custom cake before and I am not really sure where to have my expectations… but this feels really off to me, specifically the green color is just so green. I paid a little over $100 for this cake. Am I just being dramatic?

Update: they offered me a refund of the customization fee which was $30.

Also I planned to use this for some social media content for my business since it’s to celebrate my business anniversary and now it just kind of feels embarrassing to post 😅

I don't think I've ever done this before. I was shocked! My wife didn't get what the big deal was... you guys/gals/pals get me, right?

I had an easy bake when I was a kid. I never got into it really. My 5 year old now has the fancy new "Easy bake ultimate"

It's been 30 years, and I still can't do it.

I consider myself a fairly adequate baker, I can even manage to make a decent sourdough.

Why can't I master this contraption? The "recipes" are a freaking scam I swear. I've never once mixed one together and achieved the proper texture I needed to achieve the end result. It's always wrong wrong wrong!!! And I can NEVER fit the amount on the tiny little tray they say I should be able to fit.

I hate this game but for the sake of my daughter who wants to play with it I'm trying.

If I had made these sugar cookies in a proper oven, I promise y'all would know what they were supposed to be just by looking at them.

I'm tired of this grandpa.

EDIT below to add the recipe i followed from the book in the photo:

**RECIPE**
-nonstick spray for tray
-1/4 c sugar cookie mix
-1 tbs water
-1 tbs melted butter
-1 tbs sprinkles

1. Plug in and preheat 15m
   
2. mix together the mix, butter, & water until soft dough forms (that's a lie as fuck)
   
3. spray tray w/ nonstick
   
4. roll dough into 6 small balls and place on the pan (impossible with the batter you've had me make)
   
5. press each ball into a flat shape and ad sprinkles on top
   
6. slide in easy bake with pan pusher
   
7. bake for 11m
   
8. push into cooling chamber, cool for 5m
   
9. remove and 'enjoy'

Chocolate cake, vanilla or chocolate buttercream, topped with meringue kisses, chocolate wafers, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate macarons, and chocolate curls

A few weeks ago, someone posted about how they were peeling their lemons and then chopping that very finely, apparently because zesting takes too long or hurts their hand or they don't have a zester, possibly a combo of those reasons.

I (and a few others) tried to tell them it wasn't the same but they became offended. They accused us of telling them that method was stupid (nobody said that) but they wanted to know why it wasn't better, why it wasn't the same. Here is an illustrated explanation.

All you really need to see is that the zest is very fine and very wet. It practically disintegrates into whatever you're making. All that wetness is lemon oil, all the flavor, and no matter what you do, finely chopping lemon peels will not give you that result. This is why zesting matters.

Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

(This was for my glazed lemon blondies- adapted from Broma Bakery. I am obsessed with making lemon sugar. I could just stand there and breathe deeply all day).

EDIT: these lemons were organic, sorry the pics are crappy, and I don't care about carcinogenic fruit peels as that is not the point of this post.

EDIT 2: https://bromabakery.com/lemon-brownies/

Maybe this is a controversial opinion, but I genuinely can’t decide how I feel about dot cakes.
I’ve been seeing them everywhere and some of them are really cute.
On the other hand, I have seen people saying it is just a colonized Mexican cortadillo. While the colorful dots remind me of the sprinkles and decorations on pan dulce, I think the texture and flavor is different.
And speaking of the dots… are people actually enjoying eating all of that frosting and sprinkles? Some cakes seem like you would just get a mouthful of the little dot sprinkles. It looks pretty, but is it good in practice?
I also can’t tell if this is a trend that’s going to stick around or if it’s one of those aesthetics that photographs better than it eats.
For anyone who has made or eaten one:
Are they actually as frosting-heavy as they look?
Do the little dots change the texture in a good way?
Are the sprinkle-covered ones good, or do the sprinkles just get stuck in your teeth?
Do you think they’re genuinely different from cortadillos or just a rebranded version for social media?
Curious what people’s honest opinions are because I keep seeing them everywhere and can’t decide whether I love them or don’t get the hype.

My third annual ‘Holiday Cookie Party’ is in the books, and I am blown away by my friends’ creative talents! Thank you so much to everyone who attended, baked stunning cookies, and took home a beautiful cookie box to kick off the holiday season!

If I counted correctly, we had about 40 guests and 31 (!) different varieties of homemade cookies. I’ve had so many questions about the different cookies, and I’m working on compiling a list of all of the varieties/recipes/sources.

My contributions to the table this year were csaffitz’s Mortadella Cookies, jesseszewczyk’s Chocolate-Dipped Mocha Madeleines, jesseszewczyk’s Campari Shortbread Cookies with Crunchy Orange Sugar, renatoinbrooklyn’s Honey-Ricotta Black and Whites, and zoebakes’ Almond Macaroons!

Wishing everyone a fabulous holiday season filled with many, many cookies! 🍪

I’m a middle-aged divorced man, and I love to bake… which surprises some people because it doesn’t conform to gender stereotypes.

At two separate parties this holiday season, I’ve encountered this same reaction from a host when bringing baked goods to their party. Rather than serving my apple pie or my chocolate chip cookies, they basically told me they were gonna stash them away in the back, so they could enjoy them later! There was a dessert table at both parties, so it would have been totally natural to serve them to other guests. In the case of the pie I even included a pie server and knife in the box!

On the one hand, it’s a compliment in the sense that the hosts want to ensure they have an opportunity to enjoy. Rather than parsing out plates which may not be appreciated by a crowd of people drinking and mingling at a party. But in both cases, I’ve been disappointed because one reason I love to bake is to see people enjoying what I’ve made (and of course getting compliments!). Plus I like to try the pie to see how it turned out. Each one is a little bit different, especially the flakiness of the crust and the texture of the filling.

Has anyone experienced this? How can I avoid feeling bad that my baked goods are being hoarded? Looking to my fellow bakers as a support group here!

My mother-in-law told me how she made caramel decades ago with sweetened condensed milk. I have sons done it over a hundred times. Thankfully only once did it end like this. On the plus side though you could literally lick my walls. No I didn't . OK, maybe just a little, lol