The Loveliness of Baking

Welcome to the Loveliness of Baking!

I am honored to be your hostess.  Let me tell you, putting this fair together has made me hungry... hungry for a slice of this and a smackerel of that.  It all sounds so scrumdiliumptious.....  But you didn't come here to read about my mouth watering, so let's get started.

But where should I begin?  Does anyone like chocolate?  Rebeca's gluten free Chocolate Cherry Cake looks like it can take that craving away... or make you want more!  She shows us a variation to this cake that children will love.

Here's another treat for chocolate lovers.  Or for people like me, who answer the question: What's your favorite food?  like this... Ice cream! Theresa shows us how her family makes her Mom's Buster Bar Dessert.  She also shows us her family's favorite cookbook.

Well, it looks like Ellie has sent us quite a few yummy recipes, but the Lemon Zucchini Bread is the one I want to try first.  Ellie writes, Oh, I discovered the most divine lemon zucchini bread in the whole world this year! Everyone should know about it! You'll find it halfway down her recipe page.

Mary B. (from my neck of the woods) sent in a recipe that I posted here on my blog.  Mary also shared the two keys to the kitchens of her Mom and her Bible Study friends: a statue of St. Gerard, sometimes facing the direction of a friend's house, and a statue of the Kitchen Madonna. It's Mary in an apron sweeping her floor. 

Every Loveliness Fair in which I've participated, has inspired me to make some kind of change. One change I plan to make after this one will be to add a Madonna statue to the heart of my home.  But let's get back to the fair!

Marybeth has given us three recipes!  First is a coffeecake that she describes as so scrumptious it will make you want to put your head in the pan and lick the crumbs when it's gone!  The next two are tried and true banana recipes.  And speaking of bananas, Marybeth says, it is always good to have something to do with those ones that don't get eaten before they turn black! I peel mine, pop them into a freezer bag and save them until I am in the mood to make something yummy.

And here's another recipe trio.  Aisa and her Mom, Stef, are the authors of the Baking Delights blog, which is bigger than this whole fair!  Aisa sends us her favorite recipes and says Betcha's you's can't find recipes that would replace these three as Top in my mind.   

Margaret in Minnesota has written a fun and educational post about Bundt cakes.  I never knew there were so many options for my Bundt cake pan!  I was excited to find that Massachusetts has it's own "Cape Cod Bundt".  I'll admit that I was a little disappointed to see that it called for cranberry sauce, after following the link to that "Tunnel of Chocolate" cake.

You have got to see these beautiful cakes that Matilda has made!  Aren't they gorgeous?  Her post has made me grateful that I only gave up soda and complaining for Lent.  If you gave up sweets for Lent, remember, you can always come back to the fair after Easter...

Or you can go to Leonie's blog, where she shares a recipe for Lenten pretzels and many great ideas for baking tied to the liturgical year.  She also shares her thoughts on the Loveliness of Baking and answers my question, what do pretzels have to do with Lent?  Thanks, Leonie.

Monica, who's all the way in Romania, has sent us a delicious recipe for Cheryl's cinnamon rolls.  You will find out, when you read her delightful post, that no, they are not named after me. 

OK.  It's break time.  I don't know about you, but I need a snack. I suggest that you stop reading and go have a snack too, preferably something sweet.  If you're really not hungry, grab some tea (or the drink of your choice) and meet me back here in 10 minutes.  Make it 5 minutes.  I'll bring my snack with me.

I'm back!  How about a few great stories while we eat and sip?

Let's start with KC's Loveliness of Baking.  A beautiful story.

I can identify with Paula in her post Another Loveliness Fair!.  I'm sure my mother could come up with a few stories like these about me.  And I'm happy to say that I'm still recovering from years of fast food.

Anne was kind enough to send me an email before she took a computer break during Lent.  She wrote about the special theme cakes she and her children have made over the years, and she included two adorable pictures.  You can read her post here on my blog.

Kimberlee shares a lovely story and wonderful pictures of a year's worth of her Family Style Birthday Cakes.  She writes: The children have a great time making these for each other, creating memories and traditions as well as yummy cakes.

Kirsten shares about a gift that she plans to pass on to her children in her post One of the Greatest Gifts.  She also includes a recipe and some great photos.

Please don't miss Elena's thoughts on baking.  Her stories are both funny and touching.  Her post has given me a new perspective on the importance of baking in family life.

Ruth's story reminds me of the time teenager me substituted baking soda for baking powder.  We had to throw those salty tasting cookies out.  Isn't it great to be able to laugh at our mistakes?  Thank you, Ruth, for sharing your story and your famous "vanilla cake" recipe with us.

Mary M. has written about incorporating baking in your curriculum.  She uses the example of her family's latest rabbit trail on The Gingerbread Boy stories.  Her post includes links to books, activities and the history of gingerbread.  All you would have to add is the actual baking!

Over the past year, I've learned a lot from reading Kim's blog.  Here she writes about low gluten and gluten free flours, something that I knew nothing about.  She's also provided us with recipe links. 

Last, but not least, Dawn's blog is one of my favorites because I get so inspired by it.  Her post, A Year in a Baker's Kitchen, is no exception.  Turn on your printers!  I'm sure you'll want to save many of her great ideas.  In fact, you'll probably want to print out much of this fair. Unless, of course, your computer is on your kitchen counter, which would make it difficult for someone like me to get any baking done.

Well, that's all for now.  If I receive any late entries, I'll post them.  I thank all of you who have participated in this fair.  Happy Baking!

Here's a new addition to our fair!

Loveliness Fair ~ Baking by Dee

Comments

[Dani]

Great post! I enjoyed everyone's contribution and loved all of the wonderful recipes!

[Dawn]

Cheryl, your fair is awesome!! You did a great job and I can hardly wait to visit all these links! Thank you so much!

[Paula in MN]

Cheryl, you did a wonderful job! Thanks!

[matilda]

Thank you Cheryl for hosting a lovely fair.

[bfarmmom(Kirsten)]

Thank you Cheryl. This was lovely. I am going to save this page in my favorites!! Blessings to you!
Kirsten

[KC]

This is so great, Cheryl!!! Thank you for putting it together.

[Amy]

Beautiful job Cheryl! Makes me want to ditch school today and bake, bake, bake!

[Elena]

Great job! You sure put a lot of work into this and it looks great! Thanks for including me.

[Cheryl]

Wow. Thanks for all of your kind words. This was really fun to do. We're off to a late start here. I've got to help my dc with their morning routines and start school after having a week off. I don't think we'll be baking today!

[Mary B]

Maybe if I bake all these great things everyone will be more enthusiastic about our kitchen remodel. One can only hope. Here I go to print and try the first one!!!

[Christine]

Sounds yummy, but the only thing I think I will check out right now is the lenten pretzels. I am TRYING to behave and not eat snacks during lent. I have done well a few days and not so well a few others....I hope you are all feeling better and that we will see you at First Friday.

Christine

[Maryan]

Thanks Cheryl -- food for thought for the box baker!!

[Suzanne]

Thanks for hosting Cheryl! It's wonderful!

[MaryM]

It was great- thanks for all your hard work.

[Leonie]

Oh, thank you for this - can't wait to try out all the recipes
( although maybe I shouldn't! lol!).

[Margaret in Minnesota]

It's 10:00 p.m. and I am back to read all of these lovely posts. I wish I could say that I was daintily nibbling on some freshly-baked treats in honor of today's Fair, but no.
I am sitting here spooning ice cream out of the carton and feeling thankful to have survived the first day of another new week! :)

Thank you for hosting, Cheryl. You did a wonderful job, as did all these ladies. Makes me wish we all lived closer...

[Maria P]

Very well done, Cheryl!

I really like how you pulled everything together!

[Ruth Tucker]

Wow, Cheryl. You did an amazing job!!! Thank you for hosting such a fun Fair. Happy baking.

[stef]

Ooooh, more things to bake!!! Fabulous fair, Cheryl. Thank you so much for hosting. Dawn's post alone will fill the rest of our year!:D

[Anne V.]

A little late but made it here at last!!
What a fun fair!
Anne