My sister-n-law, (aka, the “Holiday Sangria Lady”) has long been an incredible baker. She has awed our family with gooey rolls, known as monkey bread. She is an expert in bars, cookies, and pies full of butterscotch, caramel, and chocolate. For a long time she has collected all sorts of recipes. It makes sense, then, after years of wow-ing friends and family she has recently begun the journey of launching a baking business in the Chicago area. So, when I came across a cookbook called Baked: New Frontiers in Baking
However, I must confess. It sat on my desk too long. I should have wrapped it sooner, resisted temptation, closed my eyes, and NEVER should have felt the smooth fresh cover! I couldn’t help it. After all, I rationalized, I should give it a good once over, make sure it’s suitable, perhaps….test it. I snuck a peek. I didn’t even crack the spine. I lifted ever gently and peeked onto the page. Page number 53, actually, Red Hot Velvet Cake. Somehow, the possibility drew me in, that even I could make something wonderful. And, after all, it was my husband’s birthday. So, I began the afternoon, with guilty pleasure, baking a homemade red velvet cake.
