To say that my life involves eating lots of cake is an understatement. There are cakes, cookies, chocolate, candy, bread, and the list goes on and on. It's a bit obscene, really.

What's amazing is that, somehow, a few years back, I managed to cut all sugar (unless it came from a fruit or a veggie) and gluten from my diet for forty days straight. I think that's proof that I'm capable of a healthy lifestyle. Maybe it was the pressure of weekly sugar-free check-ins where my menu from the past week was scrutinized and judged. The first meeting began with "Hi. My name is Janice, and I'm addicted to cake and candy!" Whatever the reasons I had, I managed to clean up my diet

Now, years later, cake and sweets are obviously ever-present. That's okay. I've learned how to balance the cake with exercise and mostly-sort-of clean eating (I did say mostly!). Salads like this one provide a sweet yet healthy and satisfying break between the slices of cake. This salad is a definite cure for the winter blahs.

This citrus salad is an instant pick-me-up, and I honestly find it quite refreshing and energizing. The citrus is bright, tangy, bitter, and sweet (especially with a little help from a drizzling of honey). Serve the segmented fruit with a splash of honey, some chopped toasted almonds and a few mint leaves, et voilà! The variations are endless, depending on the citrus that's in season, and if you've got a few pomegranate seeds to add, or maybe some pistachios instead of the almonds. You can even change up the herb, and the honey is completely optional (but I do love honey). Tweak it to your liking, and revel in the fact that you've made an effort to eat something healthy at least once today.

Energizing citrus salad

    Serves 1

• 1 small navel orange, peeled and segmented, juices saved
• 1/2 pink grapefruit, peeled and segmented, juices saved
• A few fresh mint leaves
• A handful of toasted almonds, chopped
• A drizzling of honey

1. Arrange the supremed slices of orange and grapefruit in a bowl.
2. Top with mint and toasted almonds.
3. Drizzle with honey and any leftover juices from when you cut up the fruit. Alternatively, you can just drink the extra juice, just don't waste it.

Need help segmenting citrus? Check out this post on the subject at A Thought for Food!

I am madly in love with tea. Tea anything and tea everything. I'll drink tea hot or cold. I love browsing through the tea aisle of grocery stores whenever I travel, and I am a big fan of buying loose-leaf tea from the small tea shops at home. One of my favorite indulgences is a big jug of bubble tea from Chinatown, made with milky, sweetened black tea and tapioca pearls. The funny thing is that no matter how much tea I drink out or brew on my own, the best tea always comes from tea bags of orange pekoe brewed in my mom's tea pot.

Orange pekoe aside, another of my favorite teas is jasmine tea. It's mellow and floral if you give the leaves a quick soak in hot water, but it can be quite strong if you let the jasmine tea leaves sit for longer. I'd never consider drinking orange pekoe straight from the pot, without milk or sugar, but jasmine tea is best served hot, just the way it is.

Tea isn't just for drinking. I've infused soup with green tea and honey with lavender buds, and even flavored a decadent chocolate tart with earl grey. Tea in cookie form is also great, like in these earl grey tea cookies and these lavender shortbread.

My latest tea-inspired endeavour was to add freshly ground jasmine tea leaves to madeleines. These little tea cakes are the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon cup, and they are best served the day they are baked. The day after, left-overs are delightfully dunkable in a strong cuppa. The flavor and aroma of the jasmine tea come through wonderfully in these madeleines, so if you're a big fan of sweet tea, I'd give this recipe a try, or add some ground tea to your favorite cookie and cake recipes. You'd be amazed at how much tea can add to the taste of your favorite recipe!

This recipe was halved from the original published in Martha Stewart Living (September 2011 issue pages 76 and 77).  To grind the tea leaves, I used this Krups electric coffee and spice grinder which ground them to a pretty even fine powder.

Jasmine tea madeleines

    Makes 30 madeleines

• 1 cup (140 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp (17 grams) packed light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp (12 grams) good-quality jasmine tea leaves, ground in a spice grinder
• 1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 tbsp honey
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside for later.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the eggs with the sugars on high speed for about 10 minutes until they are a very light cream color and thick.
4. Sift the dry ingredients over the mixer bowl, and fold them in with a flexible spatula, carefuly.
5. Add the ground tea leaves, and fold them in until they are almost, but not totally incorporated.
6. Mix the melted butter with the vanilla and the honey in a small cup or bowl, and pour half of it over the batter. Fold it in, then add the other half of the butter mixture. Continue folding (with a couple gentle stirs) until all the ingredients are incorporated. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl, and make sure that you've gotten all the ingredients off the bottom of the bowl.
7. Let the batter stand for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the pans by very generously greasing them with melted butter, or spray them with Pam baking spray, brushing it into the grooves.
8. Dollop small spoonfulls of the batter into each slot of the pan, but do not overfill. Each slot will take a generous teaspoon or so. (Practice by baking a couple if you're unsure how much to put) Bake them for about 12 minutes, or until the edges are golden.
9. Immediately flip the pan over a wire rack to release all the madeleines to cool. Then re-prep the pan, and continue baking the rest of the batter.
10. Dust with powdered sugar just before serving, or serve them plain.

Savory date and chorizo mini loaves

Did you see the list of the five "most played-out restaurant dishes" from Andrew Knowlton? Fine, I'm obviously a little behind on my reading because it's from September 2010. Point being, apparently such dishes as beet and goat cheese salad and bacon-wrapped dates are overplayed and according to the BA Foodist, it's time for restaurants to put them to rest and come up with something new.

I have issues with this because honestly, I've never been served a bacon-wrapped date in my life and, quite frankly, I regularly and happily make myself salads with roasted beets and goat cheese. I don't think that I'll ever get bored of that combination of ingredients.

Tempted by this list of "passé" dishes and flavor combinations, I came up with these savory date and chorizo loaves.

In France, "un cake" is usually any rectangular-shaped loaf cake, and "un cake salé" is a "salty" (read savory) loaf cake. I've been meaning to delve into the realm of the "cake salé" for some time, and this recipe is what I came up with. Dates and chorizo are excellent together as the dates are super sweet and quite soft while the chewy spanish chorizo is salty and a little spicy. This recipe is really easy to make and would be an excellent addition to a breakfast or brunch, though BA Foodist may not approve since this flavor combination was inspired by his list of overdone dishes.

This recipe is loosely adapted from the bacon and prune loaves recipe found in the Coffret Mini-cakes - 1 livre de 50 recettes + 4 mini-moules à cake.


Savory date and chorizo mini loaves

    Makes 4 mini loaves (pans are approximately 3x2x1.5-inches)

• 150 grams pitted dates, chopped
• 200 grams all-purpose flour
• 8 grams baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• a few turns of freshly ground pepper
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 150 mL milk (I used skim milk)
• 100 mL grapeseed oil
• 150 grams spanish chorizo, casing removed and chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare the four mini loaf pans by pressing a small sheet of parchment into each so that the inside walls and bottom are all covered. Set aside on a baking sheet for later.
2. Combine the chopped dates with a couple spoonfulls of the measured flour. Toss them to coat, and make sure the bits of date aren't stuck together. Set them aside.
3. Whisk the baking powder, salt, and freshly ground pepper into the rest of the flour. Set the dry ingredients aside.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and the milk until they are combined and a little frothy. Add the dry ingredients and whisk to combine.
5. Slowly drizzle the grapeseed oil into the batter while whisking constantly.
6. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir in the chopped chorizo and the prepared floured-dates (plus any flour at the bottom of the bowl).
7. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared loaf pans.
8. Bake them until the tops begin to turn golden and the loaves are set. This takes about 50 minutes because they pans are very full (but check them every 10 minutes as of the 30 minute mark to be sure). Let them cool completely before serving.

Homemade Momofuku Milk Bar birthday cake for my 30th

On Tuesday, I turned thirty, as in the big three-zero! I wouldn't say I was completely freaked out about it. Not completely. I was definitely mildly worried. But, when the clock struck midnight, and it was officially the 3rd of January, nothing happened. I was just officially in my thirties. That's all. It was kind of anti-climactic, and not really worth the cold sweats and heart palpitations that I had been experiencing, randomly, in the days leading up to the 3rd.

Facebook and twitter friends wished me a happy birthday, my dad even called me from work. My mom took me out for a warming lunch of hand-pulled ramen and soup (since it was minus a million outside), and Lynn took me out for a dinner of hot chocolate and waffles. It made me feel like quite the lucky thirty-year-old. By the end of the day, I was even excited to be thirty. Two days later, I had a fabulous Italian meal with friends and family to officially celebrate the event. I've been truly spoiled to the point that I think being thirty is pretty wonderful!

As I let go of my twenties (good riddance!), I obviously had to bake myself a birthday cake to celebrate the occasion. I didn't just bake any old cake. Instead, I opted to make THE Momofuku Milk Bar birthday cake from Christina Tosi's new book. I think this is the perfect cake to say good-bye to my twenties, and to greet my thirties. It's fun, and maybe a little whimsical, full of brightly colored sprinkles, and birthday cake crumbs.

Since in my early twenties, I had a soft-spot for cake mix vanilla and sprinkle cake topped with a generous swirl of that sprinkle frosting in a can, this was the perfect recipe for me. The cake was designed to taste like the typical "funfetti" birthday cake that many of us ate to celebrate the years of our youth. This recipe brings cake from a box and frosting from a can to a whole other level. With every bite, you can pick out the sweet, salty, and sour notes. The crumbs bring a surprising crispy element to the usual creamy texture of frosting.

The recipe is brilliant and inspiring, but if you want to bake this cake (or anything from the Momofuku Milk Bar book), you will need to go shopping. I found a 6-inch cake ring (I actually used the ring of a springform pan) and liquid glucose (Wilton brand) at a local baking supply store. I purchased the acetate sheets at an office supply store, and the citric acid at a bulk store. The sprinkles came from the grocery store, along with the usual flour, milk, sugar, butter, and eggs. I made this cake a day ahead, and it took me maybe half a day to make, so it's really not more time-consuming than any other cake recipe, once you have all the ingredients and equipment. I froze the assembled cake overnight to set the layers, then unmolded it and placed it on a cake stand in the fridge for several hours to slowly defrost. When you cut into it, use a giant chef's knife to make quick, clean slices, otherwise, you will end up with a mess as the cake crumbs will tear through the delicate cake.

I'm giving the recipe in grams because that's how I made it. The instructions are not identical to those in the book because there are certain things that I do differently. The book recipe is also published in the Huffington Post in cups and grams. Better yet, if you love making cakes, buy the book. It's a great investment full of insight and tips.

Special thanks to Mayssam for sending me a copy of this book. I love it!

Momofuku Milk Bar birthday cake

    Makes one 6-inch birthday cake

Birthday cake crumbs

• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 25 grams light brown sugar
• 90 grams cake and pastry flour
• 2 grams baking powder
• 2 grams salt
• 20 grams rainbow sprinkles
• 40 grams grapeseed oil
• 12 grams vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or a piece of parchment.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugars, flour, baking powder, salt, and sprinkles and mix them on low speed until they are evenly mixed.
3. Add the oil and the vanilla and continue beating the mixture until the ingredients clump and form small clusters.
4. Carefully spread the delicate clusters in a thin layer on the prepared baking sheet and bake them for about 20 minutes. They dry and harden as the cool into crispy crumbs. Let them cool completely before using them. By the time you've made the cake and frosting, they will be ready to be used anyways.

Birthday cake

• Pam or vegetable oil for preparing the pan
• 245 grams cake and pastry flour
• 6 grams baking powder
• 3 grams salt
• 50 grams rainbow sprinkles
• 55 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
• 60 grams vegetable shortening
• 250 grams granulated sugar
• 50 grams light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 110 grams buttermilk (made from skim milk and white vinegar)
• 65 grams grapeseed oil
• 8 grams vanilla extract
• 25 grams rainbow sprinkles

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (use an oven thermometer to verify the temperature). Prepare a rimmed quarter sheet pan (mine is a 10-x15-inch pan with a 1-inch rim) by spraying it all over with Pam and then covering the base with a sheet of parchment. Set aside.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and 50 grams of sprinkles in a small bowl. Set the dry ingredients aside for later.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, shortening, and the sugars on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed.
4. Add the eggs (all at once) and then beat again on medium-high for another 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl.
5. In a 1-cup measurer, weigh out the buttermilk, grapeseed oil, and vanilla. With the mixer on low, add the wet ingredients in a steady stream. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat for another 4 to 6 minutes. The mixture will double in size almost, and will appear light and fluffy. There will be no trace of oil left.
6. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients, and mix for another minute or so until the ingredients are all combined.
7. Pour out the batter into the prepared sheet pan, spreading it out into an even layer. Sprinkle with the remaining 25 grams of rainbow sprinkles.
8. Bake for 30–35 minutes until the cake bounces back slightly when gently pressed in the corner. The center of the cake should no longer jiggle when the pan is shook. Cool the cake completely in the pan on a wire rack.

Birthday cake soak

• 55 grams milk (I used whole milk—3.25% fat)
• 4 grams vanilla extract

1. Whisk together the milk and vanilla in a small cup or bowl. Set aside for later.

Birthday cake frosting

• 200 grams powdered sugar
• 2 grams salt
• Pinch baking powder
• Pinch citric acid
• 115 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
• 50 grams vegetable shortening
• 55 grams cream cheese
• 25 grams glucose
• 18 grams clear corn syrup
• 12 grams vanilla extract

1. Whisk together the powdered sugar, salt, baking powder, and citric acid in a medium bowl. Set aside for later.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, shortening, and the cream cheese for 2 to 3 minutes on medium-high until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. Be sure to scrape down the bowl periodically.
3. Add the glucose, corn syrup, and vanilla, and beat the mixture on medium-high again, for 2 to 3 minutes until it is silky smooth and a little glossy. Scrape down the bowl a few times.
4. Now add the whisked dry ingredients and incorporate them on low speed. Increase the mixer speed to medium–high and beat the frosting until it is creamy and fluffy, just like the kind that comes in a can.

Birthday cake assembly

• 1 batch birthday cake
• 1 batch birthday cake soak
• 1 batch birthday cake frosting
• 1 batch birthday cake crumbs
• 4 8-x3-inch strips of acetate
• 1 6-inch cake ring that is 3 inches high (or a springform ring)
• 1 8-inch square of parchment

1. Cut the sheet cake into two 6-inch circles plus two half-circles using your cake ring as a template. Use a spatula to gently loosen and lift (carefully!) the circles and set them aside.
2. Place the cake ring on a baking sheet lined with the 8-inch square of parchment. Line the inner rim of the ring with two pieces of acetate so that they overlap a little.
3. Fill the bottom of the ring with the two half circles of cake. Press them slightly so that they are even. If there are any holes, fill them with the rest of the cake scraps.
4. Brush half the birthday cake soak over the base of cake.
5. Spread about 100 mL (one-fifth) of the birthday cake frosting over the base layer. Then sprinkle with one-third of the birthday cake crumbs, pressing them gently into the frosting. Top with another 100 mL (another fifth) of the birthday cake frosting, carefully spreading it so that it is even, but without disturbing the crumbs.
6. Top with a full circle of cake, brush the rest of the cake soak over this layer, top with more frosting, cake crumbs, and another layer of frosting.
7. Squeeze in the other two strips of acetate between the inner rim of the ring and the first acetate strips (you are essentially making your cake ring taller at this point). Top with the last circle of cake. and the remaining frosting, spread evenly. Top with the remaining cake crumbs.
8. Freeze the cake as is for at least 12 hours to set everything and making the unmolding process much easier.
9. Three hours before serving, retrieve the pan from the freezer, and gently push the cake through the ring. Place it on a cake stand or cake plate. Now gently pull off the acetate ribbons.
10. Let the cake defrost in the fridge before serving. Cut neatly with a large chef's knife.