ZoëBakes

Cardamom Pear Cake

This pear-cardamom cake, with a cardamom confectioners’ sugar glaze, slices up so beautifully. I love leaving the stems on the pears for extra drama. It’s a fun fall cake, and perfect for the holiday season! Cardamom is the quintessential flavor of the holidays in Scandinavian countries. I hadn’t used it […]

Minnesota sugar cookies and heart sugar cookies

Holiday Sugar Cookies

Every baker should have a sugar cookie recipe in their box. They are perfect for just about any special occasion, bake sale, a random Tuesday or holiday. If you are new to making sugar cookies, this is a perfect recipe to start with. It is delicious, simple to make, rolls […]

Chestnut Bread Pudding| ZoeBakes (9 of 6)

Chocolate Chestnut Bread Pudding

How do you turn a classic bread pudding into a perfect holiday treat? Add chocolate and chestnut! This recipe uses the chocolate chestnut bread from Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day, but you can use a different type of bread for a more classic version. I think […]

Coffee, Bourbon & Chocolate Baked Alaska

This post is from a while back, but I was inspired to bring it to the fore when I created a Baked Alaska for the Holiday issue of Better Homes and Gardens. You will find a picture of my Egg Nog version at the bottom of this post, along with […]

Pomegranate Cheesecake | ZoëBakes | Photo by Zoë François

Pomegranate Swirl New York Cheesecake

The first cheesecake I recall eating was from Junior’s in Brooklyn. I’d go there with my grandparents and my aunts, Sylvia and Rose, when I was little. There was always a ton of food and loud conversation, but the only thing I remember clearly is the cheesecake. It was tall […]

ZoeBakes Cakes in Better Homes & Gardens

This past summer I created cake recipes for the Holiday issue of Better Homes & Gardens. Once I baked, tested and ate dozens of cakes, I went to Iowa, home of the magazine, and created the final cakes for the issue. It was about 99°F and the midwest sun was […]

Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day book is out, just in time for the holidays! Thanksgiving is past and now we can dive into the Christmas and Chanukah baking season. Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day is the book I have been waiting to create since […]

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

This triple chocolate mousse cake is as rich, decadent and delicious as it sounds. It’s a simple recipe that is sure to please every chocolate lover! Chocolate Mousse was one of the very first recipes I tried to make, way back when I was a middle schooler. Making a quintessentially […]

Raspberry Paris Brest

This Raspberry Paris Brest is a beautifully nontraditional take on a very traditional French pastry. The name, Paris Brest, comes from a bicycle race that happens in France between (you guessed it) Paris and the town of Brest. According to Larousse Gastronomique, a pastry-cook, whose shop was along the route of […]

Awesome Almond Apple Crisp

This Awesome Almond Apple Crisp is the easy, last minute, under appreciated cousin to the Apple Pie. It is every bit as delicious and, I think, beautiful, in a rustic way, albeit not as refined looking. It can be in the oven in less than 30 minutes and emerges bubbling, […]

Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Cake

What’s better than chocolate and pumpkin for a fall cake? I’ve made this chocolate pumpkin swirl cake as both a bundt and a loaf. Both are easy options, and you’ll find a fun pumpkin themed loaf pan below! I first made this Chocolate Pumpkin Bundt Cake with my friend Andrew […]

Triple-Layer Parsnip Cranberry Cake

Looking for video tutorials? Check out my Cake Basics series on YouTube! You’ll learn how to trim and slice, how to fill a layer cake, how to crumb coat and how to decorate! For those of you who have followed my blog for a while, you’ll know I am a […]