All-purpose. Wheat. White whole-wheat. Self-rising. Bread. Rye. Cake.

What the heck is the difference between all those flours?

Well, I’m here to tell you. Flour 101, here we go!

All-purpose: As you might gather from its rather clever name, all-purpose flour can be used for pretty much anything and everything. People on gluten-free diets can’t have it, but if you don’t have to worry about that, you can use all-purpose for baking, cooking, bread-making… whatever. It’s all good.

Wheat: Wheat flour is like all-purpose’s healthier and less versatile cousin. It has fiber and protein that all-purpose doesn’t have, but it can be a pain to bake with because it tends to produce very dense items. In many recipes, it’s OK to sub up to 1/3 the total amount of all-purpose flour with wheat flour.

White whole-wheat. Now this is good stuff. White whole-wheat flour has all the nutrition of wheat flour with the lightness of all-purpose. I wouldn’t use it to replace the full amount of all-purpose in any recipe, but you should be able to sub in at least half the amount. These delicious muffins use entirely wheat flour, and white whole-wheat gives them a nice, fluffy texture. Read More »

If you think sweet potatoes are just for Thanksgiving, think again.

I know, I know—the words “sweet potato” don’t exactly conjure up images of delicious little frosted cakes, but they will after you try this recipe.

One small (the size of a small apple) sweet potato will make enough for two one-serving cakes or four sweet potato cupcakes.

For the cakes, you’ll need the sweet potato, about a half a cup of flour, 1/8 teaspoon baking powder, 1/8 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon allspice, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 3 tablespoons white sugar, 3 tablespoons brown sugar, 3 tablespoons canola (or vegetable) oil, 1 egg yolk, and ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract.

And for the icing, you’ll need 3 tablespoons powdered (confectioners’) sugar, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 3 tablespoons heavy cream, 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, and a few drops of vanilla extract.

This recipe requires some prep, so you’ll need to either make it on a weekend or carve out time in your schedule for the sweet potato to cook. Here’s what you do: Read More »

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