"feast your eyes" news and stories

Happy National Cupcake Day!

While cupcake fever is just barely starting to subside, it has brought to light a plethora of revered cupcake recipes -- most notably that of Magnolia Bakery's Vanilla Cupcakes, with a notoriously rich buttercream frosting, mainly consisting of piles of powdered sugar and a whopping two sticks of butter. But if your fascination with Magnolia has waned, try this vanilla cake recipe from Ace of Cakes' Duff Goldman or the famous cupcakes from Tarek Malouf of London's beloved Hummingbird Bakery. Heck, an enduring cupcake fascination may never go out of style and will put you in good company -- even celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Amy Sedaris are hopping on the cupcake bandwagon.

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With Valentine's Day a week away, it seems even the produce aisle is tickled pink.

Set against a vibrant pink backdrop, these tangy blood oranges need no recipe to make their juicy flesh even more dazzling: Au naturel is the way to go.

With Groundhog Day predicting six more weeks of winter, the citrus fruits' warm-colored cascade from crimson to orange is sure to brighten up the harshest of the winter doldrums.

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Whether eaten plain or with a "schmear" of cream cheese, Americans chomp their way through whole-wheat, cinnamon-raisin, poppy seed and onion bagels every morning. But while most procure their morning rings of dough from a local bagel shop or deli, a fresh bagel is only a few, simple ingredients away.

The boiled-then-baked rings of dough from the Fresh Loaf are nothing more than bread flour, salt, water, yeast and malt powder -- leading to the question of "why didn't I try making these sooner?"

The dough is made and shaped into circles – the bagel's signature silhouette -- the night before. The next day, they are boiled and baked just in time for the morning pot of coffee.

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Ginette Mathiot's "Je Sais Cuisiner" or "I Know How to Cook," is known as the bible of French home cooking. Throughout France, the 1,400-plus recipe collection is a kitchen must-have -- consider it the French housewife's counterpart to the "Joy of Cooking."

The blog, Frites & Fries, pays homage to Mathiot, the Julia Child of France, with this humble yet picturesque apple tart. Despite its artistic presentation, it is actually quite easy to make -- the hardest part lies in making the pastry shell. After that, the only things left to do are make the light, almond-flavored custard base and fan out the sliced apples.

With only a few ingredients, the natural sweetness of the apples shines through in this elegant tarte aux pommes.

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Clementines -- small, veritably sweet, and usually seedless -- it's no wonder they are the darling of the citrus family.

After "boiling the heck out of" a batch of the tiniest mandarin oranges, blogger A Dash of Sass purées the fruit and mixes in ground almonds, eggs, almond meal, agave nectar, baking powder and vanilla extract. Once the flourless, butterless cake batter is baked off, the resulting mini cakes take a dunk in a silky dark chocolate glaze.

Given the dainty size of these baby cakes, they are positively charming with a spot of afternoon tea or for a resolution-friendly winter dessert.

The hardest part? Refraining from humming "Oh My Darling, Clementine" while eating.

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