Happy 5th Birthday, Lo-Fi Gourmet!

This past year hasn’t seen too many lo-fi posts, but last week the blog had a birthday anyway, and I rallied to bake it a cake. This fancy fancy delicious Lemon and Blackcurrant Stripe Cake is from Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh’s beautiful dessert book Sweet. The recipe is a little complicated and not very lo-fi, but so pretty (mine was a little lopsided, but I was still proud of it)! In a break from tradition, I’m not including my adaptation of the recipe in this post. Conveniently, the recipe is already on the internet, here. Instead of blackcurrants, I used a mix of blackberries and strawberries for the buttercream. There might have also been a small situation with the sugar syrup turning to candy bits in the buttercream, but a strainer and some supplemental powdered sugar came to the rescue.

There’s something so wonderfully prim about pink cake, and I do think there should probably be frilly floral dresses, gloves, and tea involved in the eating. And it really should be happening in spring. (Is it here yet??) I’ve been making stews and braises and trying to be a winter person with cross-country skiing and snow walks pulling Olive in her little sled, but enough is getting to be enough! I’m looking forward to asparagus and fiddleheads, raincoats and pastel colors, picnics. Saying hello to friends outdoors?? How are you all holding up?