I bring you the fourth edition of my #followfriday series highlighting a few up-and-coming food bloggers! This month I tried Sam’s cherry blossom cake, Monique’s vanilla cupcakes and Audrey’s birthday cookie no-churn ice cream. They are all delicious and so much fun to make!
(You can read January’s feature here, February’s feature here and March’s feature here.)
Note: I adapted all of the recipes to be gluten free, except for Audrey’s, which already is.
If you follow me on Instagram, then you know that Taryn from @lifeandsprinkles and I are are doing a theme week every month this year. In April we did a TV week, which happened to coincide with cherry blossom season. When Sam from Buttermilk posted her cherry blossom cake recipe, I immediately thought of all my favorite D.C. shows, like “The West Wing” and “Madam Secretary.” Her recipe provides both a sheet cake version and a layer cake version. I hadn’t made a sheet cake in a while, so that’s what I went with. The coolest part about this cake is the design on the inside! You use chocolate cake batter and pink sprinkles to create cherry blossom branches. Another note: her recipe calls for cherry blossom extract, which I could not find anywhere! I ended up substituting almond extract. If you want to go with the cherry blossom flavor give yourself enough time to buy some on Amazon.
I don’t usually look for specific recipes when deciding on which blogs to feature, but for Good Friday I knew I wanted a vanilla cupcake recipe. Luckily I found one on Monique’s blog, Peaches 2 Peaches! These are sweet and moist, and everything you want a vanilla cupcake to be. I reached out to Monique about trying the recipe, and she recommended adding instant vanilla pudding mix for extra moisture. Little did she know that I also love using instant pudding mix! (For example, see my chocolate chip cookie recipe.) The great thing about cupcakes is that you can decorate them however you want. I used Monique’s cupcake recipe but decorated them to look like little bunny butts for my family’s Easter celebration.
I’ve made a lot of cake and cupcakes recently, so I was craving a little something different this week. I’ve also been wanting to try one of Audrey’s recipes from Mama Knows Gluten Free. So many of her recipes caught my eye, but the birthday cookie no-churn ice cream really stood out. This is the best ice cream I’ve ever made. Even my husband agrees, and he’s really picky about his ice cream! Ingredients include chocolate-dipped cookies, rainbow sprinkles and frosting. I used the cookie brand that she recommended and made my own frosting. (This is the recipe I used.) I also added a little extra blue food coloring after I mixed in the frosting. Such a fun recipe, and one you don’t want to miss!
Have you tried any of these recipes? Or do you have any favorite recipes that I should try? Tell me about them in the comments or tag me @rosesandwhiskers on Instagram if you see one you think I’ll like!
Happy baking! 
Rebecca! I loved your rendition of my cb cake so much =D You are such a talented baker <3
Thank you so much, Sam!! I loved the recipe! You’re a talented baker too <3