ABC - Frangipane Ripple Chocolate Pound Cake

Happy to see some sort of frangipane ripple! :o)

Oh boy, I'm a week late for my own baking group, the Avid Baker's Challenge. As the administrator I'm definitely not setting the right example with this post but what can I say... life happens and then priorities need to be revised. Now onto this month's baking project: Frangipane Ripple Chocolate Pound Cake which is chosen by fellow ABC-er Lola of Lola's Artistic Endeavors. I love almonds and I love chocolate, so I was very much looking forward to this cake. I had leftover homemade almond paste in the freezer from when I made the Neapolitan Bars (I doubled the almond paste recipe so I'd have extra in case I needed it later).

State Fair 2010 Baking Contest Results

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. What can I say? Life happens (the good and the bad, but more on that in a future post).

Right now I would like to share with you the baked goods I made for this year's State Fair Baking Contest and how they fared at the Fair :o) I've been participating in this contest for the last 6 years or so. The very first time I entered this contest, I made an Almond Upside Down Cardamom Cake. I won 4th place and got a pink ribbon. I was ecstatic as I had just started getting my feet wet in this thing called "Baking" and this sure was a lot of encouragement to continue and get better. I'm lucky in that I inherited a good gene pool as my mom is an excellent baker (and so was my maternal grandmother) :o)

During this time of year, I receive lots of well wishes and support from not only my immediate family but also from my friends and coworkers. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of them. Especially my husband for always providing me with honest and invaluable feedback.

Without further ado, here are the results. Drum roll please...