French Silk Pie

If you ask me what pie I recommend you get, this is it. It's an over-the-top, amazing pie that is full of rich chocolate flavor. My first memories of this pie was a Mrs. Smith's frozen French Silk pie that my parents would get for themselves and keep in the freezer--away from us kids. I didn't understand why we couldn't have this pie that looked so pretty and so chocolatey. I might or might not have tried to sneak a taste or two along the way.

I put those memories away for years until I was reading Pioneer Woman and came across her recipe. I remembered the forbidden pie and whipped (literally) one up. I've never been one to worry about raw eggs, and this pie proves that you have nothing to lose with 4 raw eggs.

If you keep pie crusts on hand, once one is baked, this pie comes together in about 20 minutes. And I always keep unsweetened chocolate close by, just in case I have a pie emergency where I need to throw one of these together quickly. If you don't even want to worry with a pastry pie crust, apparently the traditional version of the pie uses a graham cracker crust, and that's a super easy one. I'm still working on getting my blind-baked crusts to not shrink as much. I've tried a number of tricks, but they're still sliding down a little too much for my taste.

I don't tweak anything about the recipe above, but I don't add the whipped cream or chocolate shavings. I honestly don't think this pie needs anything except maybe a glass of milk or a cup of coffee.

Red Velvet Cake

Is it March already? Where did the time go? It just seems like I was making chiffon cakes, and here is it almost a month later.

For Greg's birthday (last month), he requested Red Velvet Cake with a chocolate filling. I'd never baked a red velvet cake before, mainly because I find the flavor weird. I like it as a vector for cream cheese frosting though, and who am I to say no to a birthday request?

For the cake, I stuck with my trust America's Test Kitchen Family Baking book, because it has yet to lead me astray. I used the traditional Red Velvet Cake recipe, Cream Cheese frosting, and the chocolate filling recipe that I used for wedding cakes. I do like that in their recipe, they have you mix the food coloring and the cocoa together into a paste before adding it to the rest of the batter. I think that helps with even mixing, and keeps the food coloring contained better than just splashing it in.

It came out quite well. Not really anything I would change on this one. Except to next time remember to whip the filling in the stand mixer so it's stiffer than when I just whisk by hand. I also like the frosting practice this cake gave me with my spatulas and cake turntable. I feel like I need to get more practice in, but pies always seem to be a more popular order. Maybe I'll work on frosted pies...

Chiffon Cake

I think I'm a struggling food blogger because I am not good at taking pictures while I'm mid-process and then I just dig in before I think to take a picture. But, I was good when I made chiffon cakes last week for an order, and she helped me out by snapping a shot of the cake just before it was "devoured," as she said.

I'd never made a chiffon cake before, but the order was to be used at a '50s-themed baby shower, so I did some research and angel food cake and chiffon cakes were popular during that time. The cake gets most of it's lift from whipping egg whites to stiff peaks, and then carefully folding the rest of the batter in. It's actually a pretty easy cake to make, and the folding takes the most time.

You also need a special pan, and I got one with feet. The cake needs to cool upside down to keep from collapsing itself. This part seems weird to me, but it works!

I also made a strawberry sauce to go over the cake because, like its cousin angel food cake, chiffon cake is not an overly strong flavor. I just boiled down fresh strawberries, sugar, and water. I then strained the pulp out to make a smooth sauce.

And it was a hit! And now that I have the special pan, I'm pretty sure I'll be making more angel food cakes and chiffon cakes come fresh strawberry season!

I do love the way a golden brown cake looks!

Recipe for both chiffon cake and strawberry sauce come from the America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. The only alteration I made was using more strawberries an less sugar in the sauce.

Coming later this week: Red Velvet Cake and French Silk pie.

Glowing Evenings Bake Shop - Now Open

After successfully baking a small batch of pies for Thanksgiving, I'm opening the metaphorical doors to Glowing Evenings Bake Shop. Get your pie, cake, and cookie needs taken care of here!


Currently, pies seem to be the most popular order, as nothing says "the holidays" like a warm, flaky piece of pie. Pie prices are based on type of pie and seasonal fruit availability:

Pumpkin, pecan, and other custard-based pies: $28
French Silk (aka, the world's most amazing chocolate pie), lemon meringue, key lime: $28
Apple: $30


NY Style Cheesecake: $45
Chocolate Chunk Cheesecake: $50

Decorated Festive Sugar Cookies: $25/bakers dozen
Undecorated Sugar Cookies: $15/bakers dozen

Special requests are accepted.

This double-cust apple pie has a ridiculous number of apples in it. 

Happy Holidays and enjoy some baked goods!

To order: email me at gloevedun (at) gmail (dot) com or Facebook me, or Twitter (@gloriaevonne) me.

Baking business underway (sort of)

Wedding cake number two is well underway done! After one weekend spent baking my little heart out and another spent making copious amounts of buttercream (each batch is tested for safety and taste), I am 2/3 of the way into done with my second (or third if you count the practice cake) wedding cake. I'm very grateful to friends Jake and Alicia for this opportunity!

As they are having a wedding about twice the size of mine, I've gotten creative with how to make sure there is enough cake to feed that many people. The solution, one large traditional cake, and two smaller nine inch cakes to echo the main cake and still look lovely. Creative thinking, for the win. My freezer is full of cake, and if this gets any more serious, I'm going to invest in a small chest freezer, as we don't have the space for this kind of excessive baking.

Because I am apparently a glutton for punishment, on top of cakes, I've been working on breads. This weekend, I made baguettes, which I am incredibly proud of. They're lovely to look at, quite tender, and while the crust isn't as dark as I'd like it to be, it has the right amount of chewiness. I'm very proud of these loaves.

I keep getting asked, when I mention that I'm making a wedding cake, if it is a side business. I answer, "sort of." It could be, and I definitely would love to have opportunities continue to develop. So, friends, if you, or someone you know, lives in the DC area and needs a wedding or special occasion cake, send them my way!

Update: The cake was very popular and well-recieved. Someone even asked me my secret and a I laughed as I told her that it was all the America's Test Kitchen Baking Book. I'm also looking at a few websites (Smitten Kitchen mainly) for inspiration for other types of cakes. I'm willing to branch into chocolate, and I'd love to see how cupcakes work out as a wedding cake.

And I apologize that I don't have any pictures. I can't bake, assemble, and frost while thinking about taking photos. But, if you've seen my wedding cake. you get the idea.

Grandparents Day

Sadly, none of my grandparents are no longer on this earth, but I still think about each of them for various reasons. Lately, I've been thinking about my Grandma Dunlap a lot though. She left her KitchenAid mixer to me when she died, and I am forever grateful. I don't know that she knew I'd be making wedding cakes with it, but every time I've mixed up a batch of buttercream in the last few months, I've thought of her. I've thought about how I was kind of surprised that she left it to me, since I didn't bake much at her house, but she knew that I would put it to good use. I've thought about how I hope she's looking down, happy that it's life has been extended, and it's still going strong. I think about how even I didn't expect that I'd be doing these things, but am so glad that I have this mixer, because some of the stuff I make wouldn't be possible without it.

I remember when I was starting life on my own, and my grandmother had just passed away. I was fortunate that I got many things from her home, from her silverware to her car. Those things weren't quite as special as the KitchenAid. When my friends were making their wedding registries, I felt a bit smug at knowing that I already had an off-white mixer sitting on my counter. Now, I just feel a bundle of emotions ranging from happiness to sadness to contentment when I use my mixer. Thanks, Grandma, I think of you every time I use it.

PS - Am currently working on another wedding cake, to be in a wedding this weekend. I'm working on a blog post about that.

Goodbye to a Hero

Last night I was making dinner when I saw an email from my dad. He wrote to tell me he saw that Sally Ride had passed away and wanted me to know because I'd wanted to be an astronaut when I was a girl. I stood in my kitchen, tearing up at how sad I was at the loss of a hero and how touched I was by my dad caring and knowing me well enough to know I'd want to know that.

I admired Sally Ride as a girl because I wanted nothing more than to be an astronaut. I had a poster of all the Apollo mission astronauts on my wall where I'm sure other girls my age had New Kids on the Block. Even though every person on that poster was a man, because of Sally Ride, I knew that it wasn't impossible for me to become like one of those men. She made it okay for me to follow those boot prints.

As I got older and moved my childhood aspirations to other things, I continued to admire Ms. Ride because of her passion for math and science. Yes, she wanted to help young women move up in those field, but she also wanted to help young men. She was passionate and shared that passion every day in how she chose to live out her life's work. I moved away from the math and science fields, but I continued to pay attention to her work because she cared in a way that made me care.

Now, as a art historian, I'm in a very female-dominated field. However, 100 years ago, it would have looked like science and math fields do today. My hope is that Sally Ride's legacy will continue, that others will step up to fill her shoes, and one day math and science fields will look more similar to my field. More importantly, may we all follow her footsteps in living out our passion. When we live our passion, we help the world in so many ways by bringing our best selves to the forefront.

Thank you, Sally Ride, for being who you were. For sharing your self, for sharing your passion, and for inspiring so many. May your legacy burn bright.




*only a few tears were shed in the writing of this post