Mini Sponge Cakes

Have you ever been to a Chinese bakery?

No? Get out. Right now (it’s the end of you and me). No, but really, please take your lovely self to a Chinese bakery as soon as possible. It is – in one word –incredibleamazingdelicious. Got that?

As soon as you step in the door, your senses will be assaulted by the sweet scent of fresh bread, as your eyes take in rows and rows of puffy, golden, gorgeous pastries: some topped with sesame seeds, others filled with curry chicken, or black sesame paste, or taro, and all so, so, mouthwateringly tasty.

Without fail, one of the items on offer will be this mini sponge cake…and if the bakery you visit doesn’t make these, run away as fast as you can. Actually, literally translated from Chinese, these cakes are called “Paper-Wrapped Cakes.” But I think the name “mini sponge cake” sounds a bit more appealing, and accurately sums up the product.

Mini Key Lime Pies

The last time my family went to Florida, we did not eat even a bite of the famed key lime pie. I know, right? I mean, the Florida Keys! Key limes! What’s up with that? Super appalled at our lack of dessert nomming, I purchased key lime bar mix immediately upon arriving home, and placed it on our pantry shelf . . . where it sat. And waited. And sighed. And is probably still sitting. Whoops?

I don’t know what happened. Well, no, I do. I am, first and foremost, a procrastinator, and secondly, an easily distracted individual. I’ll think up about ten different baking ideas – usually as I’m trying to sleep! – before settling on a dessert, open up twenty tabs on my computer and forget about at least half of them, crop photos and read CNN (my new hobby – at least it’s actually educational) in the middle of writing my blog post.

Where was I again? Oh, right. Not easily distracted at all. I recently came across key limes again, in the form of a bag of 25 key limes – for just one dollar(!!!) at my new favorite supermarket, El Rio Grande. 25! One dollar! They also have five avocados for one dollar aka what is going on in the world. (Answer: Lots of guac)

So, faced with the prospect of finally eating my long-awaited key lime pie, I debated the merits of using a pie pan, a mini cupcake pan, or a square pan to make bars, and finally settled on mini key lime pies made in a cupcake tin! The particular advantages of this option? Well, I finally got to try out my new cupcake tin!

You might have noticed that I haven’t yet made full-sized cupcakes on this blog, and that’s because, well, we didn’t have one. I repeat, my sister and I did not have a cupcake pan. Which is ridiculous. I mean, absolutely crazy! Especially considering the fact that last year, we each had one. Where did they go? It’s still a total mystery.