dinner at a friend's

Pesto pasta salad with more goat cheese and some baby spinach

mmmmmmm cake

carrot cake

Fancypants carrot cake from the steakhouse Butcher and Singer, one of the Stephen Starr group restaurants.

portion control

From the 4th Street Delicatessen outpost on 19th Street.

Warm brisket sandwich

hot dog knish (warm)

slab of chocolate marble cake

strawberry shortcake (fresh whipped cream)

banana cake

Cordon Rose Banana Cake from Rose Levy Berenbaum's The Cake Bible. In the iterations that I've done, I have occasionally left out the sour cream and the lemon zest if I didn't happen to have it around. Also if you don't need the cake to be flat for layering or frosting, I wouldn't bother with the cake strip to keep it flat because I think the texture is better when it's a little domy.

chocolate cake w/ whipped cream ganache

Cake recipe = master chocolate cake from the four in Cook's Illustrated's Best Recipe. Ganache from the same book. I think I have to stop with the ganaches bc they get a little too pasty to really frost with plus I am killing my coworkers slowly w/ the cholesterol content.

buttermilk gingerbread w/ chocolate chips

technically, Molasses-and-buttermilk Gingerbread Squares from Epicurious from Bon Appetit November 2000. I used a cake strip around the outside of the cake pan and it came out nice and flat--- but it isn't really necessary for this kind of cake.