Category: Cakes

Reno just finished second winter.  It’s like when hobbits eat second breakfast, but in this scenario, Reno is a hobbit and winter is breakfast.  Normally, I’m totally pro-snow, but the combination of negative temperatures, daylight savings, and sudden warm weather mixed with a doctor’s recommendation to tone down the caffeine has turned me into an unmotivated Doughboy who only wears baggy sweatpants.  But, Sunday was the first official warm day of the year, so to celebrate, I made a cake, packed up my favorite vintage tablecloth, and headed to the arboretum for a brunch/picnic. I wore a sundress and even got a bit pink from the sun! After, I went to my favorite coffeeshop and enjoyed a cappuccino in front of the Truckee.  It was ~perfect~.

Picnics have always been the epitome of spring, in my opinion.  When I was little, my mom would have picnics for us practically on a weekly basis.  (One of the perks of growing up in Vegas – picnic weather is year-round). In some ways, I think it was a way to avoid making a mess in the kitchen at lunch, but I also think it was just her fun way of entertaining me and my little brother.  We had these super strange, tiny grass hills in my childhood home — I would probably actually call them lumps — and they were my favorite picnic spot. I have a very specific memory of a lunch that consisted mostly of Goldfish crackers and those rainbow-colored Nilla wafers that tasted like food coloring.  Those were the good days before we acknowledged how bad Red 40 is for your insides.

Now, my brunch tastes are slightly more refined and consist only of homemade food that is filled with all kinds of organic, Red 40-free ingredients.  It almost makes me feel ok about eating cake for breakfast while the athletes of Reno jog around my picnic blanket. This brunch in particular consisted of my croque madame galettes, lots of fresh coffee, oj, skillet cake, and red fruit salad!  

For the skillet cake, I made one of my favorite desserts ever.  It’s filled with almonds and blueberries and kind of looks like a giant muffin, which essentially makes it a breakfast food.  However, it’s also perfect for a spring BBQ or basically any time you need to use up some berries ASAP. The hardest part of the recipe is flipping it from the skillet to a plate, and even that isn’t really a requirement.

One of my favorite parts of spring is getting to bust out all of my sundresses and fun accessories.  By the end of the cold season, I get a little lazy with the whole “getting dressed” aspect of adult life, and I tend to rely exclusively on oversized sweaters.  When you spend your days getting splattered with coffee, climbing rocks in Lake Tahoe, and spilling cookie dough all over yourself, high-quality, durable pieces are a must!  I’ve been looking into updating my wardrobe with some more staple pieces lately, so it was perfect timing when Jord asked me to be a part of their spring campaign! Jord makes a series of unique mens’ and ladies’ wooden watches, and they’re so beautiful!  I’ve actually been wanting to buy a watch for forever, but I was never able to find one that matched my style or looked good on my petite frame. I’m not a super blingy girl, so the organic, simplicity of the wood was perfect for me.

Another bonus was the option to get a personalized, engraved watch.   I chose to get some lyrics from “Wildflowers” by Tom Petty engraved on the back of mine.  The song has a lot of meaning to me, and having it on the back of my watch is so special.

If you love these wooden watches as much as I do, enter my Jord giveaway for the chance to win $100 off a watch!  Even if you don’t win, you still get 10% off just by registering. To enter the contest, click here. The giveaway will be announced on April 1!

P.S. Pretty watches also double as fancy cake timers!

---

Blueberry-Almond Skillet Cake
Serves 8

Ingredients

10 Tbs. butter, softened and divided
1 c. sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
2/3 c. buttermilk
1 c. sliced almonds
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. blueberries

Preheat oven to 350* F.  Combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.  Butter and flour a 10-inch skillet.

Mix 6 Tbs. with the sugar until creamy.  Add eggs one at a time until incorporated, and then mix in extracts.

Mix in half the flour and half the buttermilk, and then repeat with remaining ingredients.  Fold in 2/3 c. almonds.

Melt remaining 4 Tbs. butter.  Stir in brown sugar, and mix with blueberries.  Spread in pan, and sprinkle remaining almonds over the blueberries.  Cover with the cake batter.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.

Cool, flip onto a plate, and serve with cream or ice cream.

---

Xo Sara Lynn

Thanks so much to Jord for sponsoring this post!  As always, all thought and opinions are my own. I am wearing the the Cassia series watch in zebra and ivory.  Make sure to check out their other products too! Shop Women’s watches.  Shop Men’s watches.

Wooden Wrist Watch