Last summer, when my younger child joined my older child at sleepaway camp for a month for the first time, leaving us unmoored and a little restless, we made a list of restaurants we’d been meaning to try and friends we don’t see enough and took this task on like it was our job. I barely cooked once. By the end of the third week, everything hurt and we realized our template for a child-free life (going out late, cocktails on weeknights, and generally behaving despicably) was based on our age and energy level when we were last child-free, which (I’m sorry as this fact seems to upset you guys as much as it does his actual parents) was almost 15 years ago.

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Consider this the summer flip of one of my favorite recipes in my third cookbook, Smitten Kitchen Keepers — the apple butterscotch crisp.

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It’s humbling that way every September, without fail, knocks me on my rump. One week, you’re breezy and unscheduled, reading books on a beach and tearing lobster apart with your bare hands (indeed, we were in Maine) and the next you’re realizing a certain fetid backpack was never emptied on the last day of school in June, scrambling for after-school care, and despite the fact that I work every week of the year, somehow there’s a lot more to do. If dinner can’t be made in one pan in which everything cooks at once, I haven’t been making it. And yet I’ve made this chicken dish four times in the last month; it’s clearly time to shout about it across the internet.

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What if I told you I had a from-scratch cinnamon roll recipe that was effortlessly veganized, required no kneading, and could be coming out of your oven in just over two hours? And what if I told you’d I’d been making it for years and didn’t tell you about it because I thought, for some bizarre reason, that the site didn’t need another breakfast bun recipe? Yes, I’d throw a jar of cinnamon at my head too. Good news, though, you can stop yelling now because I’ve come to my senses.

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Confession Time: as much as I love all the Sweets I feature, it's the kids' cakes that thrill me the most.

From classic childhood characters:

(By Alana Lily Chocolates & Cakes)

 

...to more modern favorites:

(By Sugar Top Cakes)

 

...to squee-inducing cuteness I just want to snuggle:

(By Bake-A-Boo)

MUST. RESIST. SNUGGLE URGE!

 

Then there are colorful, guitar-rockin' monsters:

(By Phoenix Cake Company)

 

Dapper little owls:

(By Eunice Cake Designs)

 

...and the sweetest bees you ever did see:

(By Frosted Indulgence)

Just looking at this makes me happy. :)

 

When I was very young my parents let me buy a Little Twin Stars stationary set from Epcot, and even though I had no idea who they were, I've loved the pastel pair ever since.

And this is the best Little Twin Stars cake I've ever seen:

(By The Bunny Baker)

Kids' cakes, schmids' cakes. I'll take this one for my next birthday, thx.

 

Or how about this drop dead gorgeous Tangled tower?

(By Sabz Cakes)

 

Oooh! Or this little yellow submarine?

(By Über Angel Cakes)

Complete with a cutie-patootie pink seahorse!

 

And finally, since you all know I have a soft spot for adorable robots:

(By Isabella's Sweet Tooth)

D'awwww.

Yep, this grown-up just wants kids' cakes from now on, guys. And I bet I'm not the only one, right?

 

Happy Sunday!

*****

And now that I’ve got Gonzo on the brain, OH MY GOSH LOOK HOW COOL!!!

The Great Gonzo Christmas Ornament

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

It may not be rain on your wedding day, but these cakes are still a little too ironic.

[grabbing microphone]

HIT IT!

 

It's like loving journalism

... but not kerning!

It's a "good job"

that needs some learning.

It's the winner's cake

that SHOULD be burning!

And who would have thought? It figures!

It's calling someone "dumb"

When you can't spell the word

It's trying to show you care

While giving a beautiful turd

Heh.

And isn't it ironic, don't you think?

Thanks to Tracey, Julie, Dorothy S., Tony W., & Stacey, who really DO think.

 *****

Hang on, you know what ELSE has delicious irony? A fully armed and operational battle station with an exposed exhaust port.

Death Star Waffle Iron

Thanks to this waffle iron, you can recreate the Death Star's catastrophic destruction every morning with butter and syrup. Nomz. Just remember: Use the forks.

Hello, everyone! We have a slightly different Rec League this week. On a bonus episode of the podcast, which we release for SBTB Podcast Patreon members, Sarah asked me to come up with some fall gaming recs. Well, I definitely overdid it and had twenty in a matter of ten minutes. Most of these are cozy games, with a couple of exceptions. If you are a fellow cozy gamer, allow me to plug Wholesome Games. … Continue reading The Rec League: Video Games for Fall →

In this week’s podcast episode, we’re looking at the glorious  ads and features for the October/November 1988 issue of RT Magazine. Thank you to Amy M. for this issue! You can also find all the RTRW content at our category page for Romantic Times Rewind.  If you want to listen and follow along with this entry, we have more detail in the audio, but you can click play and listen and read and absorb all … Continue reading Romantic Times Rewind: October 1988 Ads & Features →

It’s time for the Ads & Features of the October 1988 (!!) issue of Romantic Times Magazine. Y’all. We’ve got: Vintage gossip! Blind items that are very easy to guess! Danielle Steel’s two blue Mercedes! Fuchsia covers with giant flowers and startled animals! Riverboat gambler romance heroes! And a truly paltry obituary for an extraordinary author. It’s 1988. Fuchsia. So much fuchsia. Blanket content warning for romances written in the late 80s. Be ready for … Continue reading 637. RT Rewind October 1988 Ads & Features →

Welcome to Book Beat! Book Beat aims to highlight other books that we may hear about through friends, social media, or other sources. We could see a gorgeous ad! Or find a new-to-us author on a list of underrated romances! Think of Book Beat as Teen Beat or Tiger Beat, but for books. And no staples to open to get the fold-out poster.

Happy Tuesday! A bit of a bite-sized Hide Your Wallet this week, with one release leftover from late last week that I neglected to include. I can hardly believe October is nearly over! Time to consult my November TBR pile, so it doesn’t sneak up on me. Which releases are you excited about this week? Let us know in the comments!

Death at Morning House is a YA that’s part historical mystery, part haunted house story. I enjoyed it, but I kept getting pulled out of the story because it seemed wildly implausible to me that the kids in the book were as unsupervised as they were. In the present day, Marlowe Wexler is struggling with teenage awkwardness and realizing her own queer identity. When the book opens, she’s house-sitting for a friend of the family … Continue reading Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson →

Strange Beasts is so much fun that the minute I finished the book, I downloaded the audio for my husband to listen to. This is a paranormal adventure meets gothic mystery with a sapphic love story intertwined in all of that. It has shades of Penny Dreadful, non stop action, and it’s just a blast to read. The novel takes place in an alternate Victorian era where paranormal creatures openly exist with human beings. Sam … Continue reading Strange Beasts by Susan J. Morris →

Happy Saturday and welcome back to Whatcha Reading! Here’s how we’re wrapping up October: Lara: To quote my psychiatrist, ‘pregnancy is a potent and unique stressor’ so I’ve temporarily abandoned my ARCs and I’ve started a reread of Murderbot. Ten out of ten! Shana: There’s no better comfort than a Murderbot reread. I just finished a m/m Beauty and the Beast retelling, Briarley by Aster Glenn Gray, where the father who finds the cursed castle … Continue reading Whatcha Reading? October 2024, Part Two →

Amazon has many pages of fantasy and sci-fi novels on sale today! Check out the full list here.

Happy Tuesday! It’s a short and sweet release week for us at SBTB HQ! For us, there are only three books that make the list this week. From here on out, things seem to slow down a little bit as we approach the end of the year and the major holiday season. What books are on your list this week? Let us know in the comments!

Hi! This Rec League request is from me (Amanda) and I thought it was a good tie-in for Halloween. I was thinking about how much I enjoyed Slouch Witch when we recently featured it on sale. I loved the flip of having a main character who felt mediocre in their magic or honestly was happy doing the bare minimum. It was a refreshing departure from the “chosen one” stories that I mainly see out there.  … Continue reading The Rec League: Lazy Witches →

Kim is a longtime SBTB reader. She writes boring professional documents by day to fund her ever-growing TBR pile, which is currently overflowing with T. Kingfisher, mystery thrillers, and MM romance. Everything she knows about hockey, she learned from queer love stories or the Mighty Ducks franchise. … Recently, I’ve been on an M/M hockey romance binge (and let me just say “queer romance” + “professional hockey” is the Reese’s “you got your peanut butter … Continue reading Season’s Change by Cait Nary →

Hey y’all. Here’s a relaxing image! I need that hammock plus some pillows, a blanket, and noise cancelling everything. Today feels like being up to my neck in icy maple syrup: unpleasant and I can’t move very quickly. And in a moment of complete hilarity, I scheduled my annual physical for today. Wonder what my blood pressure will be like? (I think I can hear my blood pressure medication doing pushups in the other room, … Continue reading Deep Breaths. Fuzzy Things. →

Welcome back to Hide Your Wallet! Just a small handful of books for us this week. I also wouldn’t blame publishers if they decided to bump release weeks to another Tuesday. We have dark fairytales, cozy fantasy, ponies, and more! Which books are on your radar this week? Let us know what’s on your TBR pile!

Well. This sucks. Currently I’m sitting with two sets of feelings. I’m already so tired, and scared, and discouraged. And tired. We just did this. I have semi-accurate predictions of how this is going to go, and none of it is good. And on the other hand, I know how resilient and compassionate and loving people can be. How loving and compassionate and resilient you are, and me, and all of us. I can grieve and worry … Continue reading We Will Find Our Daily HEAs →

This guest review is from Danielle Fritz. Danielle is a former librarian who has a special affection for children’s lit and books about the funeral industry. She first cut her criticism teeth as a fanfic writer. A resident of the upper midwest, she’s learned to love beer and tater tot casserole and tolerate long winters. Most nights will find her cuddled up with her pups and wearing out her wrists with yet another crochet project. … Continue reading Earls Trip by Jenny Holiday →

Welcome back to Whatcha Reading! This is where we talk about what we’ve been reading, if you couldn’t have guessed. Lara: Still Murderbot and I could not be more happy about it! May it last forever! Sarah: I mentioned this in the post for Election Day but I saved three Richard Osman books and didn’t know what I was saving them for. Now I know! I think I’m starting with the new one We Solve … Continue reading Whatcha Reading? November 2024, Part One →

Brat Benatar

eeeeee

haaaaaahhhh

Tolerability

whatchoo tolkien about

(it was TS Eliot)

two girls, a guy, and a robot, sitting on a couch, playing video games. it's 2002 babey

She's just got a chunk of her butt missing now

Hannelore doesn't have much experience when it comes to hand-holding

Choo choo

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