Leading up to this site’s five year anniversary earlier this week, I spent some time scrolling through my archives in search of my absolute favorite E2 Bakes recipes. I stand by them all, of course, but there are over 500. I have favorites. There, I said it.
For context, these favorites are the ones I return to time and time again, or those that are simply the best I’ve ever had in various categories. After going through the recipe index, this list was 50 recipes long! I could absolutely write a little blurb about each of them, but I didn’t want to subject you or myself to that. I’ve painstakingly pared it down to ten twelve fifteen. So here they are: fifteen recipes to encompass the last five years.
Cocoa Brownies
Of all the brownie recipes I’ve made I’m the last five years, these are my favorites. Even with a cocoa base, they’re fudgy as can be. Oh, and they’re easy too—you can mix the batter right in the pot you use to melt the butter, sugar and cocoa! These were my first post (and my 544th!), and I can guarantee you that I’ll still be obsessed with them when I hit a thousand posts and beyond.
Overnight Yeast-Raised Doughnuts
I grew up near a truly excellent doughnut shop, and have been surprisingly disappointed in the quality of doughnuts in New York City. (For your safety and mine, let’s never discuss The Doughnut Plant.) I’ve found one (!) doughnut that I like in thirteen years of residency. One! That’s unacceptable. Long story short, I started making my own yeast-raised doughnuts and never looked back. These are legitimately the best doughnuts I’ve ever had. Ever. In my life. And I know, because I have used this recipe over and over to make twists and cinnamon roll doughnuts and…again, they are *the* best doughnuts I’ve ever had in my life.
Banana Pudding Cookies
These cookies were my first baking Everest. Inspired by the phenomenal Banana Pudding Pudgies at Evelyn’s Kitchen in East Harlem, these took me a year to perfect, but it was entirely worth it. These soft, chewy cookies are beyond delicious, and they taste *exactly* like banana pudding. Exactly.
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Cookie cake is probably one of my top five favorite desserts ever. I mean, who wouldn’t love a giant, sliceable soft-centered cookie with a buttercream border? It’s the dream.
Sour Cream Waffles
These are the best waffles I’ve ever had. Period. Every time I have leftover egg whites or sour cream, these are the first things that get made. This means I have an ample freezer stash for waffle emergencies, of which there are many. Many many many.
Neapolitan Cake
Confession: I have never worked with fondant and am actually kind of afraid of it.
Another Confession: I don’t quite get the obsession with super tall cakes with an absurd amount of buttercream and drips and all that. Just give me the cake! I don’t need all the stuff.
All that said, this Neapolitan Cake is probably as close as I’ll get to any intricate layer cakes. Checkerboard inside, heavily piped outside, and not a drop of food coloring—that strawberry pink is the real deal. This one is super fun to make, even if it is a labor of love.
Pretzel Shortbread
Last fall, I heard about Lost Bread Co.’s pretzel shortbread, and instead of being a normal person and ordering some, I made my own. That sort of stubbornness is kind of my thing, and how I got into this whole baking racket in the first place! Made with crushed up pretzels in the dough and then pretzeled themselves (much easier than it sounds), these little cookies are salty, sweet and fabulous, just like me.
Wedding Cake Trilogy {I, II & III}
There is no single recipe for this wedding cake. Instead, it was made with my go-to vanilla cake, filled with alternating mocha and caramel puddings, and frosted with creamy Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Oh yeah, and it was served to hundreds at the Central Park Boat House back when we used to go do things inside together and the idea of attending a wedding didn’t give me heart palpitations. But for real, this is one of the proudest accomplishments of my baking journey, and I was honored to have the opportunity.
Sweet Cherry Rhubarb Galette
While Cocoa Brownies were the first recipe to appear on this site, a tiny Sweet Cherry Rhubarb Galette was the first baked good to be pictured. Three years later, I still loved it and posted the recipe. Fast forward two more years and I’m looking forward to spring so I can make this simple sweet-tart galette again!
Hot Fudge
This is a warning that if you start making your own Hot Fudge, you will be ruined for all other hot fudges forever. This stuff is dark and glossy and sooo much better than anything you’ll find in stores.
Pumpkin Oatmeal Creme Pies
Making these Pumpkin Oatmeal Creme Pies was the first instance in which I didn’t feel like a food blogging impostor. I knew what I wanted, I knew how to make it, I knew how I wanted it to look, and then I freaking did it. Five years later, I’m still over the moon for these soft pumpkin oatmeal cookies and their perfect marshmallow filling. Little Debbie who?
(If pumpkin isn’t your thing, I’ve got a regular version too.)
Slow-Roasted Pulled Pork
I get so overwhelmed by holiday baking every year that I’ve taken to mostly posting weeknight meals every January. I’ve never publicized it this way, but I personally refer to this time of the blogging year as “Savory January,” because by that point, I can barely stand to look at dessert. There are lots of meals in my archives (scroll to the Savory section at the bottom!), but this Slow-Roasted Pulled Pork is probably my favorite. It’s perfectly seasoned throughout, and where some slow cooker pulled porks get soggy, this version has crispy cracklings and is moist but never wet. Seriously, it’s the best pulled pork I’ve ever had. And while it takes time and preparation, it’s shockingly easy and makes enough to freeze for later. You know, for when you feel an enchilada craving coming on.
Buttermilk Biscuits & Chocolate Gravy
Chocolate…gravy?! You better believe it. My grandma made this classic southern combo for my sisters and me every chance she got. Super flaky, savory biscuits and sweet chocolate gravy are a match made in breakfast heaven.
Toasted Oat Graham Crackers {Vegan & Gluten-Free}
If you had told me five years ago that I’d have a startling number of vegan, gluten-free recipes on this site, I wouldn’t have believed you. I previously saw leaving out dairy, eggs and flour as near-impossible limitations, but now I look forward to the challenge of developing these recipes…and the dessert. Especially when it’s s’mores made with these delicious Toasted Oat Graham Crackers.
Chocolate Mousse Pie {No-Bake}
This is one of the easiest pie recipes on this site, and also maybe ever…? It’s deeply chocolaty with a smooth, light texture and an Oreo crust—oh, and it’s no bake. So, like, best pie ever? You tell me.
What are your favorite E2 Bakes recipes? Tell me in the comments or on social media! I want to know what you love to bake!
I sort of expected to have a little cake assembly drama to tell you about, but the truth is that it basically went off without a hitch.
When last we spoke, I painstakingly laid out my wedding weekend plan…and then I promptly changed it. After making the fillings on Friday morning, I started fearing that if I filled the cakes that night, the mocha and caramel puddings would soak into the layers too much by Sunday, leaving everything sort of…mushy. Gross.
Instead, I chose to get up early on Saturday morning to torte, fill, and level the tiers. As you might have expected, the 14-inch base took the longest, clocking in at 1:40. The 10-inch center and 6-inch topper took 90 minutes combined. Each tier ended up being 3 1/2-inches tall.
When I returned home, I made a triple batch of Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I used a dozen egg whites (leftover from the fillings), which I had stored overnight in a very clean, dry mason jar. It was crazy humid here on Saturday so I had to give the frosting a few 15 minute chills to keep it workable. Crumb-coating, frosting, and doweling took about two hours, although I probably could have done it faster if I hadn’t been so tired from getting up so early. I refrigerated all the tiers uncovered overnight.
On Sunday morning, I made a double batch (8 egg whites) of Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I divided it among four piping bags and refrigerated them while I went to have my hair done. #bridesmaidlife 
I got home about an hour before the cake and I were scheduled to be picked up and taken to the venue. I scurried around my apartment, grabbing anything that seemed like it might be important. Think icing spatulas of every conceivable variety, loads of ziplock bags, scissors, tape, three piping bags fitted with couplers and star tips, extra cake dowels, a weight-bearing central dowel, a permanent marker for marking those extra dowels, a box of food safety gloves, and a dozen damp paper towels. And insulated cooler bags. And wax paper. And aprons.
Also, a bridesmaid’s dress, four-inch heels (because I was too busy worrying about cake to get my dress tailored), makeup, deodorant, jewelry, and my trusty friend, VJ.
We loaded all the tiers into the back of my friend, David’s Volvo station wagon and set off for the Central Park Boathouse.
My favorite part of assembling tiered cakes remains inserting the central dowel. I used a 3/8-inch dowel that I sharpened with a vegetable peeler, and it popped through the cake boards just fine. I couldn’t find much information on how thick the central dowel should be, so this diameter (1.5x the tier dowels) was a guess. I saw the cake lifted and moved three times without incident, so I suppose it was a good guess.
Once the cake was assembled, I got myself glammed up to be a bridesmaid. The ceremony and reception were beautiful.
The cake was sliced at the end of the night and it looked just how I had hoped it would. I love those alternating stripes of filling!
I got loads of compliments on this cake. The guests loved the mix of flavors and that this wedding cake was lighter than most—a benefit of using puddings and Swiss Meringue Buttercream instead of all-butter American buttercream.
There was also one peanut-allergic teenager who was so happy this cake was peanut-free that he gave me a bear hug and ate two slices! Who knew so many people have peanut butter wedding cakes?!
The bride and groom were happy with it too, and that is the most important part. I’ve known Ariella and Bob for several years now and love them both. Ariella, in particular, was a huge support when I began to take baking seriously, so I was really touched that she wanted an E2 cake for her big day. It was such an honor to be asked to participate in their wedding day as both a baker and a bridesmaid.
Wedding Day is two days away and things are getting *real* around here. I have not lost my mind yet, but that’s a very big “yet.”
If you’ve been on my 
One of my nearest and dearest friends is getting married on Sunday, and asked yours truly to make a big, beautiful cake for her and her dream man. I said yes—it was a proposal this baker couldn’t refuse. Of course, July 15, 2018, seemed very far away when I agreed to this last summer. In fact, it didn’t start feeling imminent until May, when she and future hubs planned a trip home to NYC to make some final arrangements, including a cake tasting.
Cut to June 4th when I showed up to the bride’s mother’s apartment with three little layer cakes: all 
The original plan was that they would choose one filling and one frosting and that would be that. About five minutes into the tasting we were all in agreement—vanilla, mocha, and bright-white Swiss Meringue Buttercream. But that was before the mother of the bride randomly stacked a bite of the caramel-filled cake on top of a bite of the mocha-filled cake and then insisted the rest of us do the same. Just like my friend and her betrothed, each filling was fine on its own, but they were better together—the combination of chocolate, espresso, and dark caramel is divine. And so, it stands that this cake will be vanilla layers with Swiss Meringue Buttercream and alternating mocha and caramel fillings.
Since this cake has to be made, transported, and assembled in the middle of a hot, humid NYC July, I had to take melting into consideration when developing the recipe(s). Traditional American Buttercream (butter + confectioners sugar + vanilla + heavy cream, AKA most of the 
The frosting, which I’ll write more about on Friday, is made from egg whites, while the fillings are made with the yolks. The mocha filling is simply my 
Today is all about the caramel filling—this rich, silky, insanely delicious pudding that is practically like eating a little bowl of pure caramel! So freaking good.
Caramel Pudding is a streamlined spin on the Butterscotch Cream Pie filling I made last fall. It’s super quick and easy to make, coming together in just 15 minutes on the stovetop. You may absolutely enjoy it without any accoutrements, but I especially love it with 
And, of course, it also works well as a cake filling, if whispers of dark caramel between layers of buttery vanilla cake are a thing you’re into.
They are definitely a thing I’m into.
e2 bakes brooklyn 