Jammy Sour Cream Crumb Cake

With a golden, buttery crumb cake—made extra rich and tender with sour cream—topped with a swirl of bright fruit jam and a crisp, shortbread cookie-like crumb for crunchy contrast, this is a cake that’s as suitable for breakfast as it is for dessert (or even afternoon tea).

Sometimes simple cakes hit just as hard as any multi-tiered masterpiece. As is the case with this deceivingly simple crumb cake, with three layers of textural perfection: tender and buttery cake, sweet and sticky jam, and crunchy crumb topping. And did I mention it’s ready in under an hour from start to finish?

I always seem to have a few jars of homemade jam open and floating in the fridge at any given time. Such is the plight of the jam maker (as I’m sure anyone who makes homemade jam in any quantity likely has the same problem).

It’s why I have an entire category of recipes dedicated to Jams in Action: recipes that use jam as a component in one way or another.

That’s also why this cake—complete with its sticky swirl of sweet and fruity jam—is my ideal cake. One that’s buttery and rich but not overly sweet, with multiple textures to please the palette, and that also uses up some of those sad little orphan jams hidden away in the back corner of the fridge.

The recipe itself is quite similar to my grandma’s sour cream coffee cake (this version with apples being the first version I ever posted), with slightly tweaked proportions and an added shortbread-like crumb topping, plus a layer of fruit jam in between. I like to think of it as a choose-your-own-adventure cake, where the type of jam you use will make it taste completely different every time!

I’ve personally made it with plain raspberry jam, old-fashioned strawberry jam, as well as a blend of raspberry and guava jam from random leftover jars that I mixed together (this one was my favorite, the guava is so punchy I just love it). While I don’t have a recipe for raspberry guava jam, I do have a strawberry guava jam that I think would be absolutely lovely here!

While I’m not calling it coffee cake this time, it really is quite wonderful as a breakfast cake, especially when you take into account the fruity jam. But it’s also perfectly sweet and satisfying for an afternoon tea and even fancy enough to count as dessert (maybe dusted with powdered sugar and served with a scoop of ice cream, perhaps?)

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Raspberry & Pistachio Frangipane Tart with Whipped Pistachio Ganache

Talk about a showstopper: this stunning tart features layers of fragrant pistachio frangipane and raspberry jam in a crisp pistachio shortcrust, studded with fresh raspberries and topped with swirls of luscious whipped pistachio and white chocolate ganache.

This colorful and impressive dessert might look fancy and complicated, but it’s actually easier to make than it looks! The whipped ganache is made the day ahead of time then whipped to fluffy, puffy perfection, and the crust and frangipane filling come together surprisingly quickly too with the help of a food processor and electric mixer (but you could also make the frangipane in the food processor as well).

The first time I made this (for a Hanukkah dinner with our friends, ironic considering the colors make it look like it’s straight from the Grinch’s kitchen), I just made a simple tart crust and the filling of pistachio frangipane and fresh raspberries. No jam layer, and definitely no whipped ganache (sad, I know).

And it looked cute enough and tasted more than fine, but certainly nothing to write home about.

And if there’s anything I want more than anything, it’s to share recipes that are worth writing home about! Writing anyone in fact, I do so love it when my recipes are shared.

So when it came time to make it again, I added a layer of raspberry jam under the frangipane, and topped it with swirls of fluffy pistachio whipped ganache. With those two additions, it became clear, quite quickly, that this is one of my favorite things I’ve ever made. All the flavors and textures come together so beautifully in the end, making each and every bite a truly transcendent experience.

Together, pistachio and raspberry make for a vibrant, eye-catching (and mouth-watering) pairing that balances the rich earthiness of the pistachio with the bright fruitiness of the raspberry.

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Introducing: Life is Butter Dream

Extra, extra, bread all about it! Our brand new Fresh Baked Puns design has landed and is now available for pre-order for a limited time.

This brand new buttery design features an original, hand-cut block print illustration (yes, I carved that thing by hand including all that teeny tiny text. Phew. If there’s enough interest I could be convinced to put a few art prints up for sale as well!) All the gear is locally screen printed on soft cotton tees, tea towels, tote bags, and super cute denim aprons. Oh, and stickers too!

Spread the word: the limited-time pre-order price won’t stick around forever, and once it’s gone, it’s toast.

We’re offering a few more goodies this time than with our previous designs (though if you missed the Live Laugh Loaf totes and aprons check them out immediately as they are fresking adorable.) We also sourced a new unisex shirt style for this design, I know so many of you love Comfort Colors shirts, so we replaced the B+C unisex shirts with these heavyweight cotton tees instead. But don’t worry, the women’s shirts are still the same super soft Bella + Canvas shirts you loved before. :)

Here’s what’s on offer:

🧈 Women’s tees: Ultra-soft Bella + Canvas (a fan favorite for a reason) in stunning Carolina Blue.
🧈 Unisex tees: Heavyweight cotton tees by Comfort Colors (a new heavyweight cotton addition we’re very excited about). Not to mention that butter yellow color? Chef’s kiss. No notes.
🧈 Tea Towels: high quality, 100% cotton flour sack towels. I could have 100 of these things and it wouldn’t be enough.
🧈 Tote Bags: cute and versatile canvas totes with contrast color handles.
🧈 Aprons: these on-trend denim aprons are downright adorable.
🧈 Stickers: because butter belongs everywhere (for real).

Or, butter yet, snag a bundle!

Order yours now at the exclusive pre-order price, and guarantee you get the size, style, and color you want. Butter get on it and snag yours today before this deal melts away!

The discounted pre-order price is valid for one week only through February 15th; all pre-orders will ship the first week of March.

Pre-Order NOW for an exclusive price »

*Please note that for orders containing in-stock and pre-order products, the entire order will ship when the preorder product becomes available. If you need the in-stock item sooner, please place a separate order.

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Overnight Sourdough Discard Waffles

Your new favorite weekend brunch is here: made with sourdough discard for a unique yeasty flavor and buttermilk for tang. Slathered with salted butter, you almost don’t need any syrup (though I’ll admit that the combination of sweet syrup and salty butter on a crisp, yeasty waffle is nothing short of perfection).

The overnight method allows you to mix up the bulk of the batter the night before, letting the sourdough work its magic while you sleep. Then, when you wake up in the morning, just mix in the eggs and start baking and you’ll be enjoying waffles by the time the coffee finishes brewing!

I really do love waffles (you could say, I love them a waffle lot).

I love waffles more than pancakes. And even French toast. Although German pancakes still reign as supreme brunch food in my opinion, but waffles aren’t far behind.

Within the hierarchy of waffles themselves, yeasted waffles always taste just a little bit… more. More flavorful, more fluffy, more crispy around the edges. Just, more.

Seeing as how sourdough is the queen of all yeasts, well, you can see where this is going. To be honest I’m a bit disappointed in myself that it’s taken me this long to actually make sourdough waffles (unlike sourdough pancakes which I tackled years ago).

Once you taste these overnight sourdough waffles, with their golden brown, crunchy exterior and yeasty, toothsome centers, I think you’ll agree that they have been well worth the wait.

If you like your waffles with a bit more substance and depth of flavor—no dry, flavorless styrofoam here—these sourdough waffles might just be exactly the recipe you’ve been looking for. With a perfectly golden brown, crispy exterior and a toothsome, fluffy-yet-substantial interior with a robust yeasty flavor, they truly are the pinnacle of brunch for sourdough lovers. They’re so good that you might find yourself intentionally feeding your sourdough starter a little bit extra, just so you have an excuse to make these waffles.

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The Best of 2025

See ya, 2025. Don’t let the screen door hit you on the way out! (Seriously though, what a year!)

The biggest milestone of 2025—for us at least—was the launch of Fresh Baked Puns, finally putting some of my favorite food puns on tshirts, tea towels, stickers and more (psst! If you missed it, I just added Live Laugh Loaf totes and aprons to the shop! The aprons in particular are extremely limited in quantity, so if you want one, I wouldn’t wait too long.)

I’m currently in the sketching phase for the next two designs coming very soon… let’s just say you butter be on the mailing list if you want first dibs.

Puns aside, we published only 26 recipes this year. The lowest count yet, continuing with the trend of focusing more on quality over quantity. But you know what? I’m darn proud of those 26 recipes and the work that went into them! I think I tested the pecan bars 6 times? 7 times? I honestly can’t even remember any more, I just know I went through a lot of pecans.

Anyway. I’ve done a best of post every year for the past 16 years (!!) and I’m not about to stop such a long-standing tradition despite the fact my brain is half mush—I mean, cookie dough—at this point in the year.

As for what’s in store for 2026… I already have a few recipes in the works that I know you’re going to love. I just need to hunker down and photograph the darn things. Then edit the photos. Then write the recipe and the post. Then promote it… (seriously though, every post takes hours and hours to pull together these days, no wonder I’m not publishing as frequently as I used to).

And while I’ve never been the resolutions type, I’ve got a few big goals in addition to trying to develop some better habits this coming year, including:

• Draw everyday.
• Bake more homemade bread.
• Make more homemade pasta.
• Learn to shoot with artificial light (I’m so sick of fighting the sun).
• Release at least 4 new pun designs (one every quarter).
• Figure out ways to better market myself and Fresh Baked Puns (marketing expert I am not).
• Get more recipes converted, including metric measurements (I’ve made it back to 2019… still 12 more years—and 818 more recipes—to go!)
• Eat less sugar ehhhh who are we kidding. That sweet tooth isn’t going anywhere!

What about you? What are you most excited for in the new year?

(Click through to see which recipe came out on top!)

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Homemade Peppermint Bark (Small Batch)

Peppermint bark is a satisfyingly simple holiday treat, with two gorgeous layers of dark and white chocolates and a flurry of candy cane pieces on top. Making your own from scratch is extra satisfying, with just a few ingredients and less than an hour of your time. This is a small batch recipe, requiring less than 12 ounces of chocolate in total to make an 8-inch square piece of bark, but it can easily be scaled up as needed.

There’s a reason peppermint bark is a holiday staple: it’s oh so festive, almost universally popular, and a perfect long-keeping treat for gifting or cookie exchanges (it totally counts as a cookie, in my opinion). Tied with festive twine and gorgeous gift tags (scroll to the bottom to download the free printable!) it makes an amazing gift for friends, teachers, and anyone who could use a little extra holiday sweetness.

I’ll admit, I didn’t set out to share a basic peppermint bark recipe (or as Taylor would say, a plain a$$ peppermint bark). There are easily a million and one recipes already out there on the Internet, does the world really need another one?

But as I was testing my Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookie recipe, I couldn’t find a store bought bark that wasn’t A: wildly expensive, or B: overly thick.

So I decided to make my own.

And since I was making my own peppermint bark from scratch anyway, I figured, why not kill two birds with one candy cane, and get a second post out of it? You could say it was peppermint to be! Granted, I didn’t plan on that second post turning into such a behemoth, a dissertation on peppermint bark if you will, but, alas, here we are.

(Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of this (admittedly very long) post to download the free printable gift tags!)

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Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies

When you can’t decide if you want Christmas cookies or classic peppermint bark, these dark chocolate cookies let you enjoy both at once: studded with peppermint bark pieces and topped with squares of peppermint bark for a truly festive, truly glorious cookie that’ll easily become a new holiday favorite.

These cookies are a true holiday showstopper: deeply chocolate with bits of chopped peppermint bark instead of the usual chips, plus an extra square of peppermint bark nestled on top so you know exactly what you’re biting into. And because it is a melted butter-based cookie, you can mix it by hand, no electric mixer required (and no worrying about softening butter ahead of time, either!)

I love peppermint bark… but not necessarily on its own. But making peppermint bark-ified versions of other kinds desserts, well, that I’m totally on board for (see: peppermint bark shortbread and peppermint bark brownies). Peppermint and chocolate should always go together, in my opinion!

These deeply chocolate, peppermint-infused, rich and gooey cookies are the result of years of testing. And I deeply apologize for the extended wait, because you’ll soon find this is one cookie recipe you can’t live without.

What took me so long? Well, whenever peppermint season came around I’d make a batch or two, tweaking the recipe and making it better each time, but it still wasn’t quite right. And I didn’t much feel like testing peppermint cookies come January (I’m sure you understand!) So yes, I’ve actually spent 4 years perfecting this recipe, though I’ve only made it about 5 or 6 times over that period of time.

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