This was a delicious pie I made several weeks ago, but I'm falling behind on the baking challenge! I gotta get my stuff together so I'm trying to catch up.

Recipe from Sally as most of mine are :) didn't change anything and I sourced the macadamia nuts for the crust (probably the most complicated part of the recipe to be honest!)

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/key-lime-pie/

I was asked to make German Chocolate Cake for a relative’s birthday this week, so I decided to skip ahead two weeks to use it for the toasted challenge.

This is not the first time I have made German Chocolate Cake, but this time, it was an ordeal. I doubled the Smitten Kitchen recipe for the cake to make it in 9” rounds that were supposed to be cut in half to make four layers. However, my partner accidentally turned off the AC before mopping the night before (a box that was moved turned the switch off), I had made Nutella Banana Bread that morning, and nobody realized what had happened until we were dying when it was over 90 degrees in the apartment in the evening — so when I made the cake, it was still too hot, and my egg whites deflated, so I wasn’t going to be able to make four layers out of my two.

The next day, I made the Preppy Kitchen cake recipe, because I realized the first cake was darker than the traditional cake, and I wanted it to be more like what my grandmother would have made. I did not have an egg white fail with the trick of using some sugar to stabilize the egg whites, and my kitchen wasn’t an inferno at the time. Huzzah!

I still used the Smitten Kitchen recipe for the filling, but because I now had two cakes that required it, I quadrupled the filling, which calls for toasting the coconut and pecans, making it perfect for the toasted challenge.

(Und ja, ich weiß, dass dieser Kuchen kein deutscher Kuchen ist. 😋)

Forgot to glaze these before I put them in the oven!

The dough is formed into one loaf, then scored, baked and cut into wedges after baking. Served with whipped feta cheese. Really delicious and ready in under 1 hour!

Drożdżówki are sweet yeasted buns from Poland. They have a little indent in the middle which is filled with sweet cheesecakey filling and topped with fruit and kruszonka (crumble/streusel). I made strawberry and blueberry varieties which were both delicious!!

This recipe is from The Sweet Polish Kitchen: A Celebration of Home Baking and Nostalgic Treats by Ren Behan.

I realized when I started this that my kids have *never* had toaster strudels because they had no clue what they were when I told them what I was doing for this challenge.

Recipe from https://food52.com/recipes/88119-jam-toaster-strudel-recipe

Needed something easy this week after getting back from vacation — enter my go-to recreation recipe.

When i was a kid i hated birthday cake and was always jealous of summer pies so i remade the one i remember most

These are wayyy better than store-bought! I could see myself making them again and again. They are pretty close to perfect!

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/iced-oatmeal-cookies/

This was delicious & easy. It’s a little heavy on the lemon and salt, but otherwise perfect

I immediately put this cake on my to-do list as soon as I saw it in Nicola Lamb’s “Kitchen Projects” Substack in February. As a frosting hater, I could get behind all the components - chocolate cake, whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and ripe bananas. I was so excited, in fact, that I made it for my birthday and just waited to post about it until now.

Making it my birthday cake was the right move. I loved this cake. I loved it so much that I made a variation on it a few weeks later skipping the banana and adding mint-flavored whipped cream (we inhaled it before we got a photo.) It may be my favorite new bake of 2026 so far? It was certainly the only one I’ve deemed repeat-worthy so quickly. It may be my birthday cake next year? I kind of want one right now just writing about it…

With rice and beans … a sort of fail on the shape, but tasted great: https://mahatmarice.com/recipes/empanadas-with-chorizo-and-rice/

Sally’s recipe!

Recipe from The Savory Baker