Paleo desserts are tricky. Some say you shouldn’t do them at all. But sometimes you do need a treat- especially celebratory occasions! That’s why this recipe is so great- it is a whole food dessert- you are not altering the ingredients to be something they aren’t already. You are just combining them in a tasty (and adorable) way. So you can enjoy this without any feelings of guilt whatsoever. I know I do!

This dessert can also be a fun surprise. If no one knows that it is a watermelon, when you slice it open and see that shocking red people are always surprisingly excited. I speak from experience on this. The other great thing is that it is quick and easy. It takes very little work at all. I love when you get more benefits from your efforts. Less is more, right?

So the next time you have something to celebrate, or just find a really delicious watermelon, treat yourself to this fabulous dessert!

Really you only need two ingredients to make a great watermelon cake:

• a watermelon, and
• full-fat canned coconut milk.

And that’s all you need to make the best paleo dessert ever. Simplicity wins!

I usually add a splash of vanilla extract to spice up the flavor a little, but it isn’t necessary. And paleo purists will say not to have vanilla extract at all. But to each their own.

I’ve made this cake on more than one occasion. Most recently on Easter. Adding the whipped “cream” can be tricky. It doesn’t always listen to what you want. But I think I’ve mastered a technique that works.

The key to successfully frosting your watermelon is the right spatula.

Okay, that’s not the entire technique. But it is important. The next thing that makes the frosting stick is to work from the bottom up. You want to make the frosting thickest on the bottom, and pull up from there. Once you get a rhythm going, you will have no problem at all.

This cake is super amazing, and anyone you make it for will love it. It is perfect for summer and quick and easy to throw together. I hope you enjoy making and eating it! If you do- send me pictures and I will feature them on the blog!

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Well I’ve seen lots of cute Harry Potter cupcakes, and I’ve seen snitch themed things from candies to cake pops. I wanted to do something I hadn’t seen before.

One of my favorite silly treats in the book was Weasly’s Wizard Wheeze’s canary creams. When you eat one, you temporarily turn into a canary. How great is that? A fun, delicious treat, and a harmless prank.

Well, Ron and George wouldn’t let me share the incantation they use to make the cookies turn you into a canary because it’s a trade secret. But, you can make the cookies, and then try to figure it out yourself.

When I bake I usually use measuring cups, but I used my kitchen scale for this recipe, and I found it to be much easier! I’m definitely going to have to use it more often. I’ve only been using it for beauty recipes, but man, it’s great for baking! No worrying about leveling off your measuring cup perfectly- just pouring slowly onto the scale until you get the right amount. I highly recommend it for this recipe.

Here is what the dough should look like when it is ready to be rolled out! You just need to bring it together in a ball with your hands and then roll it out between two pieces of parchment paper.
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How cute are these canaries? This is the cookie cutter I used.

And here they are puffed up and baked. There’s always the worry when you use a cutter that the baked version won’t look as good as the raw dough- but this recipe is perfect for cutting shapes. 

Mmm- look at that frosting! So so so thick.

And with a little food dye… it’s canary yellow! The perfect color for the cream part of the canary cream. 

And next is the easiest and most fun step- decorating! To make the cream cookie sandwiches just spread a thick layer of frosting and stack another cookie on top!

They’re pretty darn cute as is.. but as always with me I had to keep going and do more cookie decorating. Frosting is just so much fun to work with. And sprinkles. And there was a lot of frosting left over so really- it would have been wasteful not to do more decorating.

Ok.. so here is what you’ve been waiting for. I got the recipe from Gluten Free on a Shoestring

To make the decorations on my cookies, I just put some yellow and red frosting into ziplock bags and cut a tiny tiny piece off the corner of the bag. I then piped the designs onto the cookies. Aren’t they adorable?

The ziplock makeshift pastry bags are super easy to use.

I think Harry will appreciate these for his birthday. It will bring him back to his Gryffindor days. He sure loves to reminisce.

Happy birthday Harry!

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The Fourth of July is probably my favorite holiday. I have so many memories of going to the parade, and barbecues, and the fireworks. It is always a great time spent with family and friends. And my hometown, Glenview, has the best fireworks ever. Seriously. Their parade rocks too. Have you ever seen the Jesse White Tumblers? They’re amazing! They are always in our parade.

You don’t believe I love the fourth of July that much? Here’s proof:

Yes, I did wear this getup, unironically, when I was 16 on the Fourth of July. Note the handmade hat, cape, and patriotically colored shoes.

Anyways, isn’t the best way to celebrate a fun holiday with a cute well-themed dessert? I would definitely say so. And this one qualifies as cute, gluten free, and delicious. With a few modifications, it could easily be paleo. You think you can’t make a good, easy, gluten free pie from scratch? Well, you would be wrong.

I realize a cherry pie would have been more patriotic, but I happened to have strawberries that I needed to use up so this is a strawberry pie. And seriously, your taste buds won’t regret it.

Making the crust. I just love almond flour. It’s definitely my go-to gluten free flour. Here it is after I’ve pulsed it a few times in the food processor.

And here is what the pie crust dough looks like when it is ready.

Ah, I can almost taste the coconuty-ness from here. I love that you don’t have to roll this pie crust out with a rolling pin and then try hard to get it perfect. Just pat it into the pan and smooth it down with a spatula. Easy.

Here I used the extra crust to make the stripes for the pie. It’s a good idea to make an extra stripe, just in case.

This is the strawberry filling once it is ready. This is just after it boiled and I took it off the heat.

Check out that beautiful pie crust. Golden brown on the edges and everything.

I laid out the stripes here so you can see how they will go on the pie to make a flag.

I almost considered just stopping at this point because the pie was so beautiful on its own. But temptation won over and I had to keep going with my pie decoration and finish my original concept. I put it in the fridge for about an hour before I added toppings.

I trimmed the stripes to the correct size and added blueberries. You could stop at this point, as it already makes a pretty convincing flag. But I was having fun so next I added…

White chocolate chips on top of the blueberries as stars. But that wasn’t enough. I wanted the pie stripes to actually be white.

I laid out paper towels so I could sprinkle powdered sugar over the stripes without getting it on the other parts of the pie.

And I have to say, I’m happy with the final result!

This pie was too fun to make. And even more fun to eat. Mm, give me strawberries with a bit of honey any day! I usually like fresh strawberries, but this pie filling was decadent and delicious.

What’s your favorite Fourth of July Tradition? Let me know!

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I love cute food. But I have a sweet spot (pun intended) for cute desserts. They are especially cute because they also taste amazing, and they’re a treat. And you can usually use the most fun colors and interesting items on cute desserts.

Well, the problem is, most of the fabulous cakes I see online are the awesome professional cakes with fondant that are ridiculous. Ridiculously amazing, but also difficult. I’ve tried my hand at decorating with fondant and it’s fun but intensive. And my cakes never look like the fabulous ones on pinterest.

So I thought it would be a lot of fun to make a post of easy cake decorating ideas. I’m not talking crazy fondant cakes here… these are cakes us mere mortals can easily make. I honestly think that every person out there, no matter how creatively or craft-challenged, could make something adorable off this list.

So here are my Top 10 favorite easy cake decorating ideas:

1. Watermelon Cake

This is one of my favorites. First of all, because it’s fast an easy. Second of all, it’s healthier than cake. And third, I love watermelon. And you get the surprise factor. I’ve made this myself before, and though it wasn’t as cute as I Save A to Z’s version, it was pretty darn awesome.

2. Powdered Sugar Words

You make this cake by making a stencil of letters, and then using powdered sugar for the words. You can also make all kinds of powdered sugar designs, other than words. But this one from Fairgoods is absolutely adorable. Treat yo self.

3. Dirt Cake in a Pot

My best friend has a tradition of having this dirt cake every year on her birthday. Her grandmother makes it in a flower pot, with fake flowers, and uses a clean shovel to serve it. It’s ridiculously adorable. This version is from Martha Stewart. You can’t go wrong with oreos, pudding, and gummy worms.

4. Sprinkle Numbers

 Who needs to spend money on those number candles when you can just use sprinkles and cookie cutters to make any numbers you need? This sprinkle cake from This Little Life of Mine is too adorable.

5. Decorating with Fruit

Everyone can slice a bunch of strawberries right? And it’s easy enough to place them in a circle like this. What you get is this gorgeous strawberry flower cake. Lick the Bowl Good definitely shows how a little effort can go a long way.

6. Decorating with Candy

This kit kat cake by Recipe Girl is super forgiving. You can frost and mess up as much as you want, but it still looks perfect. And you can wrap a bow around it! What’s not to love?

7. Decorating with Cookies

Vanilla wafers and twizzlers make this awesome balloon cake. You can frost as many of the wafers and mess them up, and use only the best ones on the cake. No worry about frosting mistakes! Better Homes and Gardens came up with the perfect frosting do-over.

8. Rainbow Cake

Ok, so this cake from Pixelated Crumb is probably a little more effort than the other cakes on the list. But, still anyone can do it. All you need is a white cake mix and food dye. You don’t have to limit yourself to rainbow- you could do any combination of colors. And nothing will beat the smile on someone’s face when they see the surprise when they cut the cake!

9. Cereal Polka Dot Cake

Dash Mandy came up with the brilliant idea to use cereal for a pom pom polka dot effect on this cake. Zero effort, tons of awesomeness. I assume she used trix for the pom poms, but go nuts with cereal creation ideas!

10. Gum Stick Letters

Mleballard & Family used chewing gum to make letters on this birthday cake. No worries about messing around with frosting letters here, anyone can make this! And it’s super awesome.

Have you made any awesome easy-to-decorate cakes? I would love to see! Leave a comment or send an email with a picture!

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So I invented this dessert while writing my post on Top Ten Uses for Three Ingredient Paleo Naan. I thought that it might be awesome because three ingredient paleo naan is so simple and delicious and versatile, so I just tried it out. And it was even more amazing than I could have expected.

Seriously, how can something only sweetened with a small amount of honey be so amazing? It’s because strawberries are amazing. And so is coconut oil. And coconut milk. And when they all come together in this recipe they make magic.

If you need an easy paleo dessert that will give you a lot of taste for not too much effort, this is the recipe for you.

First, you mix the ingredients for the pastry crust- the coconut milk, tapioca starch, and almond flour. 

Then start cooking the naan on low-medium heat in a frying pan greased with coconut oil. Cook it only half way through.

While the naan is cooking in the pan, cut up the strawberries into small pieces and grease a cookie sheet with coconut oil. (You could also use parchment paper instead of coconut oil).

Cut the naan in half, with the cooked side facing down. Add strawberries and roll up into your desired shape. Add glaze, and make sure some gets on top and inside of the pastry. Then cook! And that’s all it takes.

Aren’t they beautiful? They taste even better than they look, if you can believe it.

Here is the full recipe:

Yum. My mouth is watering looking at this picture. And my stomach is starting to growl. I should go make some more of these.

You could also try making these with different fillings- any other fruit or even chocolate or nutella. That sounds crazy amazing. My mouth is watering all over again. I need to go eat something. And then make some more of these pastries.

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When I first went off of gluten, I seriously craved some good baked goods. It’s hard to like the grocery-bought stuff when you remember the taste and texture of wheat cookies, cakes, and breads. This recipe enlightened me to the amazingness of gluten free (and also grain free!) baking.

I don’t have step-by-step pictures, so hopefully I can add them later in an updated version of this post. What I do have is an amazing recipe.

First off- let me say- whoever told you that flour belongs in peanut butter cookies in any form was FLAT OUT WRONG. Wrong I say! Taste these and you will immediately know why.

Delicious with chocolate chips

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