I baked Orange Pecan Biscotti on Monday, using the zest and some juice of two Cara Cara oranges. I discovered this variety last year. They are sweet and delicious, and I will never go back to regular naval oranges in my baking. I had baked this recipe last year, so I kept my tweaks and reduced the sugar a bit from 1 ½ cups to 1 1/3 cups.

I also baked a Crumb-Topped Apple Pie with most of my remaining Winesap apples that needed to be used. I wanted to have a pie for Pi Day tomorrow!

One of my best friends is in the area and will visit us tomorrow, stay overnight, then continue her trip. She cannot have dairy, so on Tuesday, I baked Honey Oatmeal Rolls, a recipe that I adapted from the King Arthur site. I used oat milk in place of the milk, and I substituted 3 Tbs. avocado oil for the butter (as I always do these days). I cut the salt to 1 tsp., the yeast down to 2 tsp., and replaced 2 cups of the AP flour with whole wheat and used bread flour for the rest. My husband and I will sample them with the stew tonight.

That chicken pot pie looked delicious, Mike.

I haven't any ideas on how to cut chocolate so that it does not break up, Aaron, so I'll wait and see what others say.

I baked the King Arthur Favorite Fudge Birthday Cake on Thursday for my husband's birthday on Friday. I used olive oil for 2/3 of the oil (other third was canola), and instead of King Arthur flour and cornstarch, I used Gold Medal AP flour for both. The result is a lovely, tender cake.

My husband and I discussed the glaze. While the KABC version is wonderful, it is also quite heavy on saturated fat, and there are only two of us to eat the cake. I gave him the option of a half-recipe (6-inch) cake or the glaze I used on the Valentine's cake. He chose the latter, so I increased it by a third, so that I would have enough for the center and top of the cake (no split layers). I also used buttermilk rather than regular milk. It went very well with this cake, so I will do it again. Indeed, I think that the original frosting to some extent overwhelms the cake, so that it does not get as much appreciation.

The ingredients were 2 cups of powdered sugar, which I then sifted into the bowl. 5 Tbs. + 1 tsp. double dark cocoa powder (also measured then sifted), 4 Tbs. buttermilk, and 2 tsp. of vanilla. I beat well with a hand mixer.

My only concern is that the new frosting tastes a bit strongly of the powdered sugar to me (my husband does not notice it), so I need to figure out how to neutralize that and get more of the chocolate flavor to the fore. Any ideas?