summer – zezoo cooks

Peach cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese frosting

american, baking, birthday, cake, celebration, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, frosting, snack, summer, sweet, themed, vegetarian

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Just as blueberries own the month of July, for August it has got to be peaches – hands down. Peaches and nectarines dominate the farmers markets around here starting late June, and boy do they rule in August! These cupcakes adapted from smitten kitchen are one of my first “summer” bakes from a decade ago, and I can confidently say that I’ve made them – with a few tweaks here and there – every summer since. Light batter, juicy peaches, and brown sugar cream cheese frosting so perfectly matched to the cupcakes’ flavor, this one’s a keeper. I’ve made this into a layered cake for many summer birthdays over the years, and it just had to be the final installment of my seasonal cupcake project! In fact, when I started planning it, August was one of the first months I locked in with Peach (even though it was the last month in the series)!

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Blueberry cupcakes with blueberry cream cheese frosting

american, baking, birthday, celebration, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, freezer friendly, frosting, seasonal, snack, summer, sweet, themed, vegetarian

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Another no-brainer of a selection for my seasonal cupcake project – blueberries for July! No other berry, nay fruit, is better than blueberries in the month of July…at least until the peaches take over come August.

I’ve made a lot of blueberry muffins and crumb cakes over the years, and they all have a more rustic, wholesome quality to them, which I totally adore, but for these cupcakes, I wanted something more decidedly “cake” like, something more ‘dessert’ and less ‘snack’. This recipe below fits the bill perfectly. Please don’t skip the streusel-ish brown sugar and cinnamon topping – it adds amazing crunch and a really unique texture contrast with the plush cupcake and the smooth, creamy frosting! If you didn’t know already, the combination of blueberry, brown sugar and cinnamon is to die for. Now you know!

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Strawberry cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese frosting

american, baking, birthday, cake, celebration, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, frosting, seasonal, snack, spring, summer, sweet, vegetarian

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Easy, simple, summery strawberry cupcake recipe to help you zip through your strawberry picking/farmer’s market haul! What’s great about this recipe is that it can be made from strawberry puree, so if you can puree some peak season strawberries right now, you can recreate the summery feeling whenever you feel like it!

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Vegan whole wheat mango cupcakes with vegan mango frosting

american, baking, birthday, cake, cake art, celebration, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, frosting, indian, seasonal, snack, spring, summer, themed, vegan, whole grain

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For me, the month of May is all about mangoes. Growing up in India, the month of May is the peak of mango season; my mind is flooded with memories of “aamras and puri” (mango pulp and fried mini roti), mango milkshakes, “amrakhand” (the traditional shrikhand, a thick, sweetened yogurt, with a mango twist) and countless mango-based desserts and cakes that my mom made for our birthdays (my sister and I are both May-born).

So for the month of May as part of my cupcake project, the fruit of the month just had to be Mango. It didn’t matter what else is in season in California at the moment, it had to be mango! I’m always looking for delicious vegan recipes for my mom to bake in India with the ingredients easily available in India, so I decided to make these mango cupcakes vegan (and while I was at it, whole grain, with the use of whole wheat pastry flour)!

These cupcakes are light and moist with a great mango and cardamom flavor, and the mango frosting (made vegan with the use of Country Crock plant butter instead of regular dairy butter) is like cardamom-scented ball of fluff!

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Rose Cheesecake Squares (No Bake)

american, baking, cake, california, cheesecake, dessert, eggless, freezer friendly, make ahead, no bake cheesecake, snack, spring, summer, summer tea, sweet, tea pairing, vegetarian

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No-bake cheesecakes are a world of their own, so quick, fuss-free, make-ahead, endlessly adaptable and eggless to boot! The eggless aspect of it lends well to a lot of Indian-flavored desserts, something my sister experiments a lot with. She had once made individual no-bake cheesecakes in these clear dessert cups for a party, and they were very well received!

My love for rose and all flavors floral is well-documented on this site, so when this fruity and floral decaffeinated Blood Orange tea showed up in my Simple Loose Leaf tea box, this chilled, no-bake Rose Cheesecake seemed like a really good idea. The mild, tangy and creamy cheesecake lets the fruit and floral flavors shine, the buttery crust provides a good contrast for the sharp and bright flavors, and the coolness of the cake makes it perfect for the upcoming warm weather, where the last thing you want to do is turn on the oven!

The crust is a simple, no-bake one with Nilla wafers (or you can use graham crackers or any neutral, buttery cracker), butter and a pinch of salt. The filling is softened, whipped cream cheese, with whipped cream for extra lift, and flavored with citrus zest (I used lemon, but orange or blood orange would be even better) and rose water/extract. Assembled in the fridge for 4-6 hours, or ideally overnight, this cheesecake is ready to go in all its glory for your teatime and dessert needs – no water baths, collapsed fillings, soggy crusts.

Shall we?

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Lavender and Lemon Scones

american, baking, black tea, breakfast, british, freezer friendly, mother's day, scones and biscuits, snack, spring, summer, sweet, tea pairing, vegetarian

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Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links to Simple Loose Leaf products. ZezooCooks may receive a commission if purchases are made via these links (at no additional cost to you)!

You can use my discount code AMRUTA10 to get 10% off a one-time purchase on @simplelooseleaf teas via links in my post!

Buy this delicious tea here! To browse many other Spring and Summer teas, check out the Simple Loose Leaf website!

I bake scones and biscuits quite often, and all year round. Scones make beautiful centerpieces for breakfasts, brunches and tea parties, easy to make ahead, freeze and bake just when needed, ready to shine on their own or play second fiddle to fancy jams and spreads just the same. Their southern, savory cousin, the biscuit, is equally praise worthy, brilliant with scrambled eggs and crumbled bacon, or humble supporters of winter stew, studded with bits of goat cheese.

None of these recipes are written on the blog, and in an attempt to remedy that, here we have some Lavender and Lemon Cream Scones with a Lavender and Lemon glaze! These scones are also an answer to another question – what would go really well with the oh-so-divine Blue Lady Grey tea in my next Simple Loose Leaf box! For the past few weeks, I paired 4 of their select black teas with 4 new recipes. We are on to the next box, so watch this space for more tea pairings!

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