Sprinkle Bakes

Heather Baird's blog Sprinkle Bakes is, very simply, about making dessert beautiful. A boon to anyone who's suffered the humiliation of failed desserts -- from misshapen layer cake to toppled croquembouche -- Heather's blog aims to soothe our frustrations and fears with beautiful tutorials, step-by-step instructions and recipes for bakers at all levels. 

In a post about her first Daring Bakers challenge, Heather documents -- in gorgeous detail -- a fully homemade tiramisu: making her own lady fingers, espresso-dusted chocolate curls, even mascarpone cheese from scratch (it's as easy as making your own ricotta -- which is to say it's as easy as adding lemon juice to hot milk). Also, don't miss her tutorial on how to make chocolate dessert cups using water balloons (complete with animated gif!).

Before she was a pastry artist and blogger, Heather was an aspiring painter, working in galleries for local artisans. She still paints, but now channels her creativity into assembling, styling and shooting the sweet works of art that fill her blog.

And the sprinkles? Heather explains, "Maybe it's the kid inside me that never went out, or the kid outside me that never went in. However you want to look at it, I love sprinkles of any kind. They are joyful, colorful, interesting, special. And concerning dessert, that's just how I like it."