Sprinkles on a Sunday

The Face Behind The Batter

Sat, 08 Mar 2025 02:46:12 GMT

Are you ready for a peek inside the heart, the flour, and the slow-baked passion behind Honeysuckle Bakeri?

In this charming little kitchen, you will find flour dusting the counter, a custom playlist humming in the corner, and a kitchen scale that gets treated with absolute, unyielding respect (most of the time).

Honeysuckle Bakeri is all about classic recipes with a stubborn, rule-bending twist, slow-chilled dough, uncompromising details, and zero patience for fluff.

Pull up a chair, grab a glass of sweet tea, and get to know the face behind the batter in this interview with the founder & owner of Honeysuckle Bakeri, Chelsea Camille.

Is there a special story of how you came up with the name Honeysuckle Bakeri?
It really all comes down to that feeling of a warm, lazy afternoon. I wanted a name that sounded sweet, a little bit nostalgic, and tied right back to those simple things, taking you right back to the days when you would pull over at a random field on the side of the road on a sunny afternoon to pick wild blackberries and sample that sweet honeysuckle nectar.

And as for the quirky "i" at the end? Let's just say we like to bend the rules a little bit around here, starting right with the spelling.

What is your earliest baking Memory?
Baking fabulous cakes in my Easy-Bake Oven, of course! In all seriousness, I have fond memories of making those old-school star-decorated birthday cakes with homemade buttercream frosting. Those early kitchen days taught me patience long before I tried waiting for a cookie to cool down. And while people offered to pay for my cakes, my household didn’t encourage the pursuit, and I recently rediscovered my passion when I launched Honeysuckle Bakeri.

What does a typical baking day look like behind the scenes?

"Typical day" is a contradictory phrase around here, because no two days ever look the same. Running a home bakery that provides high-quality custom orders while balancing another creative endeavor with weird hours means my schedule shifts right along with whatever sweet treat is on the agenda for the week. I start from scratch each day and keep it moving at a steady, deliberate pace from the mixing bowls to the final boxing .

What is your favorite thing to bake, and why does it hold that spot?

Macarons take the spotlight for me. They require scientific precision with simple ingredients, artistic expression, and have a full flavor impact. While they are notoriously difficult to make, I love the challenge, and it is very rewarding to make a perfectly structured cookie and see its feet rise.

When you bite into a perfectly made macaron with the full punch of flavor, everything around you stops, as you have a full experience, savoring the moment. And that feeling, it’s pretty hard to beat.

What is your fa vorite kitchen gadget, and why?

The kitchen scale, hands down. It is the backbone of my kitchen.

Using a measuring cup to get the right amount of flour is more of a guessing game than you'd think. This can be a challenge with recipes that are more sensitive, and a scale helps me lock down measurements for consistent bakes.

When portioning out cookie sizes, the kitchen scale allows me to divvy up the dough into an exact weight so customers get exactly what they pay for, and never accidentally less than their neighbor.

What is the biggest misconception people have about baking from scratch?

There is a sweet little misconception that scratch baking is either a quick, throw-it-together shortcut or just an ultra-heavy sugar bomb. When you grow up on store-bought treats, it’s easy to think "homemade" just means extra sweet. But genuine scratch baking is actually a craft of patience and balance. When you slow down, use quality ingredients, and pay attention to technique, it opens a whole world of deep, nuanced flavors that a box mix, or a rushed recipe just can't touch.

What playlist or podcast keeps you going during a long baking session?

I prefer blasting good tunes in the kitchen, whether it's early morning or late evening. And I have curated two different playlists on Spotify that keep the timers ticking and the kitchen humming.

Honeysuckle Country <– Listen Now

The soundtrack to long, sunlit stretches of rolling out dough and hunting for wild blackberries

Sprinkles on a Sunday: Proof & Rising <– Listen Now

Sunlight, Sunday stillness, and a joyful little riot of grace. Proof that what He starts always rises, bringing a sweet kind of havoc to the ordinary

What is your go-to tip for somebody trying to bake at home?

Give yourself some grace, and embrace those happy mistakes. Some of the best recipes are total accidents.

One of our popular cookie doughs at Honeysuckle Bakeri was born due to a creative kitchen pivot. While testing out a batch of chocolate sugar cookie dough, I realized that I was woefully short on cocoa powder. Figuring espresso enhances chocolate, I swapped the missing cocoa powder for espresso powder, and BAM—the espresso sugar cookie dough was born.

While I completely failed at making a chocolate cookie dough, it turned into an exceptional espresso sugar cookie dough that became a fan favorite, especially for those looking to break the rules around sugar cookies.

Team Cookie: Hot out of the oven or fully cooled?

That's hard to answer. My eagerness and impatience have me reaching for them straight out of the oven, but you don't get the full flavor and its complexities until the cookie has fully cooled. And let's be real, patience is an extreme sport when there's a pan of warm cookies sitting right in front of you.

Honeysuckle Bakeri aims to create treats that elevate the senses, helping the world to turn slower, savoring each special moment of life. It’s all about embracing those perfect imperfections, celebrating those happy accidents, having a willingness to break the rules, and having a little fun along the way.

Confetti Mug Cake

Sat, 08 Mar 2025 02:46:12 GMT

That pesky sweet tooth always hits with a vengeance when I decide to eat healthy and not get anything sweet that week. And let's face it, my vanilla yogurt won't even take the edge off cravings like these.

This confetti mug cake is the perfect little celebration in a cup that you savor with that closed-eye sigh of joy. It comes together in under five minutes, from grabbing the ingredients to taking that first bite of confetti mug cake.

If you’ve only ever had the hyper-sugary versions, this approach is a total revelation. Whether this is your first pitcher or a staple you have been wanting to refine, it takes all of the guesswork out of this classic. Yielding a smooth, refreshing tea made for lingering a little longer around the table.

I have found the perfect trick to make this confetti mug cake taste like a boutique bakery birthday cake, and I always have the ingredients in my pantry. Needless to say, it quickly earned its spot as a signature fixture in my kitchen, and you can find me dancing in the kitchen when I remember this cake as that sweet tooth strikes.

This little cake comes together fast without a pile of dishes, and with a few not-so-secret techniques, you can capture that soft, delicious boutique bakery fluff right in your favorite mug.

Notes from the Kitchen

1. Diversify Your Sugar

Dark brown sugar is easily one of my favorite unsung ingredients. Diversifying your sugar in a recipe instantly balances the sweetness, giving you that cozy sweet-tooth fix without being overwhelming. Plus, the natural molasses adds depth of flavor and locks in moisture, so your bakes stay soft without extra liquids.

2. Confetti Throughout, Not Just on Top

Having sprinkles throughout the batter makes every bite feel like a party. They bring all the fun while creating tiny pockets of moisture throughout the cake as it bakes.

3. Steal the Bakery Flavor Secret

To get that high-end boutique bakery birthday cake flavor right in your kitchen, use my secret ingredient: Princess Cake Bakery Emulsion. Using the bakery emulsion alongside your vanilla extract brings that cozy blend of almond, vanilla, and subtle citrus notes that turns a 2-minute cake into a total celebration.

4. Go Big on the Mug

Don't let the batter fool you! This cake loves to make a grand entrance, so grab a roomy 12 – 16 oz mug and give it space to put on a show. The batter will puff up over the top of the mug before settling, so giving it plenty of room is the key to keeping all that fluffy cake inside your mug.

Single-Serve Confetti Mug Cake Recipe

Prep time: 3 mins Bake time: 2 mins Yield: 1 Mug cake

Ingredients:

6 Tbsp Flour

2 Tbsp Granulated Sugar

1 Tbsp Brown Sugar

½ tsp ( heaping ) Baking Powder

⅛ tsp Salt

4 Tbsp Milk

1½ Tbsp Oil

½ – 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 tsp ( optional ) Princess Cake Bakery Emulsion

Handful Sprinkles (jimmies)

Directions:

Select Your Mug: Select your favorite 12–16 oz coffee mug
Mix Dry Ingredients: Flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Give it a good whisk.
Add Wet Ingredients: Once your dry ingredients are fully mixed, add in your wet ingredients: milk, oil, vanilla extract, and bakery emulsion, and mix well.
Sprinkle in the Sprinkles: Gently fold in a handful of sprinkles. After folding them in, sprinkle a little more on top.
Bake It: Pop the mug in the microwave for 2 minutes.
Enjoy : Let cool for a minute or two so you don't burn your tongue, and enjoy!

Save this recipe for your counter!

Keep this staple close by and keep a clean printable recipe card for your kitchen journal or fridge door.

Old Fashioned Southern Sweet Tea

Sat, 08 Mar 2025 02:46:12 GMT

The perfect Southern sweet tea has a strong, robust black tea flavor that's subtly sweet, and my great-grandmother brewed it to perfection. And today, I’m sharing my great-grandmother’s secret to a rich, perfectly balanced recipe.

Over time, many sweet tea recipes shifted heavily toward extra sugar, which often hides the bold, beautiful tea flavor underneath. If you've ever found yourself ordering a glass half-sweet and half-unsweetened tea to get a balanced drink, you know the feeling!

Making true, old-fashioned sweet tea is wonderfully simple, and there is a sweet little art to getting it just right. The secret lies in when and how you craft it.

The Bakeri Chemistry: Why This Method Works

1. The "Plus One" Tea Bag Rule

Standard box instructions often yield a pale brew with a faint flavor. To create a deep, amber hue and a strong black tea foundation, we always add one extra tea bag beyond what the box recommends. Whether brewing a half-gallon or a full gallon, that extra bag ensures the bold tea flavor stands tall.

2. The Hot-Steep Secret

Adding your sugar directly into the piping-hot water before steeping allows the crystals to fully dissolve and bloom. Dissolving sugar in hot liquid amplifies its sweetness once chilled, giving you a deeply satisfying, sweet flavor while using less sugar overall.

3. A Pinch of Baking Soda

Strong black tea can carry a sharp acidic punch. The hidden secret in Great-Grandmother’s kitchen was adding the tiniest pinch of baking soda right at the end. It neutralizes just enough of that natural acidity to round out the flavor.

My Great-Grandmother's Old-Fashioned Sweet Tea Recipe

Prep time: 5 mins | Steep time: 15 mins | Yield: 1 Gallon

Ingredients:

5 Medium Tea Bags

½ Cup Granulated Sugar

½ Cup Brown Sugar

Tiniest Pinch Baking Soda

1 gallon Water

Directions:

Boil the Water: In a small/medium saucepan, bring 6 cups of water to a rolling boil.
Dissolve the Sugar: Once boiling, turn off the stove and immediately mix in the sugar with a wooden spoon
Steep the Tea: After the sugar dissolves, add the 5 tea bags to the hot water and let them steep undisturbed for 12- 15 minutes to draw out that rich flavor. If you forget it and it brews longer, no worries!
Transfer to Your Pitcher: After tea has steeped, gently lift out the tea bags (no need to squeeze them!), and pour your concentrated tea base into a one-gallon pitcher.
The Smooth Secret: Add the tiniest pinch of baking soda (a whisper between your fingers) to the tea and gently stir.
Top it Off and Chill : Fill the pitcher to the gallon line, or add 10 cups of water and stir. Place the tea in the fridge to chill.
Serve : Grab your favorite glass for you and your guests, pour in your tea (with or without ice), and enjoy!

Save this recipe for your counter!

Keep this staple close by and keep a clean printable recipe card for your kitchen journal or fridge door.