Happy Challahween Shabbat!

Happy Challahween... This year I hosted a Callahween shabbat dinner for my parents...Mom and I made two amazing sweet challahs and tried a few new recipes. One of them included another Paula Dean favorite! Phyllo Wrapped Asparagus...For dessert, it was sweet sugar cookies, of course in the shape of little pumpkins. Notice the little halloween napkins-Nordstrom Rack $1.99...I couldn't resist myself.


The Story behind the phyllo wrapped asparagus: My mom was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer in August so needless to say she hasn't had a lot of energy nor has she had a desire to cook. One day she was watching the Food Networks, Homecookin' with Paula Dean, and saw her making this recipe. She called to tell me that seeing Paula make these asparagus bundles made her want to cook again. When we decided that mom and dad were going to spend the weekend with me I knew we had to make this dish. So Mom sat on a stool and brushed the Phyllo with butter while I wrapped the asparagus inside the dough, when I finished wrapping all the stalks, mom topped the bundles off with some extra freshly grated parmasean cheese. Together we made these tasty little bundles and they were Mmmm Mmmm Good! Thanks Mom and Dad for a wonderful stayvcation at my new home! I love you both.

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 8 or 9 asparagus spears, depending on size (We used the thick ones)
  
• 1/2 (16-ounce) package frozen phyllo dough sheets, thawed
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan (We used probably a cup and doubled the rest of the recipe)
  

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Snap off the tough ends of the asparagus. Unwrap the phyllo and cut the stack in half lengthwise. Reserve 1 stack for later use. Cover the phyllo with a damp towel to keep it from drying out. Take 1 sheet of phyllo and brush lightly with some melted butter. Sprinkle with some Parmesan. Place 2 to 3 asparagus spears on the short end of the sheet. Roll up, jelly-roll style. Place each piece, seam side down, on a baking sheet. Brush with more melted butter and sprinkle with more Parmesan. Repeat until all the asparagus spears are used up. Place baking sheet in oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy.

Tory Burch's Newest line...

Can you say The Tory Burch Smore's Choclate Cake with a Graham Cracker Crust...This 30th birthday day cake can and did!

30 is the new 20...

Jay-Z has coined the statement "30 is the new 20"- even if you dont know who Jay-Z is, my guess is-if you are 29 to 39 years of age you would agree with this statement...I most certainly do. Who wouldn't want to be in their twenties again but with the wisdom and knowledge of their 30's!
New: Cookie Platters prices vary depending on size of cookies 10-12 cookies $26.00

Noah's Vader...

About a week ago a girlfriend of mine called and asked me to make her son's birthday cake. I said sure no problem! Well I had no idea what I was getting myself into but after it was all said and done I had the best time. This was the first time I had baked in a long while and boy o boy did it feel good to be back in the kitchen. With a little help from a fellow caker and my friend Natalie, Vader was a hit!

Here comes the bride...and her cake!

This past Saturday I completed my first wedding cake...I have to say for someone who has never stacked a cake before I did pretty well-THANK YOU EDNA FROM YOUTUBE!

Cake was chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet with traditional buttercream icing.

The torte (which for those of you who were once like me and clueless as to what "to torte" means, it just splitting the cake into its layers) and icing process began on Friday at about 2PM and concluded Saturday morning at 1:30AM. The final touches were completed Saturday between 6AM and 12PM before the 1PM wedding.

I had a few Opps moments during this process. The most memorable was realizing that my bottom tier was 2 inches too short. Industry standard for a wedding cake are a minimum of 4 inch tiers. I had almost two and one eighths with icing in the middle...So in the middle of everything I had to make another 14 inch round chocolate cake.

It all came together including the Monogrammed pearl cake topper that I make minutes before the wedding. All in all it was a success. The bride and groom were so happy which made every minute worth it.

Now all I need is a picture of the actual cake...my camera died as soon as I finished stacking the tiers.

Here's one that I took with my phone before the final touches!

Baby takes the cake!!!

I wanted to do something special for our friends Joanna & Jay in honor of their wedding and the coming of their unborn blueberry (AKA baby). Their gift basket included white onesies accented with green sanding sugar. Also included in the basket were three-tiered wedding cake sugar cookies that had piped ribbons on the top two tiers and their initials monogrammed o the bottom tiered also accented with clear sanding sugar crystals. The outer rim of the basket held 16 devils food chocolate cake pops with a vanilla shell and green squiggles to finish off the pops.

For Joanna, Jay, Jet, Elle, and the little blueberry who has yet to arrive.

Happy Birthday Sara!!

It is always a pleasure to make sweet treats for friends and family. This weekend I had the pleasure of baking for two special occasions. First, was Sara's 29th birthday dinner and the second was a bridal/baby shower.
The cat you see in the picture above was on the evite Sara sent out. I was asked to make the cookies on Tuesday and since the party didn't have a specific theme I was originally going to make three-tierd birthday cake cookies but it just didn't speak to my soul so I slept on it...the next morning at about 5:45AM while I was RSVPing to her dinner I saw the cat and the rest is history. I made my own cookie cutter that morning and the cookies were delivered first thing Friday morning!

I was unable to attend the dinner but late that evening I received the following text message "Thank u so much for the amazing COOKIES!!!!! They were a huge hit!!!! They not only looked incredible but they tasted amazing too!" -Sara

Your welcome Sara-Happy birthday!

Bridal Shower Mini-Dessert Bar

Congratulations to my friend, Meghan, who is getting married at the end of August. Meghan asked me to bake her dessert for her bridal shower. Meghan's mom gave me carte blanche to be as creative as I would like. I was honored and decided to take a stab at a mini dessert table inspired by AmyAtlas.

White chocolate and Milk Chocolate dipped pretzels with pink and blue squizzles to match the invitation.

Mini Dessert Bar Menu: Chocolate and vanilla cake pops coated with white and milk chocolate bark sprinkled with hot pink non-pareils or blue chocolate squiggles. Each cake pop was accented with an individual tag matching the front of the invitation. These beautiful cake pops were inspired by Bakerella's red velvet cake pops. Chocolate dipped pretzels as featured above. My no fail sugar cookie recipe adapted from Elisa Strauss' Confetti Cakes Cookbook with traditional royal icing in the shape of a wedding dress. At the last minute I added the time treasured rice crispy treats made Alexis' way with just a little extra marshmallow on top of each square and sprinkled with the hot pink non-pareils.

My humble beginnings with Fondant...

The purple boxes (my first fondant cakes) were made for one of my best friends 30th birthday dinner.

The purple bow cupcakes and purple Orchid cake were my 1st fondant covered cupcakes and my second fondant cake which I made for another best friend's 30th birthday. I also made the cupcake tower out of Styrofoam and ribbon.

My third fondant cake was the blue "Tiffany" like box which was made "just because" I wanted to test out my newly arrived can of Choco-pan. I had never used cocoa-pan fondant before and couldn't wait to test it out. I think I received it in the mail from my favorite online shop Global Sugar Art the night before I made the cake.

Finally the pink and brown cake was made for another one of my best friends' baby shower. The gal was made out of fondant and her dress was hand-painted to match the dress my friend actually wore the day of her shower.

This was too cute not to share.

Welcome New Ones!

I have been dying to try onesie sugar cookies and today I gave it a go. I used the sugar cookie recipe from Confetti Cakes (which I love) and Joy of Baking's royal icing recipe. In honor of Aidan born 9/08, Mari born 4/09, Chloe born 6/09, and Doran born 7/09... thank you for giving me a reason to bake today.

Thank you Amy for letting me borrow the onesie cookie cutter!




And a special congratulations on Mari's upcoming baptismal.