Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

For my sister's birthday I was given full creative rights to making her cake...the only must was chocolate!

The cake for this year was a dark chocolate cake with a hazelnut espresso mousse filling, chocolate hazelnut butter cream + chocolate ganache.

Happy 36th Birthday to the best sister I could ever wish for! Love you, Sis.

Cute Cupcakes!

For a friend that is an owl and coffee lover...vanilla cupcakes with espresso butter cream!

A Very Princess Birthday!

A very girly princess cake made for a special young lady celebrating her 4th birthday!  I hope you enjoy your birthday and your cake, Princess Natalie!

For my sweetheart...

A Heart Shaped S'mores Brownie for my Sweetheart!  It was so yummy!

Summer Fruit Pie

I was lucky enough to host Sunday Dinner this week for my family, including my 95 year old Grandpa.  He really enjoyed dinner, but this pie was so good, it was a 2 slice night for him!  I'm so happy he enjoyed this pie, especially since I made it up as I went!  There are times when something looks and sounds great in my mind, but when it's in the oven, the two are clearly not working together...this one did!  This pie is full of summer fruits including Strawberries, Blueberries, Apples, Nectarines, White Peaches, Apricots & Mango.  I can't wait to have a slice tonight :) 

Girls Night & True Blood Marathon!

For Girl's Night with my sister, we enjoyed some great sangria and for dinner, a quick pasta dish made with Al Fresco Spinach & Feta Chicken sausage with asparagus, shallots & whole wheat penne pasta, topped with fresh basil...

Mother's Day Brunch

My Mom hates to make a decision, so this year my sister and I decided to make a wonderful brunch for her and take her for Green Tea Spa Pedicures!  We had great food, company and relaxation...the perfect day for Mom!

Pecan Raisin Sticky Buns

Bacon & Avocado Eggs Benedict on Multi Grain Bread

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Nutella Bread...AMAZING!!!!

Nutella Bread, Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins & NY Crumb Cake

My Sister's Table

Strawberry Cupcakes!

I'm hoping to make a very special 9 year old girl very happy today when her Auntie takes my strawberry cupcakes home to her for her birthday.  I hope she'll enjoy these strawberry cupcakes with fresh strawberry cream cheese frosting!

Happy 13th Birthday, Nicholas!

Today was my little cousin's 13th birthday.  To go along with his mom's amazing chocolate, chocolate, chocolate brownie bomb, I brought a batch of 

Churro Cupcakes to the party.  

Happy Birthday, Nick!

Beach Themed Bridal Shower

Thank you again to returning customer, Kristin...today was a beach themed bridal shower in NYC.  We had a selection to please everyone, Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting, Chocolate Creme filled with Dark Chocolate Ganache and Vanilla with Lemon or Orange Butter Cream.  Best wishes to the Bride & Groom!

Testing a new recipe...

I tried something new today, a play on the hostess cupcake...a vanilla cake with creme filling and a yellow white chocolate topping.  It was worth a shot, but it could have looked much prettier!  Better luck next time.

Easter 2012

Easter Dinner is always a great meal at my house.  Luckily I have a Mom that is 1/2 Polish, so not only do we have great Italian treats on Easter, but we also have some really delicious Polish treats as well.  We started with an easy menu this year and good thing we did, by the time my mom, sister and I got done adding extra items, we had food for an army!  

Happy Easter!

An Edible Centerpiece included a chocolate bunny and mini truffle eggs!

Suz's Carrot Ginger Soup

Mom's Onion Peel dyed eggs, a tradition from her Polish Grandma, Babba.  Next to the eggs, a delicious Pizzagaina.

Some more Polish traditions in the left hand corner...fresh baked Babka!

Suz's Macaroons

Mom's Bunny Cake...the greatest tradition started by Dad.

S'Mores Cupcakes

Mile High Lemon Pie, special for my sweetie and Pop!

Our beautiful table set with Mom's pink Depression Glass.

Easter Order

I started my baking early for a special Easter order.  Fresh Peach Cake, Banana Struesel Coffee Cake, Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Butter Cream and S'mores Cupcakes were packed and ready to by afternoon.

Baby Shower!

Baby Bird Cupcakes for a Baby Shower! 

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Butter-Cream and Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Butter-Cream.  

All topped with toasted coconut and 3 baby bluebirds for Mommy, Daddy & Baby!

St. Patty's Day!

 

Happy early St. Patty's Day to my co-workers!

 Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Vanilla Butter-Cream! 

Oscar Party 2012

So, this year I decided to do a party with the Oscar Best Picture nominees as the menu basis.  We ended up with far too much food again, but it was fun planning the menu with my mom and sister!  We had a great time as always.

The Artist

Pinot Noir

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Soft NY Style Pretzels with Cheddar Dipping Sauce

The Tree of Life

Chicken Pot Pie

Hugo

Mini Quiche Lorraine

The Descendents

Kalua Pig Lettuce Wraps

The Help

Fried Chicken

Midnight in Paris

Croque Monsieur & Champagne

Moneyball

Brownie Sundaes

War Horse

Haystack Cookies