60th Birthday Cake

I made this cake for a co-worker's 60th birthday. Chocolate cake, raspberry filling, chocolate-raspberry buttercream frosting...not a lot to say besides that! I think I'm going to alter the recipe sometime to make chocolate cake with hazelnut filling and lemon cake with blackberry filling.

Black + White=YUM!

I love this classic New York treat, which can be found in almost any deli or bodega in the city. The lemony cookie, topped with vanilla and chocolate frosting is a delicious treat! However, even though I use real butter and sugar in all of my baking, I do worry about trans fat and preservatives in foods that I buy. So I really wanted to try to make fresh black&white cookies. Because I love lemon, I flavored the frosting with lemon instead of vanilla. It was yummy!

Strawberry Cake!

Few things make me happier than the first beautiful spring day in New York. I know I'm not alone-you can just feel that everyone around is feeling good and being a little nicer. I went for a long run to Astoria Park and it was nice to see many other runners, bikers, kids on the playground, ice cream trucks and the usual crowd of guys who bring their lawn chair with them just to sit and watch girls run by.
I had dinner plans with some friends and figured I would have them over for dessert afterwards. The gorgeous weather called for a change of pace from the chocolate and cream-heavy desserts that I feel like I made all winter. I recently found a recipe for strawberry cupcakes and decided I would convert it into a 2-layer cake.
The cake itself was delicious-very moist and full of strawberries (I used nearly 2 1/2 cups in the recipe). However, next time I make this I'll use a different frosting recipe. I hardly ever follow recipes to the letter, preferring to change things a bit and make the recipe "mine." This time I did follow the recipe and was unhappy with the frosting. It was very runny and just kind of slid down the sides of the cake into a puddle (you can see this in the pictures). When the cake was sliced, the top layer wouldn't stay-it kept sliding off the bottom layer onto the plate. No big deal, though-it still tasted great and next time I'll improve the frosting!

Big thank you to Judith!

Local food critic extraordinaire Judith is the creator of one of my favorite blogs, The Foodista. Check it out-she gives detailed reviews of many great restaurants in Astoria (and beyond). She recently contacted me about a review she was writing for another blog. It was all about red velvet cupcakes and Judith wanted to profile three Astoria bakeries and an at-home baker (that would be me!). You can read her comments at Joey in Astoria (contributed on 4/4/08).

Cupcakes, Bunnies and Eggs

This is the first update in so long! I've been really busy-between working full time and school, I feel like I hardly have time to breathe! I get really overwhelmed if I think of everything I have to do. One day at a time!
Ashley (sister) is visiting me and we've been having a lot of fun. Last night was game night and I made lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting. Ashley made icing and piped Easter decorations on them. I also made oatmeal cookie-Nutella fudge bars and then took samples of those and the cupcakes to the owner of my favorite bakery (George, of Martha's Country Bakery on Ditmars and 37th St in Astoria). He gave rave reviews ("best lemon cupcakes I've ever had") and I'm going to use the bakery kitchen to make some recipes in quantity and sell the treats to him! It was amazing to get such great feedback from someone who runs the kind of bakery that I aspire to have. When Ashley and I left, George gave us 6 delicious little fruit tarts which you can see in the pictures.
I also made cornbread with jalapeno peppers and cheddar cheese mixed in. I didn't take any pictures but it was goooood!

Update

You may have noticed (eh, probably not) that the previous few posts seem to be dated incorrectly. That is because today I transferred my old blog posts over to this new name so everything was just re-done. I'm also going to use this opportunity to post pictures and brief description on a bit of what was missed over the holidays.


Pumpkin Cupcakes (Amanda's recipe) with Cinnamon-Nutmeg Cream Cheese Frosting (my original recipe) and Pecans.





















Blueberry Pie (my favorite!) I made for Andrea's parents when I was in Indiana for Christmas. See the little holiday shapes on top?





















Here are some of my Christmas creations...I made sugar cookies with buttercream frosting, topped with colored sugars or mint chips. I took a chance and allowed my very, very intoxicated roommate (it's true, she took 5 minutes to get her key in the door that night-I stood in the kitchen and laughed! Heyyyy Marie!) to dip them in the sugars.
I also made one of my all-time favorite holiday treats: Candy Cane cookies (yes, they are peppermint flavored). Aren't they fun?

I am thankful for the Game Night crew

Tonight was Thanksgiving game night, with a full turkey meal (thanks Chris!). I made pumpkin pie and whipped cream (I added cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg to the whipped cream-so good!). I also used a little gingerbread man cookie cutter on the dough, to decorate the pie a bit!