Bella Baker

Italian Themed Dessert Table

2012-01-30T09:28:00.001-05:00

Ciao, Bella!! I am so thrilled to share the latest dessert table I created for Hamilton Jewelers! This lovely table was designed to celebrate Chantecler, a stunning Italian based jewelry line started in Capri, and sold in the United States exclusively at Hamilton Jewelers. The jewelry is seriously to die for! You can check out several pieces from the Chantecler jewelry line on the Hamilton Jewelers website. I decided to use Italy as the theme for the table, and baked all of my desserts with an Italian flare. I chose a black, white and lavender color palette, and loved how the softness of the lavender contrasted with the boldness of the black and white damask pattern.

I baked three types of cupcakes, all keeping Italian flavors in mind; Tiramisu cupcakes, Limoncello cupcakes and Chocolate Hazelnut cupcakes. All flavors got rave reviews! I especially loved the Tiramisu cupcakes topped with chocolate covered coffee beans.

The limoncello cupcakes were baked with a triple dose of limencello; baked into the cupcake batter, used in the lemon curd filling, and topped in the lemony icing. That is one boozy cupcake (which makes for some very happy shoppers!)

Of course I made cake pops! Two flavors; Espresso and Chocolate!

Mini creamy cheesecakes also adorned the table...

I made Chocolate Mousse dessert shooters, topped with chocolate ganache and slivered almonds.

What's more Italian than Biscotti? Everyone lived for these Cherry Pistachio Biscotti (Yes, that's right..I featured these on Bella just a few weeks ago. The recipe can be found here)

One of my favorite items on the table were these Chantecler sugar cookies. I absolutely loved how beautiful they looked, and everyone loved how they tasted too!

Finally, lavender and black candies completed the look and added additional color to this table.

Here I am! I had the best time at Hamilton Palm Beach and truly enjoyed creating this special table for their clients to enjoy.

Cake Pops and THE BACHELOR

2012-01-17T09:44:00.001-05:00

I made this sparkly, bright cake pop bouquet to channel thoughts of springtime during the dreary month of January. Isn't is pretty? I love it so much, I just want to hug and squeeze it and eat every last one of them. Alrighty....it's Tuesday and we've got LOTS to discuss after last night's episode of the craziness that is THE BACHELOR. Let the Bachelor recap begin! Scaling a bridge, skiing in bikinis in San Fran, surprise guests, fainting, kissing, yelling, crying...this week's episode had it ALL! But I'll get right to it...If you ask me, I think Shawntel the funeral director was lucky, because if Ben had given her the rose, those girls would have buried her alive (has to get one funeral joke in there). Look, it was an A for effort from Shawntel, but honestly, didn't it remind you a little bit of that cool older girl in high school who then comes back to a high school house party two years later and just looks pathetic?

More importantly...Ben's kiss count last night was a whopping SIX! Looks like someone's gettin' a little frisky. Lets see if I get this right....Emily (who I can't stop thinking looks just like Kendra), Rachel (not a fan), Kacie B., Lindzi, Jennifer and Courtney. The claws really came out from Courtney last night. She's been trying to act like she's all confident, but man did she crumble when Shawtnel walked in. Wowzers. Well Courtney, thankfully you don't have to sweat for long because Shawntel is history.

As is Erika, the fake fainter. Come on. No really. Did she think that maybe Ben would give her a pity rose if he saw her lying on the ground? If so, the plan failed, because good old lip tattooed Erika got the axe. I must say though, between Shawntel, the fake fainter, and all of the girls threatening to kick some ass, Chris Harrison may have been right...it may just have been the MOST. DRAMATIC. ROSE. CEREMONY. EVEEEEEEEEEER!

Still really liking Kacie B, despite her sweet as Southern sugar personality, which is just slightly irritating. And I think Emily seems pretty cool as well, though not sure she's "the one" for Ben. Hmmmm, maybe she is next season's Bachelorette! I'll leave you with my absolute favorite line of the night, said by Jacyln (who also got the boot), which really sums up this week's episode perfectly:

"On a scale of 1 to 10, I feel like I am going to throw up."

Yup. Nuff said.

Deliciously Rustic Apple Tart

2012-01-13T08:21:00.001-05:00

You are just seven ingredients away from this apple tart. It could be baking in your oven very, very soon. Just seven of the simplest, most standard ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, salt, water, apples, cinnamon) and a few easy to follow steps, and you've got yourself a dessert that tricks everyone into thinking you've spent hours (days! years!) baking this elegant yet rustic dessert just for them. What they don't know is that you can bake this tart and still have the whoooole day to watch the Kardashian wedding special for the 17th time, lust over ridiculously expensive bags (ehem, this one), and head over to Fish's Eddy to buy more cake plates, striped straws, and other fabulous kitchen items.

Let's get started on the tart, ok? We'll do it together!

First you peel, core and thinly slice 4 medium apples. I used two pink ladies, one golden delicious and 1 granny smith. I also used my handy dandy apple corer and slicer because it's awesome. It cores and simultaneously cuts the apples into 8 slices. I then slice each of the slices into thirds, so we have some nice, thin slices to work with. I may or may not have sampled a few apple slices in the process of slicing.

Here we go, a nice big pile of apple slices. See those cores on the top, right hand side? Keep em. We'll be using them later!

OK, on to the tart crust. This one's a cinch, so honestly, no need to be afraid. You just mix 2 cups of AP flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar and a pinch of salt together. You cut 12 tablespoons of butter into 24 pieces, drop 'em into the flour mixture and use your hands (yes your hands!! Get right in there!) to blend the butter into the flour. Keep mixing with your hands until the dough resembles a mixture of cornmeal and peas, then drizzle in cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together in a shaggy kind of way. You don't want to over-mix it, so basically as soon as it starts to feel like its coming together, form it into a ball, wrap it in plastic and stick it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

When it comes out of the fridge it will look like this:

Flour your surface, roll it out and fit it into your tart pan. I used a square tart pan because it's hip to be square. OMG, did I really just say that? Scary.

Notice how the edges of the tart aren't perfectly even? Yeah, you want that. That's what makes this tart charmingly rustic. Just make sure there is a little extra dough hanging over all the edges of the tart pan and it will work out fine for you.

Once your crust is in your tart pan, start layering those apple slices. I overlapped mine in 4 rows going straight across, and then made a pretty little circular pattern on the top. But even if you just dumped the apples in this would still be wonderful. So assemble your apples however you please. Once the apples are in, pour some melted butter on top and sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar, because as my grandma taught me, sprinkling cinnamon and sugar on top makes a dessert that much better.

This is how the tart looked BEFORE it was baked:

While the tart is baking, go ahead and use those apple cores to make a glaze. Throw the cores in a sauce pan with 1/2 cup of apricot jam (OK I lied, there is an eighth ingredient) and a couple of tablespoons of water. bring the whole thing to a boil and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes. Once it has thickened, strain out the cores and any chunks from the jam and you have yourself a lovely apple-apricot glaze.

The tart has come out of the oven. Looking pretty gorgeous...

Let it cool, brush on that glaze, and you have yourself a winner of a dessert. Awesomeness.

Deliciously Rustic Apple Tart

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 24 pieces
3 1/2 tablespoons chilled water

Filling:
4 medium sized apples, peeled, cored (save cores), and sliced thinly
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
5 tablespoons sugar & 2-3 teaspoons cinnamon

Glaze:
1/2 cup apricot jam

Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl; add in butter. Using your hands, mix butter into flour until mixture resembles a mix of cornmeal and peas. it's fine to have some chunks of butter remaining.

Drizzle in water, one tablespoon at a time, and stir, until dough just holds together. Toss with hands, and keep tossing until you can roll dough into a rough ball. Flatten into a disk and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove from fridge and let soften for a couple of minutes. Smooth cracks at edges. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a 14-inch circle about 1/4 inch thick. Dust excess flour from both sides with a dry pastry brush.

Place dough in a lightly greased 9-inch round tart pan, or simply on a parchment-lined baking sheet if you wish to go free-form, or galette-style with it. Heat oven to 400°F.OVERLAP apples on dough in a ring 2 inches from edge if going galette-style, or up to the sides if using the tart pan. Continue inward until you reach the center. Fold any dough hanging over pan back onto itself; crimp edges at 1-inch intervals.

Brush melted butter over apples and onto dough edge. Sprinkle 5 tablespoons sugar and 2-3 teaspoons of cinnamon over dough edge and apples.

Bake in center of oven until apples are soft, with browned edges, and crust has caramelized to a dark golden brown (about 45 minutes), making sure to rotate tart every 15 minutes.

Make glaze: Put reserved cores in a large saucepan, along with the apricot jam and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Strain syrup through a strainer.

Remove tart from oven, and slide off parchment onto cooling rack. Let cool at least 15 minutes.

Brush glaze over tart, slice, and serve.

Cherry Pistachio Biscotti and THE BACHELOR

2012-01-10T08:02:00.002-05:00

Last night while Evan watched the championship game, I watched a show with far more suspense, drama and scoring....yes, it's Bachelor Tuesday recap day, the best day of the week! So yeah, talk about scoring....if I counted correctly, Ben made out with four of the girls last night. Ben, you dirty dog you. This week we got to know Kacie B, the adorable Southern baton twirler who actually made her competitive baton twirling past look sweet instead of weird; Blakely, the well endowed Cougar everyone loves to hate; and Courtney, the self involved gorgeous model who's got a definite evil streak to her, so watch out! But really, the highlight of the show, and what I was waiting for all night, was Jenna's amazingly disasterous performance. Oh my god, that girl can cry like it's her job. Oh wait, blogging is her job. Well Jenna, from one fellow blogger to another, here's some advice: next time try to refrain from telling the guy you are trying to get that you are "like a guy" and "not at all like a girl." Poor Jenna. You are a mess. I kind of want to bake Jenna a batch of cookies and teach her about self esteem. Maybe Jenna would eat these Cherry Pistachio Biscotti. Just like Jenna, these cookies are a little nutty.

I know what I love most about these cookies, and it's that they really are a guilt-free treat. They've got just a teensy bit of oil and no butter at all. After all the December eating I did, these cookies are a very welcomed change of pace. Of course, after I gobble down 14 of them it all kinds of evens out, but hey, that's our little secret. These are yummy, easy, no fuss cookies. Drizzle white chocolate on top like I did and Viola! you've jazzed em up.

Bachelor = Guilty

Cherry Pistachio Biscotti = Guilt-free

Cherry Pistachio Biscotti

recipe from Bon Apetit

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 large eggs
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. orange zest
2 tsp. lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 cup dried cherries
1 cup unsalted, shelled pistachios

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine first 6 ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle. Blend on low speed for 30 seconds. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and next 5 ingredients. Add egg mixture to flour mixture; beat on low speed until combined, about 1 1/2 minutes. Fold in cherries and pistachios.
Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Using floured hands, shape each dough half into a 16"-long log. Brush off excess flour; transfer logs to prepared sheet, spaced 5" apart. Flatten each log into a 2"-wide strip. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until browned and set, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a rack; let cool for 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 250° and arrange 1 rack in top third of oven and 1 rack in bottom third.
Line a second baking sheet with parchment paper. Transfer biscotti to a work surface. Using a serrated knife, cut each strip diagonally into 2/3"-thick slices. Arrange slices, cut side down, on baking sheets.
Bake biscotti, rotating baking sheets halfway through, until crisp, about 40 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to racks; let cool. DO AHEAD Can be made 3 days ahead. Store in an airtight container at room temperature

Spiderman Birthday Cake

2012-01-05T08:29:00.003-05:00

In addition to those Spiderman Cake Pops I posted a couple weeks back, I made this awesome Spiderman birthday cake to celebrate my dear friend Erica's son Matthew's 3rd birthday. I can't believe Matthew is 3 years old already. I remember making him a special football field birthday cake two years ago for his 1st birthday. Time really does fly by!

I so loved making this cake and connecting with my inner superhero. Which got me wondering, if you could have any super power, what would you want it to be? I decided mine would 100% definitely be to be able to eat whatever I wanted without ever gaining an ounce of weight. That totally counts as a super power. Forget being able to fly, reading minds, or having webs spout from your hands, I think being able to scarf down all the pizza, cake and cookies I want, while remaining impossibly thin, sounds like my ticket to taking over the world. No?

So tell me, if you could have a super power, what would you want to have?

Happy Birthday Matthew! Hope you had the best time at your party, and hope you enjoyed your cake!!

Candy Cane Fudge Brownies and THE BACHELOR!

2012-01-03T08:11:00.000-05:00

Here we go again....it's a new year and a new season of my most favorite guilty pleasure...The Bachelor is back and I'm lovin it! Oh yes, yes, yes. It's just so good. So very, very good. And the train wreck of girls vying for Ben the Bachelor's heart does not disappoint. Stuck up, egotistical model, check. Scanky girl with stripper hair and the most terrible dress I have ever seen, check. Two girls who may end up getting it on with each other instead of Ben, check check. And of course, it wouldn't be the Bachelor without crazy overdramatic girl hysterically sobbing in the bathroom for close to no reason, cheeeeeeck. The Bachelor is just what the doctor ordered to get rid of those post-Holiday blues. Ben is really sweet though and after last season's rejection from Ashley, I can't wait to see who he falls for and how the season plays out.

And speaking of post-Holiday, I've got just the recipe to put those piles of uneaten candy canes laying around your house to good use. These candy cane brownies, like the Bachelor, are so good you won't be able to put them down. Every bite feels like winter, and the taste of peppermint lingers on your tongue long after you've finished scarfing them down. As a bonus, there is no mixer required with this recipe, and most of the ingredients are likely sitting in your pantry right this minute.

So go on, turn that frown upside down, watch The Bachelor with me, laugh your ass off at these crazy girls, and make these brownies! Stay tuned for weekly Tuesday post-Bachelor updates!!

Candy Cane Fudge Brownies

12 tbsp unbsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 1/4 cup sugar

4 large eggs

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup all purpose flour

2 1/2 cups crushed candy canes

1/2 cup heavy cream

4 ounces semi sweet chocolate, finely chopped

2 tbsp butter, room temperature, cut into 4 pieces

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Generously butter a 9x13 glass baking pan.

Put the butter in a microwave safe bowl, top with the chopped chocolate. Microwave for 45 seconds, then remove and stir vigorously with a whisk until the ingredients are just melted – you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Microwave for another 30 seconds if needed to melt the chocolate completely.

With a whisk, stir in the sugar. Whisk in the eggs one by one. Add the vanilla and peppermint extracts and whisk vigorously to bring the batter together and give it a shine before gently stirring in the salt and flour; stir only until incorporated. Switch to a rubber spatula and fold in 2 cups of the candy cane pieces. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with the rubber spatula.

Bake the brownies for 30 to 33 minutes, or until the top is dull and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (The tip of the knife may be a touch streaky.) Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature.

While they are cooling, make the ganache. Put chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring heavy cream to a boil. Once heavy cream has reached boiling pour half the heavy cream over the chopped chocolate. Let sit for 30 seconds, then gently stir chocolate and cream together with a rubber spatula in a figure eight motion. Pour remaining heavy cream over chocolate and continue to gently stir. Add butter, one piece at a time, until ingredients are fully incorporated and ganache is smooth and glossy.

Pour ganache over brownies, and smooth with rubber spatula to completely cover top of brownies. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup crushed candy canes on top of ganache. Refrigerate brownies for one hour until ganache has set before cutting into squares.

Cookies N Cream Cheesecake

2012-01-02T10:43:00.000-05:00

It's January 2nd, and I am already getting sick of people asking me what my New Year's resolution is. Five years ago my New Year's resolution was to incorporate the word ya'll into my daily vocabulary. I walked around for about a month saying ya'll as much as humanly possible until I realized I was getting lots of strange looks. A New Yorker isn't really meant to say things like "Ya'll come back reeeaaaaal soon, ya hear?" I was hoping to pull off Paula Dean, but instead I just sounded awkward. So I sadly put my ya'll days behind me. Then there was the year I made the resolution to give up coffee. I talked for weeks about saying gooodbye to coffee and made a big deal over my final cup ever. That lasted a whole 16 hours before I gave in and gulped down a venti triple-caf latte. No, I'm not big on the whole new year's rez thing. I strive every day to be healthy and happy, to be the best me I can be, and to be kind and generous to others. Those are my life resolutions and think I stick to those pretty well.

Wait, can I resolve to eat more cookies n cream cheesecake? Does that count? Please, please, please let it count!

This is easily the best cheesecake I've ever made. With a chocolate wafer cookie crust, a rich and creamy cheesecake layer, crushed oreo cookies mixed right in to the silky batter, and topped with a drizzle of chocolate ganache, chocolate whipped cream and more oreo cookies, this cake is decadence all the way. I just hope your new year's resolution did not involve giving up sweets...but hey, aren't those pesky resolutions just meant to be broken? This cake is sooo worth breaking the healthy eating plan for. Just sayin!

Cookies N Cream Cheesecake

crust

1 1/2 cups finely crushed chocolate wafer cookies

1/4 cup sugar

4 tablespoons melted butter

Filling
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature (I used two packaged of reduced fat and one package of regular)
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup 2% milk

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

15 mini oreo cookies (coarsely chopped for the batter)

Topping:

Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup heavy cream

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature, cut into 4 pieces

Chocolate Whipped Cream

1/2 cup heavy cream

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tablespoons sugar

Approximately 25 mini oreo cookies

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Generously buttered bottom and sides of a 9 inch springform pan

Mix melted butter with Oreo crumbs and sugar and press in the bottom of the springform pan. Bake for 5 minutes and set aside.
Beat cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high until fluffy, making sure that there are no clumps.
Slowly add sugar and continue beating cream cheese until mixed well.
Add eggs one at a time and continue to beat until blended.
Add the vanilla, salt and milk, pour into cream cheese and egg mixture and beat until smooth and creamy. Add the flour and beat until batter is satiny smooth.
Stir in the coarsely chopped oreo cookies with a spoon.
Pour cream cheese into the springform pan and bake for one hour and 15 minutes.
After that time, turn oven off and keep oven door slightly open. Let the cheese cake stay in the oven for one hour. Remove from oven and let cool enough to place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

For the ganache:

Place heavy cream in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Place chopped chocolate in a medium sized bowl. Once heavy cream has reached boiling pour half the heavy cream over the chopped chocolate. Let sit for 30 seconds, then gently stir chocolate and cream together with a rubber spatula in a figure eight motion. Pour remaining heavy cream over chocolate and continue to gently stir. Add butter, one piece at a time, until ingredients are fully incorporated and ganache is smooth and glossy.

For the chocolate whipped cream:

Beat heavy cream on high speed for about 2-3 minutes. Once mixture has started to thicken, add add cocoa powder and sugar and continue beaten until whipped cream mixture has formed.

What I'm Grateful For This Year....

2011-12-31T08:53:00.000-05:00

My husband. My gorgeous, wonderful, gorgeous, incredible, gorgeous, inspiring, gorgeous husband. I love you so much. Thank you for making me the luckiest wife in the world!!

HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Wishing you all a beautiful year. May all your dreams come true!

S'mores Cupcakes

2011-12-29T12:00:00.002-05:00

I celebrated my birthday two days ago and it was the most fabulous, fun-filled day. Evan and I spent a couple of nights in South Beach for a little birthday getaway. I heart South Beach! Filled with people so impossibly good looking you have no choice but to feel bad about yourself, and beaches so gorgeous you just want to lay in the sun til you look like a raisin, it's one of my favorite places on earth. Now I know you all know about my Kardashian obsession. Well, to my delight I received a birthday celeb sighting. So right now you're probably thinking "oh cool, you saw Kim Kardashian, or Kourtney or Khloe." Nope, not them. "Ok", you're thinking "I bet it was Kris Kardashian or Bruce Jenner." Nope, wrong. "Ahhh-haa", you're thinking "it's gotta be Rob Kardashian, or at least one of the young ones, Kendall or Kylie." Wrong again. My big time Kardashian celeb sighting for my birthday was....wait for it, wait for it...Jonathan Cheban! You know, Kim's BFF? The star of the hit reality show "Spin Crowd"? Ringing any bells out there? Yes, yes, good old Jonathan Cheban, the one who was recently falsely accused of writing a Kim tell-all book. The best (or possibly worst) part about it was that I totally contemplated going over and asking him to take a picture with me. Evan quickly squashed that one, so unfortunately I have no pic to document my Jonathan Cheban sighting, but it definitely was the icing on the cake of my South Beach vaca!

Speaking of icing and cakes, let's talk about these S'mores cupcakes. Because they rock. A graham cracker cake with marshmallowy filling, topped with dark chocolate icing and then garnished with graham cracker, marshmallow and of course, a hershey bar. Jonathan, these cupcakes are dedicated to you. Though unlike Jonathan, these cupcakes are A-list all the way!

S'mores Cupcakes

(Adapted from Bon Apetite)

Ingredients

for cupcake:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 15 whole crackers ground in processor)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup whole milk

for icing:

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups confectioner sugar
1/2 teaspoon chocolate extract

for filling:

1 cup marshmallow creme

for garnish:

24 1-2 inch pieces broken graham crackers
24 mini marshmallows
24 sections of Hershey bar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 standard mini muffin cups with paper liners. Whisk graham crumbs, flour, baking powder, and pinch of salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend between additions. Beat in vanilla. Add graham-cracker mixture in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with graham-cracker mixture. Divide batter among muffin cups.
Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center come out clean, about 12 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to rack; cool completely.

For the icing, beat butter at medium for 2-3 minutes until light and creamy. Add confectioners sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down sides as needed, until fully incorporated. Add melted chocolate and beat until icing is smooth and satiny. Beat in chocolate extract. If icing is too think, add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached.

With a pairing knife, cut about 1/2 inch into top of each cupcake; remove cake, forming hole. Spoon 3/4 cup marshmallow creme into resealable plastic bag, pushing into 1 bottom corner. Cut 1/2 inch off corner. Pipe into holes in cupcakes.

Finally, pipe chocolate icing onto cupcakes, and decorate with graham cracker, marshmallow and Hershey garnish.

Frosty the Snowman

2011-12-24T08:08:00.001-05:00

Happy Christmas Eve Day! Since I celebrate Hanukkah, I use Christmas Eve and Christmas day as a time to go see a double feature, followed by a feast of lomein, dumplings and chicken and broccoli in brown sauce from my local Chinese restaurant. It is so totally just as fun as opening millions of presents in pajamas while nibbling on Christmas cookies and sipping on eggnog. Riiiiiiiiight.

Fine, it's sooo not as fun, and I sooo wish I celebrated Christmas. I guess I'll just have to live my dreams of Christmas celebrations through all of you out there. Thank god my birthday is two days after Christmas, otherwise I'd probably go into a state of depression without any presents to open!

I thought this Frosty the Snowman cake would be a perfect addition to any Christmas dinner. Here is the best part: It is deceivingly easy to make. Like, really, incredibly easy. Alissa and I made it together for my family's annual kick-ass Hanukkah party. Here we are holding the cake. We kind of look like proud parents.

So to make Frosty, all you do is bake up a cake in two 8 inch round pans. Bake from scratch or use a box mix, it's up to you (Christmas is tomorrow and I'm sure you are busy stuffing stockings and putting out cookies for Santa, so no judgement on the box mix!) Once your cakes have cooled, lie them side by side vertically on a cake board. Cut out a small half moon shape at the bottom of the top cake, so the two cakes fit snuggly into one another. Ice your cakes with white buttercream and line the perimeter of the cake with sweetened shredded coconut. Then the real fun begins....decorate however you'd like! I added a red fondant scarf and blue fondant hat. I used mini oreo cookies as buttons and raisins for the mouth and pretzel sticks for arms. But you can use any material you have on hand. Wanna stick a real carrot on as the nose? Go for it! Throw on some M&M eyes, jelly bean buttons, a scarf made of licorice. Frosty always looks adorable, no matter how you decorate him. So go nuts! And use nuts on the cake if you want to!

Here's my Frosty the Snowman cake, out on the table with all of the other desserts I made for my family Hanukkah party.

I wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas, no matter how you choose to celebrate!! xoxoxo

Roasted Banana Browned Butter Banana Bread

2011-12-22T08:22:00.001-05:00

I've decided that I need to bottle the smell of banana bread baking in the oven, package it in a tall, thin, bright yellow bottle and sell it in department stores world wide. I really think this is my get rich ticket! I'd call it "Peel Appeal, a fragrance by Bella".

I could sit all day taking in the smell of banana bread baking. Especially this banana bread, because this is the tastiest banana bread to ever walk the planet. Wouldn't you just love to wake up and open presents on Christmas morning to the smell of fresh banana bread wafting through your house? Wouldn't you love to dig in to a nice thick slice of banana bread and a cup of hot cocoa on a chilly winter morning?

This banana bread packs extra intense banana-ness due to 1) roasting up the bananas in their peels and 2) browning the butter. These two simple and easy steps go a very long way to enhancing the flavor. Throw in some mini chocolate chips, and I am one very happy girl.

You must make this banana bread as soon as possible. You can thank me later.

Roasted Banana Browned Butter Banana Bread

Ingredients:

3 medium bananas
1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup whole milk

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 1/4 cup cake flour
1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp baking soda

Instructions:

Grease an 8″ x 4″ loaf pan.

Place bananas on baking sheet whole with peels on and roast for 15-20 minutes in a 350°F oven.

In small saucepan, melt butter over medium high heat. Do not stir, just swirl the pan and watch until it begins to foam. Once butter has browned sufficiently, remove from heat and set aside. When butter has cooled slightly, mix butter and sugar together with whisk. Add milk and vanilla to butter and sugar and whisk to combine. Remove roasted bananas from peels and mash, add to butter mixture and mix thoroughly.

Whisk together cake flour, spices, salt and baking soda and add to wet mixture in two additions, until just combined. Do not overmix.

Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour (in the already preheated to 350°F oven).

Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel!

2011-12-21T12:21:00.008-05:00

OK, so here's a question...how in the world do you spell Hannukah? Is it Hanukah, Hanukkah or Hannukah? OR maybe it's spelled with a CH, as in Chanukah? Help! I'm actually a pretty good speller (thanks Words With Friends!) but this is really a toughie. I realize this may make me a bad jew, but can someone who celebrates the holiday please help me?

In the meantime, I do know how to spell Dreidel, and today I bring you these pretty dreidel cookies to celebrate night number two of the holiday I cannot spell.

These cookies are made with my favorite sugar cookies recipe, Dorie Greenspan's recipe for Grandma's All Occasion Sugar Cookies. This is my go to sugar cookie recipe that comes out perfect every time. So easy, so delicious, and such a fun activity for the whole family to work on together!

Happy Hannukah (Hanukah, Hanukkah, Chanukah!) to all!!!

All-Occasion Sugar Cookies
(Source: Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, pages 146-147)

Yield: About 50 2-inch cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Sugar or cinnamon sugar, for dusting (optional)
Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together.

Working with a stand mixer, perferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for a minute or so, until smooth. Beat in the sugar and continue to beat for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and pale. Add the egg and yolk and beat for another minute or two; beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and steadily add the flour mixture, mixing only until it has been incorporated – because this dough is best when worked least, you might want to stop the mixer before all the flour is thoroughly blended into the dough and finisht eh job with a rubber spatula. When mixed, the dough will be soft, creamy and malleable.

Turn the dough out onto a counter and divide it in half. If you want to make roll-out cookies, shape each half into a disk and wrap in plastic. If you want to make slice-and-bake cookies, shape each half into a chubby sausage (the diameter is up to you – I usually like cookies that are about 2 inches in diameter) and wrap in plastic. Whether you’re going to roll or slice the dough, it must be chilled for at least 2 hours. (Well wrapped, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.)

Getting Ready to Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

If you are making roll-out cookies, working with one packet of dough at a time, roll out the dough between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper to a thickness of ¼ inch, lifting the plastic or paper and turning the dough over often so that it rolls evenly. Lift off the top sheet of plastic or paper and cut out the cookies – I like a 2-inch round cookie cutter for these. Pull away the excess dough, saving the scraps for rerolling, and carefully lift the rounds onto the baking sheets with a spatula, leaving about 1½ inches between the cookies. (This is a soft dough and you might have trouble peeling away the excess or lifting the cutouts; if so, cover the dough, chill it for about 15 minutes and try again.) After you’ve rolled and cut the second packet of dough, you can form the scraps into a disk, then chill, roll, cut and bake.

If you are making slice-and-bake cookies, use a sharp thin knife to slice the dough into ¼-inch-thick rounds, and place the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1½ inches between the cookies.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 9 to 11 minutes, rotating the sheet at the midpoint. The cookies should feel firm, but they should not color much, if at all. Remove the pan from the oven and dust the cookies with sugar or cinnamon sugar, if you’d like. Let them rest for 1 minute before carefully lifting them onto a rack to cool to room temperature.

Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

Storing: The cookies will keep at room temperature in a tin for up to 1 week. Wrapped well, they can be frozen for up to 2 months.

Spiderman Cake Pops

2011-12-20T08:03:00.002-05:00

As Spiderman says, "With great power comes great responsibility". So, when I was given the task of making Spiderman cake pops for a third birthday party, I took my responsibility very seriously. After all, you just don't wanna mess with Spidey.

To be quite honest, when I think of Spiderman, the first thing that comes to mind is the Toby McGuire and Kiersten Dunst upside down kiss. What can I say, that was a pretty hot kiss. These cake pops are certainly a little more PG than the upside down kiss, but I thought they came out looking pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

Here they are, tagged and packaged and ready to go!

Lots and lots of Spidey pops!!! A Spiderman lover's dream for sure. I hope the birthday boy Matthew and all of his friends enjoyed them!!

Hannukah Pops

2011-12-19T10:53:00.002-05:00

First things first, congrats to Brit Brit on her engagement!! Now that Britney Spears is thirty, flirty and fabulous, looks like things are going well for her as a grown up! Hopefully third times a charm for her! Congrats Britney!

So tomorrow is the first night of Hanukah. Yaaaay Hanukah! My family celebrated last night with our annual awesome, incredible, kick-ass Hanukah party. What makes our party so special is our spectacular Hanukah caroling session. It's kind of a big deal. Yes, we sing songs about Hanukah to the tune of Christmas carols. Gotta love our rendition of Tis' the Season (We call it Tis' the Dreidel), The Eight Days of Hanukah, and of course my personal favorite....Hanukah, Hanukah, Hanukah Rock! It's just so good. I wish every day was Hanukah caroling day!!

To celebrate Hanukah I made a festive Hanukah pop bouquet, with four different flavors of cake pops; chocolate, vanilla, red velvet and chocolate peppermint stick. I actually had a chocolate peppermint stick cake pop for breakfast this morning (hey, I'm in post wedding indulgence mode, remember??) and it was uh-mazing!

I heart Hanukah cake pops!!!

Pink and Green Pretty Dessert Table

2011-12-16T12:12:00.014-05:00

Last weekend I had the opportunity to create a beautiful dessert table for a first birthday party. We decided to go with a pink themed table with pops of green and white. I wanted to create a vibrant and fun table for guests to enjoy.

The focal point of the table was this five-tiered cupcake tower. I baked tons of mini cupcakes and pink and white cake pops to fill the cupcake tower to the brim with deliciousness! At the top of the tower I made a pink, white and green polka dot cake, topped with a fondant bow for Harper, the birthday girl, to enjoy at her party! After all, a birthday girl's gotta have her own cake to eat!

Of course I included lots of pink, green and white candies!

I also added photos of Harper in pink frames. She is such a cutie!!

In addition to the cupcakes and cake pops, I baked mini cheesecakes, brownies, blondies and chocolate dipped rice krispie treats, so there was definitely a wide variety of options for everyone to enjoy!

I had a blast putting this table together, and when I went back at the end of the party to clean up the table, just about every single item on the table had been eaten. I take that as a huge success!!

Happy 1st Birthday Harper!!

A Craps Table Birthday Cake

2011-12-14T07:22:00.000-05:00

I made this Craps Table Cake for a 70th birthday party last month. I am not much of a gambler myself. I once lost $200 in about 15 minutes playing blackjack, and I decided that I would much rather spend my hard earned 200 buckaroos on clothes and shoes then lose it in a card game. So that was the beginning and end of my gambling days. But whether you gamble or not, something about a craps table is cool. Those people playing craps always look like they are having the best time. Maybe it's the vision of Demi Moore blowing on the dice for Robert Redford, but to me the craps table is totally the same as the lunch table filled with the cool kids in junior high, which I totally did not sit at. But of course, I totally wanted to be a part of it.

I wanted to emulate that feeling on my craps table cake. I wanted it to look exciting and colorful and energetic. I loved how the dice and chips were 3-dimensional on the table. And the reds and blues really add a perfect pop to the cake.

This was such a fun cake to make, and I seriously loved the finished product. Rumor has it the birthday boy loved it as well!

Christmas Ornament Cake Pops

2011-12-13T08:01:00.000-05:00

So now that I'm done with wedding diet mode, I'm in full on post-wedding indulgence mode. Let me tell you, I have not been messing around when it comes to my post-wedding regime. Pizza, pasta, cheese, cookies, candy, and lots and LOTS of dessert. Hey, it's a tough job but someone's gotta do it.

I'm psyched about these Christmas ornament cake pops because it got me into the Holiday spirit, which is clearly long overdue given that the holidays are right around the corner. With wedding planning consuming all my time, I seem to have completely forgotten that Christmas is only 14 DAYS AWAY!!! Which of course also means that my birthday is 16 DAYS AWAY!! Ahhhh, I love my birthday. Maybe this year I'll eat cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner. All in the name of post-wedding indulgence mode.

I stuck the Christmas ornament cake pops on a green cone shaped styrofoam so it looked like ornaments on a tree! How clever am I?!?

Mrs. Bella Baker!

2011-12-08T08:16:00.001-05:00

HELLO! I am back! AND.......drum roll please.............I am MARRIED!

I apologize for my complete blogging hiatus, but between relocating back to NYC (don't get too sad Floridians, Evan and I split our time now between Florida and New York!) and wedding planning, it's been a busy couple of months for little old me.

But last Saturday, November 26th, 2011, Evan and I officially became husband and wife. It was the absolute best day of my life, and it far exceeded my wildest dreams from start to finish. We got married at the beautiful Trump Soho Hotel in New York City, surrounded by an intimate group of our closest family and friends.

We were lucky enough to have an unseasonably warm day, so we took advantage by going outside with our photographer and taking lots of amazing shots in the streets of NYC.

Evan and I kissing in the middle of the street as we almost get hit by oncoming traffic!!

Below is a pic of Evan and I dancing to our first dance, which was a recording of a song sung by Evan's grandfather. It was absolutely amazing to be able to hear Evan's grandfather's voice at our wedding.

I was given strict orders from Evan and my whole family that I was not allowed to make my own wedding cake....but I just had to bake something for my wedding, so I decided to make whoopie pies and mini cupcakes for my guests to take with them as a sweet favor!

Guests took their pumpkin spice, red velvet or chocolate whoopie pies in boxes that said "WHOOPIE! WE'RE MARRIED!"

I can't believe how quickly the night flew by, and now we are left with the most wonderful memories that will last a lifetime. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have Evan as my husband and I am so excited to begin our lives together as Mr. and Mrs.!

Backyardigans Cake Pops

2011-08-23T08:33:00.001-04:00

This is how I know that I am not yet a parent...I sleep a full 8 hours every single night. I can't tell you the difference between a Bugaboo stroller and an Orbit and a MacLaren. I have no idea what "My Breast Friend" is, despite sitting through multiple conversations with some of my mommy friends who have gone on and on about how great it is. Sure, I nod my head and act like I know, but I honestly have no clue. Oh and pumping. I watch Jersey Shore so I know all about fist pumping, but breast pumping is another world to me and it kind of scares me, like a lot, to be honest.

And until recently, I had never heard of the Backyardigans. Boy am I out of the loop. I'm still thinking Barney is what the kids like but nope, its all about the Backyardigans. I was asked to make some Backyardigans cake pops recently for a birthday party, so I did some research and holy crap, these Backyardigans are like the equivalent of Justin Bieber for a 12 year old girl. Five year old are OBSESSED. They have fan pages and videos and concerts and even an i phone app. They are like little cartoon celebs. And I get it, I do. These Backyardigans are seriously adorable. Apparently Pablo, the blue guy in the center, is the most popular, but I think they are all pretty cute.

So here are my Backyardigans cake pops in all their glory. Pretty cute, huh? And then it got me thinking....maybe this whole having kids thing is fun because you can watch cartoons all day and pretend that its the kids that are enjoying it, when really you are the one singing along to the songs and playing with the Backyardigans iphone app. Hmmm....I think I am beginning to warm up to this whole parenting thing, especially if cartoons and cake pops are involved!

Skinny Mini Carrot Spice Muffins - TWD

2011-08-18T07:46:00.002-04:00

I admit it. I am shallow when it comes to my desire to look amazing at my wedding. There, I said it and I don't care what you think of me. If you are a girl and you are reading this, you understand. I know you do. So on my quest to look damn good at my wedding, I've taken on a super rigorous work out schedule that included lots of cardio, lots of yoga, lots of strength training, and tremendous amounts of pain and soreness. But more importantly, I've started playing around with ways to lighten up some of my favorite treats. And even though it sounds like a downer, it's really been quite fun. It's kind of like I am a cross between Mr. Wizard and Alton Brown, cackling in that scary mad scientist kind of way as I experiment with a little of this, a little less of that, to achieve the perfect low fat muffin. Moo-ahh-ahh-ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Dorie Greenspan's carrot spice muffins are the perfect vehicle for playing around with health-ifying a recipe. Now here are my best tips for lightening up:

First things first, the best and easiest thing you can do to cut back on calories is to decrease your portion size. And all you have to do is invest in a mini muffin pan. Make the choice to make all of your cupcakes or muffins as minis and already you are taking a step in the right direction.

Next, try subbing in healthier ingredients wherever you can. If the recipe calls for 2 cups of all purpose flour, try subbing in 1 cup of whole wheat flour and keeping one cup of the all purpose. No one will even taste the difference, and you just reduced your calories a little bit more! You can always sub in not fat or reduced fat milk for whole milk, but another option is to sub in fat free greek yogurt in place of whole milk, because the greek yogurt (even if it's fat free) provide that creaminess that you just can't get from skim milk.

Finally, one of my favorite substitutions is to use apple sauce in place of oil. It sounds odd, but I promise you this works like a charm.

For these muffins, I used half the amount of oil called for in the recipe and replaced the other half with apple sauce. I also used the fat free greek yogurt in place of whole milk. One other calorie saver was to omit the sweetened shredded coconut called for in the recipe. I do love coconut, but for these muffins I didn't think I would miss it, so I left it out entirely. Last but not least, I subbed in organic cane sugar for regular sugar and I increased the spices just a bit to give these muffins some extra oomph.

The verdict.......amazingness! These muffins tasted like absolute heaven. Light, fluffy, tender, and bursting with warm and comfy flavors. So yes, I can have my muffins and eat them too -- and without having to run extra miles on the treadmill! See below for the recipe with the changes I made.

Carrot Spice Muffins
adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
makes 24 mini muffins

1 cup All Purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 organic cane cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 large eggs
3/4 cup fat free greek yogurt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup shredded carrots (about 3, peeled and trimmed)
1/3 cup moist, plump currants or raisins
1/3 cup pecans or walnuts, toasted, cooled and chopped

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the mini muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pans, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the oil, applesauce, eggs, yogurt, and vanilla extract together until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough - a few lumps are better than over-mixing the batter. Stir in the carrots, currants, and nuts. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean.

Strawberry Surprise Cupcakes

2011-08-15T19:21:00.001-04:00

I absolutely love surprises. Well actually, I only love the good type of surprises. I don't care for surprises like, Surprise! It's raining and you are standing outside with no umbrella, or Surprise! A bird just crapped on your head while you were innocently walking down the street. Seriously, has that ever happened to you? it's pretty horrible. How about, Surprise! there is a huge, mean looking unidentifiable bug crawling up the wall and no one around to dispose of it for you. Or the worst, Surprise! your DVR forgot to record that episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians that you were so looking forward to watching (it was obviously the DVRs fault and not mine) But I am definitely a sucker for the good type of surprise. You know, like when you're meeting friends out for dinner and Surprise! that friend who lives out of town suddenly shows up. Or when Surprise! Evan goes out in the morning while I'm still asleep and when I wake up there's a big cup of coffee waiting for me. And don't even get me started on my love of surprise parties - I've been given two surprise parties in my lifetime and note to friends and family -- if you wanted to throw me a surprise party every year I'd totally be cool with that. just sayin!

OK, now imagine a cupcake surprise...imagine biting into an already delicious cupcake and finding an even more delicious surprise inside....that is what's so fantastic about these Strawberry Surprise Cupcakes!

These little pink delights are the perfect way to use up some fresh strawberries. The cake is tender and light and gets it's strawberry flavor from adding pureed fresh strawberries into the silky batter. But my favorite part, of course, is the surprise inside. These cupcakes are filled with fresh, sweet strawberry jam which provides an incredible burst of strawberry goodness as soon as you take a bite. They are topped with a strawberry cream cheese icing, which has a nice tang to contrast the sweet of the jam.

Now here's what these guys look like with the little surprise inside!! Peek-a-boo!

So go make these cupcakes and shhhh, don't tell about the jam in the middle. Just serve them and make it a surprise that's sure to put a smile on everyone's face.

Strawberry Surprise Cupcakes

3 cups fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and pureed

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

3 cups cake flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp red liquid food coloring

Preheat oven to 350. Beat butter at medium speed until creamy. Add sugar and beat about 3 minutes, until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition. Add 1 1/2 cups of strawberry puree.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in food coloring.

Place in mini baking cups and bake 10 - 12 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from pans and cool completely.

To fill your cupcakes: cut cone shapes out of the top dome of your cupcake. FIll a zip lock bag with fresh strawberry jam and snip the corner. Fill the hole in the cupcake to the top with jam then place the cone shape back on top.

Red, White and Blue Mini Cupcakes

2011-08-10T15:39:00.011-04:00

So turns out this wedding planning stuff is harder than it looks....I've been busy trying to make lots and lots of decisions about what we want for our wedding. To date, not one decision has been made, so yeah, I'd say I am off to a good start. I had a grand plan of giving up sugar in order to shed a few pounds for the big day. That lasted about 5 days before I went off the deep end and devoured an entire cake to make up for all those torturous days without any sugar in my life. So now I've got a new plan. It's called moderation. I've decided a little bit of sugar every day is necessary for my personal sanity. So what's the best way to enjoy a sweet treat in a portion controlled package? A cupcake, of course!

Today's cupcake is a perfectly patriotic red, white and blue cupcake. Yes, July 4th has long passed, but we've still got Labor Day ahead, and well, I am proud to be an American every day of the year.

The cupcake is a wonderfully flavorful vanilla buttermilk cupcake, divided into three equal portions. One portion stays uncolored, one portion is colored blue and the final portion is (you guessed it) colored red. Then you simply drop a small spoonful of each color into your cupcake liner and lightly swirl it all together with a toothpick. The same technique is applied to your frosting to create that red, white and blue swirl that you see in the photos.

The result is a visually bright and cheery cupcake that tastes just as good as it looks. Now I just have to make sure I don't eat every one of them...moderation, it's all about moderation!!

Pure Happiness - A Cupcake Proposal!

2011-07-12T15:59:00.010-04:00

Do you know that feeling when you are so completely and utterly filled to the brim with joy? When you feel like you are floating on a cloud? Well, that is me! I am beaming from ear to ear with one of those silly looking love struck grins. I think that I am literally the happiest human being on the planet, because over the July 4th weekend, the love of my life proposed to me. That's right, Evan and I are engaged!

Evan and I came up to New York for the July 4th weekend. Little did I know that an elaborate plan was in place that would change the rest of my life! Evan had arranged for a close family friend (Betty) to place a cupcake order with me for 150 cupcakes while I was back in New York. Completely oblivious to any sort of plan, I happily took the order and baked the cupcakes. Betty asked that I deliver the cupcakes into NYC at 5:30 pm on Saturday and said she would meet me at street level so I wouldn't have to worry about parking my car. Great, I thought! That makes it even easier for me. Evan had told me he had to work (which I obviously now know was not true), and our plan was for he and I to meet in NYC for dinner around 7:30 pm. Well, I drove into the city, met up with Betty to deliver the cupcakes, got paid, and was driving around looking to kill some time before Evan met me for dinner.

About 15 minutes later I received a frantic call from Betty. She had put the cupcakes on a table and someone had knocked them over. As a result, all of the cupcakes had fallen and were completely smushed in their boxes. She begged me to come back to the party to help her salvage some of the cupcakes. I told her that I felt terrible but that I really had no way of fixing them at this point, but she pleaded with me to please come and do anything I could to even fix a few of them. I felt badly that she was so upset and so I said I would come and do my best to fix the cupcakes. She told me that the party was on the rooftop of 230 Fifth Avenue and that the party planner would be waiting for me downstairs. So I ran over there and met the party planner who promptly put me in an elevator and sent me up to the rooftop.

Well.....when I got up to the top, the elevator door opened and there was Evan! Standing there with all of my cupcakes! He had taken the 150 cupcakes I made for Betty and laid them out on tables to write "Will U Marry Me?!?!?"

Here is a picture of me with the cupcake proposal!

I almost fainted! I never in a million years would have suspected that I was baking cupcakes for my very own proposal! I had no idea that the cupcakes for Betty were a set up all along. I, of course, said YES YES YES! After the rooftop cupcake proposal, Evan and I headed to dinner at one of our favorite NYC restaurants, and when we arrived both of our families were waiting there! Being able to celebrate with our parents and siblings was just the icing on the cake to this incredible night! It was by far the best night of my life and I am the absolute luckiest girl to be spending the rest of my life with Evan.

Evan told the story of our engagement on his radio show (Evan hosts a sports talk radio show on ESPN 760). If you would like to hear Evan tell the story of our engagement, please click here. It's really cute listening to his version of the story!! We both are just so thrilled and excited!

I LOVE YOU EVAN AND I AM SO EXCITED FOR OUR LIFE TOGETHER!!!!!

Gift Wrapped Present Cake

2011-06-27T11:50:00.002-04:00

So you're having a party and you're getting your TO DO list in order. If you are anything like me, planning for a party is just as much fun as attending the party. And if you are anything like me, you find any reason whatsoever to celebrate. Half birthday, Quarter birthday, Taco Night, Laundry day...Whatever the occasion, to me it's fully worth celebrating. Ok, back to that TO DO list. Here's what's on the very top of my list: 1) Cake! 2) Presents! Oh, and of course 3) more presents!!! So why not kill two birds with one stone with this gift wrapped present cake! You can literally have your present and eat it too.

The thing I love so much about this cake is that it is perfect for just about every occasion. Whether it's for a birthday, anniversary, promotion, or just a way of saying thank you, who doesn't love to get a big, beautifully wrapped present?

My favorite part of this cake is the gorgeous bow that sits on top. It's not difficult to make, but you do have to plan in advance to give the loops of the bow at least 48 hours to dry before assembling on top of the cake. I made this two-toned bow with both green and purple colored fondant to add some extra pizzazz to the cake. I also cut my fondant strips with a pie crust crimper to add that fluted edge to the bow.

I covered the cake with two shades of purple polka dots and added a polka dot border to the bottom of the cake to tie everything together.

This cake seriously makes me smile. It is an elegant and sophisticated cake, while still feeling sweet and whimsical. Whether you are 8 years old or 80, I am sure that you will love this cake!!

Mickey Mouse Birthday Cake

2011-06-22T07:11:00.002-04:00

Sing it with me!!! M-I-C (C ya real soon) K-E-Y (Y? Because we love you) M-O-U-S-E!!!!!!!

I made this Mickey Mouse cake recently for a baby's 1st birthday party, and I just loved how it came out.

The cake is my favorite moist yellow cake with vanilla buttercream icing, and it is topped with fondant.

I can't imagine any kid (or adult) who wouldn't love this Mickey Mouse cake!

Date Nut Bread (aka Strawberry Ricotta Bread)- TWD

2011-06-21T00:05:00.007-04:00

There is something so satisfying about making changes to a recipe to make it your own. It's like reading one of those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. You could follow the recipe exactly as it, or you can turn the page and add whatever you happen to have on hand in your pantry. I really wanted to bake along with this week's TWD pick for Date Nut Bread, selected by Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet, but the thing is, I didn't have any dates. I did, however, have two large containers of strawberries to use up (two for one sale at Publix - woooo!). The other thing is that I didn't have any cream cheese on hand, but I did have part-skim ricotta. So I thought I would give it a whirl. And that, my friends, is how Strawberry Ricotta Bread was born. Never heard of Strawberry Ricotta bread? Well, me either. What can I say...I guess I live adventurously...

Other than swapping out the strawberries for the dates and the ricotta for the cream cheese, and omitting the nuts entirely, I followed the recipe as written. It was done baking after a little over an hour, so I pulled it out about 15 minutes earlier than Dorie suggests. All in all, I enjoyed this bread. Mine did come out a little overly buttery, so perhaps I would reduce the butter in this recipe by a couple of tablespoons next time around. I think the ricotta gave the bread more of a mild flavor than the cream cheese would have, but slather some strawberry jam on top and you've got yourself a crazy delicious treat!

And now it is time to ponder life's biggest questions...such as why in the world Ashley the Bachelorette is so obsessed with Bentley. Honestly, it's just getting weird and ridiculous and frankly, its making me very mad! Grrr. She really has to stop this insanity. I thought Bentley was going to return in this episode, but it was just a teaser for next week. Boooo. I really have nothing good to say about this week's episode. But since I learned from sorority rush in college to always end with a pro, I will say something nice: Umm, I liked Ashley's pink boxing gloves. There. Oh and AMES! The poor thing got capped in the dome and had to be rushed to a Thai hospital, but thankfully he still made it to the cocktail party that evening. When he got there he mentioned that he was having trouble formulating sentences and remembering things. No one seemed to care too much. Oh well. Maybe he will forget this entire season of The Bachelorette and wake up thinking it was just a horrible dream. He can only hope...

Have a fabulous Tuesday everyone! And be sure to stop by tomorrow to see an awesome cake I recently made!

Taxi Cab Sugar Cookies and Palm Tree Sugar Cookies

2011-06-17T11:25:00.001-04:00

My two favorite places, the two places I call home, New York City and Florida, were both represented with these sugar cookies - taxi cabs and palm trees! I was asked to make these cookies to put in gift bags for a wedding where the bride is from NYC and the groom is from Florida. What a great idea!!

These taxi cab cookies really put me in an empire state of mind. I added sparkly black sanding sugar to the wheels to make them pop.

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of!!!!!!!

And the palm trees got me feelin HOT HOT HOT...

Here are some pics of the palm trees as I was working....

Getting there....

Almost done....

All wrapped up and ready to go!

Pink Candy Shop Bridal Shower Dessert Table

2011-06-14T07:53:00.003-04:00

Welcome to my best friend Jodi Rae's bridal shower!! Jodi and I have been best friends for literally my whole life. Just days after I was born, Jodi came to visit me. Our mothers, who are best friends themselves, decided that we too would be best friends. Now here we are all these years later, just as inseparable as we were when we were little girls. I'm just impressed that we both actually listened to our mothers for once!

Jodi is hysterically funny and makes me laugh so hard my tummy aches with laughter pains for days to follow. She is an incredibly talented artist and designer. She is fabulously fashionable and it always dressed to perfection. And above all else, she is a wonderful and devoted friend, sister, daughter, and soon to be wife. Jodi and I know each other inside and out, so I wanted Jodi's dessert table to be a perfect reflection of her.

So first things first, it had to be VERY pink, and there had to be lots of candy and lots of hearts involved!

All of Jodi's favorite desserts and flavors were incorporated onto the table. Jodi loves malt balls, so I baked chocolate malted cupcakes which were absolutely delicious. The malt flavor was extremely subtle, and I think these may end up being my new go to chocolate cupcake recipe.

Jodi Rae loves her mangos! Below are strawberry mango cupcakes with a strawberry cream cheese frosting!

Heart shaped sugar cookie lollipops and chocolate cake pops topped off the cupcake tower.

Chocolate covered oreos, blondie bites, pink marshmallows and vanilla meringues. Jodi was in heaven!

Here I am behind the table, so excited for her to arrive!

I glued photos of Jodi and her fiance Tim on to all of the candy bags, with a little note that read "How Sweet It Is...to be loved by Jodi Rae. They came out great, and were definitely put to good use by guests, who filled up their bags with lots of treats!

Pink gumballs and whirly pops!

M&Ms, pink malt balls and pink rock candies....

Of course, every shower needs a special cake, and I created this cake just for Jodi! The pink balls you see are mini gumballs, tying the candy theme perfectly into the cake! I was so proud of this cake!!

Me with the cake!

Here's Jodi Rae, the beautiful bride to be! Notice her ring..it's a ring pop that we got her and she gladly wore!!!

Jodi Rae, I love you with all my heart and I wish you and Tim a lifetime of love and and happiness! I hope you enjoyed your special day and dessert table!

TWD - Chocolate Biscotti

2011-06-13T23:47:00.004-04:00

Hello TWD friends!! I am so sorry I have missed out on the past few weeks, but I am so glad to be back with this week's recipe for Chocolate Biscotti, selected by Jacque of Daisy Lane Cakes. I thought this was a delicious cookie. I grew up eating a cookie called Mandelbread, which is quite similar to biscotti, but mandelbread is not twice baked, and therefore is slightly softer than biscotti typically is. My grandma makes the best mandelbread in the world. She is known for her unbelievable mandelbread, which she makes primarily in two versions -- chocolate chip, or walnut raisin, and any time our family gets together, you can be sure that there will be mandelbread around.

The thing I liked best about this biscotti is that, just like my grandma's mandelbread, it was not too crispy, even with the second bake. I hate that feeling of biting down onto biscotti and feeling like you are going to crack a tooth. These biscotti were perfectly crisp without that hard as a rock feeling. Not to sweet, no frills, this chocolate biscotti is just simple goodness. And the addition of espesso powder really added a delcious flavor to these cookies. Oh, and of course, these taste even better when dunked in a big hot cup of coffee!

Now a quick Bachelorette update!!

Bentley wasn't even in this week's episode, yet he somehow managed to annoy the crap out of me more than ever. What is going on with Ashley?!? Why in the world is she still stuck on him? It's insanity. All I can think about is how she must feel watching these episodes back and seeing how she is acting. Not cool. Not cool at alllllll. Poor Ashley. But lo and behold, Bentley will return in the next episode, so we shall she how it all plays out. Right now I like JP and Ben F a lot, but Ashley has seriously got to stop whining about Bentley and move on. Can't wait for next week!!!! :)

School Themed Dessert Table

2011-06-09T06:52:00.001-04:00

School's out for summer....but for one person school's out forever! I had the honor and joy of creating a dessert table for the wonderful Annie on her final day as a teacher after over 30 years at North Palm Beach Elementary School.

For Annie's retirement party, I created a school themed dessert table. The banner you see hanging, which reads "The best place to learn under the sun" is the school motto.

I baked lots of miniature cupcakes....chocolate, vanilla, cookies n cream, and my new favorite - The Hummingbird cupcake!

Here I am, making sure the table is absolutely perfect for Annie!

To incorporate the school theme into the dessert table, I placed cake pops on top of glass vases filled with pencils. Rulers adorned some of the platters, as you can see below on the smores shooters. (Annie's fave!)

I used mini chalk boards to label each item on the table, which really added a lot to the cuteness factor of this table.

The blondie bites and minty brownie bites I baked reminded me of items you can find at a school bake sale. Simple, delicious, homemade goodness!

If you love your teacher...give her an apple! I topped some cupcakes with miniature fondant apples. So cute!

Other cupcakes were topped with fondant mathematical equations.

Simple bud vases filled with paper clips and one giant yellow mum in each vase served as the perfect centerpiece on tables where guests sat to eat their desserts!

Of course there was lots of candy, including malt balls and licorice wheels!

I was so delighted to be a part of Annie's big send off into the world of retirement. I hope she loved her special table. It was clear after meeting so many members of the staff just how much Annie will be missed at school. Congratulations on this milestone in your life Annie!

Shamu Birthday Cake!

2011-06-02T20:18:00.001-04:00

You gotta love Shamu!!! Here are a few pics of a Shamu cake I made last week for a little girl's 4th birthday. I wanted it to look like Shamu was swimming right out of the cake!

The cake was mostly buttercream, with some fondant decorations, including a seascape border of fish and dolphins.

Cuteness! I loved this cake...and most importantly, so did the birthday girl!

Shamuuuuuuuuuuu!

Red Velvet Cake Pops and The Bachelorette

2011-05-31T10:46:00.000-04:00

It's red. It's cute. It's perky. It's Ashley the Bachelorettes adorable little heart. No wait. It's a red velvet cake pop!

Sorry TWD friends, but I did not bake along this week. Instead, I'll give you some photos of cake pops and some thoughts on the Bachelorette.

I love red velvet cake, and turn it into a cake pop and you have red velvet in its most perfectly delicious form. These red velvet pops are amazing!

But now on to a Bachelorette recap...

Boy is this season of the Bachelorette off to an odd start. First off, mask guy is still in it to win it? Imagine how the guys who were sent home before mask guy must feel? Not good, not good at all. Take off the mask Zorro! It's time. Next, lets discuss Ashley's date with William. Getting fake married on a first date goes down as the most awkward way to get to know someone ever of all time. William was a good sport about it, but I personally was cringing. So awkward.

But by far the most bizarre (and by bizarre I mean amazing) line of the night came from Bentley, when he told William that he "would rather swim in pee than plan a wedding to Ashley". Ummm. Yeah, its like that. Luckily we see in scenes for next week' episode that Bentley reveals to Ashley just how much he loathes her, therefore breaking her heart and leaving her an emotional wreck. Gotta love Bachelorette draaamaaaaa!

Chocolate Times Five - The Ultimate Chocolate Cupcake

2011-05-24T09:30:00.002-04:00

Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate. I kid you not, this is the chocolate mecca. Five types of chocolate. If you are an obsessive chocolate lover, then you have come to the right place, because this chocolate cupcake is not messing around.

The five chocolates in this cupcake are:

1) Moist, rich chocolate cupcake

2) filled with creamy chocolate mousse

3) topped with semi sweet chocolate frosting

4) dipped in bittersweet chocolate ganache

5) and finally, finished with a white chocolate drizzle

Can I get a heeeeeeell yeah!?!

And how bout another heeeeeell yeah for the Bachelorette, which started last night! I'm hooked already. I think it's too early to formulate opinions about anyone after the first episode, but I am going to anyway...so here are a few initial thoughts:

-Ummm, mask guy? She really gave a rose to mask guy? Come on, seriously that guy is creepy.

-Drunk guy (Jeff I think?) was hysterical and the scene where she was trying to wake him up was awesome

-Bentley is bad news!! Could that name be any more pretentious? I mean that's equivalent to me to naming my kids Prada and Louboutian. It's just ridiculous.

Can't wait to see how this season goes. Stay tuned for weekly Bachelorette updates, and let me know what you all thought of last night's episode!

Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 + 2 tbsp flour
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup of canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup boiling water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tray with cupcake liners. Sift together the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add the egg, milk, oil, and vanilla then beat together with a mixer until combined.

Scrape the sides of the bowl then add the boiling water and mix until just combined. The batter will be watery so don't be alarmed. Pour batter evenly into each liner. Place into the oven and bake for 20-22 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Inspire Me Monday

2011-05-23T06:35:00.003-04:00

I am sooo not a morning person. I'm not that person that pops right out of bed and seizes the day. You know all those people that talk about Carpe Diem? For me its more Carpe Five More Minutes Of Shut Eye Please. It takes a little bit of inspiration (and a lot of coffee) to get my day going. Well, I thought I'd share with you just a few of the things inspiring me to get out of bed and start my day on this beautiful, sunny Monday morning.

UUPP Prints (shown above and below)

UUPP's uplifting prints will inspire you and make you smile. I couldn't help myself and ordered the print below for my kitchen. Now I'm trying to decide which print to order next!

Gaga's The Edge of Glory is my new favorite song, and I plan to listen to it over and over and over again this summer while singing at the top of my lungs and dancing like crazy. Click here to check out her amazing performance of the song over the weekend on SNL.

These Rainbow Popsicles I found on The Family Kitchen. Made with real fruit juices and low in sugar. Bright, sunny, cheerful, how could these not make you happy!

And just in time for summer, It Works is best thing you can do to get your body bikini ready. I had the pleasure of trying out the ultimate body slimming applicator over the weekend, and let me tell you -- It Works really works! My tummy was flat as a board after being wrapped for just 45 minutes. Now that's what I call some major inspiration!

So go get out of bed and get your week started! And tell me, what's inspiring you today?

Key Lime Pie Cupcakes filled with Key Lime Curd

2011-05-20T06:50:00.005-04:00

Down here in Florida, it's all about the Key Lime Pie. People seriously go nuts here for this dessert. I love it too. The creamy, tangy, melt in your mouth texture it addictively perfect. But I must admit that I never knew the difference between key limes and regular limes. I knew that key limes were much smaller than a regular lime, but what makes those itty bitty limes so special? Well, I decided to do a little research on the difference between a regular (Persian) lime and a Key Lime. Here's what I found out:

Persian limes (the source of regular lime juice) are the most commonly found in markets around the country. Although they become yellow when they are fully ripe, they are sold only when they are still bright green. The key lime is an Asian species that was brought to the Florida keys by the Spanish in the 1950s, says What's Cooking America.

Differences in Appearance: Key limes are smaller and contain more seeds than the Persian lime. Also, Persian limes have a thick, vividly green skin, while the skin of the key lime is thin and yellowish.

Differences in Taste: Key lime juice is more aromatic and intense in flavor than that of the Persian lime. Key lime juice is considered to have a more noticeable sweet-tart balance. Many people prefer the taste of the key lime and its more distinct flavor.

Availability: Regular limes are available in grocery stores year-round. While key limes can be found year-round throughout most of Florida, it can be difficult to find fresh key limes in other parts of the country, because they are in shorter supply and do not store well.

Since I live in Florida, I am lucky enough to be in close proximity to these lovely little limes. But if you don't live in Florida, don't freak out, you won't have to travel too far to get your key limes. Bottled key lime juice is available in specialty shops throughout the country and online.

So you know what that means...you have no excuse not to try these Key Lime Pie Cupcakes. This is Florida's favorite dessert in cupcake form! It's made with a vanilla cupcake that I filled with a fresh key lime curd and topped with a lemon lime cream cheese frosting. I finished it off with a sprinkling of graham cracker crumbs because the graham cracker crust is my favorite part of any key lime pie.

This key lime curd is seriously out of this world! And it's quite easy to make. Give it a try!

Key Lime Curd

from marthastewart.com

1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons grated key-lime zest plus 1/4 cup freshly squeezed key-lime juice (6 limes)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Directions

Combine sugar, eggs, lime zest, and juice in a medium nonreactive saucepan, and set over medium-low heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture begins to thicken and holds the mark of the whisk, 10 to 12 minutes.
Remove pan from heat, and whisk in butter, a piece at a time, until well combined. Strain mixture through a sieve into a glass bowl. Lay plastic directly on surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill 3 hours or overnight to set the curd.

Mocha Espresso Cake Pops

2011-05-17T06:56:00.001-04:00

I love coffee. I love it hot. I love it cold. I love it in desserts. I just can't get enough. My love for coffee isn't exactly breaking news to anyone who reads Bella frequently, but this weekend I realized just how bad my coffee addiction is. I was enjoying a lovely brunch with some friends at a resort in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and ordered a cup of coffee. Our waitress came back with an enormous carafe and left it on the table. Well, I ate my lovely brunch and continued to refresh my coffee cup every time it was empty and next thing I knew we were finishing up brunch and I was finishing up the coffee. The whole thing. No one else even had a cup. I had drank it all. Now that just can't be good. I was actually really embarrassed that I drank it all and tried to pretend that there was still some left...but nope, all gone.

I was so hocked up on caffeine immediately following brunch that I proceeded to sprint out 5 miles on the treadmill and climb a rock wall all the way to the top (seriously), which was awesome, but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that drinking that much coffee in one sitting probably isn't very good for you.

But the thing is, I love coffee way too much to ever give it up. So to honor my coffee addiction, meet the newest flavor to enter the Bella Baker cake pop family...say hello to Mocha Espresso cake pops!

These beauties taste just as good as they look. The inside cake is my go to vanilla cake recipe, but I added in freshly brewed coffee, cocoa powder and espresso powder to the cake to create a phenomenal mocha espresso flavor. The cake is then dipped in bittersweet chocolate and topped off with some sparkly sanding sugar and vahlrona covered cereal bits. The end result is insanely amazing!

I am absolutely in love with these Mocha Espresso cake pops!! YUM!

The Best Apple Cake to Ever Exist

2011-05-13T10:26:00.003-04:00

Trust me when I tell you that this is definitely the best apple cake recipe ever.

You guys all trust me, right? Well you should, because I really am a very trustworthy person. I am that person you can count on to tell you if you've got a hunk of green stuff in between your two front teeth. I will give you an honest opinion on how your tush looks in those skinny jeans you are trying on if we were ever to go shopping together. Heck, I'll even be honest with you about my tendency to eat dessert and drink 3 cups of coffee before noon just about every day.

So trust me when I tell you that this is the absolute best apple cake in the whole entire universe. This is my Grandma's recipe, and so far I have never met anyone who has not fallen completely head over heels in love upon first bite. My grandma and I have a very special relationship. In addition to being my grandmother, she is my best friend. I could (and do) spend endless amount of time hanging out with her. Whether it's shopping, walking the pool, seeing movies, cooking, baking, or just sitting on the couch chatting, my grandma knows how to make everything we do seem special. I have learned so much from my grandma over the years, and I could never repay her for all of the love and support she has given me throughout my whole life. My grandma is the best, and so is her apple cake.

So try this apple cake and I promise you will fall in love, and not only because this is my Grandma's recipe and everything about my grandma is perfect. Also because this apple cake is just that amazing.

Grandma Harriet's Apple Cake

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 stick + 2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp sugar

3 pounds macintosh apples, peeled, cored and sliced into 1/2 inch thick strips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan with butter or Pam spray.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

Sprinkled sliced apples with 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tbsp sugar and set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat 1 stick of butter on medium-high speed until soft and fluffy. Add sugar and continue to beat until mixture becomes light in color and well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating for about a minute at a time until eggs are thoroughly incorporated. Beat in vanilla. Reduce mixer to low speed and slowly incorporate flour. About half way through this process, switch to a rubber spatula to finish folding in the flour.

Separate your dough into two equal balls. Using your hands, press half the dough into the bottom of your 9x13 pan evenly so that it covers the entire bottom of the pan.

Add apple mixture to the pan and, using a rubber spatula, spread evenly to form a flat layer over the dough. Cut remaining 2 tbsp butter into very small pieces and "dot" the butter sporadically over the apples.

Cover apples with the remaining ball of dough in a patchwork style. To do this, break the ball of dough into pieces, flatten those pieces with your hands, place on top of the apples and ever so gently press down. This gives the top of the cake that nook and cranny type of look. Once all of the dough has been patchworked onto the top of the cake to cover all of the apples (or almost all - it doesn't have to be exact), combine the remaining 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1 tbsp of sugar and sprinkle over the top of the cake.

Bake 1 hour, or until cake is golden brown and apples are bubbling. Remove from oven and let cool as long as you can possibly wait before cutting into squares and digging in!

Brown Sugar Bundt Cake - TWD

2011-05-10T00:05:00.004-04:00

First all of, I want to wish a very happy Mother's Day to my wonderful, incredible mom and to all of the other wonderful, incredible mothers in my life who I love and care about so much. My mom and dad came down to Florida for the weekend to visit Evan and I, so we got to spend the whole weekend, including Mothers Day, with my mom!

my beautiful mommy and me!

This week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe is for Brown Sugar Bundt cake, selected by Peggy of Pantry Revisited. This cake was amazing --- too amazing if you ask me! This cake is filled with fruit and nuts and brown sugary goodness, and for the life of me I seriously couldn't stop snacking on it!

I did make a couple of changes to Dorie's original recipe. For one, I used ground almonds instead of the ground walnuts called for in the recipe. The recipe calls for adding two chopped pears and some chopped prunes, but instead I used one pear and one apple. I decided not to use the prunes at all and went with golden raisins instead. Finally, I threw in a couple of handfuls of toffee bits to add to the caramel flavor brought out from all that brown sugar!

The result...a sweet, moist delicious cake that I loved just a little bit too much. You can see those little bits of pear and apple and raisin scattered throughout the cake. Yum. Just perfect. But now it's time to hit the gym to make up for a few too many pieces of my perfect cake. It's off to boot camp class for me!

You can find the complete recipe for this bundt cake at Pantry Revisited, or on page 179 of Baking from My Home to Yours. But beware, bake at your own risk! Cause you're gonna want to eat the whole cake!

Pretty in Pink - A Girly Flower Dessert Table

2011-05-04T07:31:00.005-04:00

Over the weekend I created a special dessert table for the absolutely adorable baby Lucy! Lucy's family wanted the dessert table to look like a beautiful pink flower garden. Perfect for springtime. Girly and happy and sparkly and pink!

I displayed a beautiful pink cupcake tower filled with sweet flowery mini chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. I worked with fondant to create these delicate, hand made flowers and I was so thrilled with the outcome.

Creamy mini lemon cheesecakes sit in front of the cupcake tower.

I just loved the pink cake pops I made for Lucy! These pops were strawberry, so they were pink on the outside and the inside too!

I made lots of girly pink flower sugar cookies and also incorporated Lucy's name in sugar cookie form. You may have noticed the LUCY sugar cookies on lollipop sticks at the top of the cupcake tower!

Finally, pretty pink candies to finish off the sweet look of the table!

How can you not love this gorgeous little baby! Lucy is the absolute cutest, and I was so happy to put together a dessert table for Lucy and her family! I hope they enjoyed eating it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Chocolate Orange Marbled Loaf - TWD

2011-05-03T00:01:00.003-04:00

Has anyone been watching the Khloe and Lamar show? I know, I know, so typical that I would watch, but I love the Kardashian shows and I really am loving getting a glimpse into the lives of Khloe and Lamar. How awesome is Lam Lam? The nickname alone sold me on the show, but he does seem like a really nice guy. OMG and how annoying is his friend Jamie. Can't stand him!

In this week's episode, Khloe's best friend Malika got very upset because she felt that she was stuck in Khloe's shadow. Malika said that Khloe is the successful one who gets all the attention, and even though Malika is talented and pretty, everyone focuses all of their attention on Khloe.

Well consider this Marbled Loaf Cake the Malika of cake. Chosen for this week's TWD recipe by Carol of The Bake More, I really did like this marbled loaf cake quite a lot. It happens to be a delicious cake filled with yummy flavors, but compared to many of Dorie's other fabulous cakes, I think this cake might get lost in the shadows for some. People may walk by this cake at a party, not giving it a second glance, thinking it doesn't look like much...but they would be missing out on a lovely loaf cake!

Dorie offers many suggestions on flavor options for this cake. Her favorite is the peppermint variation, but I decided to go with the Chocolate Orange flavor combo. Many of you know my love for chocolate and orange, and I think I should have added in some extra zest to mine because my orange flavor was a bit difficult to detect.

Other than that, I had no complaints. Baking went smoothly. The cake came together easily, and my cake was done 15 minutes earlier than expected. Overall, it was good. A solid good. It was a total Malika.

Oh, and how do you all feel about my marbling technique? My marbling kind of looks more like a checkerboard, but I still thought it looked pretty cool!

Check out the TWD blogroll to see what variations the other TWD bakers decided to go with. You can get the complete recipe at The Bake More.

Super Mario Cake Pops!

2011-05-02T06:21:00.000-04:00

Who in the world does not love Super Mario?!? My brother and I recently had a conversation about who our favorite characters are. My brother likes Luigi the best. He feels that Mario always got all the credit but that Luigi is actually the cooler one. Me, I've always been a Toad the mushroom fan. Which is why I jumped at the opportunity to make Toad cake pops for a Super Mario Brothers themed birthday party.

I mean seriously, how cute are these guys!

The whole time I was making these pops I couldn't stop humming the music that plays in the background of the game. I know you know it... "do do do do do do DO!"

All packed up and ready to go!

Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies - TWD

2011-04-26T17:58:00.002-04:00

It's almost here, it's almost here!! The Royal Wedding is just a few days away, and I, like the rest of the world, have got Will and Kate madness in a major way! What music will they play, how will she wear her hair, what will the decor and flowers look like, how will Prince William look, and of course, the biggest question of them all...what dress will Kate be wearing as she walks down the aisle and enters into the royal family! Whatever she wears, I am sure that Kate will look insanely gorgeous. It's JUST SO EXCITING.

Though most details have been kept top secret, I did recently read an article about the wedding cake. The royal couple will have two wedding cakes created just for them. The first will be a traditional British tiered fruit cake, covered in white icing and ornately decorated with flower and pearl details. The second cake, considered the "grooms cake" is a special chocolate cake that Will ate regularly as a child over tea with the Queen. It is a no-bake cake, and it is made with broken up pieces of shortbread cookies that are mixed with a chocolate mousse-like base. The whole thing is refrigerated until it sets and then covered with chocolate ganache. I love that he is incorporating his favorite childhood dessert into the wedding. It's just so sweet, it gives me goosebumps.

So I had this grand plan of using these Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies, this week's TWD pick selected by Valerie of Une Gamine dans la Cuisine to replicate Will's grooms cake. How cool would that have been? But unfortunately I didn't get around to it, so you will just have to use your imagination. :)

Instead, I nibbled on these cookies on their own over (you guessed it) a lovely cup of tea. And you should do the same. They are a traditional buttery shortbread cookie, with the addition of a small amount of cornmeal just to make them a wee bit more interesting. Light and dainty with just a little bit of extra texture and graininess to them, it's kind of like the pairing between the Royal family and the Middleton family right here in a cookie...unexpectedly fabulous!

Visit Valerie of Une Gamine dans la Cuisine for the complete recipe. Cheerio!!

Chocolate Flowers and the Best Cake Ever!

2011-04-22T09:27:00.002-04:00

On the last day of my cake decorating course, I couldn't believe how quickly a whole week could go by. It all went by in the blink of an eye, and I enjoyed my experience so much, I was sad to see it all come to an end. It was quite the opposite of that last day of school feeling I used to get when I would count the seconds until I could sprint out those school doors and be free from school work...I wanted to stay forever in my little cake decorating course and learn more. Who knew I had gotten so studious?!? For our final class, we learned how to make and work with molding chocolate. We created a 15 petal rose with scattered leaves, and I was thrilled with the outcome of my rose! Our final project was to decorate a cake and show off the skills we learned throughout the week. It was kind of like our final exam.

Here is my final project! The cake is covered in an amaretto mocha swiss meringue buttercream. I piped a rope border for the base and a shell border for the top. I also piped on a few buttercream rossettes, and last but not least, I added on my chocolate rose and leaves for a dramatic finish. What do you think? Would you give me an A+?

But now that I had this gorgeous cake to take home with me, what was I going to do with it? Well, I thought about it and I thought about it some more, and I decided that the best way to enjoy this cake would be so stage a fake birthday celebration for my good friend Jon. So a group of my friends met for dinner and at the end of the night I arranged with the restaurant for them to bring out the cake so we could all sing Happy Birthday to Jon!

Jon, the "birthday boy", was happy to play along! Look, I added the marzipan fruit onto the cake too!

Overall, it was quite an exciting week in New York City. Between my cake decorating class, getting to meet the Top Chef contestants and getting to see my friends and family, it really was a blast!

And now I'm happy to be back in Florida with Evan! :)

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Glaze

2011-04-21T09:07:00.005-04:00

Every year I look forward to Passover as a time to de-carb for a solid week. No bread, no pizza, no pasta! I mean, how could I not lose weight? Well here are three words on how I could not lose weight -- Flourless Chocolate Cake. And while I'm at it, I'll actually give you another word....Matzah. Addictive to eat and impossible to digest, matzah and I are anything but BFF. Between the chocolate cake and the matzah, somehow I end up gaining weight from my no carb Passover diet. Oh well, if that's the way it is, I'm gonna go all out. So don't be alarmed if you find me with crumbs of matzah covering my shirt, chocolate cake smeared across my mouth and a smile on my face.

Seriously though, this Flourless Chocolate Cake is out of control amazing. This cake is beyond decadent. It is so thick and rich and fudgey and dense, you'll want this cake any time of year -- not just for Passover. Everyone at my passover sedar just loved this cake. Do not skip the chocolate glaze, it makes the whole cake that much better! I made some marzipan flowers just to add a bright decorative touch, but unfortunately my photos don't do the cake justice. Trust me, it was phenomenal.

Recipe from Epicurious

For cake

12 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

6 large eggs, separated
12 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For glaze

1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
9 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Make cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper or waxed paper; butter paper. Wrap outside of pan with foil. Stir chocolate and butter in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm, stirring often.
Using electric mixer, beat egg yolks and 6 tablespoons sugar in large bowl until mixture is very thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Fold lukewarm chocolate mixture into yolk mixture, then fold in vanilla extract. Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in another large bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 6 tablespoons sugar, beating until medium-firm peaks form. Fold whites into chocolate mixture in 3 additions. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake cake until top is puffed and cracked and tester inserted into center comes out with some moist crumbs attached, about 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack (cake will fall).
Gently press down crusty top to make evenly thick cake. Using small knife, cut around pan sides to loosen cake. Remove pan sides. Place 9-inch-diameter tart pan bottom or cardboard round atop cake. Invert cake onto tart pan bottom. Peel off parchment paper.
Make glaze:
Bring cream and corn syrup to simmer in medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth.
Place cake on rack set over baking sheet. Spread 1/2 cup glaze smoothly over top and sides of cake. Freeze until almost set, about 3 minutes. Pour remaining glaze over cake; smooth sides and top. Place cake on platter. Chill until glaze is firm, about 1 hour. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome; store at room temperature.) Garnish with chocolate shavings or leaves. Serve at room temperature.

Marzipan Fruit

2011-04-20T00:25:00.001-04:00

One of the most fun days of my cake decorating class was marzipan day. We learned how to make insanely gorgeous marzipan fruits and veggies out of a few simple ingredients, and the end result was a stunning "wow" factor.

Say hello to my orange and apple...pretty realistic, right? We learned techniques for coloring and shaping our fruits so that they would look just like the real thing!

I had a lot of love for my strawberry. So cute to add to a summertime cake or a strawberry themed party for a little girl!

Here's a close up of my carrot!

Working with marzipan is fun AND easy! Plus it tastes delicious! You can really sculpt just about anything out of marzipan, so as long as there are no nut allergies in your house, give it a try!

Living, Loving, Learning...

2011-04-18T00:08:00.005-04:00

So as I mentioned, I was in New York City last week taking a cake decorating course. I had been so excited for so long about taking this class, and let me tell you, it lived up to my expectations and then some! I had the most fabulous teacher and the sweetest group of ladies in class with me, and overall it was an incredibly rewarding experience. It felt exciting and refreshing to be learning new techniques and taking with me valuable information about the artistry of cake design. I left class each day feeling inspired....now wait til you see all of the amazing things I learned!

The class focused a lot of time on buttercream borders, designs and roses. I particularly loved making the roses. They are just so beautiful and delicate looking.

We also worked on our basketweaving techniques. Perfect skill to master just in time for spring!

Swag and ribbon details below, which were actually a lot more difficult to make than I had anticipated, but I guess practice makes perfect!

I still have lots more to share from my class, so stay tuned this week to get a glimpse of some of the work we covered, including marzipan and molding chocolate!

Thank you Chef Toba for inspiring me to work hard, practice, do my best, and of course have fun while doing it all!! You are an incredible teacher and I enjoyed getting to know you throughout the week.

TOP CHEF AMAZINGNESS!!!

2011-04-15T09:19:00.016-04:00

OMG OMG last night I attended the Eat Pray Heal Benefit for Japan and it was A-MAZING!!!!!!!!!!! The event featured different dishes created by some of the Top Chefs in order to raise money to help Japan. It was a truly awesome night and I was so glad I went!

Look who I met!!

It's Richard Blais - winner of Top Chef All Stars!!

I also got to meet Angelo, who recently opened up a restaurant here in NYC!

And Mike Isabella, runner up on Top Chef All Stars! Hey Mike, where's the pepperoni sauce?!?!

Of course, I got a little overly excited...

What a night!!!!!

A Whale Of A Time! (Dessert Table)

2011-04-13T22:47:00.005-04:00

Last weekend I had the pleasure of creating an adorable blue and brown whale themed dessert table for Baby Banks! First of all I am totally in love with the name Banks. And he is just so cute and sweet, it was perfectly fitting to create a sweet dessert table just for him!

I love how the turquoise blue really made this table pop! I incorporated whales as fondant cupcake toppers (shown below.) I cut each whale out free hand and added a little sparkle to the "water spout" on top of the whale. Not bad for free hand, huh? I also included some stripe and polka dot fondant toppers on the cupcakes as well.

These little beauties below are carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. So so good. Even if you don't think you are a carrot cake person, you will absolutely love these!

Blue and white cake pops! So colorful and sparkly!

My dessert shooters were a huge hit at the party! I had two flavors available on this table, flourless chocolate and lemon raspberry. And make sure to notice the little whales added to some of the dessert labels!

These minty brownie bites really hit the spot. They were fudgey and delicious, but what I loved most was how well the brownie bites fit in with the decor. They looked like little chocolate brown polka dots on a serving tray!

And of course lots of candy to complete the beautiful table!

Overall, I just loved the final outcome of this table! And the two lovely hostesses Sally and Annie could not have been more amazing and they were thrilled with the table, which made me so incredibly happy!

So late - TWD Coffee Ice Cream Tart

2011-04-10T14:20:00.006-04:00

Better late than never, right? Yes, I know, this post is very, very late, since today is Sunday, not Tuesday. But I did make last week's Tuesdays With Dorie recipe for Coffee Ice Cream Tart, selected by Jessica of Domestic Deep Thought, and since I loved it so much, I wanted to share it. Rather than one large tart, I made two six-inch mini tarts and I used vanilla low fat fro yo instead of coffee ice cream so I could feel a little less guilty about eating it. Unfortunately I slightly overbaked my crust, but despite that, this tart was a big time winner in my house. Evan absolutely loved it, and we gobbled up a whole mini tart between the two of us. YUM! The best thing about this tart is that you can make it and pop it in the freezer and you are good to go the next time you need to serve dessert!

Sorry for the lousy photo. And it didn't help that I did nothing to make the tart look pretty. No drizzle on top or pretty cake plate, just a plain old ice cream tart that tasted anything but plain. What you see here is the one quick photo I took before we dug in, and then I forgot to take others because we were too busy eating. I think that's a pretty good excuse!

Oh and some big news! I am back in New York this week and tomorrow I start a one week cake decorating course! I am SO excited I can barely even take it, and I cannot wait to share all that I have learned with each of you! Stay tuned this week to hear about my "back to school" adventures! Better go get my pencils sharpened and pick out my first day of school outfit!! Ahhh, love it!

Check out Jessica's blog Domestic Deep Thoughts for the complete tart recipe and taste for yourself just how delicious and easy this ice cream tart is.

Honey Nut Brownies - TWD

2011-03-22T00:02:00.001-04:00

First things first....I am excited to announce the winner of my CSN giveaway is Pamela of Cookies with Boys!! Congrats Pamela! I will contact you with the details! Thanks to all who entered!

Now, let me just say, I really, really love the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee. You know, the little bumble bee mascot. How cute is he? I mean he really is adorable. I looked it up and his name is Buzz. Did you guys know that? I didn't. Well I will tell you, in my opinion Buzz the Honey Nut Cheerio bee is far superior to all of the other cereal mascots out there. Tony the Tiger and Count Chocula ain't got nothin on Buzz. Actually that little frosted mini wheat is pretty cute too, but Buzz still wins. Honey and Nut. Nut and Honey. It's a great combination. Honey Nut Cheerios are delicious.

So I was pretty psyched that this week's recipe for Tuesdays With Dorie was for Honey Nut brownies, selected by Suzy of Suzy Homemaker. But I was surprised to discover that so many TWD people were anti-honey. Not me. I love honey, and I loved these brownies!

To be fair, these actually did not have the taste or texture of a brownie at all. In fact, they reminded me very much of the bar version of my grandma's world famous honey cake. Her honey cake is incredible, and these had that same honey soaked dense cake feel to them. I used an organic orange blossom honey in mine, and I also added in some orange zest to amp up the orange flavor of the honey. In addition, I threw in a couple of handfuls of mini semi sweet chocolate chips. I only tastes a small piece, which I loved, and then I gave these away to the perfect audience, my grandma and her bridge group! The feedback could not have been better. My grandma told me that every crumb was devoured and that lots of ladies wanted the recipe! So if these brownies had a mascot, I think it would be my grandma's bridge group. And they are an awfully cute bunch themselves. Yes, even cuter than Buzz the Bee.

So bridge ladies, or anyone else interested, the recipe can be found on Suzy's blog, or on page 102 of Baking From My Home to Yours.

Bella Video Blog

2011-03-17T00:03:00.001-04:00

I thought it would be fun to share with you a little bit of video footage from my black and white Diamond Noir dessert table! It's less than a minute long so check it out if you have 60 seconds to spare!

Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

2011-03-16T13:07:00.002-04:00

And desserts are a girl's best friend too. Which is why I was so thrilled to create a glamorous black and white dessert table to celebrate Hamilton Jeweler's Diamond Noir event, an incredible old Hollywood gala, which took place over the weekend here in Palm Beach Gardens. The event featured a never before seen selection of diamonds, jewelry, gemstones and designer collections, and I had a blast creating an elegant dessert table to go along with the theme of the day. All of the jewelry, plus additional photos of the event can be seen on the fabulous Hamilton Jewelers website.

The cupcake tower in the center of the table held close to 400 mini cupcakes in four different flavors. From top to bottom we had banana caramel cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes with fluffy vanilla frosting, red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and vanilla bean cupcakes filled with chocolate mouse and topped with dark chocolate frosting. Oh yeah.

The vanilla bean cupcakes were adorned with sugar diamonds. It was a diamond event after all!

I made all of the labels and used stick on rhinestones to add to the bling look of the table.

The banana caramel cupcakes were a HUGE hit. I think they were the most popular item of the day.

Actually it was a tie between the banana caramel cupcakes and the smores dessert shooters.

I also baked lots and lots of cookies for the table. Sugar cookies infused with lime juice, lime zest and coconut milk, blondie bites and black and white cookies. I used gorgeous cake stands with hanging crystals and serving trays with stone borders. Oh so glamorous. Oh so Hollywood.

The flower arrangements contained a mix of white hydrangas, roses and giant mums. I put the arrangements together all by myself and used stunning mercury glass vases to add to the glamorous, old Hollywood look of the table.

I had lots of black and white candy on the table, including white malt malls, black licorice wheels, silver M&MS and black and white chocolate non-pariels.

As always, my dessert tables are never complete without cake pops. Here we have chocolate cake pops, covered in white chocolate and sprinkled with silver and white sparkly sanding sugar.

Like my necklace? Designed by Nanis, Hamilton loaned it to me for the day, and I wore it proudly! So beautiful, I almost considered pulling a Lindsay Lohan but, alas, I returned it at the end of the unbelievably fun, amazing, delicious day!

Huge thanks to Hamilton Jewelers for working with me on this event. It was absolutely spectacular. What could possibly be more fun than diamonds and desserts? Go visit their website, and like them on Facebook!

Photography is courtesy of Brodigan Photography. Check out his gorgeous photos on his website.