Let 'em eat cake!

I have always admired beautiful cakes.  There is just something so breathtaking about the intricate architecture of a mile high tower of cake and frosting made into an object of beauty.  And it doesn't have to be extremely ornate.  There are some cakes that, in their simplicity, are just stunning.

I did imagine that, some day, I might like to try baking a nice single tier layer cake with some pretty flowers or some other cute design, probably piped with frosting.  I didn't know what fondant was back then.  But once I discovered that sweet, pliable, soft, play-doughy delight I was hooked.

A friend of mine just found out that the baby she was carrying would be a....well, let me not ruin the surprise just yet.  I asked her if, at her upcoming weekend barbecue, she might want to surprise her guests by revealing the baby's gender.  She loved the idea.  So I went at it and baked a gender reveal cake.

The cake, itself, was a simple vanilla white cake.  The frosting was a Swiss Buttercream...light, airy, fluffy, and so delicately sweet, with a hint of orange and plenty of vanilla.  It was simply divine.  And, when we cut into this cloudy delight, we found out she is having a.........
GIRL
Six layers in variegated shade of pink, each layer getting more intense, revealed the baby's gender.  And as soft and feminine as a tiny little baby girl, so was this lovely cake.
It was a great first cake project for me.


But if that wasn't challenging enough, I decided, for the same friend's baby shower, to try my hand at a 2-tier cake.  Now, my oven, as I may have already mentioned somewhere, is tiny.  It has one rack, and it is not calibrated.  Well...imagine having to bake two three-layer tiers of cake in a tiny oven, one layer at a time!  So, what did I decide to try?  I decided to bake a 3" cake and cut the cake into 3 layers.
Not. A. Good. Idea.  The cakes, both the 8" and 10", burnt on the outside.  Ugh.

Not wanting to have another failure on my hands, I reached out to my best buddy and pal.  He lives in Manhattan and has a lovely huge oven with two racks.  Hallelujah!!  He came all the way to Brooklyn to pick me up (along with my daughter and half of my kitchen) in his valiant Mini-Cooper, and away we rode.  Now his oven is not calibrated either, but I was wise to the possibility, and made sure to buy an oven thermometer so that I could monitor the temperature and avoid another disaster.  The cakes turned out just fine.  He dropped us all off again at around midnight, and I began to work on my delectable, dreamy Swiss Buttercream.  I was up until about 2:45, making buttercream, frosting the cakes, putting them away in the refrigerator to solidify overnight, cleaning up the kitchen.  Preparing for the final steps of decoration.

I woke up at 5am that very same morning.  I rolled out my fondant and started covering the top tier first.  Horror of horrors.  The fondant was misbehaving, tearing all over.  I was ready to cry.  But from the living room I hear my 5 1/2 year old saying, "It sounds like you are having a rough time!  Don't give up...you can do it!"  My heart melted.  I knew she was right.  I always teach her the same lesson...and she was throwing it right back at me.  That has to be the greatest reward ever.  I know it stuck!!!  And so I went on, coming up with ways to hide the naughty tears in the fondant.  And here is the way the top tier turned out.

Then I proceeded to work on the bottom tier.  It was a lot more manageable.  And here is it

And just in the nick of time...I got a phone call from my friend's mom and her mom's boyfriend.  They were downstairs waiting to take us to the shower.  But the cake wasn't done yet!  They were an  hour early.  So I packed up my tools and my fondant and some food coloring, dowels, cardboard discs and other fun stuff...and off we went.  Once we got to my friends' home on Long Island, I got to work assembling and finishing the cake.  

The cake was very well received.  Everyone kept marveling at the details and they were all saying how light and delicious it was.

And if anyone knows anything about Jewish mothers, it is that we absolutely love it when we make tummies and mouths happy.

Can't wait to welcome this special little girl into this world.  She is due to arrive in just at the end of November.

Cara Mia! My Beloved, My Caramel!

Making caramels is truly a labor of patience and love.  One has to pay close attention to the sugar and be at one with it, knowing just the right moment to add the cream to get the perfect soft and chewy consistency so that it is not too hard, but tough enough to resist slightly and yield with the heat of your mouth.  Sugar is temperamental and can really give you a hard time if you don't coddle it and keep it from crystallizing around the edges of the pot.  I find that using high quality ingredients helps produce a much finer and more elegant product.

When making my Double Grey caramels, I steep the organic, loose earl grey tea in the cream for a good while, straining it carefully before adding it to the bubbling sugar syrup.  I finish the caramels with a sprinkling of grey salt, which adds just the right  balance of salty to sweet and actually plays very nicely with the bergamot in the tea.  The bit of crunch that the salt lends to the creaminess of the caramel is so playful in the mouth and it bursts and makes you salivate and that is one happy experience.


My Sassy Rose caramels blend the exotic flavors of pure Bourbon Madagascar vanilla and rose water.  When I was creating and testing this recipe I thought it would be fun to sprinkle the top with Himalayan pink salt.  I thought it would be dainty to pair a pink salt with the rose flavor.  What really sealed the deal for me was not only the delightful tone that it set, but I had read about its healing benefits.  Think about it.  What does a women want most when she is suffering from PMS?  Something sweet, something salty, something comforting, something exotic, and something that will make her feel a whole lot better.  Well, check out these stats!  Himalayan salt helps control the water levels within the body.  Bloat much?  Not a problem!  It aids in the reduction of the common signs of aging.  Goodbye botox, hello caramels!  It reduces muscle cramps.  Hellooooo...need I say more?  Ummm, maybe not, but I will.  It increases bone strength.  And it prevents cellulite.  What?  Did you hear that?  Eating caramels with Himalayan pink salt can help prevent cellulite?  Well...maybe the caramels won't do that, but the salt is supposed to, and that makes these caramels a bit better than those plastic wrapped little squares they sell in the supermarkets.  Himalayan pink salt is just the perfect match for this comforting caramel.

These are just a couple of the many flavored caramels that I've created, and they are my favorites, by far.

The next time you are looking for that perfect sweet, make it a high-quality caramel.  You don't need a lot of them to get some gratification.  One superb caramel lasts a while if you let it melt in your mouth, and if you just can't bear the wait and have to chew, that really gives your mouth a workout and the sticky bits that stay on your teeth will be savored for a little while longer.  (Just make sure to brush well afterwards. LOL)

Sweetie Pie

I have often wondered who coined the term "sweetie pie". I mean, I guess it makes sense, right? Pie is often sweet.  And sweetie pies generally melt our hearts, as would a scrumptious piece of pie.  And there are so many pies from which to choose, aren't there?

When I think about all of the pies I've eaten in my life, I can practically write a book.  I don't think I've ever met a pie I didn't like.  True, I've loved some and liked others.  But I can't recall trying a pie and not wanting to even take a second bite.

I have really become quite adept at crust making.  I love it when a crust turns out crisp, yet tender. Rich, yet light. Buttery and flaky and melt-in-your-mouth delicious.  But I've also discovered crusts that are crunchier, more robust, and very gratifying.  I have written about my raw pecan pie (and the wonderful help provided by my trusty young assistant).  This crust was so rustic and nutty and perfectly accompanied the sticky sweet date and pecan filling.  What a delightfully symbiotic duo.  And then there are those lightly sweet, slightly toasty, crumbly, graham cracker crusts that create a layer of texture under the creamy, nearly cloying, and often fruity or chocolaty cheesecake.


Whoopie pies are a delectable anomaly.  Are they really pies?  They seem more like cream filled soft sandwich cookies to me.  But I'll let them stay in the pie family.  I did manage to create some delightful chili chocolate whoopie pies filled with cayenne peanut butter cream.  They were the talk of the town (okay...more like a little buzz around the office).  They were not too sweet, rich but still feather-light, and they coated the tongue with velvety smoothness that I'll never forget.



And how can I exclude savory pies, like quiche or even the very un-pie-like Bajan delicacy, macaroni pie? The cheesiness, the spiciness, the oniony, peppery, warm and homey goodness. They are unparalleled. They put American mac and cheese to shame.

Here's another pie we all run to when we need comfort, have a ballgame to watch, want something quick and inexpensive...you know the one.  It's gotta be a pizza pie.  My choice would be a thin, slightly charred, delicate but sturdy crust with just the right amount of zesty sauce to season but NEVER dominate the milky, salty, oozy, generous coating of mozzarella (on occasion I like fresh, but comfort generally comes from the other stuff).  And I am a garlic powder, red pepper flakes and parmesan cheese garnisher.  I also love anchovies on my pizza, but my little one would balk and beg for broccoli or mushrooms.  I won't turn them down, and I like her style.  She does sometimes opt for a plain pie, though.  And always asks for her sprinkly cheese.

Pies are the perfect food.  You have the crust, which becomes a bed for the most cozy, silky, creamy, crunchy, sweet, savory, cheesy, meaty, vegetably, ooey, gooey, happy-making fillings ever imagined.

And, for the record, here is what I found.  It is said that the term was first used in Sinclair Lewis's 1943 novel, Gideon Planish.  It was used as one would use the word sweetheart.

You know...I've got to agree.   The heart of a pie is definitely suh-weet.