Ebingers Famous Brooklyn Blackout Cake

I was daydreaming about my childhood one day and I had a fond memory of this cake. This cake was always a rare treat in my home growing up and on the day we had the opportunity to have it, it never lasted more than a day. I just remember it being the best chocolate cake ever. There was an Ebingers in my old neighborhood on Flatbush Ave next to Macys. I always loved going there to get a glimpse of all the delicious cakes in the window and wish and pray that Mom would bring something, anything home. Fast forward to today.....where has this cake been!!! It has quickly become a legend of its time and many have been searching far and wide for anything that comes close to it.....Well, I think I hit the jackpot!! I found a recipe online and based on the rave reviews from the elder committee of Brooklyn, this is it! I made it today with angst and worry that it would not live up to Ebingers standards but I was wrong. The cake came out beautifully and I can not wait to taste it.....once again and relive a memory that has stayed with me forever....Being a Pastry Chef though, I know that the recipe I have needs to be tweaked and the next time I make it, I am sure it will be Brooklyn Blackout perfection!

Ebinger Baking Company , with a chain of stores across the Brooklyn borough, was founded in 1898 by George and Catherine Ebinger. Famous for their cakes and pies, and especially their Blackout Cake, they closed in bankruptcy on August 26, 1972.The cake is named for the wartime blackouts.

Their famous and beloved chocolate-pudding-filled Blackout Cake was a chocolate layer cake filled and frosted with dark fudge and dusted with chocolate cake crumbs that was so popular that other bakeries in the borough, like Lords Bakery, produced knock-offs.

Here is my version:

Stay tuned for the pics of it sliced so you can see the luscious pudding filling and deep dark chocolate cake layers. I.Can.Not.Wait!!!!!

Mad for Mad Men

Ok.... so I may be one of a handful of people that love the TV Series Mad Men, and as Joy from The View would say, "So what,who cares!". Mad Men rock! I have been waiting for-ev-er for this show to return. It is filled with ambition seeking New Yorkers, backstabbing junior executives, manipulating relationships, frustrated housewives, passionate love affairs, 60's fashion, chain smoking and afternoon drinking in the office. It reminds me of a reality show, except there is no hair pulling, bar fighting or scenes that lead to embarrassing fits of drunkenness. They drank and smoke and privately went about their lives keeping secrets and giving us all a glimpse of the men and women from a Madison Ave Advertising agency ruthlessly create some of the biggest brands on the market today.

The premiere of Season 5 starts March 25th on AMC and I have re-watched Seasons 1-4 to recap what went on and prepared myself for whats to come this season..... Seriously, the show was gone from the airwaves for almost 2 years! I was so excited and because I have had this show on the brain for the last 3 months when they announced its return, and had some extra cookie dough, I decided to make these cookies for my viewing pleasure on Sunday. I know what you are thinking.... and as I said before "So what, who cares!". If you havent been watching, you should take a break from reality TV and catch up with Don Draper and the gang.

Black Enterprise Magazine cover Cookies

I had the great opportunity to meet with a local business owner named Dawn Fitch. She is the President and co-owner with her sisters of Pooka Pure & Simple, a company which sells a natural line of skincare and hair products. She is featured in March issue Black Enterprise magazine and she also made the cover.The article provided plenty of useful information on taking your business to the next level through social media. In honor of her accomplishment, Bittersweet Cake Design fashioned a custom cookie with the magazine cover on them! Dawn was really surprised and excited about her edible magazine cookies. She said she could not wait to take a bite of her leg! We also made some cookies with the company logo on them as well. When I arrived at the shop during the magazine toast celebration, it was all abuzz with fans and customers lined up to get their magazine signed by Dawn. The atmosphere was filled with love and pride for Dawn and Pooka Pure & Simple. The products are amazing and I can not wait to try them all.

Congratulations to you Dawn, your staff and family. We wish all the best of luck with Pooka and are so proud of you! You a truly an inspiration to women entrepreneurs. Keep up the great work!

WeddingWire 2012 Brides Choice Award

We are excited to share with you that Bittersweet Cake Design has been awarded the Wedding Wire Brides Choice Award for 2012! It is such a great privilege to be recognized in the industry as being in the top 5% of wedding professionals nationwide that demonstrate quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism.

We are so honored to be selected for this achievement. We wish to thank our clientele for their support. We also wish to thank Wedding Wire for giving us this award and we are elated to display this badge with pride!

Chef Jesse Jones Collection

Award winning NJ Chef Jesse Jones has teamed up with Bittersweet Cake Design to create his signature line of cookies and TrufflePops® for his clientele and fans to order. Check out Chef Jesse on Facebook.

Seen here with Rap Artist Jim Jones and his fiance Chrissy after an appearance on an episode of the VH1 reality TV show "Love and Hop Hop". Chef Jesse prepared and served a meal for the couple during the episode.

Chef Jesse Custom Cookies

Chef Jesse Custom TrufflePops®

You can now order these items directly on our Website, and you can also find out how to order your own custom designed cookies and TrufflePops® as well.

Arts and Eats Gala Logo Cookies

Recently we did some logo sugar cookies for the Volunteer Lawyers for Justice of NJ .  They provide free legal counsel and advice and also pro bono representation to economically disadvantaged people with the goal of securing fair and equal treatment within the legal system.

I think this is such a great service to the community especially when there are so many people that fall through the cracks due to legal red tape and not having the money to afford the representation of a lawyer to help them through the legal systems court process. As Karen Sacks, Esq., Founding Executive Director sums it up, "We hope you can join us in our goal for equal justice for all".

Last week they held their Arts and Eats Gala at the Montclair Art Museum in NJ, to celebrate the continued growing success of the organization in its 11th year. After the event, I received a glowing email from Karen saying they received many compliments on the logo cookies, and they not only added something really special to their event, but that they were delicious as well.

I wish the Volunteer Lawyers for Justice much continued success in the upcoming new year. Keep up all the hard work you do for NJ and it was our pleasure to be a part of your event. We also donated a gift certificate from Bittersweet Cake Design for their Auction which was also held at the Gala. Congratulations to the recipient and we hope to hear from you soon!  Below is a picture of the logo cookies we made.

Arts in the Environment Benefit

Today I had the honor of attending the "Arts in the Environment" benefit held at St. Andrew & Holy Communion Church in my town South Orange, NJ. It was an Interfaith exhibit of Visual Arts, Song and Dance, and Poetry Readings. I also sold my sugar cookies that exhibited my interpretation of different elements in the environment. It was a very beautiful event with great vocal artists and great poetry readings. All of which were depicted around the environment. There were various artists there also selling some of their art pieces. Such beautiful artwork. I wish I had taken pictures but I wasn't able to leave my table and do so.  A 20% donation of the proceeds made from the sales were given to help raise money for thewaterproject.org. An organization dedicated to bringing clean, safe drinking water to Africa.

Below are pictures from the event.

Dragonfly with Ladybug and Beehive with Bee

Beautiful Butterflies

 Sun with Earth and Tree with Leaf

 Fall Leaf, Red Apple and Butterfly....oh my!

 Colorful Fish with Sea Turtle

These sold out quickly.... as did the Squirrel with Acorn....

Squirrel with Acorn and Colorful Leaf

Mini Sugar Cookie Cylinder....all gone within the 1st hour of the event....they were actually kinda cute. Who doesn't love anything bite size, right?