Bridal Expo

We are happy to announce that Bittersweet will be in attendance at the Bridal Expo on August 25th, 2011 at the Holiday Inn in Parsippany, NJ.

Bridal Expo is one of the largest Bridal Shows in NJ and we are looking forward to working with them.

If you are a newly engaged couple and planning a wedding this is the place to go for all of your wedding needs all under one roof like wedding planners, Bridal Fashions, photographers and of course Wedding cake designers like us.

We will be there and will have plenty of cake samples to give out and we will also be having a contest to win a FREE cake!  So don't forget to stop by our booth to try our delicious cake samples and enter the contest.

Chef Lisa will be there with her assistants to answer all of your questions and we will have some of our cakes on display.

Hope to see you there!

Carrot Cake Confession

Ok...so here is my confession. What had happened was....LOL...and I really don't know what came over me when I did it but I knew it was wrong and I am here to tell you that I righted my wrong so here's the story....

My Mom had been coveting this slice of carrot cake that my daughter bought for her and honestly, how dare she bring her this inferior dessert!!! ...OK OK, I know it's not nice to be jealous but to tell you the truth I was a little hurt by it...... So I ate it...

Hey, I felt it mocking me and the more I looked at it the more I wanted to just make it disappear from the face of the earth. I must admit that it was good because although all I really wanted to do was sample it for authenticity, it turned into me devouring the slice like it was the last piece of cake on earth. Maybe I was just overly hungry.....that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Anyway, I knew my Mom would be quite upset since she took great care of hiding it from everyone else so it wouldn't be eaten . And what's worse, is that she doesn't even know that I have eaten it yet. Shes out of town at the moment and she wont be back until Wednesday. I could have easily gone to the bakery where my daughter had bought it from and replaced the hostile slice (yes.hostile...I said it), but decided to do one better and I knew what I had to do. I made a WHOLE Carrot Cake. This will make that little slice look like a mini cupcake. Mom will be so pleased to know that although I was initially a bad girl while she was gone, I made up for it 10 times over, and more importantly, the guilt of eating it would be lifted of my back.

SO here is the finished product....isn't she a beauty? I was very proud of the outcome considering I wasn't planning on making a cake like this today.

I got to try out a new icing technique as you can see how the outside is piped with beautiful cream cheese dollops vertically patterned around the whole cake. I felt it needed a little more color so I put some dots of orange colored icing in between the rows. I then piped some icing carrots and sprinkled some finely chopped walnuts on top to finish it off. This technique is a keeper. I like the modern look it gives the cake and the visual texture it provides to the eye.

Holy cow, can you say yummy.com. LOL

I can't wait to eat it!!!!!.....uhhh,oh yeah,  but not until Mom has her slice first. LOL

Baking A Difference

I am very proud to announce that I have signed up to be a featured baker for "Frosting For The Cause". A great website that was formed to help raise money for the Cancer Society.

Everyone that signs up for this 365 day project takes turns doing a guest post on their website FrostingForTheCause.com. Once a day, every day a new blogger will share a recipe and their story about a woman affected by cancer.  My day to post will be October 15, 2011.

Please go to the website to see how you can be a part of this wonderful project.

I am very honored to be a part of it and I look forward to posting my recipe and story about a very brave and courageous woman. I don't want to give away the whole story just yet so you will have to check back on the day I am supposed to share my story and recipe.

I think that it is a very honorable way to give support to a worthy cause as well as do something good for those that suffer from this horrible disease and to those who have lost their fight to it. I know all to well about losing a loved one. and I hope that those who have lost someone can be comforted and encouraged by this website because as their motto states....Together we are baking a difference.

Cake Classes

We are pleased to announce that in the Fall of 2011, we will be launching the

BITTERSWEET CAKE INSTITUTE.

We will be offering private and group classes in cake baking and cake decorating.

Please check the website Classes page for more info...

If you have a specific class you are interested in please feel free to tell us about it.

Bittersweet Love Bowl

I made a delicious Dessert Trifle and I want to tell you as I was making it I thought about all the different flavors that would mingling together to create this colorful and beautiful eye pleasing dessert. I would like to share the recipe with you. Its easy and going to be oh so scrumptious. It can also be a great lazy summer treat that is not only light and refreshing and absolutely what dreams are made of. I could only think of one name to call it that would be fitting...

THE LOVE BOWL! .....ENJOY!

Here is the recipe:

BITTERSWEET LOVE BOWL

You will need a large glass trifle dish or a nice big plastic one like the one in the picture. I found it at a party supply store. This one had a lid which will make for easy travel.  I also made it super easy for you.  Although I make my own lady fingers, the supermarket has them available in the produce section. I made my own raspberry fruit compote but you can substitute it for jarred fruit preserves. I make my own bavarian cream but you can use a ready made version that you can get from the restaurant supply store which is pretty good and they come in these ready to use sleeves.  You can always use instant vanilla pudding mix if you cant find the ready made fillings or whatever flavor of instant pudding you like. (Lemon would be good) And lastly, I made fresh whipped cream which you can substitute with Cool Whip....See... super easy, otherwise the prep would involve too many steps and take longer than necessary. I'm a Pastry Chef so I enjoy the work...LOL...

Ingredients:

5 packages -  Lady Fingers (they usually come with 4 rows per pkg)

2 sleeves -  Bavarian Cream

- or you can use 3 -  (4.5oz) pkgs of French Vanilla instant pudding mix and make according to the package directions and have ready to use when you are assembling your trifle

1 32 oz jar - Raspberry preserves (seedless)

1 16 oz pkg - White Chocolate morsels

1 container - Fresh Blueberries

 

4 containers - Fresh Strawberries, sliced into halves, save the largest one for the garnish

5 lbs - Fresh Peaches, sliced into quarters (if not available, sliced canned ones will do)

4 containers - Fresh Raspberries

Directions:

Layer the bottom of the bowl with lady fingers and add the fruit, preserves, white chocolate chips, bavarian cream and whipped cream into a layers so that you see a nice pattern developing and continue layering until you reach the top of the bowl. (see photos)

Lastly, once you have reached the top of the bowl, make a nice decorative pattern of all of the fruits around the outer edge of the bowl, top with more whipped cream in the center and place the a whole strawberry into the center of the whipped cream. Sprinkle the whole top with white chocolate chips and chill for at least 6-8 hours or overnight. Delicious!

Servings: 12-15

Prep Time: 30 minutes (The long version...you dont want to know...LOL)

You can certainly get creative with your flavors and make it your own LOVE BOWL.

I hope you enjoy mine...

Have a great weekend!

The Aftermath

OK...so I was not expecting this. My beautiful cake was practically demolished as you can see. And mind you this is not someones slice of cake. This is what was left. So lets recap...those who were watching their figures yesterday and did not give in to the temptation of the luscious layers of red velvet and cream cheese icing...raise your hand....LOL!

I can tell you right now, no one is raising their hands. So my experiment was a success! I guess I can now say that 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays....as long as I make red velvet cake. Maybe next year I will make the layers with red velvet and BLUE velvet to really shake things up a bit. Enjoy the rest of your holiday guys!

Happy 4th Everyone!

Its that time of year again when families are sparking up the grill to really kick off the summer with a 4th of July bbq. I have to admit that although I am a patriotic citizen its not the most popular holiday in my book with regards to the cuisine. Theres never room for dessert and everyone is always watching their figure more closely during these summer months. So fruit salad is usually the sweetest thing at the bbq. Well this year I decided to make a cake anyway and do a little experiment. My family is having a bbq today and I am going to post a before and after picture and see just how many people stayed true to their "figure watching"

I made a Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese filling. Yum! One of my favorite and also a fan favorite. I had a stencil that kind of looked like fireworks after I put the red and blue sugar on top. It looks so pretty, dont you think?

Have a great 4th everyone and be safe....Stay tuned for the after picture.....