Hopatcong Teacher's Dinner Party

So Frank's Pizza is catering a party for 70 of our teacher's here in Hopatcong and no party would be complete without dessert. I received a call last week from Kevin, the owner of Frank's, asking if I wanted the job of providing the desserts for the party... Kevin didn't have to ask twice. This is a great way to get the word out about me since I don't have a storefront and my only means of advertising right now is word of mouth.

I decided to do cheesecakes, brownies, carrot cakes and lemon bars. For the chocolate lovers brownies with ganache and for the fruit lovers lemon and blueberry cheesecakes with fresh fruit and blueberry toppings. Also don't forget the lovers of lemons.. these lemnon bars are buttery and tangy all at the same time. As for the carrot cake? Well who doesn't like carrot cake?

I always like to do an arrangement of desserts that covers a lot of different flavors and textures that I feel will be able to satisfy everyone's taste in the crowd. There has been so many times where I attended dinner parties or events where one dessert was served and usually at the likes of the host or their partner.

When planning the menu for your next event try and decide on a few extra small desserts like I did that way all of your gueets can get to enjoy along with you.

These are a few pictures of the things I made... I wish I had some leftovers!

Oh well ... back to baking!

Birthday Bash!!

Hello Everyone,

I apologize for not posting anything new recently but I have been so very busy. Last week I received an order from my neighbor Paula. Paula and her family moved into a brand new home across the road from me a few months ago. Paula was hosting a birthday bash and needed some good cakes. Instead of the obvious golden cake I suggested that she order the carrot cake ... its a definite crowd pleaser, so I've been told. Along with the carrot cake Paula decided on the tiramisu.. Yum!

My carrot cake is loaded with fresh carrots, walnuts, and spices and iced with my signature cream cheese icing. Since this was a birthday cake I decided to ice the cake completely and give the sides of it a little character by placing pieces of fresh carrot cake all over it. This cake weighed a ton... thank goodness we only had to deliver it across the street.

Here are a few pictures of the cake before and after.



Enjoy!!

Baby Shower Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for a baby shower on Saturday at the request of my client. The color scheme for this baby shower was green, orange and yellow. My client mentioned to me that she ordered favors for her guests in the shape of a pea in a pod and thought it would be cool to match the cupcakes to the favors .. and I agreed! I molded the peas in the pod out of fondant and added a baby's head in the center of each one. I wanted them all to be a little different in shape and size to give them character.

Each baby got a little piece of hair which I curled and placed on the top of their heads. Everyone at the shower thought the red hair was great especially since the soon-to-be father has red hair :) ... I had no idea!! That's the truth. Also,I made sure to give the babies some color on their cheeks with pink luster dust.

I think these cupcakes look really cute and I had so much fun making them. I was so excited to hear the cupcakes were a hit and that I could make something everyone would enjoy.

-Kim

Butterfly Flower Birthday Cupcakes

Hello,

This past weekend I was thrilled working on butterfly and flower cupcakes for a little girl turning 5 on Sunday. The little girl's mom contacted me about 2 weeks ago asking if I could create cupcakes adorned with butterflies and flowers which was at the request of her daughter. I knew right away this was a project for me! In Culinary School I was sought out by many of my fellow classmates when it was time to make handmade flowers from marzipan, fondant and gumpaste ... I actually spent one whole day of class making flowers and leaves to adorn the graduation cake made for the class of 07.

Making flowers is something I love to do and I could spend hours doing it .. if I had the time. I prefer to make my flowers the old fashioned way ... the way Chef Schonberg taught me in class rather than using cookie cutters or plastic molds. I like the way the flowers take on a life of their own when made the artisan way.

Since the flowers and butterflies were to be eaten by little children at the party, I opted to make my flowers and butterflies from fondant for better taste. Most of the time I use gumpaste and marzipan to make my flowers only because it dries hard and looks more life like. Because gumpaste isn't edible and I didn't feel the kids would enjoy the taste of almond paste I decided to use my marshmallow-like fondant. To save myself sometime I did use a butterfly cutter to make the butterflies but besides that everything else is handmade. I really enjoyed this cupcake project and I hope I receive a lot more orders like it.

If you have any questions for me about anything you see or read on my blog please feel free to contact me. I posted the lovely message my client sent me yesterday and a few pictures I took before I delivered the cupcakes to the party. Enjoy!!!