Daring Baker's March 08 Challenge

hello...

We had made this cake once before for one of Steven's co-workers, and we considered it a practice run for this month's challenge... we decided to stick to the recipe as written, for the most part, and i made a couple of mistakes...

1- i added too much lemon juice to the frosting and
2- too much raspberry filling between the layers, as opposed to the photos in the book, which show thinner layers...

one different thing we DID do was toast the coconut before covering the cake with it...

anyway... when all was said and done, it actually was quite tasty... When Steven took it to work today, one of his co-workers stated that it lifted her spirits!

Therefore, I consider our work done! And now, the photos...

Spring is here, the grass is riz...

...I wonder where the birdies is? (ok, thanks to my Father - the king of weird poems, I have that little ditty in my head this week.)

Today, Joey is in the kitchen making a lovely Raspberry coulis for this month's Daring Baker's Challenge, and thats all I'm allowed to say, until he blogs about the finished product. On my day off this week, I tried a twist on my famous Chocolate/Toffee bread pudding, and made a lovely pale citrus version. Imagine oven crisped cubes of orange and lemon imbued pound cake, layered with a lemon and lime accented white chocolate pudding...is your mouth watering yet? I had a blast coming up with this one, and it has given me a renewed sense of adventure in the kitchen. I can't wait for you all to taste these lovely treats!

In May, I am finally biting the bullet and investing in a professional cake decorating course, because I'm tired of doing sub-par presentatations (though a lot of people love the home-made look of our sweets, because they say it lends a rustic air to the presentation.) I, being the sagitarian perfectionist that I am, just wanna make things more professional looking (especially when we open a full fledged bakery business in the future).

Be sure to check out the latest additions to our ever-expanding menu, and drop us a line (joeybiscotti@hotmail.com) or call us at 212-841-5426 to order some of our handmade yumminess for your next special occasion (and believe me, "special occasion" can mean anything from birthdays, anniversaries and bridal showers, to first dates, bad mood destroyers, chocolate cravings and/or, well -you name it - they are all special to your own unique individual situations.)

Enjoy the lengthening days of spring (more hours to munch Mutt cookies, get jazzed on Joeltz, or just lavish in a slice of Spring Break cheesecake!)

Ciao for now -

'Da boys

b'gosh & b'gorra!!!

Cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day!!! These are a sour cream chocolate cake, filled with mint cream cheese, topped with a vanilla, chocolate, or mint buttercream, sprinkled with tiny shamrocks or two-tone green shot, and then a hand-made green chocolate shamrock is embedded in the icing... YUMMY!!!

New cake on the block

joey, here... home from work and not feeling too well, BUT... I wanted to tell you about our newest creation... the Chocolate Raspberry layer cake... We made this for Valentine's Day, and, just to add a bit of the essence of that holiday, we made semi-sweet chocolate hearts to put on top!


This cake is based on our famous Sour Cream Chocolate layer cake since it uses that same recipe, but THEN, it's filled with a raspberry-cream cheese filling (made with our homemade raspberry coulis), and then topped with a bittersweet chocolate butter cream... For the Valentine's Day version, we made the chocolate hearts and placed them on top of the cake, and then dusted with cocoa powder... and this is the result!!!


We are working on some things for St. Patrick's Day as well as Easter... more news on that a little later...

Eat. Your. Cake!

joey

That peach cheesecake...

joey, here, with another attempt at the Peach Cheesecake... A very close friend of mine suggested layering the peaches on a layer of the batter, which seemed to work, but there is still too much moisture in the batter... So, for my final attempt, I am going to try sliced fresh blanched peaches... wow, that's a lot of adjectives... I'll let you know how that one turns out... For now, here is what it looked like...



more news as events warrant!

And now for something entirely different...

Steven here, and may I say - our kitchen always smells so darned good...it's no wonder I've gained 10 lbs since starting this process..oy....

Yesterday, at the request of a co-worker, I came up with a combination of Cheesecake and Carrot cake (both favorites of mine) and this afternoon we are gonna cut it and taste it and take the rest in for sampling at work tomorrow. It has layers of both types of cake, and the scent of it baking was driving me crazy yesterday - but, patience IS a virtue, and it had to chill over night - so today, watch out - I've got my knife and fork at the ready!

On a side note, I want to talk about Art. Yes, Art. It inspires, enrages, thrills, calms, enlightens and fulfills so many of the needs of man. Last night, Joey and I had the supreme pleasure of seeing the current revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical, Sunday in the Park with George at the Roundabout theatre (Studio 54). Having appeared in a touring production of it about 15 years ago, I had convinced myself to go see this version with an open mind - (when you are a performer who has done a show, it is SO easy to get a preconceived notion of how it should look or a performance should feel). Well, I was blown away. I really hadn't thought anyone could improve upon the original production, but this one will last in my memory as one of the most beautiful productions ever to grace a Broadway stage. Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell were fantastic as Georges Seurat and his mistress, Dot. Perfect performances that brought new depth of emotion to the characters they played. But perhaps surpassing even these lovely performances, was the set design. I'm not usually a fan of modern technology (I don't even own a cell phone or an Ipod)..but the use of projected animation in this production is fantastic. You literally see the painting come to life before your eyes. I highly recommend that anyone who appreciates color and light and beautiful music see this show while it is here - it happens to be a limited run engagement, so run (don't walk) to your nearest computer terminal - oops, you're already sitting at one! - and get your tickets. (after reading this blog and ordering some scrumptious goodies, of course!). You will be so glad you did, and the memory of it will last your whole life through (has anyone else noticed how so much of what I say and/or type is lyrically related???)

Go soak in an evening of eye-popping and ear-soothing Art, and then come home and have a slice of cheesecake!...what are you doing still sitting there? Go!

Ciao for now....