If at first you don't succeed...

...Just eat the darned thing and make another one! That seems to be our motto lately - not that we fail often when baking something terrific. Tonight Joey made a "Night the Lights went out in Brooklyn" cake for a co-worker's wife's birthday, and for some odd reason, something didn't go quite right and he's in the middle of making a second one (at my insistance, I'M the perfectionist who cannot let something out of my sight when it's been paid for and is expected to be not only delicious, but to LOOK delicious.) It's one of my flaws and I swear I'm working on it) - but when you're trying to do something professionally, to have it taste AND look like it it came from a bakery, then you go the extra mile - or, as in tonight's case, stay up late making a second cake because you want to give your patrons only the best you possibly can. Poor Joey - he's the best and is being quite a sport. It's tough when you work a full time job and can only bake in your off hours. If something goes wrong, you have to put in the extra hours to make it right - so tomorrow may be a sleepy day for us both.

On the plus side, last week I asked my friend, Ashley, to suggest something for us to try next (we're always looking for input from our friends, family and co-workers.)
She thought about it a moment (I could tell she was battling with herself over what favorate flavors to spring on me!) and her eyes lit up and she said something to the affect of: "You know, I've been craving lime and dark chocolate lately - think you can do something combining those?". Well, that sounded excellent to me - and so I started rummaging through the recesses of my mind for recipes that could work in combination. I decided to make a tart. Mildly sweet chocolate crust, a thick layer of lime curd, and drizzled on top with bittersweet chocolate. I gotta tell ya - it was SO GOOD(if I do say so myself!. It is definitely one we will be adding to our menu.

This weekend is the company bake sale to raise money for the AIDS Walk, and of course, everyone expects wonders from our kitchen...so I'm thinking of doing Cupcakes a la Night the Lights went Out in Brooklyn: rich chocolate cake, filled with delicious pudding, wonderfully milk chocolaty frosting and more cake crumbs mashed into the frosting - its so good it will make you want to slap someone. And if there is time, some mini tarts like the one described above - I'm sure those will sell, and its for a great cause.

More from the kitchens of Joey Biscotti soon, so Ciao for now, dessert fans....