Tuesday Top 5 - Easter Candies

My favorite day of the year is the Monday after Easter when all of the holiday candy is marked down to 50% off and I can stock up on all the candy I’ll need to last me until the following Easter. Last year, I stumbled on an Easter bin in a CVS in August and got a bag of the hard shell Cadbury eggs for 25 cents. Here are my top 5 favorite Easter candies:

5. Chocolate covered Peeps – suck the chocolate off and your right back to what makes peeps so great

4. Chocolate Bunny – there’s nothing like sitting down to a solid chocolate bunny and a tall glass of milk. It has to be a solid bunny though. Biting into a bunny just to discover it’s hollow is one of the saddest things that can happen on Easter.

3. Cadbury crème eggs – these candies are so rich and sweet that it’s almost impossible to have more than one in a sitting. However, the good folks at Cadbury solved this dilemma when they started to sell A MINI VERSION! Just when you thought this candy could not get any better they introduce the caramel flavor.

2. Giant Reese’s egg – in the weeks leading up to Easter, Reese’s unleashes it’s already perfect peanut butter cup in the shape of an egg. A double-the-normal-size-oh-so-much-peanut-butter-egg.

1. Cadbury mini eggs (hard shells) - small egg shaped chocolates covered in a candy shell. Pink, blue, white, yellow eggs speckled with small brown dots so good they must be ingested by the handful.

1,000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes

We are ecstatic to announce that two of Pastry Girl Cakes' creations will be featured in the upcoming book 1,000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes.

Both our Candy Cake and Cookie Jar Cake have been selected to appear in the book that is set to be available for purchase in November.

We can’t wait to get our hands on a copy and see all of the beautiful work our fellow pastry chefs have come up with!

Pre-order it here!

Cookies & Cream Frosting Recipe

We took the recipe for a classic icebox cake one step further to create this yummy cookies & cream frosting. We only use this frosting for cupcakes (usually chocolate but it works with a variety of flavors). The frosting is light and airy and tastes just like cookies & cream ice cream.

Ingredients

1 quart heavy cream
4 oz granulated sugar
1 tbs vanilla
1 box of chocolate wafers

Directions

Begin whipping the cream and vanilla on your KitchenAid with the whisk attachment. Gradually add the sugar and continue whipping until the cream no longer looks liquid. Don’t overwhip!

Take the bowl off of the KitchenAid and add the whole box of cookies to the whipped cream. Make sure the cookies are submerged. Put the mixture into a Tupperware and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight.

When you open the Tupperware the cookies will be super soft and the mixture will be easily spreadable for a cake or cupcakes. I don’t recommend trying to pipe this because the large cookie bits clog the tip!

Enjoy!!!

*For a more waist-friendly recipe use cool whip instead of heavy cream.*

Fancy Bakeware

Recently, I took a trip to Broadway Panhandler, a professional cooking and baking supply store, and came across these adorable patterned pans. In addition to being high quality bakeware, these pans are pretty enough to leave on a counter or glass cupboard. I want a green one to match my KitchenAid!

Tuesday Top Five - Baking Blogs

You can never have enough cookbooks or subscriptions to food magazines. Another must have resource is food blogs for all of your cooking and baking needs. Here are my top 5 favorite food blogs that never fail to provide new and delicious recipes.

5. Apartment Therapy The Kitchn – an offshoot of Apartment Therapy that offers advice for kitchen decorating, tools, how to’s and tons of recipes compiled from books and other blogs.

4. David Leibovitz – An American pastry chef living in Paris chronicles French fare as well as classic American desserts.

3. Bakerella – Recipes sure to please kids and those with a sweet tooth. Bakerella always posts creative ideas for decorating accessible DIY pastries.

2. Smitten Kitchen – a blog that posts recipes both sweet and savory. Check it out when you’re tired of the same old dinners and need some inspiration.

1. Joy the Baker – a great baking resource with endless recipes for cookies, brownies and breakfast foods.

We’ve also added a section for food blogs on a blogroll to your right. Check back periodically as we’ll be updating it as we find delicious food blogs!

Fashionista Bridal Shower Cake

This weekend we delivered this fashionista cake for a bridal shower at Half Moon restaurant in Dobbs Ferry, NY.

The quilted red purse is red velvet with cream cheese frosting and the Tiffany box is vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream. Two strands of pearls hang off the corner of the box and the zebra print shoe complements the purse with it’s fun red bow.

The shoe label reads “Erica” as an homage to the bride to be.

The aunt of the bride to be sent us this email:

"We had a wonderful time and Erica was ecstatic!! Everyone commented on how beautiful the cakes were and the color palette, etc. I would recommend you in a heartbeat! Here is a note from her mom below:

I don't remember if I got a chance to appropriately thank you for your gift....The cake(s) were amazing!!!! And not only were they stunning to look at, but they were delicious!!! You really nailed it girl. Erica was blown away, it was more than she imagined."

Pastry Girl Cakes on AisleDash

AOL has just launched a new wedding website called AisleDash and they included some of our cakes in their cake gallery. We’re honored to be featured alongside cake heavyweights like Ron Ben Israel and Pink Cake Box.

Check out the gallery here!

Tuesday Top 5 - Favorite Dessert Spots in Manhattan

Nothing makes me happier than finding a new dessert or a delicious bakery. Living in NYC there’s no shortage of delicious pastries just waiting to be sampled! Here are my Top 5 favorite desserts in Manhattan:

5. Jacques Torres – a chocolate connoisseur’s heaven. Try the hot chocolate or any piece of chocolate you can get your hands on.

4. Rickshaw Dumpling Bar – this dumpling haven makes the most unbelievable chocolate dumplings. Hot liquid chocolate comes pouring out of delicious dough covered in poppy seeds.

3. Levain Bakery– a tiny bakery with the biggest, perfectly baked chocolate chip cookies.

2. Doughnut Plant – a doughnut shop on the Lower East Side with imaginative flavors that uses high end ingredients

1. Momofuku Milk Bar & Bakery – compost cookie, blueberry cream cookie, candy bar pie, cereal milk. Pastry Chef Christina Tosi is an endless fountain of creative and addictive sweets!

The candy bar pie at Momofuku Milk Bar.

Ask The Chef - Chocolate Chip Cookies

I get asked a lot of baking and decorating questions and I thought it would be helpful to post some of the more frequently asked questions so that everyone could read the responses.

One of the more recurring questions has to do with baking chocolate chip cookies. Recently we received this picture from a friend wondering what happened to the cookies she had so desperately wanted.

Flat cookies are usually the result of one of two things:

1) Ingredients were measured incorrectly. Always use cups that measure fluid ounces for liquids and cups for dry ingredients. If you half or double a recipe make sure you divide or multiply evenly for all of the ingredients.

2) The butter was too soft. When you're baking a cake you want your butter to be nice and soft, but when you're baking cookies you only need to leave the butter out for 15 minutes.

Feel free to send any questions you may have. Happy baking!

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Spring is almost here and it’s definitely being felt in NYC! Like clothes, desserts can be seasonal and nothing says springtime like lemon meringue. About two years ago, we created a lemon meringue cupcake that is the perfect combination of sweet and tart. We’re including our recipe for that cupcake so you can recreate the delicious treat for your next outdoor event!

Lemon-Scented White Cake (makes 24 cupcakes)

Ingredients

10 oz. cake flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
4 oz. unsalted butter (half a stick)
12 oz. granulated sugar
2 tsp. lemon zest
½ tsp. lemon extract
10 oz. cups whole milk
4 egg whites

Instructions

1. Add cake flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
2. Beat butter and sugar in large mixing bowl until fluffy.
3. Add lemon zest and lemon extract and mix until incorporated.
4. Combine eggs and milk together.
5. Alternate adding the dry and wet ingredients to butter and sugar mixture, starting with dry and ending with wet.
6. Add batter to cupcake liners and bake at 350o for 18-20 minutes.
7. After the cupcakes have completely cooled cut out a small well in the top of a cupcake (using a one inch cookie cutter) and fill the cupcake with the lemon curd (recipe below).
8. Pipe the meringue (see recipe below) onto the cupcakes.
9. Pro tip: Use a crème brulee torch on the meringue for a toasted look and taste.

Lemon Curd

Ingredients

4 lemons of lemon zest
6 fluid oz. of strained lemon juice
6 oz. of granulated sugar
4 oz. unsalted butter
8 egg yolks

Instructions

1. Combine zest, juice, sugar and butter in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
2. Whisk yolks until liquid.
3. Strain zest and beat ¼ of boiling liquid into yolks.
4. Return remaining liquid to boil over low heat.
5. Whisk yolks into boiling liquid and continue whisking until it thickens.
6. Put lemon curd in container and cover with Saran wrap, pressing the Saran against the surface of the curd.
7. Chill until it’s cold and set

Meringue

Ingredients

5 oz. egg whites
10 oz. sugar

Instructions

1. Combine egg whites and sugar in a bowl.
2. Whisk over a double boiler until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Whip the mixture on the Kitchen Aid with the whisk attachment until it becomes fluffy meringue.

Here’s what popular cupcake blog Cupcakes Take the Cake had to say about our lemon meringue cupcake: “The gooeyness and sweet tartness of the lemon combined with the meringue and a light cake = delicious!” We think you’ll feel the same way. Enjoy!

Tuesday Top Five - Birthday Cakes For Boys

Kids' cakes usually match a theme and are really playful and full of color. Here are our top five picks for birthday cakes for boys, accompanied by matching invitations from tiny prints:

5. Dinosaurs – All little kids go through a phase where they memorize the names of their favorite dinosaurs

4. Trains, Airplanes, Cars – Any kind of transportation – Boys just love fast moving vehicles with flashing lights and loud sounds.


3. Outerspace - Boys love cakes with rocket ships and astronauts

2. Animals – Barnyard animals, zoo animals and family pets all make great and fun cakes.


1. Favorite characters from TV and Movies - From Spongebob to Spiderman, the best cakes for a boy are in the mold of their favorite superhero or character.

Artist's Palette Cake

This weekend, we delivered a birthday cake designed to look like a painter’s palette with sugar tubes of oil paint and a paintbrush. The palette was painted to look like weathered wood grain. The cake is celebration cake (vanilla cake with sprinkles baked inside) and vanilla bean buttercream.

Step by Step Cupcakes

Here's a step by step look at how Pastry Girl Cakes prepares our cupcake orders.

After making the batter,we use a cookie scoop to put batter into the cupcake wrapper. We weigh our cupcakes so that each one looks and tastes the same. For the home baker, it's a good rule of thumb to fill the wrapper up a little more than halfway.




All the wrappers are filled and we're ready for the oven.




Mmm, yummy cupcakes! Wait until the cupcakes are completely cool before frosting them.

Wedding Cake Tasting

Here are some small cakes we put together for a wedding cake tasting. Lemon poppy seed cake with raspberry preserves and lemon curd buttercream, red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, and rich chocolate cake with raspberry preserves and vanilla bean buttercream.

Tuesday Top Five - Sweet 16 Cakes

Sweet 16 cakes are super fun cakes because they often complement a theme and include bold, vibrant colors. Today’s top 5 lists our choices for Sweet 16 color palettes.

Hot Pink/Black/Silver

Black/White/Red

Pink/White/Gold

Tiffany Blue and White


Pastel Blue/Pastel Pink/Pastel Purple

Cake News

For all the cakers who can't get enough of all things cake, Cake Central Magazine has debuted its first issue!

In other cake news, cake stands from Sarah's Stands are now available online. If you're looking for a beautiful way to display your edible works of art, these are great because they come in a variety of styles and colors.