A Bright Fun Cake for a Special Birthday Boy!

The details on this care are fondant and royal icing. The characters were provided by the client.

This is a Red Velvet Cake with creamy, light, and fluffy chocolate chip filling! My kids each ate 2 pieces of the extra cake round I had. And I ate a slice as well!!! Gotta watch that snacking... That or I'll be watching my boo-tay! *wink*

A Spring Wedding Cake to brighten your day

This is the 3rd dummy cake I've put together for the upcoming shows. I'm trying to show a variety of techniques in the cakes I'm showing. This cake was covered in a yellow fondant and then the detail work was done in royal icing.


The flowers are silk to show the brides a more economical option for dressing up their cakes as opposed to using gum paste flowers. The topper could also be provided by the florist to coordinate with the bride's bouquet and color palette.

It's a great day to stay inside and bake!

According to the news, we got about 16" of snow in this last snowstorm. It's been a crazy winter and quite a while since I've seen some grass! My kids however are LOVING it! Enjoy the pictures!

A Contest for Philadelphia Area People that LOVE to eat and drink!!!

Win 2 tickets to SAVOR!!!!
ENTER HERE!!!

The 3rd Annual Can't Miss Food Event of the Year!!! Sample Fabulous Fare from Some of the Region's Premier Restaurants & Caterers while Sipping Luscious Libations and Listening to Live Music.

Benefits Philabundance!

Date: Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
Time: 6-9PM.
Location: Crystal Tea Room, Wanamaker Building,
100 Penn Square East
Philadelphia, Pa 19107

Tickets: $20.00* / $30.00 at the door

*Open-Bar also included in ticket price.

Last Year We Collected 550 lbs of Food!

PLEASE Bring a nonperishable food item for Philabundance
& be entered to win hundreds of dollars in restaurant gift certificates!

Sponsors Include:
The Crystal Tea Room, Victory Beers, Barefoot Wines,
Philadelphia Distilling - Bluecoat Gin & PENN 1681 Rye Vodka
Select Event Rentals
Back2Life presented by Brandywine Valley Talent

SAVOR Restaurant/Food Participants to date:
A La Maison
Arbol Cafe
Avril
Bobolink Dairy & Bakeyard
Chabaa Thai Bistro
Concerto Fusion
Crystal Rose Catering
Cupcakes Gourmet
Desserts by Dana
Drexelbook Catering
Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar- Radnor/Marlton
Fruit Flowers
Funky Lil' Kitchen
Green Valley Inn
Jimmy's BBQ
Mango Moon
Mediterranean Grill
Mel's on the Hill
One Village Coffee
Susanna Foo
Truly Custom Cakery
Twenty 9 Restaurant & Bar
Valley Green Inn
Waterworks Restaurant
Votre Vu
Xocai Chocolates

Valentine Themed Romantic Wedding Cake

With all the upcoming shows, I have to increase my inventory of display cakes. Where I'll keep them all until the first show is a mystery yet to be solved... but at least the work is being accomplished!


The damask print on the middle tier was done using a stencil and royal icing. It's a tricky process when stenciling a dark color on white, but the result is well worth the frustration. I LOVE IT!


The pleated effect is accomplished by cutting 1" strips of fondant and overlapping them around the cake. I pre-covered the top of the cake so that my pleats would meet up with the edge. This way I didn't have to worry about setting the above tier on a bunch of pleats.

The roses were made of fondant. I don't know why it worked so well, usually I have to use gum paste but this time didn't feel like trying to achieve the same red color a 2nd time around. I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome. I will say that there was some Tylose added to the fondant which may have firmed it up enough to compensate.


This cake is a Romantic theme since a couple of the shows are right around Valentine's Day. After the Shows, I'll remove the hearts on the top and replace them with a monogram cake topper or something of the sort. The dummies will then be on display at Crystal Rose Catering.

Bunny Baby Shower Cupcakes & Coordinating Top Cake

These were made for a customer for a baby shower. The cupcake toppers coordinate with the bedding for the baby's nursery. The bunny cake topper coordinates in color but was made three dimensional at the customer's request.

Raspberry Swirl Pound Cupcakes and Strawberry Cupcakes.

Wedding Season is coming soon!!!

So that means that caterers, event planners, and bakers are working in full force to get ready for the Wedding Rush! We've got several shows coming up in February and throughout the spring so the dummy cakes are being prepared one by one.


This one is a mix of designs to show the brides some different techniques. From using Swarovski crystals, to sugar paste flowers, to lace, swags, and bows, there are lots of options to make any cake a reflection of you! The middle tier on this cake is actually done using a custom silicone mold I made from the lace on my wedding dress.



Happy Baking!!!

FREE Truly Custom Crunch... Just share your opinion and you could WIN!

AND THE WINNER IS....

Jen, please contact me with your full name and address so I can send your package!!! Congratulations!

For the past year I've been told that I should try coloring Truly Custom Crunch to make it more "festive" for various holiday's. It goes without saying that red was suggested for Valentine's Day. So, with this lover's holiday fast approaching, I thought I'd better get myself to the kitchen and start experimenting.

It went pretty well but I'm so used to seeing Truly Custom Crunch in its caramel dress code, that I'm not real sure how I feel about the color change. So I'd really like your feedback. There are two options below. One is all red and the other is a mix of traditional with a little splash of color. Comment on this post with your favorite and perhaps even why its your favorite and you will be automatically entered to win!

Option 1 is a mix.

Option 2 is all red.

Deadline to enter is Sunday the 16th of January at midnight EST. The winner will be chosen by Random.org.

If you are the chosen winner, a 9oz gift box of Truly Custom Crunch will be shipped direct to your door! It's a mouthwatering combination of pecans, almonds, and popcorn, coated with caramel toffee and drizzled with rich dark chocolate!


Thanks for your input!!!

Melting Snowman Cookies for Valentine's Day.

I used my Double Chocolate Cookie Recipe as the base of these Snowmen. They cookie was cut out with a heart cutter. Disco Dust was added to make them shimmer.

I think these would make great "break-up" cookies. I know... it would be a miserable way to break the news... but doesn't it look like their relationship is ending?! ha ha ha


This poor sad snow couple. They are trying to hold on, but they know the end is near...


Double Chocolate Cookies

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees

1 cp butter
1 pkg Chocolate Pudding
3/4 cp Sugar
3/4 cp Brown Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla

Combine the above ingredients and mix.

2 Eggs(room temperature)

Add Eggs and mix

2 cps. All Purpose Flour
2/3 cp. Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt

Combine these ingredients in a separate bowl and whisk together lightly to incorporate. Then gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients just until they are thoroughly combined. Do Not Over Mix.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.




Marshmallow Melting Snowman Cookie Tutorial.

Some Cookie Decorating Inspiration straight from Calvin and Hobbes.

I can't take credit for this idea. But when I saw it, it totally cracked me up. So I had to make some. I'm really addicted to these cookies. They are so much fun to make and so easy.

I didn't realize that I had run out of large marshmallows so I used mini marshmallows for the heads, melted them, rolled them into balls, then covered them with a little royal after placing on the cookie. I kind of like the uniform look it gave them.

For the Marshmallow Melted Snowman Cookie Tutorial Visit my website.

Happy Baking!

Toot Toot Toot... A little excitement and tooting of my own horn...

There are times when things go so well that it makes me giddy with delight! This past Holiday Season and the response we received regarding Truly Custom Crunch was one of those things...

It went so well in fact, that I wanted to share some of the comments we received regarding Truly Custom Crunch. Some are taken from notes, some from Facebook posts, and some came from local bloggers.

MAMA CHEAPS

THE BUSINESS OF WEDDINGS - CATER IT SIMPLE.

CAITLIN DOMANICO PHOTOGRAPHY

BUCKS COUNTY TASTE

THE SAVVY WORK AT HOME MOM


This was a fun one for me... I sent a package to Doc and Andie of Philly's Country Music Radio Station 92.5 XTU. And Andie just LOVED it! I was dancing around my living room when she posted on my facebook wall.




SWEET SUGARBELLE




Kristie Wooten - OMG Stacey!! I received your package and your Crunch is incredibly YUMMY!!!! I ate a whole bag by myself last night, I couldn't stop...lol Thank you soooo very much:)

Nate Davis - So here's the deal on the crunch... We were going to save 2 bags for stocking stuffers and eat 1 bag. So we waited till the kids were in bed and then as Jen was sampling the first bag she says "can you bring the other two bags in before we start this movie?" It was great. We ate it all! If I had a tub I would have eaten the whole thing. It was incredible!

Fran Simrak - Stacey, today I gave my neighbor, Toni, a bag of the Crunch and shared with her and her husband some left over pound cake from your shop.
She called me and said that the Crunch,"was the best thing that ever hit my mouth!" Then she told me that the pound cake was the best she ever had.

Thanks to EVERYONE who made this holiday such a huge whopping success! And stay tuned! Crunch is getting dressed up for Valentine's Day in a nice shade of Red!!