Baker's Dozen: A Batch of Sweet Links
The best Valentine's Day present: MY BOOK.
A sweet slice of life--and pie history!
More sweet history, and a recipe: Calabrian Love Knots!
Totally sweet--homemade Conversation Hearts!
Chew on this: Al Dente blog loves my Conversation Hearts!
Let's spoon. I want a party spoon.
Spirited chocolate covered cherry milkshake...be still my beating heart!
Hello, delicious: Neapolitan Whoopie Pies!
Read about this heart-shaped cake I ate in Paris. Yeaaaah.
Sweets for your sweet: a Valentine's Day Cupcake Tutorial!
Cute: Crushed Conversation Heart Cookie Pops!
Conversation Heart Nanaimo Bars: they say "I love you", even though they don't have mouths.
Um, hi. Have we talked about Almond Blondies?
Sweet memories: Conversation Heart Cream Pie!
Cupcake Shops: Don't call yourself Sprinkles...unless you're Sprinkles.
Pop-tarts ice cream sandwiches: what true love tastes like.
Wine for your valentine: Red Wine Valentine cookies!
And finally, I promise this will make you smile.
Seeking Sweetness: Daily Snapshot, Sugar Free Die Zone
CakeSpy Note: if you follow me on facebook or Twitter, you probably know I'm partial to adding bits of sweetness to my daily surroundings, via sidewalk chalk, small cutouts, and the like--I call it "gentle street art". Here's where I post a daily feel-good photo, for no particular reason other than to showcase these sweet little nothings, in hopes that they'll make you smile.
And this one is pretty self explanitory: that's about how I feel about THAT.
Scouting Sweetness: Neapolitan Cream Pie in a Samoas Cookie Crust
Recently, I was handed a secret spy mission by a super-sweet establishment.
Oh, you've probably heard of them...or at least their cookies.
Yup: I'm talking about the Girl Scouts. Of Western Washington, to be specific. When these sweet Scouts announced their recipe contest, in advance of their cookie sale to the public (March 2-18, and you can find them via cookie locator, as well as an app, which will be updated closer to the date of the sale), I knew I had to be part of it.
But before anything else...I received a super secret spy package (spoiler: it included cookies). Cue the "Mission: Impossible" music, and off to baking.
Would I make a grasshopper pie, using a Thin Mint crust? Would I make Samoas cupcakes? Would I make 'em into milkshakes and call it a day?
No, no, no.
First, I tried a lemonade cake festooned with the lemony crescent meltaway cookies known as Savannah Smiles...and while it was tasty, it was a little garish, and not quite special enough.
And then, it hit. Perhaps inspired by recent CakeSpy contest winner Molly, mixed with a little bit of these candies that I adore, I decided to go for a Neapolitan Triple-threat.
And O.M.G. was this thing good. Employing a Samoas cookie crust, which became crisp and caramelly and so rich it almost (but not quite) hurt, it got even better with three flavors of milky, creamy pudding on top--and then got even more delicious (and cuter, in my opinion) with a garnish of whipped cream and even more cookies on top.
If you're scouting sweetness, you've certainly found it with this recipe!
Neapolitan Cream Pie in a Samoas Cookie Crust
For the Crust:
- 2 boxes of Samoas cookies--save 4-6 cookies, but with the rest, ground coarsely by hand or in a food processor
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
For the filling:
- 1 large package instant vanilla pudding (5.1 ounce size)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup chocolate milk
- 1/2 cup strawberry milk
To Finish: Whipped cream, and lots of it.
Methodology:
- Make the crust. Directions Mix the cookie crumbs and melted butter until well blended . Press mixture into a 9 inch greased pie plate (you need more butter or shortening to grease it because the caramel from the cookies will make them stick to the pan!). Also, you might want to flour or wet your hands first, because this business gets sticky. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 5-7 minutes. Cool for at least an hour, or until the shell is at room temperature. You can put it in the fridge to chill more rapidly, too.
- Divide the pudding mix into three equal portions. Place each portion in a medium-sized bowl.
- First, mix 1/2 cup of strawberry milk with one portion of pudding mix, whisking until smooth; pour on top of baked pie shell.
- Next, mix 1/2 cup of regular whole milk with a second portion of pudding mix, whisking until smooth; pour on top of the chocolate pudding layer, and gently spread to cover the layer entirely.
- Finally, mix 1/2 cup of chocolate milk with the final portion of pudding mix, whisking until smooth; pour on top of the milk layer, and gently spread to cover the layer entirely.
- Finally, top it all off with a very generous helping of whipped cream right before serving. Garnish with your left-over Samoas!
Connect with the Girl Scouts of Western Washington online: www.facebook.com/GirlScoutsWW and https://twitter.com/#!/GirlScoutsWW; the Twitter hash tag is: #GSCookieRecipe.
Batter Chatter: Interview with Kristin of Meringue Bake Shop, Orange County
What's a "Whacky Cake"? Read on.In the modern world, it seems like just about every other person has some sort of a baking business, be it their bread and butter or a little something on the side.
Sadly, a lot of businesses like this fizzle out. But Meringue Bake Shop, located in Orange County, CA and run by baker Kristin Ausk and her husband Lyle, is an inspiring exception. While they don't have a retail storefront (yet), they've been going for four years and have a loyal following at farmer's markets in the area; as they put it, "While our name may have 'shop' in it, we are currently a catering business working out of a commercial kitchen in Fullerton. But we have our eyes set on the future and so our name reflects that."
Until that sweet day, let's learn more about what keeps them going strong, shall we? (Hint: it may or may not include buttered and toasted Pop-Tarts):
How has Meringue Bake Shop changed since you established it four years ago? Hmmm. I honestly don't feel like much has changed. I'm sure a lot has, like we are now at farmers markets and are consistently busy instead of having one or two orders a month but I guess it just feels like business as usual. We have received some great press and accolades from industry experts so that has helped us grow. Occasionally someone will come up to me and be excited to meet me and that kinda freaks me out, but in a good way. That certainly wouldn't have happened a few years ago.
Your world-famous PushCakes seem to have inspired some...for lack of a better word...copycats. How do you deal with people who are a little too "inspired" by your business? Ha well.... I am going to be honest and say that it is challenging for me to deal with. And I am trying to learn to let go and just accept that it's a great idea and so of course people are going to want to make it their own. Look at Bakerella! But it does upset me when someone talks about it as if they came up with pushcakes or use the name I invented and tell me they had no idea. Or purposefully go around and try to "steal my thunder" so to speak by following my press around the internet to tout their version. That's just not nice. And I was bummed when I found out someone is publishing a book about the very idea, someone who isn't even in the business and ultimately will get all the credit for it. But I digress! I really owe its wide spread popularity to you, for doing the first official post about PushCakes here on Cakespy!
Shucks! I'm blushing. OK, so...PushCakes were one of the items that brought your business to the public eye in a big way. How big a part of your business are they today? Right now pushcakes are probably 40% of my business. I'd like to get that to at least 75%. I am working on an online storefront so I can spread the pushcake love all over the states. But since I only do this part time, and a lot on my own, it's going to take longer than I'd like. Plus it's just me and my husband baking, creating and assembling these and we've only got 4 hands between us!
Tell me more about your "whacky cake", that lovely thing with a funny name pictured at the top of this post. The whacky cake is based off an idea I saw in a Donna Hay magazine a year or so ago. My friend Sharon from Cupcakes and Cutlery showed me the cake and told me that I just had to make it my own. I found a company in Australia that is making something with a chocolate mold in the shape of a cake that you break open with a hammer. I believe they call them smash cakes. What makes mine different is that underneath that chocolate dome and layer of delicious candy, you'll find our yummy cake and buttercream. So after eating some sugar, you can eat more sugar! Everyone's happy! So far I've just been making them for kids parties but they would great for marriage proposals, gender reveal parties, milestone birthdays or even for graduations. We can put anything inside the cake as long as it's small.
What flavor would your last-meal cake be? It would have to be a slice of Le Bete Noire. It's a cake made at Extraordinary Desserts in San Diego. The cake is comprised of layers of a creamy semi-sweet chocolate mousse, vanilla crème brûlée, chocolate ganache, dark chocolate cakes and moistened with Madagascar vanilla bean syrup.
Pop-tarts or toaster strudel? DUH! Pop-tarts baby! I eat mine toasted with salted butter and cut into fourths. shhhh
What is, in your opinion, the ideal cake-to-frosting ratio on a cupcake? I personally prefer 1/3 buttercream to 2/3 cake.
Can you name some bakers who truly inspire you? Oh yes. Elisa Strauss, Karen Krasne, Kari Haskell, Carrie Fields, Julie Desmeules, Rosie from Sweetapolita, and you!
If money were no object, what would you love to do next with your business? Open a real shop! One with a case full of cupcakes, cookies, diner cakes, bars and puddings. A pink and white checked floor, tinsel lampshades, turquoise vinyl booths, a cakespy mural in my kitchen, a glitter toilet (yea you heard me!), a space for parties and a retro jukebox playing daft punk, madonna, rodrigo y gabriel, abba, squeeze, and zz top (among others). ;)
For more awesome, visit the Meringue Bake Shop website or find them on Facebook.
Love Me Knot: The Story of the Calabrian Love Knot
CakeSpy Note: I am reposting this recipe because it's featured on Serious Eats this week!
If there is one thing I love even more than a great baked good, it's a great story. And if it's a story about a baked good, well then, all the better.
So when I came across the following introduction preceding a recipe for Calabrian Love Knots in Judith M. Fertig's amazing tome (buy it--trust me--it's a great book!) All American Desserts
During the early 1900s, the height of Italian immigration...many people came from Calabria in the "toe" part of boot-shaped Italy, right across the Mediterranean from...Sicily. When women of Calabrian descent become brides, beautifully arranged platters of these almond-flavored cookies are often served at the reception.
...well, all I can say is that I had to try this recipe.
It's not hard to see why these cookies are a time-honored tradition. They're simple to make, but the pleasure that they provide is tenfold: like a slightly drier and less sweet version of a sugar cookie, they taste delectable when dipped in strong coffee (or even wine!). They're truly the stuff of memories: as one Italian CakeSpy reader put it, "My grandparents had them at their wedding reception in the 40s. Nowadays only few families still know how to cook them and it is possible to buy them only in very small traditional bakeries in the countryside."
Now, I did make some alterations to the original recipe. First, because I happened to have a half wheat/half all-purpose flour mixture left over from a recent baking project, my batch was made with some wheat flour (we thought it tasted pretty good, actually!). And second, while the original recipe called for a light almond paste, sugar, and cream glaze, I served mine without--as hard as it is to admit this, they actually didn't need it. (Of course, if you don't believe me--and I don't blame you--the frosting recipe is written below).
Calabrian Love Knots