Ginger Ale Spice Cupcakes (6/5)

Made with Diet Ginger Ale soda instead of vegetable oil for an incredibly low fat cupcake (cancelled out by the incredibly high-fat ginger cream cheese frosting). Still phenomenally delicious. Toped with spice drops!

Blue Monster Cupcakes (5/3)

Would you believe these are a school project? My Theatre History final, based on Carlo Gozzi's Commedia piece, "The Blue Monster."

A Seven-Headed Hydra.

The Chinese Character for "Transform."

Arlecchino.

Orange Dream Cupcakes with Blueberry Buttercream.

Garbage Cakes (5/31)

Orange Dream Cupcakes with chocolate and vanilla frosting, utilizing all the candy I have lying around (better than throwing it away).

Worms and Dirt Cake (5/28)

For the first time, I was commissioned to bake something and got paid for it!

This is a classic Worms 'n' Dirt Cake baked for a guy's experimental film. The cake is Devil's Food, filled with raspberry curd and chocolate buttercream. Topped with crushed Oreo dirt and gummy worms.

Tarts (5/24)

I sat in on Drexel's Patisserie I class, and was thrilled to participate in the assembly of various tarts and tartlets!

Tart filled with Bruleed Banana Pastry Cream, chocolate ganache, and fresh strawberries.

Tart filled with Bruleed Banana Pastry Cream.

Tart filled with Roasted Banana Pastry Cream and fresh strawberries.

Tart filled with grapefruit curd and fresh berries.

Tart filled with chocolate ganache, chocolate raspberry mousse, and topped with fresh raspberry.

Tart filled with caramel, chocolate ganache, mousse, and topped with a hazelnut.

Tartlet filled with caramel, chocolate mousse, and topped with macadamia nuts.

Sweet Potato Muffins

Moist and fluffy breakfast muffins made with mashed sweet potato.

Rolled in a mixture of cinnamon, sugar, allspice.

Made these for the cast and crew of my film--definitely got us through the morning!

Candy Cane Cheesecake Brownies (5/14)

Delicious marbled cheesecake brownies, flavored with peppermint.

They may not be "special" in that way, but these were still a hit at the Reefer Madness Cast Party. No pun intended.

Sweet Potato Cake with Marshmallow Frosting

Pre-frosting. Sweet potato cake with cinnamon, allspice, and almonds.

With fluffy (and shiny!) marshmallow frosting.

Reminds me of Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole.

Macaroons (4/25)

Crispy and chewy, with real almonds and sweet almond flavor. A light and lovely cookie.

Butter Pecan Cupcakes with Praline Frosting (4/24)

This was my most difficult frosting, but it is , in my opinion, my finest.

Regular size:

And miniature!

Chocolate Chip Brownie-Graham Surprise! (4/20)

So my recipe was a HOUSE OF LIES for these. Pretty much had to make them up as I went along! Fudgy chocolate chip brownie with a secret layer of graham cracker in the middle. Surprise!

Happy 4/20, all.

Mini Funfetti Cupcakes (4/14)

With homemade raspberry buttercream.

And sprinkles!

Pear Custard Bars (4/10/2010)

Almond cookie crust, cream cheese custard filling, and sliced pears spiced with cinnamon and ginger.

Six-Cheese, Garlic, and Herb Pizza (4/3)

Mozzarella, Ricotta, Provolone, Parmesan, Romano, and Fontina cheese. Basil, oregano, garlic, pepper, and fennel seed. Dough from scratch. BAM.

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

Baked with cheesecake filling.



















These earned me 3rd Place in the Drexel Dessert Bake-Off.

Souffles and Crepes Workshop (3/25/10)

My sister Hannah and I, aproned up for Souffles and Crepes at the Seasoned Chef Cooking School in Denver (highly recommended!)

Brown sugar crepes with sweet ricotta filling.

Topped with strawberries macerated in Grand Marnier.

Cheese Souffle. This was absolute heaven.

Crepes Suzette with orange curd filling.

Topped with citrus-caramel flambe sauce. This was the best crepe, in my opinion.

Tarragon crepes with creamed spinach filling. I made the creamed spinach myself, but couldn't taste it because we made it with chicken stock. What a shame. The crepe itself was lovely, though!

Roasted green chile, corn, and cheese souffle, looking so elegant!

Unfortunately, the chocolate souffles were gone SO fast I couldn't even snap a picture. But let there be no doubt that they were beautiful and delicious.

This was a wonderful class. I've never made a souffle or a crepe in my life, but now I feel confident enough to whip up a batch right now, even without a recipe. The Seasoned Chef Cooking School teaches technique, not recipe, and gives you the skills you need to improvise and create on your own. If you ever get a chance to take a class there, do it! They fill up fast!

Spring Break Baking (3/20-3/28)

Ginger Snaps. To be frozen for a DSA event next month. Moist and chewy, a bit too sweet for my liking, but good.

Strawberry Shortcake. A light summer dessert, just in time for a blizzard! The angel food cake has a great almond flavor.

A repeat of the Thin Mint Chocolate Cheesecake. My family had to try it. I commend them for managing to save a box of Thin Mints!

Drizzled with Peppermint-Dark chocolate ganache and served with fresh strawberries.

Another repeat. Rise-and-shine buttermilk biscuits for family breakfast!

Buttermilk biscuit served with strawberry preserves, blueberry-cherry-prickly pear preserves, apple butter, and homemade orange curd (which I learned how to make in my Souffles and Crepes workshop!)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake (3/17)

Nick requested a cookie cake for his birthday. So I made him a chocolate chip cookie cake and a fluffy peanut butter frosting. Used some leftover vanilla frosting and pink gel for his name and slapped some dark Reese's cups on there.

In case you're wondering, he's a peanut butter freak!

Happy Birthday Nick!

Buttermilk Biscuits (3/14)

Flaky, buttery buttermilk biscuits. One cut up and with butter and cinnamon sugar. Unbelievable. I'll be using this recipe forever.