baked goods + desserts

A year of cakes

January 23, 2019 | Category: baked goods + desserts the biz

Some people crave pie, and some chocolate, but when I have a sweet tooth craving, it’s often for cake. We made quite a few cakes last year for friends’ events, including two weddings—one of which we attended. It was a beautiful ceremony and it was so nice to see the cake (pictured above) in context at the wedding dinner. Wedding cakes are a pastry industry of its own category, and while we’re not in the business of making cakes for customers, we will make cakes once in a while for friends. We decided this early on when we made our very first wedding cake for the business way back in 2008 when we started. Maybe some of you remember? Although… CONTINUE READING

Black Forest Cake

February 21, 2018 | Category: baked goods + desserts recipes

The Black Forest cake is one that rarely comes up when we’re thinking about cakes, but it seemed like a perfect choice for our 14 year old’s birthday a few weeks ago. It has some of her favorite things—chocolate, whipped cream, and maraschino cherries—all in one dessert. I’ve always liked Black Forest Cake, but it reminds me of my teen years for some reason. Maybe because I remember seeing it on menus more often in cafes, back when all you’d see on a dessert menu was cheesecake, strawberry shortcake, and some sort of chocolate cake—either German chocolate or Black Forest. It does seem vaguely like a bit of a throwback dessert, doesn’t it? But I was reminded again of how much… CONTINUE READING

rhubarb tart

July 3, 2017 | Category: baked goods + desserts recipes

July already? It's been awhile since I've posted here, but we baked a tart yesterday with some rhubarb found at the farmer's market over the weekend and wanted to share. Normally we'd use rhubarb to bake a pie, but as is often the case, Mark threw this together somewhat last minute – it came out well, though! It would make a great 4th of July dessert if you're looking for alternatives to pie, and it would pair well with ice cream too. Happy 4th of July, friends. Looking forward to posting a bit more regularly over the summer (June was a beast of a month). Rhubarb Tart Tart Dough 6 ounces cold butter 2 cups flour 5 tablespoons sugar ¼ teaspoon salt 1 egg 1 egg yolk Cut… CONTINUE READING

Fresh Fig & Blueberry Tart

December 20, 2016 | Category: baked goods + desserts recipes

We made this fig and blueberry tart right before we left for our annual Northwest trip and never got around to posting the recipe. Better late than never! The beauty of fruit tarts is that with a basic recipe, you can top it with whatever fruits are in season. Blueberries, figs and these beautiful edible flowers were the inspiration over the summer. Admittedly, there isn’t as big a selection of in-season fruits during the winter, but we plan on making these tarts again and experimenting with persimmons, pears, dried fruits, almonds and maybe even some citrus. Fresh Fig & Blueberry Tart (Makes one 9-inch Tart) Cornmeal Tart Dough: 1-1/4 cups flour 3 Tablespoons cornmeal 1 egg yolk 1-1/2 Tablespoons Heavy… CONTINUE READING

cherry season, and a recipe for Cherries galette

August 15, 2016 | Category: baked goods + desserts recipes

I recently read an article behind the reason why produce in Chinatown is so much cheaper than other supermarkets and grocery stores in the city. It's something that always made me curious, but never thought too deeply about, perhaps so I could continue to blindly enjoy bargain priced mangoes, lychees and cherries. Oh, the cherries! I especially get excited when cherries first appear on the streets of Chinatown because they can be bought for as much as half of what the supermarkets charge. How is this possible? Turns out these vendors have a different supplier than mainstream supermarkets – they deal directly with farmers and wholesalers. Eating cherries on their own is probably my favorite way to eat them,… CONTINUE READING

desserts, lately

July 25, 2016 | Category: baked goods + desserts cooking life

Mark and I have been making desserts almost weekly this summer, most of which we’ll create stories for on Snapchat and then post on Instagram. The seasonal fruits and flowers found at the markets these days are hard to resist! And I’ve taken advantage of my free(er) time to work on photo and food styling skills. We’re not food bloggers – every project takes a long time to set up, style and document – and we’ve quickly realized that you could just do this full time if food blogging was your thing. But it’s been fun to devote some time every week to fun food and Mark gets to make something other than cookies (ha!). The camomile that we bought… CONTINUE READING

Key Lime Pie

June 10, 2016 | Category: baked goods + desserts recipes

We posted this key lime pie a few weeks ago on Instagram and got requests for the recipe, so we decided to post it. It’s such a simple pie to make, especially if you get a pre-baked graham cracker crust. Mark usually makes his own, but honestly, the pre-baked ones you get at the store can be just fine. We’ve tried a few key lime pie recipes before, but this one came out particularly well, with just the right balance of tart and sweet (sometimes key lime pies can come out a little too tart). Not sure what it is, but I haven’t been craving chocolate desserts for a good long while. Things that I’ve loved in the past like… CONTINUE READING

fresh fruit tart with Vanilla Pastry Cream

April 12, 2014 | Category: baked goods + desserts recipes

I made a recipe story for our fresh fruit tart on Stellar, but wanted to document it on the blog too because, well, when was the last time we posted a recipe? If you recognized the photo of the tarts as one that we had on our calendar, then you are correct. This was for a project that never came to be. Oh, the graveyard of abandoned or unrealized projects…how many times have we dumped our failures into your yard? But I digress. Fresh Fruit Tarts Makes four individual servings Tart Dough 6 ounces cold butter 2 cups flour 5 tablespoons sugar ¼ teaspoon salt 1 egg 1 egg yolk Cut the butter into small pieces.… CONTINUE READING

New this weekend: Mango Lassi Popsicles

June 21, 2012 | Category: baked goods + desserts the biz

Got a new flavor of fudgesicles/popsicles debuting at the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene this Saturday – Mango Lassi and man, is it deeeelicious! So if you’re in town you should head over and give one of these a try. We’ll have our other 2 flavors there too, Chocolate Curry and Thai Iced Tea. So…how has this little experiment been selling over the 6 weeks? They are starting to gain traction, but we need to get the word out to more people. We’re going to stick with it all summer and early Fall, though. We believe in these little pops! And it also might help that we’ve decided to be more consistent and stay at the Flea in Fort… CONTINUE READING

Fudgesicles…and try try again

May 4, 2012 | Category: baked goods + desserts the biz

Well, hello frozen treats on a stick. Remember this experiment that didn’t really go over so well last year? But hey…we’re still not giving up! Kind of like our Coconut Five Spice Cookies that went through 2 iterations as a biscotti and a macaroon before settling on its current cookie form. We KNEW the chocolate curry ice cream tasted good, but the presentation in a cup was just a fail so we chucked the idea last summer and vowed – yes, VOWED shaking our fists in the air – that we would bring it back on a stick this summer. I don’t really know why, but it was really hard to find commercial grade molds. We didn’t need super… CONTINUE READING

make it and they will buy…or maybe not

July 14, 2011 | Category: baked goods + desserts the biz

I think one of the most challenging things we’re facing as a not-so-new business is keeping things new and relevant. There’s one thing to be said about reaping the benefits from notching a few years of experience under your belt: systems start falling into place and production for the most part, runs fairly smoothly (geez, I talk as if we’re a big operation. It’s still just Mark in the kitchen though). The press and the public, however, are always on the lookout for the next new thing. Summers can also be a slower season for bakers when the weather warms up and people are turning to frozen treats and ice cream (I don’t blame them) so we decided to do… CONTINUE READING

candied kumquats

March 2, 2011 | Category: baked goods + desserts recipes

Every once in a while we’ll see kumquats at the grocery store and toss them in our shopping cart. It’s usually Mia who will spot them first and it’s no wonder…they are small and cute. But the problem with buying kumquats is that we’ll usually never go through a whole pint before they start to shrink and shrivel. One or 2 kumquats at a time is pretty much enough to satisfy and they’ll often be left forgotten in the fridge after awhile. The other day I decided to make candied kumquats. They’re sort of like sweet condiments and you can toss them in salads or on top of desserts as a garnish. Or you can do what Jenna does…and pop… CONTINUE READING

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