Mini Trifle Bowls

I have fallen in love! With this new mini trifle bowl. I first saw them when I was shopping for MasterChef and I thought about them so much that I had to go buy myself a bunch of them. Trifles are desserts that are easy to compose and sure to knock your guest's socks off. (Plus, they are a GREAT way to use up a cake that might have cracked and would otherwise be unsuable.) They are three dollars each. If you are interested in getting them, they can be found at Pier One Imports or follow this link...

http://www.pier1.com/Catalog/Dining/tabid/493/List/0/CategoryID/893/level/a/ProductID/2360/ProductName/Trifle-Bowlsuu/Default.aspx

They would also be a fabulous container for yogurt and granola parfaits. Not a bad thing to invest in, as the spring and summer months approach!

Magnolia? Joan's? Magnolia? Joan's?

In case you are wondering, I am a fiend. A bakery obsessed, menace to the blogosphere. I have a job that forces me to traverse the city as I hunt for the "perfect" item to use on one of my sets. As it happens, I am currently decorating a cooking show for Fox. One of our sets is a Whole Foods styled "shoppe". It is a fun environment to dress but I have been having a bit of a block on a few finishing touches. Naturally, I need to do lots of research in high-end bakeries. (A girl's work is never done). So I hopped into my minivan and headed straight to West Hollywood's Third Street. Home of Joan's on Third and now, Magnolia Bakery's west coast outpost. Both are on the same block. Both have their own alluring, caloric temptations. Joan's is foodie's dream. Many types of cuisine, cooked perfectly, albeit quite expensive. AND they have one of the most fabulous bakeries and cappucino bars in town. If you cannot find something to eat here, I am worried about you.

Last year, the long awaited Magnolia Bakery opened across the street. If you have ever been to the original NYC location you would almost not believe that the two stores are related. One is a quaint little bakery, while the other is a mammoth cupcacke producing factory. But the cupcakes and the puddings are enough to send you to the moon (in a good way). Worth every single gut-expanding, calorie. My favorites are the caramel cupcake and the banana pudding.

As far as Joan's is concerned, I am moderately addicted to their meringue cookies. Particularly the ones with the chocolate and coconut. And in the summer, I have been known to consume a cream puff... or two.

Whenever I turn onto Third Street, I turn into a junkie. Am I hungry? Do I have time to stop? Where should I go? One day, I even followed Jeff Goldbloom and his girlfriend as they held hands, walking down the street. Would they stop at Joan's? Maybe get a little omelet and a croissant? Nope. Well they must be going to Magnolia? Who can refuse their tasty brownies?Nope. They were just walking. And I realized that maybe, I should consider a 12 step program. Especially because I seem to project my desires onto complete strangers who also happen to be celebrities.

In any case, if someone held a gun to my head and forced me to chose between the two I think that I would have to go with Joan's. But I am happy to have to luxury of being able to have two options. Because there are times for cream puffs and there are times for good old fashioned vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting!

And if you also like things that are sweet on the eyes, I hear that Alexander Skarsgård has been known to frequent Joan's from time to time.

It will be here before we know it...

As I plan for the upcoming holidays (and stress because the days are flying by and I have done so little) but as I surfed the net tonight, I found some solid inspiration...

Beautiful.

This is where I found it, by the way...

http://designbytanya.com/blog/a-designer-christmas

DIY Cupcake Carrier

Yet another great idea from Amy Bakes Cupcakes!

DIY Cupcake Carrier

Alien from Toy Story Cupcakes

The green aliens are my favorite Toy Story characters so they had to be included in the party. I found this idea online through Disney. If you go to the link you will find detailed instructions on how they made theirs. Mine were similar with a few differences. I used fondant to make the eyes and poked black licorice into the balls for pupils. The aliens had two mouths, one being black fondant and the other being black licorice. The antennae were made from sour straw candy, cut into 2" pieces and topped with a green cake decoration (buttercream was the glue). The ears were made from rolls of sour green candy that I found at a gas station, of all places. (This was by far, the hardest ingredient to track down. I went to candy stores, pharmacies, etc. and almost jumped out of my skin when I found the strips at the gas station by accident.)

I assembled all of the pieces, a day in advance. The pieces were stored in plastic containers. The cupcakes were vanilla with vanilla buttercream. I frosted the cupcakes and then added the parts that had already been assembled.

Hamm Cupcakes

The piggy bank, named Hamm, from Toy Story was my inspiration for these easy cupcakes. They would also work well for a barn-themed party. The idea came from Hubpages. The original cupcake used marshmallows for the snout. I used fondant. Either would work just fine. The ears were made by cutting pink wafer cookies into triangles. The eyes were chocolate chips. The mouth was a strip of licorice.

Assemble all the parts in advance and store in parchment lined containers. The cupcakes were vanilla with vanilla buttercream. But strawberry would also be grand.

Mr. Potato Head Cupcakes

This is one of several cupcakes I made for Milo's Toy Story Party. We made all of the parts, a day in advance with fondant that we dyed and rolled. My five year old helped me make the mustaches, noses and eyes. The body was cut with a small oval cookie cutter. The eyes were white fondant with pieces of black licorice for the pupils. The lips were red licorice, but I also made some with red fondant and they looked great. We made all of the parts assembly-line style and stored them in tupperware containers lined with parchment. We also used the parchment to separate the layers. Then we covered them until we were ready to decorate.

The cupcake was chocolate with chocolate cream cheese buttercream. I used a pastry bag, fitted with a small tip and filled with the buttercream to act as the glue to connect the parts. If you are doing this, make sure to use the least amount of "glue" as possible.

I also had my daughter help me put the faces together by giving her all of the pieces on a plate with a frosted cupcake. It was really quite easy.