Black and White

My brother's girlfriend Janice wanted me to make her a vanilla bean cake with a dulce de leche filling.  She absolutely loved the flavor combination when she tried it the first time I made it. 

I whipped up a vanilla bean Swiss meringue buttercream and piped some black flowers with a 18 Wilton star tip.  To add a little contrast, I added my favorite little white pearls.  The colors are very Chanel, duh.  Check out the pics below!

xo,

Daniella :)

Spiced Fig Cake

I've recently become a huge fan of figs.  They are earthy and have such a unique sweetness.  I bought a box of fresh black mission figs at wholefoods and decided it was cake time. 

After searching for inspiration, I found this amazing spiced fig cake with pecans.  I didn't have any pecans on hand so I substituted almonds.  I also used whole wheat pastry flour and spices (cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon) which made the cake super flavorful and tender. For the frosting, I made a maple cream cheese buttercream.  I wanted the frosting to melt over the cake and seep into every nook.  SO GOOD! Check out the pics below!

xo,

Daniella :)

Spongebob Cake!

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?! SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!

I made this cake for my good friends Michelle and Bill. Bill's brother wanted to surprise his girlfriend's daughter with a Spongebob cake for her birthday.  What an awesome idea! 

This is a vanilla bean cake filled with a vanilla whipped cream buttercream and iced with a vanilla frosting.  I will admit that I cheated and bought a Wilton black frosting tube for the outlines for 2 reasons.  One, black frosting is hard to make considering how much food coloring you have to use and two, the tube saved me sometime and a pastry bag!  I used some dark brown sugar for the sand and added some blue food coloring to some piping gel for the ocean effect.  Other than that, the cake was 99% home made!  Check out the pics below!

xo,

Daniella :)

Minis and a Birthday Cake

My coworker Zach wanted to give his wife Jen an awesome birthday surprise.  Since he has sampled some of my baked goods, he asked me to make an assortment of mini treats.  I was totally honored and flattered that he chose me over Crumbs! :)

I baked chocolate brownies, blondies (with mixed nuts, milk, dark, extra dark and white chocolate, and butterscotch chips topped with sea salt), chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chocolate chip cookies, and red velvet cupcakes! I also made him a chocolate cake filled with a chocolate ganache whipped cream and frosted with a chocolate ganache buttercream!  Check out the pics below and thanks for everything Zach and Jen!

xo,

Daniella :)

Chocolate Lava Cake

I baked chocolate lava cakes during the second hurricane lock down.  I wanted something that was easy to make, fudgey, cakey, and delicious.  These turned out to be the simplest and most decadent desserts I've made thus far.  The cake barely set and the middle was oozing with chocolaty goodness.  I used a mix of milk and extra dark chocolate to get that perfect balance of creamy and flowery notes.  Check out the pic of the last lava cake topped with fresh whipped cream!

Enjoy!

xo,

Daniella :)

Blueberry Lemon Tart

I survived the hurricane by baking! There was seriously not much else to do since all New Yorkers had to stay home.  Luckily, the hurricane wasn't as bad as predicted.

I bought this tart pan (which was insanely sharp) at the NJ chef store a while ago.  I had a few pints of blueberries and a ton of lemons on hand and I thought, why not.  Blueberries and lemon work perfectly together and adding them into a buttery tart crust makes the perfect union. Check out the pics below!

xo,

Daniella :)