Tag Archive | Baked Goods

Nature’s Own Presents: The Most Delicious Toast

Natures Own White and Wheat Bread

Do you like Toast? I sure do. I recently received a generous Care Package of toast-able bakery items from Nature’s Own that I wanted to share with you. Two of the items in the package were loaves of both Nature’s Own Whole Wheat bread, and their amazing Butter Bread — a soft, buttery white bread baked with butter on the top that was my favorite kind of bread to eat growing up. Seriously, I could eat the entire loaf. Both varieties of bread taste great with any kind of sandwich filling, but the best thing about Butter Top White Bread, especially, it that it makes the most delicious toast.

Buttered Toast
Mmmm, Delicious Toast

Also in the shipment were packages of Nature’s Own Whole Wheat Sandwich Rounds and the Cinnamon Raisin variety of their Oatmeal Toasters, which are like a healthy adult version of a Pop Tart, but without all the sugar and fat. Both of these products are fiber rich, whole grain and they come in resealable, zip lock packages to keep them fresh longer.

Natures Own Bakery Products

Sandwich Rounds are a fun alternative to regular sliced bread and are perfect for stuffing with chicken or tuna salad. They are also good for school lunch boxes, as they are easy for kids’ tiny hands to hold.

With the Oatmeal Toasters (of which I also enjoy the Cranberry Orange variety) I like to toast them lightly, then split them into two halves and toast them again, so they get a bit crispy, and then I slather on the margarine. Yum.

Smart Balance Organic Buttery Spread Package

What I enjoy spreading on my toasted goodies is Smart Balance Whipped Buttery Spread. This new variety of product from Smart Balance  is organic — a quality that is so in demand right now — and, of course, naturally low in cholesterol, with zero grams of trans fat. What’s most important though is that it tastes rich, buttery and delicious. I also use it for cooking, always with great results.

If you are now hungry for some delicious toast, please consider adding these fine items to your shopping list!

Cranberry Orange Oatmeal  Toaster and Eggs
Split Cranberry Orange Oatmeal Toaster and Eggs

Wizard of Oz Cake

Wizard of Oz Cake Front
Image Source

That new James Franco Wizard of Oz film may be getting universally panned by the critics, but I am sure this magnificent Cake, inspired by imagery from the original film, would receive rave reviews! Created by Mike’s Amazing Cakes of Redmond, Washington, the back of the cake (below) is also quite impressive!

Wizard of Oz Cake Back
Image Source

Pink Thing of The Day: Pink Party!

Pink Party

For the first Pink Thing of the year 2013, what could be more festive than a 3 year old’s Birthday party where all the snacks (except for the Cheetos, which I see hiding there) are Pink?

Pink Party Room
Festive!

Baker Recreates Sleeping Beauty Cake from Disney Film

Sleeping Beauty Cake from Disney Film
Images Coutesy of Cake Wrecks Via Devilish Delights

When you’ve watched as many cake baking competition shows as I have, you know how hard it is to deliberately make a cake that looks like it’s falling apart, but really isn’t. Check out a screen grab from the original Disney film Sleeping Beauty and you can see that whoever made this cake did a pretty amazing job! Just look at those candles!

Sleeping Beauty Cake from Disney Film

Bacon Thing of The Day: The Baconery

The Baconery Bake Shop

The idea of adding crumbled bacon to a batch of chocolate chip cookies or using strips of the crispy stuff to adorn a Birthday Cake — these are not new ideas. What is new is the establishment of a bakery that focuses exclusively on creating innovative baked goods containing bacon. Bacon! Baconery Dot Com is an online bakery from which you can order so many delicious, bacony baked goods, it is just ridiculous. But what’s even better (at least for those of us living in New York City) is that Baconery has expanded to into the Brick & Mortar domain to now be available for in-person procurement at Books of Wonder, the Children’s Book Shop on West 18th Street in the Flatiron District. Oh, Happy Day.

Every delectable bacon-infused baked goodie that you find listed on Baconery’s Online Menu — from Chocolate Peanut Butter Bacon cookies to White Chocolate Bacon Pretzel Rods — is available at the Books of Wonder bakery. I am on my way there now!

The Baconery is Located inside Books of Wonder Children’s Bookshop, 18 West 18th Street (just West of 5th Avenue), New York, NY 10011.

Thanks to Lisa Peller for The Tip!

Georgetown Cupcake Debuts in Soho!

Georgetown Cupcake Opening Party

Photos By Anne Raso

Last evening, we dined on cupcakes and champagne — not kidding – at a festive and fancy launch party for the newest location (Prince Street in Soho) of Georgetown Cupcake, officially opening to the public on Saturday February 11, 2012. Some killjoys and curmudgeons may speculate that the Cupcake Craze is on the wane, but there is much evidence to the contrary. It seems to us that there are specialists in this niche of the baking spectrum who are just getting started in their quest to do these tiny cakes differently / better than any other bakers! Georgetown Cupcake certainly has a foothold in the realm of doing whatever it takes to bring Cupcakes to, as they say, the next level.

Georgetown Cupcake Pink Boxes

Georgetown Cupcake was founded by sisters and baking enthusiasts Katherine Kallinis and Sophie LaMontagne, who gave up thriving careers in fashion and finance, respectively, to pursue their passion for creating artful cupcakes. Their flagship Georgetown Cupcake store opened in DC, as the city’s first and only cupcake specialty boutique, in February of 2008. In just four years, business has boomed! Katherine and Sophie now have their own TV series DC Cupcakes on the TLC cable network, and they have published a fun cupcake cookbook – The Cupcake Diaries: Recipes and Memories from the Sisters of Georgetown Cupcake – which is available wherever books are sold (I think they probably sell it in their stores as well). Great success!

Waiter with Tray of Cupcakes

At Thursday night’s bash, miniature versions of Georgetown’s many cupcake flavors made continuous rounds through the packed crowd of party-goers, which allowed us to sample a variety of flavors including traditional Vanilla Buttercream, Cookies & Cream, Red Velvet (with a luscious cream cheese frosting), Lemon Blossom and an extraordinarily decadent Peanut Butter Fudge (chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and a rich fudge cream center) that everyone seemed to call out as a favorite. These cupcakes are not only moist and delicious, with frostings that are not too sugary sweet, but each is decorated beautifully, often with a tiny, signature fondant candy made in house.

Display Case of Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes

Georgetown can accommodate nearly any type of custom order imaginable, including holiday cupcakes and custom color icings and fondants, as well as cupcakes decorated with your company’s logo (with two weeks noticed plus a small upcharge for the custom stamp) and of course catering for weddings, baby showers and other events. It’s apparent that customer service is really what it’s all about for the sisters of Georgetown Cupcake, and with that kind of a can-do attitude there would be little reason to go elsewhere for your cupcake needs. Take a look at their cupcake menu, which includes daily regular selections as well as mouthwatering special featured flavors – such as Chocolate Banana and Pumpkin Spice – at This Link.

Georgetown Cupcake (Soho) is located at 111 Mercer Street (between Spring and Prince), New York, NY 10012. Phone 212-431-4504. Hours are Monday – Saturday 10 AM – 9 PM, and Sunday 10 AM – 7 PM, with a Grand Opening Celebration on Saturday, February 11, 2012 from 12 Noon – 9 PM. Be sure to stop by for that if you can!

The Cupcake Diaries Cook Book