Cakewalk Baking in print!

I was super excited when Tea Magazine asked for my "expert advice" on throwing tea parties for kids. I was interviewed and they included gorgeous photographs taken by Sherry Heck from the tea party that I hosted for Graham and his friends. Becca from Cake. designed the invite (now available here), menu & printables and lended her styling talents. To revisit the complete party, see here.

My kind of town...

Fort Greene, Brooklyn

The Brooklyn Flea

The General Greene

More Fort Green, Marlow & Daughters (& Sons, too)

Williamsburg Bridge



Chelsea Market



High Line Park

Ramen at Momofuku Noodle Bar

Crumbs

Big Gay Ice Cream

Last month in March, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to New York City to attend the Martha Stewart Dreamers into Doers conference. It had been over 20 years (yikes!) since I had been to there, so I arrived a couple days early and tried to pack in as much sight seeing/shopping/eating as possible. I had an itinerary, but underestimated how just how HUGE the city is and didn't get to everything I wanted to do. Here are the highlights and just a couple misses of my trip:

The great:

Dinner at Il Buco - Everything about this first dinner was amazing - the food, the atmosphere and our irreverent server, Johnny.

Fort Greene, Brooklyn - I loved this neigborhood with all it's picture-picture brownstones and quaint restaurants. The Brooklyn Flea was my main reason for going and it did not disappoint. Housed inside a former bank building for the winter months, the place was jam packed with vintage goodies.

Marlow & Sons - cozy restaurant and general store. We were too full to eat at the time, but enjoyed having a bottle of wine at the bar and picking up some delicious (and gorgeously wrapped), Mast Brothers chocolate.

Highline Park: This unique park is built on an elevated freight rail line and stretches 1 mile long above Manhattan's West side. Plantings were a bit bleak when we were there, but I'm sure in the later spring/summer it is stunning.

Fishs Eddy: Please see my previous post where a gush about this most amazing store.

Momofuku Noodle Bar: Two words: PORK BUNS (they were devoured before a picture could be taken). Sit at the counter, watch the cooks and enjoy the inevitable kitchen drama.

The Lion - Our friend, former co-worker and San Francisco native, Jonny Leiva is currently at this very swanky restaurant in the West Village. I caught up with Jonny and sat at the bar and devoured the best tuna tartare I've ever eaten.

Big Gay Ice Cream: The owners, Douglas & Bryan were speakers at the DID conference and since I was staying somewhat close to their shop, I knew I needed to try it out. I snuck in moments before they were closing and ordered a 'salty pimp' - vanilla soft serve, literally stabbed with dulce du leche and dipped in chocolate. I ate it strolling back to my borrowed apartment, through the somewhat sketchy neighborhood, all alone, late at night feeling like a might be able to pass as a native.

The not so great:

Williamsburg, Brooklyn - the main drag reminded me of the Haight is San Francisco and was more junky than I had imagined. 

ABC Carpet and Home: I was so looking forward to visiting this shop, but it just looked dated and disorganized. I'm sure there are some amazing items in here, but they were hard to discover in the mess. In need of a face lift!

Crumbs cupcakes - Too big, too sweet and really artificial tasting. My only NYC cupcake was definitely a flop.

Overall, the trip was so amazing and I am so grateful for the opportunity. I hope that it's not going to take me another 20 years to get back! (BTW, if there are any New Yorkers that want to swap houses/jobs for a year or so, we're ready to go.).

PS - Check out my Pinterest board with lots of other places I wanted to visit: http://pinterest.com/cakewalk/nyc-bound/

An Easter collage

We had a lovely Easter brunch...

with bunny scones

and homemade Nutella, lemon curd and strawberry preserves

and easy-peasy morning buns (recipe to come soon)

and royal icing bird nests a la Sprinkle Bakes

and macarons made with Italian meringue (my first time)

and neon bunny cookies in sweet bunny bags

and homemade Cadbury Creme Eggs (reserved for the grown-ups)

and cute cousins all dressed up for an egg hunt.

How about you?

Pinned it, made it: Cadbury Creme Eggs

I've never been a big fan of eating Cadbury Creme Eggs, but they have always fascinated me. How did they get the sugary yolk inside there? Well, it turns out to be pretty easy! When I saw this recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had to give it a try.

The recipe gives two methods of making the eggs - rolling by hand or using a chocolate mold. The later seemed much simpler, so I choose that route. I also piped the "whites" and "yolks" into the chocolate shell rather than rolling them like in the recipe.

The result was quite delicious! Everyone who tried them said the were better than the original and not as cloyingly sweet. Next time, I might make them using bittersweet chocolate to offset the sweetness of the filling even more (and there will definitely be a next time!)

Happy Easter, to all my peeps!

xoxo, Michele

Bunny Scones on Cake.

Do you have any favorite Easter traditions? I'm always up for trying new things, but Easter wouldn't be Easter without bunny scones at my house.

Check out my recipe over at Cake.