Desserts

Baumkuchen Cake

~ Jill ~ Leave a comment

IMG_3176 IMG_3177 IMG_3175When I traveled to Asia this fall, one of the managers in Tokyo sent me home with a Baumkuchen cake.   It’s a popular dessert in many European countries, and in Japan.  The delicate rings you see look like tree rings.  Thus the name means “tree cake”.  I thought it looked delicate like so many of the other Japanese desserts.  It was introduced to Japan in World War I by the German Karl Joseph Wilhelm Juchheim.   

The cake was interesting.  Fancy.  Not very sweet.  This might be the American in me.  I have a huge sweet tooth and my ability to handle sweet is pretty good.

 

Lady M. So Delicate.

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IMG_0755Lady M.  How could I resist?  I have never been to the store, but Jingya decided it was her lunch today and brought back a slice for to try.  Oh, and did I try it.   The cake is 20 paper thin layers of crepe and green tea mousse.  It was so light!  And the green tea flavor really came out at the end.  And it’s so pretty.

You can find the cakes at the Plaza Food Hall and at their E 78th Street Boutique.

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Bedford Cheese, now in Manhattan

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We love Bedford Cheese, and the fact that one opened in Gramercy makes it so much easier for us to get to (versus Brooklyn).  So many cheeses to choose from, and a great staff to guide you and make recommendations.  Melody is our cheesemonger.  She hooked us up on New Year’s Eve and helped us again yesterday.  The writing is so clever on the little description cards, and clearly I’m not the only one who notices because there was an article in the NY Times on it.

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They’ve got lots of other goodies to look at here, including lots of chocolate bars.  And Zoe’s which I recognized from Maryland.

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Delicious dinner with a great wine from Flatiron Wines.  Loved the creamy blue cheese (I just love blue cheese)…and a little dessert. And I got to watch 5 episodes of Top Chef in a row.

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Must Have Cake!

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My mom won’t let me leave during my Christmas visit without cake and ice cream for my birthday.  She can’t bear to not celebrate!  So we indulge a little early.  These are Friendly’s cake-ice cream “cupcakes” my sister found.  I told them no more sweets (esp around the holidays!) but they won’t listen,

I told someone today I just stopped aging this year.   That’s it, just done getting older!  Just need to remember to stay young at heart.

Bee’s Knees Cake Cups

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There was a sign for Bee’s Knees up for a bit, so I was always curious when it would open.  It’s on a little street on W 10th St. off Greenwich Ave in Chelsea.  And finally, walking by last month I saw the paper in the window was down.  We had top pop in!

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We talked with Marco, one of the owners.  Apparently they did these little cups in engraved glasses for weddings and decided to open a store front.  They serve the cups and Gorilla coffee in a nice little spot.  Loved the communal table and window seats.  They were giving free samples so who was I to say “no”?  I had the Carrot Cake and thought it was awesome.  Moist cake (unlike so many cupcakes) and the right mix of frosting.  Mark tried two others, Red Velvet and Honey Bourbon.  He wasn’t as sold as I was, but I think it was his flavor choice.

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Marco told us ee cummings lived upstairs so it’s a historical building and they need all kinds of permits to work on the front door.  While we were standing there, just eating and chatting, Glenn Close walked on by.

Check them out here.

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Baked By Melissa for Birthdays

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Lots of birthdays in July.  Lindsay and Amy.  And lots of office birthdays, including Anyesha’s tomorrow. But we celebrated early with mini cupcakes by Baked by Melissa.  A quick train ride down to Grand Central, and I was soon on my way with 25 chocolate-focused mini cupcakes.

People like minis because there is so much less commitment than with a big cupcake.  Luckily, we left her a few to take home.

 

It’s the Weekend! Melt Ice Cream Sandwiches

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Thursday night.  Long day after catching the 4:51 am train to Princeton, New Jersey (and the 2 hour 15 minute shuttle ride back).  So what better way to get an early start on the weekend than a stroll over to the Hester Street Fair (the Thursday version) at the Eventi Hotel.   Food, beer, tables and Caddie Shack on a big screen starting at 9:30.    Our real reason for going over was to satisfy my sweet tooth.  I wanted chocolate.  So to Melt Ice Cream Sandwiches we went.

We saw Julien behind the cart.  I went with the classic:  chocolate chip cookie with walnuts, vanilla ice cream.  Each bite was perfect.  The cookie didn’t break and the ice cream wasn’t all soft and squeezing out.  Delicious.

Check out my visit from last year.  Or catch them real time on the High Line (daily), Hester Street Fair (Saturdays), Hester Street Fair Eventi (Thursdays) or at their new retail location on Orchard Street.

Melt:  http://meltbakery.com/

Sweets. Indian Sweets.

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If you say “sweets” I come.  Chocolate sweets, baked sweets, I try it all.  Ravi brought us back Indian sweets.  Now, I’m going to have to come clean.  I spent 2 weeks in Mumbai for work and ate everything put in front of me.  Everything, even the from the carts behind the Taj Mahal hotel.  But when I came back, that was it.  No more Indian, I can’t do it.  I did do a buffet one year after my trip, and it was a reminder I needed more time.  I think I’m upsetting Mark because we may never get to go back to Ponatu for dinner.

The picture above is “laddoo”, the smaller version was “moti choor laddoo”.   I think we decided it had a cardamon taste.

Then I had the “minapa Sunni” which was like a ball of brown sugar held together with something.  That something is clarified butter I learned.  This one ended up all over my desk.

And finally we tried the “badam burphy”, which had an almond flavor.

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Sprinkles Cupcake – For Breakfast!

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How indulgent, cupcakes for breakfast.  But it’s like a pastry, right?  Caramel cake and pecan topping.  And red velvet with buttercream for Mark.

I had my first Sprinkles in LA back in 2009 in Beverly Hills.  And we ate them in the store for breakfast then.  I was on the Upper East Side last week, and I picked up 2 cupcakes for us for dessert.  We ended up going out for dinner, but had to make sure I fit in the cupcake.  Sprinkles was actually started by a Darden grad, so I feel some attachment.  And the first NY store opened up last year.

Zabar’s. Onion Rolls and Chocolate Crumb Cake.

~ Jill ~ 1 Comment

We were on the UWS on Saturday, strolling up town after the Hunger Games at one of our preferred movie theaters.    And we were hungry.  Luckily, it was easier for me to find food and Zabar’s was close.  We decided to get a few things for dinner.  I love the store wide announcements here.

“Hot Apple Strudel…$1 off right now!”

“Smoked oysters from Maine, samples out!”

“Fresh baked onion rolls, fresh baked challah.  Get it now in the bakery”

I almost got run over by the little old ladies, but we got our rolls.  And some chocolate crumb cake. As you know, the cake to crumb ratio is very important to me.  You can’t go wrong with crumb cake, and this had a nice chocolate flavor.  But it wasn’t like chocolate cake, so if you want more chocolate I would recommend a brownie.