Matt's - The Chocolate Shop

Okay, let’s talk about minimalism for a second. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for minimalism. I am not a tchotchke kind of gal. That said, minimalist desserts don’t come up that often on this site. I’m not sure why. Maybe because minimalist sweets aren’t as showy, aren’t as “oh, wow,” that I wonder if people will be interested. Well, the minimalism freeze is about the thaw out right now because I am in love with the design concept of Matt’s - The Chocolate Shop! The brown and navy packaging was created by design firm Tofu and features a graphic yet simple theme, while the shop’s interior is sparsely decorated with a clean, contemporary feel. But it’s not only Matt’s branding and style that is pared down to the bone. The menu itself is an effort in simplicity, focusing on one modest chocolate fudge cake. Actually, when the shop first opened in Singapore they only sold chocolate cake. I totally love the idea of a bakery selling only one item. They have added a few things to the menu since their opening in the summer of 2012, but the focus is still on the dark, not too sweet, chocolate cake, as it should be.

BB Sweets

Brooke Bertelle, owner of BB Sweets, seems to know a thing or two about creating lovely baked goods. Her Facebook page is covered with some of the prettiest cookies and cakes that I have ever seen! I can't take my eyes of her button cake (yes, they are edible) and her Babushka Cookies are so cute; it's crazy!

Actually, the story of how Brooke started her business is almost as sweet as her cookies. In 2010, she was a assigned a school project to raise money for a Haitian hurricane relief program. She decided to bake and decorate a "Heart for Haiti" cookie and sell it to local businesses throughout south Florida. The cookie was a huge success! She managed to raise hundreds of dollars for the charity and, accidentally, started a business, all at the same time!

All of Brooke's cookies are handmade and decorated with sugar dough. You can see more of her desserts on her webssite, here. There are also sweets for sale in her etsy shop. (Thanks, Kristen!) -Erin

Whipped Bake Shop

As much as I love tile, looking at tile, dreaming about tile, I’ve never actually had the guts or the ambition to attempt a tiling project of my very own. It all seems a little too permanent to me. What if I don’t like it? What if I mess it up? What if? What if? Thankfully, Whipped Bake Shop in Philadelphia has come up with the perfect solution to my tile indecision. Tile cookies! Now you can indulge in a little tile buying frenzy, without any of the permanence, because, you know, the tiles will be going directly in your belly! The details on these cookies really are quite lovely. It is astounding how much they resemble actual tiles! And it doesn’t stop there. Whipped Bake Shop has a slew of unique cookies on their site. I’ve selected a few of my favorites  below. Each cookie is made with vanilla shortbread and hand-decorated by staff at the bakery using almond royal icing. You can find more info and buying information via their Etsy site and their website. (Thanks, Kristin!) ~Erin

How to Visit a French Bakery

Ahhh, France. The Louvre, the countryside…the pastries! It’s hard for me to think about France without thinking about the food. I’ve never been to France, but I definitely have this sort of idealized notion of french cuisine, especially french sweets! This video titled How to Visit a French Bakery perfectly captures all of my french bakery fantasies. Created as a collaboration between Ben and Gabrielle Blair (Olive Us) and filmmakers Tiger in a Jar, the video features three of Ben and Gabrielle’s six kids visiting a bakery in France, where they recently moved. Apparently, the Blair clan packed up and moved to France last year and are currently living in a farmhouse in the french countryside (sigh…).The video itself is beautifully shot and reminds me a bit of a Wes Anderson film. It’s fun and cute and the children are lovely and so well-behaved. If you’re like me and you daydream about visiting a charming little french bakery and eating croissants and macarons, you’re bound to like this video. For more Olive Us videos, click here. ~Erin

Cookbook Excitement: Baked Elements

Wednesday was the best . . . day . . . EVER! Why was it the best day EVER? Well, I’ll tell you. Because the angels over at Stewart, Tabori & Chang sent a copy of the new Baked cookbook, Baked Elements, right to my door! I’ve been a fan of this Brooklyn-based bakery since before I could talk (okay, really since they released their first cookbook back in 2008) and every time they release another book, I nearly pee my pants in anticipation. And, I have to say, the new book does not disappoint.

Good Morning Sunshine Bars

This time around Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito have given us a cookbook based around the concept of “our favorite ingredients.” What makes their Top Ten? Peanut Butter, Lemon and Lime, Caramel, Booze, Pumpkin, Malted Milk Powder, Cinnamon, Cheese, Chocolate, and Banana. All of which just so happen to be my favorite ingredients as well! Divided by ingredient, there are 10 sections to the book, making it easy to find and select a recipe. Interested in making a banana dessert? Just flip to the banana section and drool away! Personally, I don’t know even where to begin. There are so many recipes that I want to make. I may have to start with the Easy Candy Bar Tart, though. Caramel, walnuts, dark chocolate. I took one look at the accompanying photo and thought, Holy shit! That said, the Bourbon Milk Shake is also calling my name and, as I am a huge fan of bananas, I can’t wait to sink my teeth into the Banana Cake featured on the cover. (Btw, the Peanut Butter and Banana Creme Pie in their last book was divine). With photos by the talented Tina Rupp and 75 mouth watering recipes to choose from, I think this cookbook will be keeping me happy for decades to come . . . or at least until they release another book. To find out when the fabulous Baked boys will be at a Williams Sonoma near you, click here. You can purchase Baked Elements: Our Ten Favorite Ingredients online, right here.

Simple Chocolate Whiskey Tart

Candy Bar Tart

Bourbon, Vanilla, and Chocolate Milk Shake

Ace of Cakes: Who Knew??

I’ve never been a huge Ace of Cakes fan. I’ve watched the show before and, although I’ve enjoyed it, there’s part of me that gets a little overwhelmed by all those giant sculptural cakes. There’s always this little voice in the back of my head wondering, What do those cakes taste like?? I wasn’t sure how I felt about the whole Ace of Cakes phenomenon, but then I came across this picture on Vince Lupo’s Flickr page and everything changed. The moment I saw this adorable cuckoo clock cake I was head over heels in love! (Check out the fox in the bottom left-hand corner!) And it didn’t stop there! I continued to scroll through Lupo’s images and discovered photo upon photo of some of the most darling cakes that I have ever seen! What wonderful person made these cakes??? And where can I see more of their work?? You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that they were not made by a Scandinavian baking goddess or a hip do it yourselfer, but by Ace of Cakes!! No way! So, I guess I am now, an official Ace of Cakes fan. I’ve actually heard that there cakes are pretty tasty, once you remove the rubbery fondant layer. To check out more pics from Vince Lupo's Ace of Cakes photostream, click here. For more on Ace of Cakes, the show, click here, and here for their bakery's website.

Cookbook Excitement: Miette

Omg, omg. Okay, that’s a little annoying, but seriously…OMG! One of my most favorite bakeries ever, Miette, is releasing a cookbook on June 22nd! I have a sneaking suspicion that my Baked obsession is going to turn into a Miette obsession sometime in the next few months. Right now, there are only a few images  available, but I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy, so that I can see what other photos are included inside.  Their baked goods are always so lovely to look at, not to mention all together yummy. If you haven't tried anything from their shop, I would highly recommend the toffee and the macarons, which are available by mail order. To preorder Miette: Recipes from San Francisco's Most Charming Pastry Shop, click here.

Have a great (long) weekend! ~Erin

Enjoy Cupcakes

I know that the whole dessert truck trend probably reached it's peak last summer, but I'm a sucker for all things cute and vintage, so I couldn't resist posting this pic of the adorable cupcake trailer used by Enjoy Cupcakes. Actually, this particular trailer isn't the usual food truck that roams the streets of a large city looking for customers. Instead, it parks itself right in the middle of your wedding reception, baby shower, birthday celebration, or any other party event that you can think of! Unlike a more traditional party, where, usually, the food trailer is hidden from view, Enjoy Cupcakes puts it's vintage Shasta trailer front and center.

But, wait, it gets even better! Enjoy Cupcakes offers over 170 different cupcakes flavors AND the flavor combinations are actually original and interesting. For instance, there is a HUGE selection of wine cupcakes, like Tart Ginger Lime Chardonnay and Caramel Pinot, as well as other mouth watering options like Pumpkin Smores, Chocolate Churro, and Chocolate Salted Peanut Buttery Caramel Crunch. Did I mention that they have cake, too?

If you are interested in hiring Enjoy Cupcakes for an event, you can find more info on their Web site. They also have two storefronts in California, one in Los Olivos and the other in Solvang. If you don't live in California, but would still like to sample their sweets, you can have cupcakes shipped straight to your door. Click here for more info on how to order.

Fig & Kindle

Sarah Goldschmidt over at Fig & Kindle recently sent me a link to her Etsy shop and boy, am I glad that she did! Her glass brittles may be the most gorgeous brittles that I have ever seen and the flavors are so creative! This isn't your ordinary peanut brittle. At the Fig & Kindle shop you'll find walnut rosemary, saigon cinnamon, and wasabi pea brittle! I don't know which one I would want to sample first! There are also cocoa cinnamon and almond anise cookies available in their Etsy shop as well. Yum! Besides all of the eye candy, personally, I have a hard time resisting anything with the word "fig" in the title. Love the word...love the fruit! Sarah's brittles (and more) are available right here. Click here to check the Fig & Kindle blog as well. [Thanks, Sarah!]

Sweet Testing: Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie

I have had a craving for a Peanut Butter and Banana Creme Pie for a long time, ever since I first heard about it last year, so I was really happy when my father picked this as his dessert of choice during a recent visit. I was doubly happy when I searched the internet for a recipe and discovered that my favorite bakery, Baked, has their own version of this delicious treat! And let me tell you . . . it was soooo good!! I cheated a little bit and used a Whole Foods brand gluten-free pie crust, which I highly recommend for people with gluten allergies. Usually, I don't really care for store bought pie crust, but this one is a definite winner AND it's gluten free! So, because I wanted to make the pie edible for people with gluten allergies and because I was short on time, I didn't end of making the vanilla wafer crust that goes with this recipe, but I'm sure the pie would be even more amazing with that added element, although it was pretty damn good without it! For that reason, I can't really speak to the ease of the crust preparation, but the filling was super easy to assemble and came together quite quickly. Easy and a total crowd pleaser. What's better than that?

(p.s. For Baked fans, another teaser video for the new cookbook has been released. It features one of my favorite things: baked goods with miniatures. To watch it, click here.)

(p.p.s. Sometimes I feel like every recipe I make is from Baked. Someone seriously needs to hide their cookbooks from me!)

You can find the complete recipe after the jump.

La Pâtisserie des Rêves

First of all, I can't believe that I have written anything about Philippe Conticini's La Pâtisserie des Rêves yet! I've been meaning to do a post on this pastry shop since it opened last year in Paris, but, alas, like many things, it just kept slipping out of my memory. Anyway, I am in love with this shop! Not only are the desserts gorgeous (and I've heard tasty), but it's the way that the food is displayed that really gets me. At La Pâtisserie des Rêves each delicious pastry is treated like a work of art or, perhaps, a science experiment, and displayed beneath a bell jar. Each of the jars is temperature controlled based on the sweet contained inside, while a pulley system attached to the ceiling allows the jars to be raised and lowered. What fun! It's also a much easier way to view the desserts than having all the customers crowd around a display case at the counter. It really is a unique and creative shop, a fact that is not all that surprising when you consider that in 2005 pastry chef and owner Philippe Conticini wrote a cookbook titled Sensations Nutella, which is devoted entirely to, you guessed it, Nutella. For more info on La Pâtisserie des Rêves, click here.

Chipotle Cheddar Biscuits

I know that right about now you're probably thinking, Erin, a chipotle biscuit doesn't really qualify as dessert. At first, I was thinking that exact same thing, but then I changed my mind. Here's why.

1) This recipe is from the Baked cookbook and 99% of the recipes in that book could be served as a dessert.

2) Biscuits are pretty much a dessert food. I mean they are a fairly large component of strawberry shortcake, which is undeniably, a dessert.

3) Biscuits are usually eaten with breakfast, most often with a sugary jam on top, and let's face it, unless you're eating bacon and eggs, breakfast is basically dessert.

So, there you have it. Even though we ate these biscuits during a meal and not after it, I think I've made a pretty strong case for including them on the dessert menu. The biscuits themselves were mighty yummy. The chipotle giving them a nice, comforting, smoky flavor. The only thing I would change the next time around would be to maybe use a little less chipotle powder. Baked actually recommends using less spice, if you don't have much heat tolerance. I went with the full dosage, and the chipotle powder that I used was fresh, so the biscuits ended up being a little too spicy for me. That said, they were so yummy that the fact that my mouth was a little burny didn't stop me from eating three of them! I just think it would have been a little more enjoyable with less powder, but it all depends on what you can handle.

You can find the complete recipe after the jump.

Let's Get Baked

I love this little teaser video for the new Baked cookbook, Baked Explorations, due out in October.

a) Their first cookbook, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, is my most favoritest cookbook in the whole wide world, so, of course, I'm just a little bit excited about the new one.

b) I love Olivia Newton-John. Really, who doesn't?

I was such a big ONJ fan as a kid, that, as an adult, I actually once said to someone "You’re a fake and a phony and I wish I never laid eyes on you." Yes, sometimes, I have the maturity level of a ten-year-old. Actually, now that I think of it, he may be the one person on the planet who doesn't like Olivia Newton-John!

To pre-order Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented, click here.

Bakery Roundup: NYC

[Portrait of a dork (me) outside Baked] Today I am very excited to present my very first bakery roundup! Woo hoo! As some of you know, late last month, I went to NYC to visit friends and to eat dessert, and, despite the two day drizzle, I still managed to hit not one, not two, but five bakeries! That's a lot of sugar, even for me! The highlights, and the lowlights, are listed after the jump.

Wallpaper Cookies

Be still my heart. That's what was going through my head when I first came across these Miette cookies on DesignSponge. It took me all of two seconds to fall head over heels in love with these delightful treats and I knew that I wouldn't be able to resist posting something about them on Dessert Girl!

Based on the gorgeous Osborne & Little wallpaper that line the walls of the Miette Confiserie in San Francisco, these floral shortbread cookies are the perfect pairing of art and food. I haven't eaten one, so I can't vouch for their flavor, but everything that I've had from Miette has been mighty yummy, so I'm sure these would have the same glorious flavor as their other treats. As an added visual bonus, the plates in these pictures appear to be designed by the super talented Whitney Smith, one of my all-time favorite potters! At least, it looks like Whitney's work, anyway. Click here to order online. {Thanks, Ashley!}