Rainbow Cookies

From Greenpointers, Recipe: Rainbow Cookies

I've had this recipe for Rainbow Cookies on my fridge since last year and decided to make it. Working my first job as a counter girl at an Italian bakery in Queens and accepting collect calls from the grumpy bakery owner's son, who was in jail for idiotic low-level racketeering, gave me have a distaste for Italian pastries, with the exception of a few things: Pignoli Cookies, Rainbow Cookies & Cannolis (but only the cannolis that the nuns from the San Carlo monastery on Erice, a medieval mountain town in Sicily make. God is in them.) The rest of the Italian pastries can burn in hell.

Rainbow Cookies are pretty pricey per pound and if you're going to buy them around Brooklyn I would recommend Fortunata Brother's on Manhattan & Devoe.

Making the rainbow cookies seemed pretty pricey, too. It didn't help that I had to buy 3 half sheet pans at $15 a pop from The Brooklyn Kitchen, plus 4 tubes of Almond Paste at $8 a pop! I definitely came home grumpy.

"I should have just bought them at the bakery," I said as I laid the ingredients on the counter. But the process and the end result were worth it, plus we got between 150-200 cookies out of it.

I cut the recipe out of New York Magazine from the chef of Torrisi Italian Specialties, a great Italian restaurants down on Mulberry, the walls lined with Manhattan Special: my favorite drink, espresso soda.

If you plan on making rainbow cookies, make sure you have an entire day off plus a partner with good hand-eye coordination. I am lacking in that area and Jon, who is mechanically inclined proved, to have amazing cake layering and chocolate spreading skills. Had I tried to take this endeavor solo, I assure you these cookies would not be so pretty.

When it comes down to it, "it's a lot of work, Jane," as Nonna, my Sicilian Grandma would say. There are many steps: beating the egg whites for stiff glossy peaks, splitting one batter into three for coloring, baking three cakes separately until just underdone so they stay moist, cooling the cakes then layering them using orange marmalade as glue, letting them set then spreading warm chocolate on the top and bottom. Start as early in the morning as you can.

While getting closer and closer to chocolatey soft almond cookie goodness, I was giddy. I remember saying, "this sure as hell beats last minute christmas shopping." In fact, making these cookies is what the holidays are all about: slowing down, spending time with someone you love, making something you love, then giving to people you love." These cookies put a truer smile on faces than anything you can unwrap and rip a price tag off of.

Torrisi Rainbow Cookies Recipe from New York Magazine

12 large eggs, separated

2 2/3 cups sugar

24 oz. almond paste

8 sticks butter, softened

5 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. red food coloring

2 tsp. green food coloring

16 oz. orange preserves, heated and strained

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Beat egg whites in electric mixer until they just hold stiff peaks. Add ½ cup sugar, beating until whites hold stiff, slightly glossy peaks, then refrigerate. Beat together almond paste and remaining sugar in mixer. Add butter gradually and beat until mixture is fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add yolks and beat until well combined. Reduce speed to low and add flour and salt and mix until just combined. Fold in egg whites. Divide batter equally among 3 bowls; wearing gloves,(1) whisk red food coloring into one and green into another, leaving the third batch plain. Spread each batter separately and evenly, about ¼-inch thick, onto 3 half-sheet pans, each greased and lined with parchment paper. Bake until just barely set, about 7 minutes. (2) When layers are cool, spread half the preserves onto the green layer. Invert plain layer over it and discard paper. Spread on remaining preserves, and invert red layer over it; discard paper. Wrap with plastic and top with a weighted baking pan. Refrigerate for several hours. Remove plastic and bring to room temperature. Melt chocolate in a double boiler, and (3) spread thinly on top layer. Chill in freezer briefly until firm. Cover with wax paper, place another baking sheet on top, then invert cake onto sheet pan and remove paper. Quickly spread with remaining chocolate and return to freezer until firm. Trim edges, slice, and serve.

Rocco's Birthday...and his rap video

    Rocco has been a major cranky pants since he came home from Sicily. Why? I don't know. My mom would say he's just being a curmudgeon. So we figured we'd throw him a little party for his birthday in my new apartment in Mid. Vill, Queens, home of every major cemetary in the tri-state area. 

    It was a lot of fun, Mommy, my brothers, Nonna and Cousins Pino and Roseanne came. Pino actually starred in a rap video with Rocco. Oh you didn't know that Rocco is a famous rapper? Well watch this video. You will be very happy you did. HERE'S THE LINK IF ITS NOT SHOWING UP HERE...

As for Rocco's Birthday menu, Mommy cooked up a storm as usual. She made her famous:

breaded shrimp with parsley, 

chicken cutlets (no THE BEST CHICKEN CUTLETS), 

a string bean and potato salad with red onion and,

the most delicious sausage and potatoes I have had in a while and trust me my life is not short on sausage-eating. 

Some sweet Long Island Corn (pronounced in guidonics: Lawnk Eyelint)

I made bread salad, a regular green salad and for dessert I made a Pineapple Upside Down Cake but instead of those corn syrup red cherries I put some fresh blueberries on top. Nice.

    And Roseanne, who lives in the most Italian area of "the Other Brooklyn" a neighborhood called Bensonhurst (more on "The Other Brooklyn" in another post) brought this giant platter of Italian Cookies. 

    These darn cookies are insanely delicious, all almondy and now in my freezer for when I have impromptu guests. Right, it just ends up being me eating these sweet frozen angels when I get home late!

RED-ORANGE CURRANT MUFFINS

     I bought one tiny basket of red currants from the Farmer's Market when we had our second farm breakfast, thinking the six of us could get through those littly "poison berries" as Stephanie so suspiciously called them as she waited for a guinea pig not to die before she tried one. So no one died, but we still didn't finish them. No problem, give me a few days with them, but still, I only ate a few here and a few there. These little suckers are super pretty, but a little tart. I can't eat them voraciously as I can say cherries or blueberries. 

    So what to do. Waste no want not. I searched the interweb and came upon a lot of jams and sauces for meats with currants, and lot of recipes that called for pounds and pounds of currants. Then I found an orange currant cake. Getting somewhere. But I had just made a peach cobbler the day before and its just ridiculous to make so much dessert. Then I found in a comment on this horticulture blog a recipe for red currant muffins from Anne P, who has this knitting/spinning/chickening/mothering/chocolate blog. I was planning on straight using the recipe then just adding some orange zest because that sounded nice, but the batter was cookie dough dry (a metric to US measurement conversion might have cause this), so I had to moisten it a bit and I ended up entirely morphing the recipe.

     So I would aptly call this a recipe inspired by Ann P from that long blog above. Thanks Anne!

Red-Orange Currant Muffins

1 1/2 C. flour

1/2 C. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 C. milk

1/4 C. orange juice

zest of 1 orange

1/4 C. extra virgin olive oil

1 C. red currants

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in one bowl. In another bowl cream the sugar with the eggs, then add the milk, the oil, the orange juice and the orange zest. Gently fold in the red currants. Bake in greased muffin tins for about 18-22 min in a preheated 350 degree oven. 

GOOSEBERRY COBBLER

    Aren't gooseberries just gorgeous? I joined a fruit CSA for the month of July and our first share this week were gooseberries and blueberries. On their own the gooseberries were fabulous, as were the blueberries, but I read gooseberries are great for cobblers and tarts. They have their own distinct tart flavor. Its as if you made a grape-raspberry hybrid. Very unique. I decided to combine the blueberries and the gooseberries into a cobbler using my go to Emeril's Berry Cobbler recipe. It came out pretty good. Since they are quite tart I would next time go lighter on the lemon juice, but they really work well with the whiskey in the cobbler. And it was a travesty there was no ice cream happening, but thats not that bad since I think I have been on a month run of dessert daily. 

A DOZEN EGGS BAKE SHOP

    After a long hike up to see the White Rocks, in Vermont's Okemo Mountain region, we were craving hamburgers and had some delicious local pastured beef waiting at home. We were missing the buns, so I went into A Dozen Eggs Bake Shop hoping to find some English Muffins.

    I didn't find any bread but did stumble upon lots of mouthwatering cupcakes. Mike and I had sworn off sweets that morning while gobbling down french toast drowned in maple syrup and after eating a quarter of Sassy Sweet Treats' Sour Cream Coffee Cake. But, who can turn down cupcakes? Especially gorgeous cupcakes like Laura, the cupcake lady behind A Dozen Eggs Bake Shop creates. 

    Driving by I was drawn by their adorable cupcake logo and the "am I in brooklyn?" well designed egg carton graphic. Their eye catching blue and chocolate color scheme was also pleasing. When I entered, aside from being mesmerized by all the goodies, I noticed some familiar artwork from Everyday Is a Holiday. It was Jenny and Aaron's signature "Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake" Poster, which I just adore! Visit their shop. Everything they do is amazing and this particular piece was just featured in a NY Times article Remixed Messages.

    

     After dragging in Mike to behold Jenny and Aaron's work, we chatted it up with Laura for a while and what a sweetheart she was. Originally from Cape Cod, she has worked in Fashion and as a Personal Chef in Boston. Laura and her husband finally moved to Vermont and started A Dozen Eggs with their signature Sugar Cookies, which are adorable and beautifully detailed. Since A Dozen Eggs has expanded to cupcakes and other goodies, like macaroons and meringues. 

     I was going to purchase one cupcake plus some coconut macaroons for Mike, but Laura Sweet Laura sent us home with a bunch of "samples" to taste for the blog. Wow! So after our burgers, we did a Cupcake Binge Test. I cut the cupcakes up into quarters and Mike and I scientifically devoured them, ranking them on things like deliciousness and deliciousness.

We had: Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting (a favorite cake of mine in general), Maple with Maple Cream Frosting, Yellow Cake with Blueberry Filling and Lemon Cream Frosting, Yellow Cake with Raspberry Filling and Chocolate Frosting and finally Orange Sherbet, which was Mike's pick. 

     This concept of filling cupcakes with frosting is quite new to me and very exciting. I mean cupcakes on their own get me amped, as do Jelly Munchkins from Dunkin Donuts, so the surprise in the middle of these cupcakes was something else. It worked most successfully with the Raspberry Chocolate cupcake. The tart of the raspberry complimented the sweet very light buttery frosting well. I don't think I could fairly judge the filled cupcakes after I cut them in quarters because its that gooey surprise bite thats really effective. I was expecting something different from the Blueberry. I think the frosting was a bit sweet. And, in general I am severely against Orange Sherbet, but Mike enjoyed that one fully. Laura got the idea for the Orange Sherbet from her dad, who described her cupcakes as "orange and a half," and he was right. I could definitely appreciate its likeness to orange sherbet. Laura knows how to mix and match flavors and she apparently experiments with her cupcakes a lot. 

    Next was the Red Velvet, which I was very satisfied with, especially since most bakeries let me down in the Red Velvet department. Laura's was perfectly moist with that signature Red Velvet crumble and the Cream Cheese Frosting was just right, not too sweet and nice and soft, not stiff. I also loved the red sprinkles and blueberry garnish.

    This leaves me with the last and my favorite cupcake, the Maple with Maple Cream Frosting. In the spirit of being in Vermont, this cupcake was my first choice and a good choice it was. Again, Laura is on when it comes to bringing out flavors in baked goods. This moist cupcake was buttery and had a nice hint of maple syrup. And the frosting was perfect to boot, not to sweet and a nice smooth texture. 

    Where most cupcakeries fail is with their frosting, but not at A Dozen Eggs. A lot of people complain first that there is too much frosting. A Dozen Eggs cupcakes were on the heavier side in terms of frosting quantity, but Laura decorates them so beautifully and her frosting is so good that I say pile it on. Quality and quantity sounds like a good idea. So good, because it tastes buttery and not overly sweet or stiff. This girl knows her frosting. 

    It was difficult, but I was happy we saved the cupcake halves, first because it would have been so outrageous to eat 5 cupcakes between the two of us plus the macaroons, which were incredibly delicious. And it lefts us cupcakes to feast upon during the ride home. Even the next day these cupcakes rocked. 

    So if you're in Mt. Holly Vermont, be sure to stop into A Dozen Eggs for some Sugar Cookies and some cupcakes and to meet Laura. And visit A Dozen Eggs' Blog to get the latest info on this delicious bake shop.

Who says you can't find nature in Queens?

    My one requirement for moving from Middle Village to Rego Park (I know I am sellout!) was a backyard. The yard in the new place is really nice, and I have a lot of edible plants and herbs growing, a few that were adoptions from the Rooftop Farm. The rain has kept me inside, but has made my garden very happy. Now that it has stopped raining finally (as I write this dark clouds are descending), we can enjoy some dining al fresco. 

The first outdoor dining experience was the Farm Fresh Local Breakfast, which featured all local CSA and Farmer's Market food, but that didn't last very long because by the time we finished the last of the bacon we were blistering in the sun. So I just got an umbrella and we had our first special guests Mo and Yelena over for a mostly local impromptu al fresco dinner. I made some couscous seasoned with turmeric, cumin, fresh basil, parsley and pignola nuts. The kale, from the Woodside CSA and the star of the show, was sauteed in butter (that'll do it), fresh garlic, peperoncino and toasted pignola nuts. The round zucchini, which I got at the Unfancy Food Show from the Queen's Farm stand, was made the old fashioned Stewed Zucchini way, and the chicken sausage was from Trader Joe's. (I the sausage is not local and probably not humane, but Yelena is with child and I felt it was only right to give her some protein.)

   For dessert I whipped up a variation on Strawberry Shortcake, inspired by Jennie's Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes. I cut up some local strawberries and marinated them in sugar, fresh mint from the yard and lemon juice. Then I made whipped cream with sugar and some lemon zest and I used a store bought Angel's Food Cake (from Trader Joe's) as the shortcake. 

   While we were dining a gigantic raccoon ran over the garage roofs in the back! It was bigger than "C" my twenty pound cat. He is getting vaccinated for rabies this week. We also saw a few field mice scurry in the plants. (there are no rats in Queens!) Field mice are so little and cute. 

    And while tending to my parsley I bumped into this gorgeous caterpillar. I should be mad at him because he is single handedly eating all my greens, but he looks too much like a cartoon character. Who says you can't find nature in Queens? Maybe my dream to be a wildlife photographer will pan out afterall. (Wait, I just had a flash back of the Wild Turkey Attack, so I will just keep food blogging!)

BEET GINGER CAKE WITH CITRUS CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Whenever I come up with a "new idea" I google it, and usually someone has already thought of it. Beet plus Cake, and there it was, a delicious recipe for Beet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. Usually I leave well enough alone when I find a great cake recipe, but I am obsessed with fresh ginger and it seemed like it would really take this cake to the next level. I made it for Yui and Miguel's Wedding BBQ/Moving to Japan Party. Yui loves carrot cake, ginger and anything fruity, so I new this would be perfect because this cake really does resemble carrot cake in texture and root vegetable flavor. So I added fresh ginger, plus lemon and orange zest to bring out the ginger flavor, and I used olive oil as the vegetable oil, which I am really loving to bake with. Also, I added lemon zest and butter to the cream cheese frosting to stiffen it up. 

The batter for this cake is a gorgeous hot pink. Without the frosting this cake is vegan and dairy-free, and it has such a nice spice you can skip the frosting, sprinkle some powdered sugar on it and enjoy it guilt-free! Calling it a Beet cake is not always a selling point, but I did a good job at convincing everyone at the party to try it and I think the few skeptics have a new found respect for beets. This is also one of my first non-crooked cakes that I did not have an "accident" transporting, so I will include the details of my success in the "assembling the cake" section.

BEET CAKE WITH CITRUS CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

About 2 medium sized beets, grated

2/3 C. sugar

2/3 C. brown sugar

1/2 C. olive oil

2 eggs

2 1/2 C. Flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup soy milk (or regular)

2 tsp. grated fresh ginger

1 tsp. grated orange zest

1 tsp. grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 and spray 2-8in. round pansi with cooking spray. 

Clean peel and grate the beets.

Beat sugar, brown sugar, oil and eggs until blended.

Beat in the beets and the ginger, lemon and orange zests.

In a separate bowl whisk together all of the dry ingredients.

Alternate the flour and the milk into the egg mixture starting and ending with the flour.

Beat until well combined.

Pour into cake pans and bang the bottom of the pans on the counter to release air bubbles.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cool on counter for few minutes then remove onto cooling racks. If the cake is not sliding out, just bang it on the countertop. 

CITRUS CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 8oz. block of cream cheese

1 stick of butter

3 C. confectioner's sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. lemon zest

1 tsp. orange zest

Can of mandarin oranges for garnish

Beat all ingredients in a cold bowl until combined. Add confectioner's sugar until desired thickness. If its runny it will run down the side of the cake and not be fun. Once frosted let the cake set in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

ASSEMBLING THE CAKE

If you are transporting the cake, the its best to use a special cake transporting tupperware. If when you arrive, you want to transfer the cake onto a cake stand, then you will have to create a circular base for the cake. I take a piece of cardboard and trace the bottom of the cake pan, cut it out, then cover it with aluminum foil. I then secure this with take to the base of the cake tupperware with some heavy duty tape.

For the bottom piece of cake, choose the cake with the largest crown (thats the curved top the bakes up high so the cake is not flat out of the oven). Cut this crown off to make a flat surface with a bread knife. Cut it like you would cut a steak in half, one hand over the top, the other slicing carefully underneath.

Before you place your cake on your cardboard cut-out or onto the cake stand, place a dollop of frosting onto the bottom. This serves as glue and the cake will not move around while you are frosting. 

Place the cake, bottom down, on the cake tray, then frost the top. Then put the other cake on top, bottom down. You will have a rounded top cake, but it looks cute and homemade this way, plus it shouldn't be crooked! Now frost the top and sides of the cake. A good trick for keeping your cake tray clean is to slide some wax paper underneath, frost then remove the wax paper, and it will be so clean and neat. 

Once frosted let the cake set in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.

Transfer from tupperware to cake stand once you are ready to serve.

Note: this cake should be refrigerated until about 30 minutes before you serve it.

SPICY MASALA CHAI RICE PUDDING

    Last night I made some shrimp with Jasmine Rice and now that I know how to make rice pudding, I always makes heaps and heaps of extra rice for leftovers. Now I have to remember not to contaminate the rice with the dinner serving spoon. I had an idea to combine the flavors of my favorite beverage, chai tea, with rice pudding, plus some coconut milk and cayenne. I ended up with a not too sweet, beautifully caramel colored rice pudding with a nice chai tea flavor, hints of coconut and a spicy cayenne kick. And its dairy-free.

    I made the chai tea as usual, then combined it with my rice and coconut milk. Since the chai tea is strained of the spices and the loose tea, I added those spices back into the rice pudding, plus some more sugar, lemon zest and some cayenne pepper. Its a play around, sweeten and spice as you go kind of recipe. Add or subtract flavors to your liking, if you like it sweeter add more brown sugar, thicker more coconut milk, or spicier more cayenne.

CHAI TEA (for rice pudding)

For drinking my water to milk ratio would be a little different, see CHAI TEA recipe.

3 C. soy milk (or regular)

1 C. water

1/8 tsp. cardamon or 1-2 pods

1/4 tsp. cloves

2 cinnamon sticks or 1/2 tsp.

Fresh grated ginger - 1/2 inch or 1/2 tsp ginger powder

3 bags of darjeeling tea or about 3 TBSP loose black tea

2 TBSP honey

3 TBSP brown sugar

Boil the water milk and spices, then add the tea, honey and brown sugar. Simmer for about 5 min, then strain.

SPICY MASALA CHAI RICE PUDDING WITH COCONUT MILK

About 2 1/2 C. cooked jasmine rice

About 3/4 C. Coconut Milk

Chai Tea (above)

1/2 C. brown sugar, to desired sweetness

1/4 tsp. cardamom or 1-2 whole cardamom pods

1/4 tsp. cloves

1 cinnamon stick or 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Fresh ginger - 1/2 inch grated (about 1 tsp) or 1/2 tsp of ground ginger

1 tsp fresh lemon zest

1/4 tsp cayenne, to desired heat

Bring rice, chai tea and coconut milk to a boil in a heavy sauce pan. Add the spices and simmer on low heat until the rice pudding is at your desired thickness. Cool in the fridge. Serve topped with toasted shredded coconut.

DOT'S LEMON BARS FROM TATE'S BAKESHOP COOKBOOK

      Another irresistibly delicious cookbook I took out of the library this week is Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook by Kathleen King. Whenever I work in South Hampton I always stop by Tate's to pick up her famous Chocolate Chip Cookies for Mike and a Lemon Pound Cake for the road, which I can eat in its entirety. Aside from her easy recipes, she includes some really great tips, like if you need to get eggs to room temperature soak them in hot tap water for a few minutes. I also thought it was interesting that all her recipes call for salted butter because its what most people usually have on hand. Tate's chocolate chip cookies have a distinguishable saltiness to them and thats probably why. I wanted to make the Lemon Pound Cake but didn't have sour cream, so I opted for Dot's Lemon Bars. They were really easy to make and came out not too sweet, very lemony and very buttery. I also used grapefruit zest and juice in addition to the lemon, just because I love grapefruit flavor. These would be great to bring to a picnic because they even look pretty stored in tupperware.

LINGONBERRY JELLY ROLL

      I took this jelly roll recipe from Paul Dean's The Lady and Son's Just Desserts Cook Book, which I borrowed from the library. Aside from a million great desserts that are so easy to make, there are some really great and inspiring personal stories. Apparently Paula Dean was agoraphobic. Can you believe? Paula? But one day she decided to "live her life to the fullest" and thank god she did. What would the world do without the Butter Queen?

     I never made a jelly roll cake before and this seems like a technique that should be learned from Grandma and practiced. Baking the cake was pretty simple. Its a really light and fluffy, butterless cake, meant to let the jam flavor shine. And it only takes 10 minutes to bake. It was the cake rolling that was hard to interpret from the recipe directions. While still warm you have to roll the cake into a lint-free towel sprinkled with powdered sugar, let it cool, unroll, spread the jam, then re-roll. Well it worked out. 

    I used lingonberry jelly in it, which I don't think would be Paula's first choice, but I love lingonberries because they are like exotic cranberries. Lingonberries are tarter than they are sweet, so don't expect a sweet jelly roll cake if you use for lingonberries, but thats the fun, you can use any jelly you want. Mike felt that lingonberry jam was not the best choice because of its tartness, but there is no jelly roll cake left, so I am not too worried about it. It might be fun to do a red velvet roll cake or a black forest roll cake. 

Click here to go to Food Network for Paula Dean's Old South Jelly Roll Cake recipe.

Experiment with fun jams from Beth's Farm Kitchen, who make fig jam, gingered peaches jam, blood orange marmalade and many more.

ALMOND OLIVE OIL CAKE

I made this olive Oil Almond Cake for the Italian class party. I adapted it from an Almond Olive Oil Citrus Cake that Giada Laurentis made on her show Everyday Italian. Instead of chopped almonds I used raw almond meal, and I try to use blood oranges or grapefruit, when available for the zest. I subsitute soy milk to make it dairy-free and I usually add some orange liquor like triple sec or Gran Marnier to make it more citrus flavored. I didn't have any on hand so I added some almond extract to bring out the almond flavor more. I also don't do the citrus compote Giada's recipe calls for. Instead I just put some powdered sugar on top. It turned out great. It really has become a go-to cake in my family because its easy to make, pretty light and we love olive oil. And if you are feeling like citrus just add the Gran Marnier or Orange Extract or if you want more almond flavor, go with the Almond extract. And if you're feeling totally wild, just add it all! Its a really flexible cake on flavor and it has a light but dense texture because of the almond meal.

ALMOND OLIVE OIL CAKE

1 1/2 C. Flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 C. sugar

3 large eggs

2 tsp orange zest (i like to use blood orange or even grapefruit)

2 tsp lemon zest

1/4 C. soy milk

3/4 C. of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (use the good stuff)

2/3 C. raw almond meal

1 tsp almond extract (optional)

1 TBSP Gran Marnier or any orange flavored liquor

Powdered Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use cooking spray to grease and 8-in cake pan. Whisk the flour baking powder and salt in one bowl. In another bowl beat the sugar, eggs, zest almond extract and orange liquor. Then beat in the soy milk then the olive oil. Stir the flour in until combined, then add the almond meal. Bake 35-45 min at 350 degrees. Let stand for a few minutes then flip onto a cake stand. If you want you can cut the crown of the cake to make it lay flat on the cake stand, but you run the risk of having a leaning cake if you don't cut straight. Once cooled, sift powdered sugar on top.

(photo ©Jennifer Galatioto)

CREME FATALE TRUFFLES

I photographed a party at The Box for Maidenform's release of a new bra. The cabaret performances were amazing, the dancing the singer, it was top notch entertainment. My favorite act were the most talented double dutch jump ropers who were tearing up the stage and making the crowd go crazy! As with all great party there were goodie bags, with bras inside and the best gift a delicious coconut dusted dark chocolate vegan truffle from Creme Fatale. It was hard to get this home to take a photo of it. I was honored to chat with Melissa Love, the truffle genius behind these remarkable treats. She was a doll and apparently makes everything, not only truffles, so I plan to feature some more of her delightful goodies very soon.