If you like Pina Coladas...

I know I have had a very long hiatus from posting.  No, I'm not trying to run my life like that of a TV character and disappear from May through August.  I apologize.  But I will make up for it with a few good posts in the next few days.  Let's start with my Pina Colada cupcakes...

I first made these cupcakes in the beginning of June and they seemed to be a pretty big success.  And since I have an order for them next week, I think it's about time to show them off here on my SST blog.  These cupcakes were another flavor inspired by my cruise in May.  They are the best of a Pina Colada with no age restriction and no shame in having them before 5 PM.  


The cake for these is a fluffy coconut pineapple cake.  It has real pineapple juice in it, with coconut flavoring and juicy pineapple bites.  On top of that is a pineapple coconut cream cheese frosting, and topping that is flaked coconut.  And to mimic the real deal, each little cake sports its own brightly colored paper umbrella.  I think they make for a pretty fun summertime (or anytime really!) treat.

Black & Blue

This is quite an exciting post for me, because I am in love with these new cupcakes.  They are seriously my favorite cupcake I have created thus far (runners up would be the Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel, Triple Chocolate, and Cookie Dough varieties).  If you know me you probably have already heard this, since I have been raving about them since baking them on Wednesday.  

Let's start off with the cake-- it's a dark chocolate cake.  It's rich, it's decadent, and it's still moist and fluffy.  Then the frosting- my regular cream cheese frosting, but I added to it some fresh blueberries.  And topping those two gems is a drizzle of semisweet chocolate ganache.  What can't taste better with a luxurious mix of cream and chocolate on top?


I think this is my ideal combination.  The frosting is rich and creamy, and it has a slight tang from the cream cheese that is matched perfectly with the sweetness of the blueberries.  And the fruity icing cuts the richness of the dark chocolate perfectly.  Mmmmm... Suzy's in heaven.  Where I do believe cake and cupcakes abound. 

To order these or any other Suzy Sweet Tooth cupcakes, please email me at susangietl@hotmail.com.

Something Blue

On May 6th I will be marrying the talented young man who photographs my food for this blog (I get very good rates), and yesterday was my very own bridal shower.  Since I'm quite partial to Suzy Sweet Tooth sweets, we decided to use Suzy for my food.  I did a dessert bar with confections in the spring blues we are using in our wedding.  We had chocolate chip brownies, CocoNilla cupcakes, chocolate blossom cupcakes, chocolate covered pretzels and Oreos, mini chocolate crystal cupcakes, and a new recipe: mini Lemon Coconut bundt cakes.

The Lemon Coconut bundts seemed to be the hit of the shower.  Along with the chocolate covered pretzels, which always go fast, they seemed to be nibbled up first.  And the ladies seemed to be unanimous that those were the favorite.  They are a tiny cake made with coconut milk, vanilla, lemon zest, and fresh lemon juice.  And they are topped with a sweet but tangy glaze of confectioner's sugar and more lemon juice and zest.  Who wouldn't love that?


I am excited to do more desserts bars like this for bridal showers, baby showers, or parties.  It looks like I may do one for a wedding in August.  Time to start brainstorming...

Click on any of the photos below to enlarge:

If you are interested in having me cater a dessert bar with the sweets and colors of your choice, please contact me at susangietl@hotmail.com.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

I can't think of a better way to bid farewell to winter and usher in the start of spring than my newest cupcake, the Chocolate Covered Strawberry.  I know I haven't been posting a lot lately on the blog.  I've been keeping pretty busy with Suzy Sweet Tooth orders, as well as work and getting ready for my upcoming wedding in May.  These new cupcakes are the perfect thing to get me back in the swing of things.  They are super cute, super tasty, and look fabulous on my brand new cupcake stand (thank you Crate & Barrel clearance!).


The cake for these cupcakes is a recipe I just came up with today for a dark chocolate cake.  It is moist but fluffy, like my normal chocolate cake, thanks to some sour cream and buttermilk and a few other yummy ingredients.  But unlike my normal chocolate cake it is made with Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder.  And I think I struck gold with this one-- it's so rich and decadent while still light and fluffy.  


Each cupcake is frosted with a cream cheese icing made with fresh strawberries.  It's just the right pair with the rich cake, because it adds a bright, fruity note to counter the decadence of the cake, just like a chocolate dipped strawberry itself.  On top of that is a little swirl of my chocolate buttercream.  And to finish them off is a drizzle of melted semisweet chocolate.  I love the look of the drizzle; it conjures up the image of a chocolate covered strawberry.  They look good enough to eat.  ...And they taste good enough for seconds!

To order these or any other Suzy Sweet Tooth cupcakes, please email me at susangietl@hotmail.com.

Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler!

I am neither Catholic nor Southern, but one thing is for sure... for Suzy Sweet Tooth every Tuesday is Fat Tuesday.  So, as the French would say, laissez les bons temps rouler!  Happy Mardi Gras!

These celebratory cupcakes should be gobbled up before Ash Wednesday, and because they are so tasty, I'm sure they will be.  They are CocoNilla cupcakes that are decked out in festive purple (justice), green (faith), and shiny gold wrappers (power).  With a few of these, anyone would be ready to party.

A Busy Week

It has been a very busy week this week.  I am finally posting some photos from our test kitchen day on Tuesday.  I have had a few cupcake orders this week and have a lot to do for Valentines Day (which is also my birthday-- so Suzy Sweet Tooth is making Suzy some red velvet cupcakes- yum!)... Needless to say, I've been a little behind on a couple of blog entries.


I have a very short time left to create and test new recipes with my accomplice, Coco, until she leaves for a church mission to Argentina in the beginning of March.  We have a few things left on the docket to make (coming soon: cake pops!), and we tried two really delicious recipes this last week.  


The first thing we made: raspberry swirl cheesecakes in the shape of little hearts.  We did a chocolate graham cracker crust underneath a creamy cheesecake center.  We made the cheesecake with egg yolks and whipped whites (to make it fluffy), as well as some Greek yogurt, which gives a great luscious texture to the cake.  We cooked raspberries with orange juice and sugar to make the pretty red marbling on top.  They turned out to be a very decadent success.

Our second treat was a Snickerdoodle Cupcake which has been getting rave reviews amongst its taste testers around town.  These are little cinnamon sugar butter cakes with just the right combination of spice and sweetness.  We frosted them with a cinnamon buttercream icing that has a mock cookie dough consistency from two types of sugars we added to it.  Then they were dusted with cinnamon sugar and topped with their namesake: a tiny crisp-yet-chewy snickerdoodle cookie.  Ta-da!  Snickerdoodle cupcakes are born!

Superbowl Sundae

Packers or Steelers?  The more important question may be ice cream or cupcakes?  And the correct answer is: both.  It's Superbowl "Sundae" and I'm celebrating with Ice Cream Sundae Cupcakes!

Come on, how cute are these?  It's a rich chocolate cupcake with just a bit of sticky caramel sauce in the center.  On top is a creamy vanilla buttercream.  My mock hot fudge is a semisweet chocolate ganache.  And they are decorated in classic ice cream parlor style with rainbow jimmies and a maraschino cherry on top.  I am going to resist any cherry-on-top puns and just say that they're the sweetest way to enjoy the big game.

Ice Cream Sundae cupcakes are a "specialty cupcake" flavor and are only $14 per dozen and $11 per additional dozen.   Suzy Sweet Tooth pricing is available here.

CocoNilla Cupcakes

My kitchen cohort is named Corinne Orton, but I call her Coco.  She doesn't always like this, but that will not sway me from calling her that.  A few weeks ago 'Coco' made a delicious cupcake that we made again this week on our test kitchen day.  It's a vanilla coconut cupcake.  So what better name is there for it than the CocoNilla cupcake?  She may hate it, but that's what I'll call this 'til the day I die.  For those who don't know, Corinne and I plan to open up a bakery when we're both done with culinary school.  If our dream pans out and we still make and sell this cupcake, I will still call it the CocoNilla.  ...Mainly to bug her.  :)

The cake portion of the cupcake is a recipe that I love of an old-fashioned vanilla butter cake.  But Corinne had the brilliant idea to make it with coconut milk and coconut extract.  The coconut milk makes it so moist and fluffy, and it's just the right combination of sweet and fruity.  The frosting for it is a thick cream cheese frosting with some more coconut and vanilla in it.  And because these CocoNilla cakes are just as ladylike as their namesake, they are all wearing (edible) pearls.

So far these cupcakes have gotten rave reviews.  I love them.  And the smell of these baking makes me want to float away to some private island.  Mmm... Thanks, Coco!

Passion-ate about Cupcakes

I know that title is terribly kitsch, but as Nigella Lawson says, it's okay to put the kitsch in kitchen.  The passion I'm referring to here is actually passionfruit, which I used in these vanilla passionfruit cupcakes.


The cake is an old-fashioned butter cake recipe made with lots of vanilla and passionfruit juice.  It's iced with a cream cheese frosting that also has passionfruit juice flavoring it.  On top of each pink cream cheese blossom is a butterscotch chip.  

Caramel Apple Bars

Today I put together a new recipe that I'm calling Caramel Apple Bars.  They are sticky and gooey and, in my opinion, quite yummy. 


It starts with a layer of blondie batter made from browned butter and light brown sugar to be very caramel-like and decadent.  The apple part of this gooey wonder is a layer of sliced granny smith apples that have been coated with sugar and some spices (just like in an apple pie) and covered in caramel sauce.  The apples are topped with another layer of blondie batter, baked until golden brown, and drizzled with more caramel sauce.


This is not a dainty dessert.  It requires a fork (or at least a whole lotta napkins).  But I think that any caramel apple fan would say it's well worth the mess!

Hunk-a Hunk-a Tasty Cake

My partner in crime, Corinne, and I tested out this cupcake for our weekly "Test Kitchen" day.  (We're trying out new recipes each week until she leaves for Argentina in March.  It's sort of a resolution of ours.)  This cupcake isn't just any old cupcake.  It's a cupcake fit for a king.  Actually, it's a cupcake fit for the King.  Elvis Presley, that is.

Elvis was known for eating fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches.  Some people say he ate them with bacon, some people say he put honey on them, and some people just say he stuck with the pb & banana.  Well, the idea of bacon on a cupcake kind of grosses us out, so we went with the pb, banana, and honey combo. 

The cake is a moist banana cake (same recipe I made last week, but without the nuts).  We used a star tip (star tip, get it??) to pipe on some yummy peanut butter icing that has a great peanut butter taste and a little bit of a lighter, whipped consistency.  And we finished them off with a drizzling of honey.  Good idea?  "Thank ya, thank ya very much!"

White Raspberry Cake

To celebrate Julie's birthday yesterday I made this yummy layer cake, per her request. The layers are fluffy white cake flavored with just a bit of almond extract for a little depth.  Nestled inside is a homemade raspberry filling made from real raspberries, sugar, and some orange zest and fresh orange juice to give it a brighter note.  And it is iced with a cream cheese icing that is lightened with some whipped cream.  (The beautiful candles are from Papyrus.)  Julie is older than 6, but her real age will not be disclosed in this blog.  She is like a good recipe-- it doesn't matter her age, just her great taste!

Banana Walnut Cake

Last night I tried a new recipe for a Banana Walnut Cake.  I grew up in the western Chicago suburbs where Sara Lee is headquartered, and I remember when I was a little girl going to a Sara Lee outlet store with my dad.  We'd buy frozen lasagnas and pound cakes, and I would always love the little individually wrapped banana cakes there.  My Banana Walnut Cake is sort of a grown-up version of that favorite treat.

It's a very simple cake made with mashed bananas and sour cream to keep it moist, and some coarsely chopped walnuts for some texture.  It's topped with a decadent cream cheese icing and a collar of more chopped walnuts.  Very simple and very good.

Cakes start at just $10.  Please contact me at susangietl@hotmail.com for more information.

PB&J

Who doesn't love a good old peanut butter and jelly sandwich?  Nobody.  But what's the one thing it may be missing?  Frosting, you say?  Not anymore.  


I had what I believe to be an ingenious idea the other day: to make a pb&j cupcake.  I have personally never seen it done before and so I whipped up this baby.  And I have to say that I'm really (and I mean really) excited about it.  


I made a vanilla peanut butter batter for the cupcakes.  If you're wondering what heaven smells like, it's vanilla peanut butter cake baking.  I promise.  Then I filled each cupcake with raspberry jam, iced them with a swirled peanut butter/raspberry frosting, and topped each with chopped salted peanuts.  It's the perfect mix of salty and sweet, and it's the only thing better than a pb&j.  

If you would like to order these cupcakes, please contact me at susangietl@hotmail.com.  Minimum quantity is one dozen.  Pricing information will be coming soon to the blog.

Special thanks to Mr. Murphy Randle for turning my little Suzy Sweet Tooth sketch into the cute new logo!  It looks great!

Gobble, Gobble.

What am I thankful for this year?  Cheesecake.  Pumpkin cheesecake, to be exact.  This is my second Thanksgiving in a row to make this recipe.  I was considering going back to the standard pumpkin pie, but the cheesecake must have left a good impression because the Martins requested that I do this one again.  And I must admit that after a healthy slice I'm glad I did.  It's got that great combination of being very moist and creamy but still fluffy.  It sits on a crumbly cinnamon graham cracker crust, and it's nestled under a semisweet chocolate drizzle.  (Heavy on the drizzle.  Who can't use a little extra chocolate in their life?)  C'mon now... who couldn't use a slice of this after their turkey?

Because Thanksgiving is all about indulgence we can't just stop at one dessert.  (Or at least I can't.)  The holiday would not be complete without a pie, so I did my go-to apple pie based off of Rombauer's recipe in The Joy of Cooking.  Mine has a few more spices and uses brown sugar.  I think a lattice top is always pretty, and I added a few leaves and acorns to look very autumnal.  Some chose to top it with ice cream, others whipped cream, I went solo.  I think we all agreed on one thing-- it was a great way to end Thanksgiving.

Stay tuned-- a little birdie tells me I have an early Christmas baking gift coming my way in the next couple of days...

If you would like information about having these desserts or others catered, please contact me at susangietl@hotmail.com.  Pricing information will be coming soon to the blog.