Blackbird Sweets

Blackbird Sweets is open for business out of the beautifully remodeled Horsefeathers Market located on Connecticut Street in the Westside of Buffalo. Her shop shares baking and serving space alongside her father and husband's shop, The Pasta Peddler.

Here is Andrea Amodeo, owner of Blackbird Sweets, holding her delicious Vegan Cinnamon Mocha Cupcake. It's moist and full of nooks and crannies, made possible by her use of coconut as an egg replacement. The creamy frosting is richly flavored. She creates, regular, gluten free, and vegan sweets of all sorts.

She also has a table at the Elmwood-Bidwell Farmers Market which was full of brightly colored glittery cookies, cupcakes, and more. Andrea is as sweet as her treats and a delight to talk to. I highly recommend speaking to her about creating your next event's treats!

Zilly

"Courage is letting go, doing this feels brave." - Zilly Frazier Rosen

Two weeks ago I sat down with Zilly to share a sweet and coffee and to chat with her about life, business, and cake.

She began with cookies, and ten years of hands on learning in a small bakery in Chicago. Followed by pastries and pie in St. Louis, and eventually as a baker at Dolci here in Buffalo.

Dolci is where she found her passion. Feuled by cake and her love of teaching, her imagination, artistic expression, and the unique ability to listen to others as they shared their story helped to create some amazing pieces. As the demand for her pieces increased she made the big decision to take up residence on Elmwood at her aptly named shop, Zillycakes.

From baby shower cakes with baby bottoms peeking out, to wedding cupcake towers like what she created for my wedding, Zilly listened and put her best into every piece. Artisanal, unique, singular. Among the other extraordinary pieces she created was the portrait of then candidate Barack Obama displayed at Buffalo's Democratic headquarters in 2008.

A year later, an installation of a double portrait featured the new president side by side with his hero, Abraham Lincoln, during the Smithsonian's celebration of Lincoln's birthday bicentennial. There was also the Food Network's 9th season of Cake Challenge, which had her talents once again shining on the national stage.
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Over the last few years the pressures of being a mother, a daughter, a wife, a business woman, a boss, an artist, a baker all began to exert a great deal of strain.

The nature of the business is one of challenges. With a thin profit margin, staff needs and demands, Fridays and Saturdays taken up with cake, years of missing so much, Zilly came to the conclusion it was time to seriously consider what needed to take precedent.

She made the decision to slide out of the front end of the business and tried to present the opportunity to take over the business as a sweet deal. It sure was a sweet deal, but not one that too many people were in the position to take on. At the time of our meeting, she had six people who were considering it.

You can imagine how surprised I was when Zilly messaged me this past Wednesday to invite me over to hear the details. "We have our big announcement ready, with a press release and everything, so there's a happy "end" to our story!"

Wendy Egloff, owner of Firefly Cupcakes, will be creating a second location. This Spring Wendy will be coming in and renovating the space to mirror her East Aurora's Firefly cupcake location's theme.

So inspired by her "Elvis", Wendy will create a cake studio space for Zilly to be a master teacher and creator. Which of course, when Zilly told me, I burst into happy tears which had her starting to tear up too. It's so good to know that the spirit of Zillycakes remains, as does the exceptional Zilly herself! 

Keep an eye out for a second article to feature Wendy and Firefly!

Buffalo Companion Animal Network

Pet's aren't people (though I have many friends who might disagree with this) but they too deserve to eat and eat well. Many in this city live at or below the poverty line and have furry friends that they share their lives with. The Buffalo Companion Animal Network began as a group of area citizens protesting the announced end of adoptions at the City of Buffalo Animal Shelter, part of the city's cost-cutting moves to close its serious budget gap. Now the group focuses on community-based initiatives in support of animal welfare.

They are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity and operate on a 100% volunteer basis, and all of their activities are funded exclusively through fundraising, membership fees, contributions, and donations. One of the most special features of this nonprofit, besides running a pet food pantry and low to no cost vaccination and micro chip clinics, they also provide AniMeals. This is a program that delivers up to seven individual servings once a week for a dog or cat in the home of a Meals on Wheels for Western New York participant.

Their next fundraiser is very sweet! I hope to see some of my readers here in the city and suburbs of WNY on September 15th at

 

All proceeds to benefit the Buffalo Companion Animal Network  AniMeals Program!

         Saturday, September 15, 2012

              6:00 pm -10:00 pm (auction to begin at 9 pm) at

              Floral Explorations   at   1448 Hertel Ave. Buffalo, NY 14216

              Admission Price: $20.00

              Complimentary hors d'oeuvres, wine and adult beverages, and

              even more prizes in a silent auction giveaway!

              Bid on creative confectionary masterpieces graciously donated by:

              Gino's, Romano’s, Bruni’s Cakes, Carriage Trade Pastries, Caramici’s Bar and Bakery, 

              Zilly’s, Sweet Beginnings, Muscoreil’s Fine Desserts, and many more!

              Pre sale tickets available at Floral Explorations and

              The Puppy Playpen at 2293 Delaware Avenue

              For more information call (716) 447-9699

Portal Cake, no longer a lie...

*Update* Entered the cake in the Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village German Festival on 6/16/12 and it won Best German Themed and Best Cake All Around! WOOT!

Screen shot courtesy of UnderDog

The game Portal is set in the mysterious Aperture Science Laboratories, in which, players must solve physical puzzles and challenges by opening portals, maneuvering objects, and moving themselves through space in ways that used to be impossible. They say, "The cake is a lie". I say, "Not anymore, it ain't."

The recipe listed in the game is as follows:

1 (18.25 oz) package chocolate cake mix
1 can prepared coconut frosting
3/4 cups vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup butter or margarine

2/3 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cups cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cups water
1 to 2 (6 oz each) vanilla frosting

Don't forget garnishes such as:
Fish-shaped crackers
Fish-shaped candies
Fish-shaped solid waste
Fish-shaped dirt
Fish-shaped ethylbenzene
Pull-and-peel licorice
Fish-shaped volatile organic compounds and sediment-shaped sediment
Candy-coated peanut butter pieces (shaped like fish)
1 cup lemon juice
Alpha resins
Unsaturated polyester resin
Fiberglass surface resins and volatile malted milk impoundments
9 large egg yolks
12 medium geosynthetic membranes
1 cup granulated sugar
An entry called: "How to Kill Someone with Your Bare Hands"
2 cups rhubarb, sliced
2/3 cups granulated rhubarb
1 tbsp. all-purpose rhubarb

1 tsp. grated orange rhubarb
3 tbsp. rhubarb, on fire
1 large rhubarb
1 cross borehole electromagnetic imaging rhubarb
2 tbsp. rhubarb juice
Adjustable aluminum head positioner
Slaughter electric needle injector
Cordless electric needle injector
Injector needle driver
Injector needle gun
Cranial caps

And it contains proven preservatives, deep-penetration agents, and gas- and odor-control chemicals that will deodorize and preserve putrid tissue.

Ingredients omitted by the cake core include:
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 to 2 (16 ounces each) cans vanilla frosting
A 20-foot thick impermeable clay layer


Well this is terrible, I mean you could follow this but no one would want to eat it.
So I adjusted it to make it tastier.

8 cups plus 2 tbls flour, 4 tsp baking powder, 3 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp salt, 4 sticks unsalted butter, softened, 4 cups sugar, 2 tsp pure vanilla extract, 6 large eggs, 4 cups buttermilk (or two boxes of Betty Crocker will do too)

Mix well and pour into two well greased 9 inch round cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Flip onto a wire rack to cool.

Spread coconut pecan frosting thickly. Then set the second cake on top.

Frost the entire exterior thickly with whipped milk chocolate frosting.

Smooth it down evenly and make a slight divot around the center.

Sprinkle chopped pecans on top and then press handfuls of nuts into the sides of the cake.

The nuts should be layered on thickly.

Squirt on whipped cream in two layers in eight spots.

Select eight cherries and dry them well on a paper towel then place, centered, onto the whipped cream.

The best candle is a white Hanukkah dipped taper.

This thick cake is very rich, so slice thinly, and enjoy with a tall glass of milk.

"Anyway, this cake is great. It's so delicious and moist."―GLaDOS in "Still Alive"

Wegmans and I'm in Love

So I'm standing in Wegman's vestibule, returning 4 dollars worth of beer bottles and cans. I have two, German (Lübzer Pils) and Japanese (Asahi), cans I can't return, a bag full of odd ball plastic bottles, and I'm wondering how it is we've drunk so much beer over the last two months.

I'm also wondering if organic kiwi in May in Buffalo is a good thing. Yeah organic, boo crazy fruit shipped 4000 miles from New Zealand. Seriously?! 

Look, I adore Wegmans! 

J'adore épicerie Wegmans!

It makes me want to skip like Eloise to see all of those organic seedless watermelons...in Buffalo...in May....sigh....

But regardless of my conflicted feelings for Wegmans, I do have to share with you world my love for Shaun Doyle Jr.! The delightfully irascible Shaun who penned this delectable ditty,   

 I Love WEGMANS! 

Oh Shaun, if only you weren't getting married so soon...I could come up with a dastardly plan to kidnap you from your husband to be, leave my family behind and take you to Wegmans where we would be married near the cake and pie cold case.... 

Maybe it's the headiness of the store. The intoxicating smell of lobsters and pizza and chocolate cake, and sizzling stir-fry. Dizzying! Shaun is right "We Buffalonians are a hardy people- we don’t need to be fed excitement on an aisle to aisle basis, but at Wegmans it’s like having an E Ticket to all the thrills you can take in!" 

I get to the register to cash out my slips and barely make it out alive with the rush of after school customers. Somehow I manage to leave with my pocketbook unmolested and change in my pocket and whistling Colbie Caillat's Brighter Than the Sun.

Persephone's Festival of Flowers Dinner, Wine, and Cakes

Today is roughly the start date of the ancient week long Greek Festival of Flowers honoring Persephone. So to honor one of our house "saints" we had wine and spring fruits and vegetables and an early spring hen and cakes to celebrate.

Place chicken in sauce and marinate for no less than three hours in the refrigerator. This vegan and gluten-free Peanut Lime sauce came from the Culinary Kiosk. Bake at 380 degrees for 45 minutes in a covered dish.

Small chop scallions, zucchini, and sweet pepper.

Gently wash the mushrooms and set aside for when it's time to plate your meal.

Stir fry the vegetables five minutes before the chicken is pulled out of the oven. Turn off the heat and cover. When you pull the chicken out, uncover and let sit for one minute. Re-heat the stir fry and toss in the blueberries.

 You can serve this with mashed potatoes, rice, or creamy smashed cauliflower. Bob and I shared Twisted's Old Vine Zinfandel, an outstanding pairing and a nod to Dionysus on a night of playing with the the ancient Greek myths.

The crocuses we found at the Lexington Co-op were closed up tight and deep midnight purple. By the time dinner was served they swirled open to reveal their deep golden throats.

The yellow paper whites were sweet and friendly.

Dolci's vegan cupcakes were our cakes for Persephone. Each a sweet reminder of youthful exuberance, wrapped in tissue thin paper; brimming over their edges with light creamy sweetness.

S'mores - Fluffy mallow topping on a ginger graham cake with a surprise chocolate center and graham and chocolate on top.

Almond Joy - the top was removed and the coconut frosting was thickly layered and the cap popped back on. Drizzled with chocolate and crusted with almonds, it was quickly devoured.

 Oreo - A cupcake version of the cookie!

Chocolate Peanut Butter - The perfect blend of two favorite flavors in one sweet treat.