Halloween, Martha Style

Have you seen how adorable Martha Stewart's Halloween cupcake items are? I just love her! Every year her merchandise just gets better and better. She is the Queen of Halloween for sure!

She has just some of the best ideas and recipes.

For Martha Stewart Recipes:

http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/halloween-cakes-and-dessert-recipes

For Martha Stewart Costume Ideas:

http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/homemade-kids-halloween-costumes

Decorations and Crafts:

http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/halloween-decorating

Gorgeous Carved Pumpkin Ideas:

http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/pumpkins

(My inspiration for my Cat pumpkin below)

And don't forget....

Party Ideas:

http://www.marthastewart.com/halloween-kids-activities

ENJOY!

Sweet!

I am counting down the days for the Food Network, Food and Wine festival event Sweet! Hosted by Duff Goldman & Sandra Lee, this awesome evening party will take place at la.venue in NYC. This event will showcase over 12 different pastry chefs, including endless amounts of Godiva chocolate! YUM! I am pretty excited that I scored 2 free tickets for this event!

A blurb from the website:

Tonight is all about free-flowing Champagne in your complimentary Spiegelau flute and the goodies you’ll pair it with: handmade chocolates, cream-filled puffs crammed with silky custard, to-die-for cupcakes slathered with miles of frosting, not to mention layered tortes jammed with liqueur-laced jellies, ice-cream so rich you’ll cry from happiness, and even rare cheeses crafted by artisans. Start your diet today if you must, but leave room for dessert!

Participating Restaurants and Chefs:

1. Adour: Sandro Micheli www.adour-stregis.com
2. BabyCakes NYC: Erin McKenna www.babycakesnyc.com
3. baked: Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito www.bakednyc.com
4. Billy's Bakery www.billysbakerynyc.com
5. China Grill Management Catering: Alfredo Guaman www.chinagrillmgt.com
6. Daniel: Dominique Ansel www.danielnyc.com
7. Del Posto: Brooks Headley www.delpostonyc.com
8. eater.com Contest Winner: Jessica Mogardo www.eater.com
9. Eighty One: John Miele www.81nyc.com
10. Fishtail by David Burke: Jennifer Domanski www.fishtaildb.com
11. Godiva: David Funaro www.godiva.com
12. Gotham Bar & Grill: Deborah Racicot www.gothambarandgrill.com
13. Hotel Griffou: Anne Thornton
14. Jean Georges: Johnny Iuzzini www.jean-georges.com
15. Levain Bakery: Pamela Weekes and Connie McDonald www.levainbakery.com
16. Locanda Verde: Karen DeMasco www.thegreenwichhotel.com
17. MAD MAC: Florian Bellanger and Ludovic Augendre www.madmacnyc.com
18. more: Patty Rothman www.morecupcakes.com
19. Park Avenue Autumn: Richard Leach www.parkavenyc.com
20. Ron Ben-Israel Cakes: Ron Ben-Israel www.weddingcakes.com
21. “Rose's Heavenly Cakes”: Rose Levy Beranbaum and Jean-Francois Bonnetwww.realbakingwithrose.com
22. Rouge Tomate: James Distefano www.rougetomatenyc.com
23. Spigolo: Heather Fratangelo and Jen Kim
24. Sweetiepie: Humberto Guallpa www.sweetiepierestaurant.com
25. Telepan: Bill Telepan and Larissa Raphael www.telepan-ny.com
26. The North Fork Table & Inn: Claudia Fleming www.northforktableandinn.com
27. The Oak Room: Matthew O'Haver www.oakroomny.com
28. The Sea Grill: Michael Gabriel www.patinagroup.com
29. The Stanton Social: Jaime Sudberg www.thestantonsocial.com
30. Tisserie: Gustavo Agudelo www.tisserie.com
31. ‘wichcraft: Sisha Ortúzar www.wichcraftnyc.com
32. Duncan Hines www.duncanhines.com

Just Say "Yes"!

My best friend of 29 years recently became engaged. For her engagement party I created this beautiful cupcake tower. 6-7 dozen cupcakes were decorated in shades of purple for this wonderful event.

The cupcake flavors were:

• Traditional White Cake made with White Chocolate Pudding frosted with Strawberry Buttercream.
• Super Moist Chocolate Cake with a Chocolate Fudge Frosting
• Vanilla Bean Cake with Butter Vanilla Frosting.

The cupcakes were decorated with gorgeous wrappers by Cupcake Wrapture. There were separate shades of purple which worked beautifully with the decor of the engagement party. I created cupcake toppers to add a more personal touch.

Everyday is Halloween

Happy 1st day of Fall everyone, which means Halloween is right around the corner!!! Enjoy everything this wonderful season has to offer!

Here is one of my favorite Fall recipes.
Wonderful treat on a chilly Sunday afternoon.

Pumpkin Pie Bars

1-1/3 cups Flour

3/4 cup Granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) cold butter or margarine

1 cup Old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats, uncooked

1/2 cup chopped Pecans

1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened

3 Eggs

1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin

2 Tbsp. Pumpkin pie spice
1 Tbsp. Cinnamon

HEAT oven to 350°F. Line 13x9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides; grease foil. Mix flour, 1/4 granulated sugar and brown sugar in medium bowl; cut in butter with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in oats and nuts.

RESERVE 1 cup oat mixture; press remaining onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 15 min. Beat cream cheese, remaining sugar, eggs, pumpkin and spice with mixer until well blended. Pour over crust; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture and cinnamon.

BAKE 25 min.; cool 10 min. I normally let them cool completely, still them in the fridge to firm up, then cut. This is not a recipe you can immediately serve.

Calling the undead!

Dearest undead of the TriState area,

Yours truly will be a vendor at this years Asbury Park Zombie Walk. I will be baking up hundreds of delicious, zombie themed cupcakes for your consumption!

Please come out and help NJ get in the Guinness Book of World Records for largest Zombie Walk, while eating delicious cupcakes!

ZombieCon will open up at 11AM inside the Convention Center.

The walk will begin at 5PM.

See you there!

Dying for some peanut butter?

I made this frightfully sinful cupcake from Hershey's unsweetened cocoa & Reese's peanut butter cups. Devil's food cake, baked with a mini peanut butter cup inside. Frosted with my delicious & super smooth peanut butter frosting! Topped with mini chocolate and peanut butter chips.

It's soooooo good it's scary!!!

Available now until October 31st!

Halloween Cupcake Fun

So my favorite season is approaching, which means Halloween is right around the corner! I intend on bringing you lots of fun Halloween recipe ideas each week through the months of September and October. Some will be mine and some will be from celebrity chefs and friends.

Ghost Cupcakes by Martha Stewart is first! Don't you just love Martha! She is amazing!

• All-purpose flour, for tins
• Devil's Food Cake Batter
• Thick Ghostly Chocolate Frosting
• 18 large marshmallows, halved lengthwise
• 72 ounces white fondant
• Cornstarch, for surface
• 24 chocolate-candy-coated sunflower seeds, for eyes
• Royal Icing and Fleurs-de-lis, optional

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 cups of a jumbo-muffin tin (each 1-cup capacity) with extra-large cupcake liners. Butter and flour 12 cups of a mini-muffin tin, and tap out excess flour.
2. Divide batter among muffin tins, filling each cup 1/2 full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until testers inserted in centers come out clean, 8 to 9 minutes for mini cupcakes, and 40 to 45 minutes for large cupcakes. Let cool in pans on wire racks. (Cupcakes can be wrapped in plastic, and frozen for up to 1 month; thaw at room temperature before frosting.)
3. Remove cupcake liners from large cupcakes, trim tops of each cupcake to create a flat surface, and reserve tops for another use. Flip cupcakes over. Spread 1 teaspoon frosting on top of each cupcake. Arrange 3 marshmallow halves on top of each (pictured right), cut sides down, pressing them into frosting. Spread 1 teaspoon frosting over each marshmallow trio.
4. Trim tops of each mini cupcake to create a flat surface, and reserve tops for another use. Press 1 mini cupcake, cut side down, onto frosting-topped marshmallows.
5. Spread 1/4 cup frosting over each cupcake stack to create a crumb coat, leaving a 1/4-inch unfrosted rim around bottom. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
6. Divide fondant into 12 equal pieces. On a surface lightly dusted with cornstarch, roll a piece of fondant into a 1/4-inch-thick, 10-inch-wide circle. Center fondant over top of 1 frosted cupcake, smoothing downward and creating ruffles around the bottom. Press candy-coated seeds into soft fondant for eyes, remove, dot with royal icing to secure if desired, and then press seeds into icing. Repeat with remaining fondant, cupcakes, and seeds. Let fondant harden slightly at room temperature before serving.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Ghost Cupcakes Recipe - MarthaStewart.com