As you know, a few days ago we published Valentine’s Day Cupcake Guide – Part 1. Now, it’s time for Part 2! Hope you like our choices!

Tart Bakery

Tart Bakery, located in Dallas, Texas was founded in November, 2004 by Executive Pastry Chef Kristen Massad, who trained at the French Culinary Institute of New York.

Kristen felt that Dallas could use a vintage bakery (everything is made completely from scratch with all-natural ingredients) with a modern touch.

Kristen’s business has grown significantly and Tart now ships goodies across the country.

Website: tartbakerydallas.com

Kara’s Cupcakes

Kara’s Cupcakes is the vision of executive pastry chef, Kara Lind.

For Valentine’s Day, Kara’s Cupcakes is offering the “Sweet Package”: a selection of four “lovely” cupcakes that will make you swoon. Presented in a custom white box adorned with Kara’s Cupcakes signature wrapping. The perfect gift for your sweetie!

Price: $15 per box

Location: Kara’s Cupcakes has five locations around the San Francisco Bay Area. More info on their website at karascupcakes.com

Dean & DeLuca

 Dean & DeLuca will be featuring the following cupcake treats for Valentine’s Day:

Melt My Heart Cupcakes: These cupcakes are filled with chewy chocolate caramel, which is sublime when gently warmed. The cupcakes are made from scratch in small batches. Made exclusively for Dean & DeLuca by Two Hearts Bakery in San Francisco. Nine cupcakes $55

Valentine Mini Cupcake Chocolates (in the image): Knipschildt Chocolatier in New York City created these chocolate confections to look just like miniature cupcakes. Three different ganache fillings: Champagne, strawberry, and passion fruit. Set of 9 $45

Website: www.deandeluca.com.

Cupcakes by Carousel

Cupcakes by Carousel is a new shop in Ridgewood, NJ.

Their Red Velvet is Oprah’s favorite in a cupcake form. They donate $1.00 per cupcake and red velvet cake with heart to the american heart association in the month of February.

Their Red Velvet cupcakes have cream cheese icing and sugar heart; their Chocolate and Vanilla cupcakes are decorated with rich buttercream topped with valentine picks or sugar hearts.

Price: $29.00 per dozen

Website: www.cupcakesbycarousel.com

Cakes for Occasions

Cakes for Occasions specializes in creating the finest gourmet cakes, cupcakes and sinfully delicious pastries. Owner Kelly Delaney and her creations have been featured in a wide range of media, including NBC’s Today Show and FOX25 Morning News in Boston.

Cakes for Occasions just came out with a heart-shaped box filled with a bakers dozen (13) mini cupcakes. The assortment of chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet cupcakes are all coated with chocolate. The delectable treats are packaged in a heart-shaped box and sell for $17.

Location: Danvers, Massachusetts. Website: www.cakes4occasions.com

This Valentine’s Day, we decided to feature some of the most beautiful cupcakes out there. The following are just a few suggestions (in random order) we have received from our readers. If you own a bakery shop or sell cupcakes online and have gorgeous Valentine’s Day cupcakes, don’t hesitate to contact us! If we like your “artwork”, we might feature you, too! Check out Part 2!

Sweet and Saucy Shop

Sweet & Saucy Shop specializes in custom desserts that taste as good as they look.

Melody Brandon, Owner and head Pastry Chef, realized her passion for desserts and stopped her pursuit of a career as a teacher and jumped head first into the world of butter, sugar, and flour! She headed to pastry school and graduated from the Le Cordon Bleu program at the California School of Culinary Arts as a Pastry Chef. She started Sweet & Saucy Shop with the desire to create gorgeous, delicious, modern looking desserts.

Price: $3.oo – $3.25 each. Cupcake with custom fondant accents range in price from $3.50-$7.00 each. Their mini cupcakes: $1.50 – $2.00

Location: Long Beach, California or Sweetandsaucyshop.com.

Cupcake

Cupcake’s cupcakes will whisk you away to your childhood with just the first look! 

One of their Valentine’s Day cupcakes: Black Bottom Cupcake – a dark chocolate cake with chocolate chip cheesecake baked in complimented with cream cheese icing . Mix & match a dozen -$30.00 or $2.75 each.

All of their cupcakes are made to order with real butter, whole milk and buy organic ingredients whenever possible with no preservatives. Nine flavors are baked every day for our customers. Their cupcakes are made-to-order, so they are at their very best! Special orders are always welcome with 24 hour notice.

Location: Charleston, Mt. Pleasant and Columbia South Carolina; website: FreshCupcakes.com

Kupcake Kitchen

Choose from their richly moist chocolate cupcake to their luscious classic red velvet to something fun like cookies ‘n cream and then pick your design. Both featured cupcakes are topped with their creamy vanilla butter cream frosting (one tinted pink). Their layered fondant hearts with red sprinkled edges and their fondant “XO” cut-out design with heart-sprinkled edges (see the gallery below) are the perfect Valentine’s treat that say “Wow.”

Kupcake Kitchen is a special-order cupcake company located in Santa Clarita, CA. All of their cupcakes are baked from scratch using only the freshest ingredients, are made to order, and are never frozen.

Prices: $15 for 12 mini kupcakes or 6 standard kupcakes. 

Website: KupcakeKitchen.com

Sweet Surrender

 Decadence D’Or (from Sweet Surrender) is a sumptuous cupcake, handcrafted from the most exclusive, rich, and enterprising ingredients around the globe. One main ingredient in Decadence D’Or is Palmira Single Estate Chocolate. This special chocolate varietal is derived from the rare and fragile Porcelana Criollo bean and cultivated to its fullest state of richness exclusively at the Valrhona plantation in Venezuela. Complementary to the Palmira Single Estate Chocolate is Tahitian Gold Vanilla Caviar. This fruit, after it is ripened for nine months, then hand-harvested, cured, sweat, dried, and hand-split, is obtained only by tedious manual extraction; it is truly a delicacy, both in taste and exclusivity. Topping the Decadence D’Or is the masterfully smooth Louis XIII de Remy Martin Cognac, 100 years in the making, and edible, metallic gold flakes, each painstakingly hand-placed. Finally, once baked to perfection, this grand dessert is encased in a stately, hand blown sugar Fleur-de-Lis and presented on a handmade exclusive elegant crackled-gold glass curved plate and bowl. Talk about the royal treatment!

Chef Long Nguyen, executive pastry chef of The Venetian and The Palazzo is the visionary genius behind all the exotic cupcake flavors and Chef Johann Springfield, head baker makes the cupcakes a reality.

Price: $750

Location: Sweet Surrender, located on The Palazzo casino (Las Vegas) floor next to guest elevators; special orders can be placed by dialing 702-607-0753.

Diana Sproveri Cupcakes

Since last Fall, Diana Sproveri Cupcakes have been delightfully devoured by Hollywood celebrities, busy executives, and hard-working mommies. Diana Sproveri’s designer baked goods have appeared in Sunset, People, and Good Day LA.

Why all the munching and buzzing? Diana Sproveri cupcakes are artisanal, decadent, and crafted from heirloom recipes. No matter the occasion, they make a great and delicious dessert!

Pricing: Online pricing is $36 per dozen. With premium Valentine’s gift-wrapped packaging, $47/dozen.

Location: Los Angeles, California; her website: dianasproveri.com

Yummy Cupcakes

For Valentine’s day their special cupcake menu will include:

Cream Puff: Vanilla bean cupcake filled with fresh whipped cream, dipped in pure chocolate ganache, topped with a dollop of buttercream and an edible petal of gold
Sprinkle Heart: Vanilla bean cupcake frosted with vanilla bean buttercream, rolled in solid red sprinkles that shape a heart.
Vanilla Rose: Vanilla bean cupcake baked with a hint of rose essence frosted with a vanilla rose buttercream, topped with a small chocolate rose
Cherries Jubilee (aka Bleeding Heart): Vanilla bean cupcake filled with cherry pie filling that overflows out of the vanilla bean buttercream. Take a bite and cherries flow out!

Some other cupcake creations that make great gift items and can be shipped nationally and won’t break your budget include: original ”Cupcake in a jar” (see gallery below) and Cupcake truffles: An assortment of decadent chocolate cupcake truffles for the Valentine holiday, decorated with chocolate drizzles and chocolate hearts

Location: Yummy Cupcakes has two locations in LA but they ship nationally so anyone can enjoy their 175+ designer cupcake flavors, 42 vegan flavors, and 100% natural ingredients. Website: YummyCupcakes.com.

Sweet E’s

Sweet E’s, “the mini bake shop” is LA’s premier Dessert Delivery service. Sweet E’s bakes the perfect size treat, 2-3 bites of pure delight. They offer an array of deliciously convenient mini cupcakes, cake pops, brownies, and more! Everything at Sweet E’s is baked from scratch using only the finest ingredients, then hand decorated and delivered straight from their ovens to your table.

Sweet E’s specializes in customizing cupcakes, cakes, & cupcake towers to match the style and theme of any event. They will help you visualize your dream and design your creation specifically for you.

Valentine’s Day Special: Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcake Strawberry cake with milk chocolate frosting.

Price: Valentine’s Day cupcakes – $66/2 doz.

Location: With a kitchen based in North Hollywood, hand delivery is available anywhere in the Los Angeles and surrounding areas. Website: SweetEsBakeShop.com

Kumquat Cupcakery

Every Valentines Day, Kumquat Cupcakery- a catering company in New York City, drops the minimum of 3 dozen to 2 dozen cupcakes and adds a cute little holiday card. This year they are doing something really special: they are offering a box of “roses”! An assortment of vanilla, chocolate, and red velvet cupcakes adorned with different shades of frosting in the shape of roses.

Kumquat Cupackery was mentioned in many printed magazines and even on Martha Stewart!

Price: Each box is $48 + tax.

Location: New York City; more info on their website: KumquatCupcakery.com

Gallery

Fondant "XO" cut-out design from KupcakeKitchen.com

Cupcake in a jar - yummycupcakes.com

More to come!!

At times the prospect of making dessert can seem a bit daunting.  You have to pick a recipe, make a list, go to the store, buy the ingredients, then return home, prep and bake.  Often there just aren’t enough hours in the day to make that special trip out.

Courtesy of axlotl

But does that mean dessert has to be forgotten altogether?  Never!  A marvelous website, “ice-cream-recipes.com,” shows how to dress up dessert using a single, readily available ingredient, ice-cream!

Try this out for yourself and make some funky Ice Cream Sculptures.

Believe it or not you can sculpt anything from an otherwise unassuming block of ice-cream; pyramids, houses, faces, flowers, all sort of things!  But here are a few tips to get you started.

First of all, it is best to use hard ice-cream, as soft scoop melts quickly, thus making sculpting trickier than it has to be.  Have a variety of utensils set out, so that you can scoop and sculpt as much detail as you’d like.

It is best to have a bowl of hot water on hand as well, so that you can clean utensils between scoops and slicing, especially if you’re using different kinds of ice-cream in a single sculpture.

Another helpful suggestion is to use a chilling tray.  Think of it as sort of a staging area for your sculpture, which can be easily slid into the refrigerator for safe keeping.  And last, but not least, keep your sculpture chilled.  Place it in the fridge about every 5 minutes while sculpting away to avoid melting.

Ice-cream sculptures can be as simple or complex as you’d like.  Use different flavours of ice-cream to achieve different colours and textures in your design.

Decorate with candies, chocolates, and sprinkles to bring forth a refreshing take on a classic favourite — ice-cream — who doesn’t love it?  Especially now that it is available in any shape and size.  Literally.

photo courtesy of Taste of Home

Makes 24 Servings
Prep: 30 min. + rising Bake: 10 min.
 
Ingredients:
1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1-1/4 cups warm 2% milk (110° to 115°)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Topping:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans
 
Directions:
- In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the sugar, shortening, egg, salt and 2 cups flour; beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
- Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Combine filling ingredients; set aside. Punch dough down; divide in half. On a floured surface, roll each portion into a 12-in. square. Spread filling over dough. Roll up tightly jelly-roll style; pinch to seal.
- Cut into 1-inch slices; place on greased baking sheets (four slices per sheet). Cover with waxed paper; flatten slices with palm of hand into 3-in. circles. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
- Cover with waxed paper and flatten or roll into 5-in. circles. Brush with butter. Combine the sugar, cinnamon and pecans; sprinkle over butter. Cover with waxed paper; roll or flatten again. Discard waxed paper.
- Bake at 400° for 10-12 minutes or until browned. Serve warm. Yield: 2 dozen.

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This recipe is courtesy of Taste of Home magazine, the #1 cooking magazine in the country.

Yield: Approximately 30 pastries

photo courtesy of LovenBake.com

Palmiers or elephant ears are addictive puff pastry cookies, crunchy and caramelized with granulated sugar. A generous layer of Love’n Bake Cinnamon Schmear gives them an added dimension.

Use purchased puff pastry following the package instructions for thawing them. We’ve found that heating the Cinnamon Schmear briefly in a microwave helps make it more spreadable, especially if you prefer a thinner layer of filling. For a more even appearance, you can flip the pastries once they have baked half way. (We found this step unnecessary but share it for those who might be interested.)

Our thanks go out to Nicole, another intrepid Internet gastronaut, who had the idea of using Love’n Bake™ Schmear as a filling for this iconic French pastry.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed according to package directions
- approximately 1/2 – 3/4 cup Love’n Bake™ Cinnamon Schmear, at room temperature

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line 2 or 3 baking sheets with parchment paper

Sprinkle a work table with half of the granulated sugar. Unfold one sheet of the puff pastry and place it on the sugar-coated work table. Roll out the puff pastry sheet into an even rectangle about 12 x 14 inches

Spread an even layer of Love’n Bake™ Schmear over the puff pastry. (To make it easier to spread, transfer the Schmear into a microwave safe bowl and heat it for 10 to 30 seconds.) Score the center of the puff pastry using the back of a knife. Tightly roll up each end of the pastry until they meet in the center.

Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry and the remaining sugar and Schmear. The filled puff pastry can be refrigerated for up to 2 days to be cut and baked at a later time

Divide each log of rolled puff pastry into 15 uniform slices, each measuring slightly less than 1/2-inch thick. Place the dough, cut-side down, spaced 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Press down lightly on each piece of dough with the palm of your hand to flatten slightly. Bake the pastries until well puffed, golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes. Remove the pastries and let them cool on a wire rack

Serve dusted lightly with powdered sugar if desired.

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About: This recipe is courtesy of American Almond Products Company. Since 1924, American Almond Products Company has been crafting artisan-quality specialty nut ingredients for professional bakers, pastry chefs and chocolatiers. They recently created Love’n Bake™ to introduce home cooks to their products –all-natural almond paste, marzipan and hazelnut praline as well as its ready-to-use almond, chocolate and cinnamon Schmear™ fillings. The secret ingredient of professional bakers, Love’n Bake™ has been featured in the N.Y. Times, Food and Wine Magazine and newspapers nationwide. (In November, readers of O Magazine were treated to a Chocolate Pistachio Pie made with Love’n Bake™.)

Everything is ready. The table is set, the candles are lit, the wine is chilled, a delicious main course is warming in the oven and wafting delicious scents throughout your home. You’re dressed, primped, lip-sticked and ready to hostess what will surely be a night to remember, when all of a sudden you realized you’ve forgotten one crucial element – dessert!

Courtesy of Thea Leworthy Catering

You look frantically at the kitchen clock and suddenly dread the imminent arrival of guests and beloved friends, especially dear George who has the annoyingly polite habit of showing up at least ten minutes early to any function.

But do you throw down the oven mitts and admit defeat? Never! Instead a single word forms in your mind – meringues.

An easy, melt in your mouth dessert, these globs of heaven not only taste divine, but they look elegant on any table as well.

In short, meringues are the salvation to any dinner party dessert faux pas.

All you need to do is this:

1. Gather your ingredients.  2 egg whites, 1 cup of white sugar, and 150 mls of whipped cream.  Seriously, that’s it.

2. Place egg whites into a large bowl and whisk with an electric beater until stiff.

3. Add in sugar slowly — 1 teaspoon at a time is recommended — and continue to whisk at a high speed until all the sugar has been added.

Courtesy of shok

4. Use a large spoon to place ‘blobs’ of the mixture evenly across a cookie sheet covered in waxed paper and shape the ‘blobs’  into ovals.

5. Bake at 250 F for approximately 1 hour, or bake until the ovals can be lifted easily from the waxed paper without sticking.

(Meringues are often called the ‘Forgotten Cookies,’ because they can be left in an oven for several hours after the baking is done, without any harm.  In fact, the dryer they are, the better, so if you get engrossed in a story at the dinner table and don’t hear the calling ‘DING!’ of the oven timer, not to worry.)

6. Once the meringues have cooled, spread whipped cream on one side of an oval and sandwich together with another.

7. Arrange on a serving platter and tra-la!!! You’re done! Dessert is served! Disaster averted!  Congratulations!

Courtesy of Cake Lover

And if you have the time, as always, creativity can be added to your baking!

Place mixture into an icing tube, squiggle onto the cookie sheet and then bake.  Drizzle chocolate sauce, top with sprinkles, garnish with fruit, add nuts, COLOUR, vanilla, hazelnut or caramel extracts!

Experiment with shape; swirl, flatten, stack or cupcake!  Do whatever you wish to make these light fluffy treats a hit!

Either way, whether classically presented or creatively infused, meringues have it all, looks, taste and easy assembly.

This recipe is courtesy of The Oaks at Ojai.

Servings: 6

60 calories per serving

Ingredients:
2 c. diced mango fruit (l large)
1 banana
1 c. pineapple pieces
1 T. fresh lime juice

Directions:
You can freeze all of the above first, or you can use it fresh.
Place all of it in the food processor and process until it is the consistency of sherbet. Make sure your mango and pineapple are ripe, or you will have a difficult time getting the desired consistency. Pour into sherbet cups, and freeze until ready to eat. Garnish with fresh berries or mint.

Carbohydrate: 15 gm
protein: 1 gm
fat: trace
sodium: 3 mg

About: The Oaks at Ojai is an affordable fitness destination spa that includes overnight accommodations, three delicious and low-calorie meals a day, choice of 16 fitness classes per day and evening entertainment and seminars. The Oaks offers 46 guest rooms, including private rooms and suites, double lodge rooms and double cottage rooms. A charming 1920s hotel-turned-spa in the peaceful town of Ojai, The Oaks offers a variety of activities that allows guests to choose how to work out and take off excess pounds. Activities range from hiking, power walks and in-line skating, belly dancing, hula hoping, yoga, qi gong, water aerobics and other work out classes. A full menu of relaxing and therapeutic spa services is available as well as private consultations with a variety of health experts. The Oaks at Ojai is located at 122 East Ojai Avenue. For more information, visit The Oaks at Ojai online at www.oaksspa.com or call (800) 753-OAKS (6257).

This recipe is courtesy of The Oaks at Ojai.

Servings: 24 Serving size: ¼ cup + ½ c. raspberries Calories: 60

photo courtesy of The Oaks at Ojai

Ingredients:
16 oz. silken tofu
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1/3 c. cocoa
1/2 c. decaffeinated coffee
¼ c. agave

Directions:
In a food processor or blender, puree the tofu until smooth. Place the chopped chocolate cocoa powder, and coffee in a saucepan. Stir constantly over medium-low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and mix in the agave. Stir until smooth. Add chocolate mixture to tofu and puree until well blended. Put in bowl and chill at least two hours. To serve, scoop 1/4 cup of mousse into serving dish and surround with fresh berries.

About the Source:
The Oaks at Ojai is an affordable fitness destination spa that includes overnight accommodations, three delicious and low-calorie meals a day, choice of 16 fitness classes per day and evening entertainment and seminars. The Oaks offers 46 guest rooms, including private rooms and suites, double lodge rooms and double cottage rooms. A charming 1920s hotel-turned-spa in the peaceful town of Ojai, The Oaks offers a variety of activities that allows guests to choose how to work out and take off excess pounds. Activities range from hiking, power walks and in-line skating, belly dancing, hula hoping, yoga, qi gong, water aerobics and other work out classes. A full menu of relaxing and therapeutic spa services is available as well as private consultations with a variety of health experts. The Oaks at Ojai is located at 122 East Ojai Avenue. For more information, visit The Oaks at Ojai online at www.oaksspa.com or call (800) 753-OAKS (6257).

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup vegetable oil
½ cup applesauce
3 eggs
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups white sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ginger powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Frosting:
6 oz. cream cheese
3 tablespoons butter, soften
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 10 inch bundt or tube pan.
2. In a large bowl cream oil, applesauce, beaten eggs, pumpkin and vanilla together.
3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ginger powder and salt together. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix until just combined, stir in chopped nuts.
4. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6. Let cake cool in pan for 5 minutes then turn out onto a plate
7. In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract and the grated rinds smooth. Gradually confectioners’ sugar, and mix well. Add orange juice until frosting reaches desired spreading consistency. Drizzle over bundt cake.

About: This recipe is courtesy of Ms. Martine Sicard. For more yummy recipes, please visit her website.

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups heavy cream
½ cup whole milk
½ tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ginger
½ cup sugar
4 egg yolks
¼ cup pumpkin puree
sugar for garnish

Directions:
Combine first 6 ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat. Whisk yolks. Slowly whisk hot cream into the yolks. Whisk pumpkin puree. Pour through a fine mesh sieve and then pour into 4 8 ounce ramekins. Bake in a hot water bath for about 35 minutes until the center of the Brulee moves slightly. Remove from pan and chill for at least 4 hours or up to 1 day.

When ready to serve, sprinkle sugar over the top and broil until the top turns brown. Let cool a moment and serve.

About: This recipe is courtesy of Executive Chef Daniel Dumont from Wentworth By the Sea Hotel & Spa — one of the last grand hotels of New Hampshire. New Hampshire (and Wentworth) is a classic New England place for spending Thanksgiving — with a long tradition of celebrating the holiday. New Hampshire native Sara Josepha Hale is the one who convinced President Abraham Lincoln to set aside a national Thanksgiving Day in November. And in 1623, David Thompson, a fisherman who had built a house on land near where the hotel is now — New Hampshire’s first settlement — kept the Pilgrims from starving by sending some of his salt cod to the Plymouth Colong when Miles Standish came up the coast seeking help.