Bye Bye Dessert Week - Oh, Hello Again!

Dessert (Album Version)

Hello all!
Well, I must say that Dessert Week turned out to be quite an event full of deliciousness. {Thank you John and Akeem @wetawa}



It certainly had me flipping through all of my favorite recipes as well as exploring new ones, baking, taking pictures, eating, testing, tasting etc. 

And, based on some requests from a few friends and fellow foodies, I decided to close the week with an amazing Vanilla Bean Cheesecake for Easter from the Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking book.

Note: If you don't have the book, the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake recipe pictured above can be found online with a few adjustments by Sugar & Spice by Celeste.


Bye Bye Dessert Week – Hello Blueberry Pie
As one week closes another one opens – thank goodness! It is dessert week every week at my house LOL. As I pass the baton back to Wetawa I will leave them with this blueberry crumble pie recipe to welcome in the new feature for this week - BLUEBERRIES!

And, before I close, here are just a few more favorite dessert recipes below -

Setting the Mood with @5amfoodie and “Chocolat” 
Michele from @5amFoodie set the mood one evening with her post which inspired me to watch the movie “Chocolat.” I found myself in the kitchen turning up the surround sound while baking desserts and repeatedly pausing to rewind and hear Johnny Depp say, “I’ll come round sometime to get that squeak out of your door…”.  Well, well well. Anyway, moving right along...In keeping with the chocolate theme here, I thought that I would share my favorite Chocolate Cake recipe from Ina Garten.

Trying Something New – Isabella's Orange Cake 

Last week a Wetawa foodie asked the question, “I'm in charge of making a dessert for Easter lunch. What are your favorite recipes?” It seemed like the perfect time to provide the  community with a recommendation for this delicious Orange Cake recipe  from @lifesafeast.  I made this earlier in the week for the very first time. It was so delicious! You must visit her site because trust me, my picture does not do her fabulous dessert justice – really. And if you read her blog it is work of art. Her writing is like eating dessert in and of itself.

The Best Carrot Cake Cookie Ever (From The Birthday Girl)

Last year, I came across this recipe for Inside Out Carrot Cake from @janis_tester. This was around the time she accused me of being a cookie slut. Yes, I have since forgiven her and we have become soul sisters in the process. This week is her Birthday, so please send her some birthday love on April 30th. Happy Birthday Janis!

Live life all year long my friends!

Love, Butter

Fabulous Cupcakes, A Sugar High & Dessert Week With Wetawa

Sugar

Dessert Week – What a Fabulous Idea!

Well, I am going to come right out with it….I am going to be a featured foodie for Dessert Week at Wetawa and admittedly I am kind of excited about it. A week that is dedicated to desserts? Um, hello, yes – sign me up!

Because I am new to learning about Wetawa myself, I wanted to invite you to explore their site with me.

Weta What?? 
I received a really nice email from the co-owner a few weeks ago inviting me to be a guest foodie featured on their site. So of course I wanted to learn more. Basically, they are a foodie-focused question & answer site. Curious foodies of all skill levels go there to ask questions to have them answered by members of the foodie community.

So after emailing back and forth and finding out the co-owner lives here in New York, I just had to meet him - to see what they are all about and to see what kind of guy he was.

First Thing’s First– Can the Man Eat?

So this is John and it is official, boy can he eat! We met for a cupcake breakfast at the amazing Crumbs Bake Shop. Little did he know that this was a test – to see if he could throw down a cupcake..for real. Yup, he sure can – and he got right in there too. Take a look -

Wait for it...Wait for it...

There ya go!

All Jacked Up on Sugar  
And of course I went for it too, the sugar and caffeine went straight for my morning veins and I found myself smack dab in the middle of a wild sugar binge when I suddenly remembered I was sitting with company. Did I black out? Why were there crumbs in my bangs? I look scary here. Poor John…I can’t imagine what he saw from his side of the table.

Notice the coffee cup (my third) 

So, What Do We Think? 
Wetawa is a new start-up, enthusiastic and open to our ideas and feedback…I just love that. I like people who are passionate about food and also like to support entrepreneurs in the space, which is why I am introducing them to you. And just so ya know, I don’t work there and I am not getting paid to blog about them.

It's still early and what I can tell you right now that I like about them is that they are still in “Beta”mode and asking for feedback from the foodie community on likes, dislikes and what could make this targeted Q&A site it even better.

The recipe builder has a way to go, and they are working on this now. So if you have some time to stop by, feel free to let them know your thoughts from a foodie perspective.

Even ‘Lil Walter is Getting Into The Action 
Well ‘Lil Walter got a little visor from John, Lol. Hmm, maybe he will make an appearance on their Facebook page (what do you think?). Or maybe we can send a couple twitpics to the folks behind @wetawa.

It has certainly been fun so far. And in keeping with the spirit of why I started this blog in the first place – to bake, eat, run and try new adventures…this dessert week thing should be fun!

 Love, Butter