Pot du Creme

The French always get dessert right, which is why I was so excited to go back to Comme Ça last night.

We ordered the Pot du Creme which came topped with this delicious buttery cookie. It may have even been tastier than the chocolate..

The actual dessert underneath was great. Rich in flavor and dense yet fluffy in texture. You can never go wrong with a large bowl of chocolate.

Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownies

Out of any homemade recipe or box mix I have ever tried (and there have been many), this Barefoot Contessa mix makes by far the best brownies ever!

Using my new KitchenAid, I mixed the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients that come in the box. The secret is melting the stick of butter with these chocolate morsels and folding it into the batter (which has more chocolate chips inside).

It's super easy and bakes pretty fast!

The brownies come out PERFECT everytime!

Marea

Despite the fact that Marea is a seafood restaurant, my pasta and all the desserts were not only beautiful, but delicious. These are fried doughnut holes with pear sorbet and chocolate sauce, so good!

Here is an apple tarte with coffee gelato, the best gelato.

This is the panna cotta with mandarin orange gelato.

And finally a hazelnut chocolate cake with mint. Everything was amazing.

Tiramisu di San Dona

Via Quadronno is one of my favorite NY lunch spots because I love their paninis, but after all these years I finally tried this Deconstructed Tiramisu, one of their specialties. The lady fingers are served with a bowl of mascarpone pudding topped with cocoa powder (on the left) and a bowl of warm espresso (on the right). It was so fun to dip and portion out each bite. Obviously once the lady fingers were gone I finished the pudding with a spoon. Incredible.

ABC Kitchen

After a long walk in the cold, fiending for dessert, some friends and I stumbled into ABC Kitchen where we begged them to stay open to serve us dessert. I'm so glad they did because this Sundae was life changing! The ice cream was salted caramel, and sat in a bowl of delicious dark chocolate sauce. It was topped with whipped cream, peanuts and caramel popcorn. It was so unique and somehow tasted like a Snickers bar.

I also ordered this chocolate ganache layer cake which was frosted with toasted marshmallow. It was also amazing! I can't wait to go back for dinner, and more dessert.

Bottega Louie

A friend brought some treats back from Bottega Louie that were all so amazing! This was a Tiramisu, which was so beatifully decorated with powdered cocoa and fruit.

These French macarons were also so pretty and delicious.

An finally a hazelnut brownie torte, which was the epitome of every sweet I love.

Pudding S'Mores

This is not your average S'More! The Village Idiot has put a modern twist on an old classic by basing the dessert around chocolate pudding. It sits on top of graham cracker crumbs and is topped with a torched marshmallow. It's delicious!!

Gingerbread House

Right before Christmas I threw a Holiday party and used this at the perfect opportunity to build a Gingerbread House, something I'd never done before. Trader Joe's made one that was super easy to assemble!

The kit came with powdered sugar, but I needed to make the icing to hold all the pieces together.

A lot of icing was needed to make sure everything stuck.

I used all the candy in the kit, as well as some leftover Halloween candy to decorate.

The house was a nice touch to my dessert table at the party!

Picca Desserts

This Tres Leche cake from Picca was one of the best desserts I've had in a very long time! I wish this photo better captured the complex layers within this small glass. There were so many textures and flavors in this cake, every bit was a whole new experience.

These Churros were great too - they were filled with a Amazonian fruit which I can't remember the name of... But the three dipping sauces, caramel, apricot and mint chocolate, were all great!

Vegan Chocolate Cake

This chocolate cake from Real Food Daily was surprisingly good! I'm definitely a snob when it comes to chocolate and instantly disregard vegan or gluten free options. However, I really enjoyed this; it was very chocolatey in flavor and the texture was completely normal - very impressed!

Mini Pumpkin Pecan Pies

In honor of Fall, I decided to make a seasonal treat and instantly thought pumpkin! I found this super easy Mini Pumpkin Pecan Pie recipe from The Food Network and it turned out really well.

First I mixed the dry ingredients with freshly chopped pecans thanks to my new Cuisinart.

This turned into a nice, and super sticky, dough.

I divided the dough into 24 little sections and rolled them into balls, using tons of flour. These were pressed into mini cupcake tins and baked.

I used about one big scoop of this giant can of pumpkin to make the filling while the dough was in the oven.

Then I added the filling into the mini tins, topped each one with a full pecan, and continued to bake.

They turned out really well, sort of more like a muffin than a pie, but nevertheless very tasty.

Pumpkin Pot de Creme

This pumpkin pot de creme from Vinoteque was amazing! The creme itself was fluffy yet dense and so flavorful. The whipped cream was topped with spiced chocolate and accompanied by a ginger snap. This is a perfect fall dessert.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

I had this great ice cream sandwich at Magnolia in Hollywood. It was my favorite combination: mint chip ice cream with chocolate chip cookies. I also tasted the salted caramel which was very tasty as well. I highly recommend it!

Churros Rellenos

After eating an unbearable amount of food at Rosa Mexicano we ordered Churros for dessert. Some were stuffed with raspberry sauce, some with caramel sauce, but they were all coated with an insane amount of cinnamon sugar. They were great! The insides were gooey and undercooked, the outside were crispy, and the chocolate dipping sauce was amazing.

Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Peanut Butter Icing

I decided to make these Banana Cupcakes for a friends birthday, and felt that the perfect icing to match would be a Chocolate Peanut Butter Buttercream!

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First I mixed all the dry ingredients together...


Then mashed the bananas, and added the wet ingredients...


Mixed it all up really well, leaving the banana slightly chunky...


I used a small ice cream scoop to evenly portion out the batter into mini cupcake pans.


While they were in the oven, I made the icing...


I used the electric beater to make sure all the peanut butter was mixed well...


Put it into a piping bag...


And iced each cupcake with a swirl!


To show that they were banana flavor, I used a banana chip to top each cupcake. They turned out really well, and it was surprisingly easy!

Vanilla Bake Shop at Century City

I have been a big fan of Vanilla Bake Shop for a while now (see HERE), so I was happy to find their Century City location is open! I tired three mini cupcakes: Vanilla with Chocolate, Vanilla Bean and Chocolate with Sea Salt (New Flavor). As always they were fantastic, especially the Vanilla Bean, and not just because it's pink.



They also have a great selection of French macarons! I chose the Hazelnut, which is basically stuffed with Nutella and therefore the best thing ever, and the Salted Caramel, which was also great.

Cake & Art

For a friends surprise party, they got this insane cake from Cake & Art in West Hollywood. They did an amazing job of superimposing his face into the Blade Runner movie poster!


The cake itself was red velvet with a thick buttercream frosting.


The middle cream cheese layer had tons of little chocolate chips, which was a great touch. This was a perfect cake for a birthday party!