It’s neither cake nor confection, yet I feel compelled to share the recipe for a specialty cocktail that my boyfriend and I had for “dessert” last night. We created this recipe ourselves, so I was pleasantly surprised with how delicious it turned out to be. The main ingredient in the drink is a Korean liquor called Soju, which I received from a friend after she travelled to Korea.

I have no idea whether it is available in America or whether it’s easy to find, but I will definitely be looking into that when my bottle runs out! Without further ado, here is the recipe (serves 2):

Fill a pint-size cocktail shaker half way with ice. Add the following:

2-3 oz. Soju
2 TBS. Chambord
8-10 oz. Tonic Water
A generous squeeze of blood orange juice

Shake and pour into martini glasses. Garnish with a slice of blood orange.
Enjoy!

Trying out something new, I decided to cook the below galette for a dinner party this weekend. Not only was it really easy to make, it was very yummy! The recipe for this galette is from the William Sonoma Essentials of Baking cookbook, which a friend gave me for my birthday. Now that I have successfully made my first galette, I can’t wait to make other variations of my very own…

These are quick sketches of my ideas for the cake for the little boy’s first birthday, based on the direction from his aunt that the little boy likes music:

However, when I showed these to the aunt, I was informed that they had been doing some creative brainstorming of their own and had come up with the concept of a “Hungry Caterpillar” cake. So, we’re exploring that as an option as well:

I’ll let you know which option they choose… Next step: deciding on flavor of the cake!

My first commission is for a birthday party taking place in mid-April to celebrate the 1st birthday of an adorable little boy - the “cutest baby in NYC” according to his Aunt, who approached me to design the cake. The first questions I usually want to ask are the practical ones: how many people does it need to serve? do you have any flavor preferences or requirements? etc, but usually the first thing people want to tell you is their preferred subject matter. So, what I know so far: the little boy loves music. Once I know how big a cake we’re talking, I can get started on the sketches.

More to come…