Nutell-ing How Good This Is

(The most delicious pound cake I've ever made)

(Bake it now. Thank me later.)

Nutella Swirl Pound Cake

1 Large Egg, at room temperature, lightly beaten
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1 cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
1 1/4 cups Sugar
1 jar (13 oz) Nutella

Instructions:
One. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pan and dust with flour or sugar. (Sugar preferred, darling)


Two. Combine the eggs and vanilla in a glass measuring cup and lightly beat. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.


Three. Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necessary.


Four. With the mixer on medium-low speed, pour the egg mixture into the bowl in a slow stream. Scrape down sides here and there.


Five. Turn the mixer to low speed and add flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. After the last addition, mix for 30 seconds on medium speed.


Six. Scrape 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula. Spread 1/2 of the Nutella over the batter and smooth with a cleaned spatula. Scrape another 1/3 of the batter over the Nutella and smooth. Scrape the remaining batter and smooth. Spread the remaining batter over the Nutella and smooth. Run a butter knife blade through the batter to create marbling. Do not overmix that bitch!


Seven. Bake the cake until it is golden and a toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let it cool for 15 minutes.


Eight. Store that baby at room temp for up to 3 days.


Serves: 8-10

I'd Like For You and I To Go Romancing

(click here)

Queen

Song: Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy

I will pay the bill, you taste the wine

Driving back in style, in my saloon will do quite nicely

Just take me back to yours that will be fine

Trick or Treat

It is NEVER too early to start planing your Halloween costume. 

Or in my case- my future children's costumes.

Takes The Cake

After spending an afternoon whipping up a delicious pie, cake, tarte, bunt or roulade, do your baked good a favor and not disrespect it by putting it on a less than exceptional stand. 

In fact, spoil your baked goods rotten by placing 'em on one of Clara French's four fetching cake stands!

 

Come On, Vogue

I love me some Ellen Von Unwerth

Push it Real Good

Trend Alert!

Cupcake Push-Pops

It is a very simple equation 

Push Pop Containers + Mini Cupcakes + Frosting

By the end of this year these babies will be everywhere.

Just remember where you heard it first

99 Luft Balons

While planning my grandmother's 60th birthday bash at Hemingway's in Hollywood, I realized the saddle colored bookcases which home thousands upon thousands of books, the wall of antique type writers and the leather rich furniture needed a little sputter. 

Therefore I ordered 30 of Geronimo's Balloons!

Her creations are more than just balloons. 

She fabricates the frilly eye candy that attaches to the massive thirty-six inch latex balloon.

The hanging garlands consist of fine French ribbon, hand-marbled tissue paper, and metallic fancy frill.

To harmonize with the shadowy hues of the venue, balloons of eggplant purple, emerald green, sapphire blue, and ruby red will stud the festivities. 

Pictures to come!

Icing on the Cake

Unfrosted Wedding Cakes

Diego Velázquez

Im Garten der Villa Medici in Rom

Muse of the Month

Gene Tierney

Gene Eliza Tierney was born in Brooklyn, New York to prosperous Irish family in 1920.  Attended finishing school in Switzerland where is learned to speak fluent French. Stared on several Broadway plays before signing with 20th Century-Fox in 1940.

Tierney was married twice. First to costume/fashion designer Oleg Cassini having two kids- Daria and Tina. While pregnant with Daria, Tierney contracted rubella during her only appearance at the Hollywood Canteen.  Daria was born prematurely weighing only 3 pounds and required a total blood transfusion. Tierney's rubella caused Daria's deaf, partial blindness with cataracts and severe mental retardation. Tierney's grief over this tragedy led to a long lasting depression and bipolar disorder. She suffered from many mental illnesses throughout her life which many speculate were a consequence of Daria's condition.During this time, Howard Hughes, an old friend of Tierney, made sure Daria received only the best medical care and kindly paid for all of her medical expenses. 

After her divorce she dated John F. Kennedy for well over a year but ended when Kennedy told her he could never marry her due to his political ambitions.  Tierney sent a congratulatory note to Kennedy after the elections but later admitted she voted for Nixon stating "I thought he would make a better president"

Tierney married Texas oil baron W. Howard Lee in 1960. They had an extremely happy marriage in Texas till the day he died in 1981. Tierney died ten years later from emphysema. She began smoking after watching the screening of her first movie. She wanted to lower her voice because she thought she sounded "like an angry Mini Mouse"