March-ing in with a Chocolate Overdose

Hey Guys!!!

Welcome back!!! Monday is almost over and as hard as that is to believe, I find it even harder to swallow up the idea that March is officially here. I am also having trouble realizing that it has taken me two weeks to sit on my butt and type this post. To my defense...I haven't been as busy as I have been in a very, VERY long time. Which is in my case, bodes well. Orders are pouring in, and despite my reservations on what constitutes proper sleep and proper breaks, I am very happy with new customers every week. 

Coffee, my pal, I love you.

Now, I'm sure many of you watched the Oscar's last night. Can I just say WOW! Jared Leto, wow, Lupita Nyong'o's winning speech, wow, Frozen's wins, wow. There were many more wows, like the luckiest pizza delivery guy ever and Ellen's amazing Glinda costume and Pink's breathtaking tribute to the Wizard of Oz. I am a movie lover and one of my annual moments of sheer joy is to sit back with a glass of wine and pretend I am also receiving an Oscar. Hahahahahaha. Hey, it could happen. Anyway, let's head back to the kitchen.

But let us go back a week or so. The Red Velvet brownies continue to captivate as orders come in.  As expected, I did not, or let's say I HAVEN'T gotten round to making that Orange Blackberry Cheesecake. I'm a step closer: I bought some lovely berries today. Hopefully, I'll delight my little fridge with that awesome combo soon.  I did end up baking the Chai Cheesecake (which was over-the-top AWESOME...sadly, people here are stubborn and still go for the "classic" Red Velvet. I'm annoyed...severely annoyed) AND the Apple Spice Cake.

Chewy deliciousness in every bite

Now, I've baked an exquisite Apple Cake in the past and because it was more butter based that anything, I was afraid the cold temperature of the fridge would dry it up in hours. So, there I went and simply substituted carrots (from the Carrot cake recipe) for my homemade applesauce and voila! What I got was a pleasing spongy and moist cake. However...yes...there is always a however, the cake tasted anything but spiced apples. I was even tempted to call it Sweet Cake, for that is what is was. It flew off the fridge though. Had  to make one for the next day. To get either/or (apple flavor or spiced flavor) I experimented cooking my applesauce with sticks of cinnamon. All I got was a fantastic smell. The flavor didn't stay. Not even after I added a serious dose of ground cinnamon to the mix. The ground ginger, the all-spice, the nutmeg, the ground cloves...nothing has done the trick. My latest trial has involved cooking the applesauce with cinnamon sticks AND all-spice, reducing the sugar and serious praying. It still sells fine, but no apple flavor or spices going through *face palm* *tired sigh* I'm sure I'll find the secret at some point.

Copa Café's first day with the 50% off promo

Apart from my cake dilemma, my mind has been reeling thoughts by the second, mainly quantities and measurements.  Two weeks ago, Copa Café joined a large group of restaurants and eateries in a huge promo from one of the banks. Basically 50% off your purchase if you pay with their debit or credit card. For us, it's Thursdays, which means a heavy baking Wednesday for me. And despite what you might think (50% off, an entire day, no restrictions) we've gained much more affluence of people and sales have gone up. So yay for us!!! However, that has meant less sleep, less breaks, more work and virtually no free weekends. Hey, I signed up for this...albeit blindly, but you play with whatever cards you get. It has its fun parts though. Like this weekend, I tackled a Butterfinger Lover's cake. I've added a new person to my frequent and amazing customer's list. These people have never doubted my skills or talent and place their faith in my hands everytime. So thank you! 

You really gotta love chocolate!!!

In essence, this chocoholic's death cake is a rich, chocolatey moist cake, filled with an even richer chocolate frosting, dotted with broken Butterfinger chocolate pieces, frosted once again and covered entirely with more Butterfinger crumbs and pieces. The result: a spectacularly, amazing, chocolate creation, sure to cure you of your cravings with a single bite. Not entirely certain I'd eat it, but the reviews came in and I've been ordered a couple more. Hehehehe no need to comment on the greatness of it. 

Lil bite sized fruity goodness

This weekend also involved mini fruit tartlets. The ones left at home were devoured and my customer was more than happy, claiming they were delicious! I'm sure I'll be make them again shortly. Regardless of the fact that my cheesecake experiment hasn't taken place, I did try two new recipes this past week and thankfully they turned out great. Both of them were diabetic friendly, for those awesome frequent customers that visit Copa Café every week and aren't able to try out the sweet goodies. I made a Sugarfree Banana Walnut Bread and awesome Chocolate Drop Cookies. These last ones have low sugar, using both brown sugar and Truvia (stevia derived). The banana bread relies on natural sugar from the overly ripe bananas and a low dosage of Truvia. I was excited when those faithful customers walked in and sat down to enjoy the newly added baked goodies displayed. I promised a yogurt based cheesecake for later on, as to not bore them with the same things. And I will come through with that promise. 

Tempted to try them? Come visit us!!!

And here we are now. Two short weeks recapped and waiting eagerly for what March brings on. I'll post some yummy recipes soon. I'm kinda sleepy and somewhat hungry, but I suspect sleep will win this one. I hope you all had a great Monday and I wish you a happy week!!!

Until next time.

xx