Birthday fare with Pinkies-Up

I thoroughly enjoy making birthday cakes!! Here at Pinkies-Up, we don't sell cakes in mass quality. We would like each cake to reflect your individual personality. So please let us learn something about you and create a work of art just for you on your birthday.

Introducing Pinkies-Up, LLC

I would like to announce the birth of Pinkes-Up, LLC, where you can find the solution to all your culinary needs with style and elegance. And it all started with this blog, as infrequent as I've been updating.

We are in the process of setting up a space where the art of entertaining is demonstrated in utmost hospitality. Please stay tuned for our location and our line of products.

Many thanks to my faithful readers and I look forward to serving you at Pinkies-Up.

McCoskey-Laguarda Wedding

Gonzo Laguarda is one of my husband's and friends from college. He recently moved to Dallas to attend Dallas Theological Seminary. After six months of being in Dallas, he came back to visit with a fiance! The couple was gracious enough to let me do their wedding cake. I was excited! After another six months of being engaged, they finally tied the knot last Saturday in Virginia Beach. Their colors were red, white, and black, perfect for a winter wedding.

Here are some pictures of the cake. I will have to get some professional version of the cake soon!

Wiggins-Hunt wedding preview

Michael Hunt is one of my husband's dearest friends throughout high school and college. He recently asked Brittany Wiggins to be his wife. We are very excited for them and on top of that, they picked me to make their wedding cake. This will be one of the biggest cakes I have ever done, five tiers! They also picked hydrangeas to be on the wedding cake instead of cala lilies. Stay tuned for a full post of the wedding on June 11, 2011!

Hail Ceasar

The only reason for the title of this post is a put a crown on my pie. Pecan pie is no where closely related to anything from the Roman Empire. But hey, if it has a crown, it might as well be of Ceasar.

This Maple Butter Pecan Pie is so rich and delicious, it is guaranteed to convert any anti-pecan pie into a huge fan. It doesn't only taste good, it's also a beauty that will surely impress. You will need a small leaf cookie cutter for the decoration.


For the crust, please click here for a recipe. Half the recipe fora single 9-inch crust. Blind bake the crust and save any scrap for the decoration.

To blind bake a crust, transfer the crust onto a 9-inch pie dish. Trim the crust to the rim of the pie plate, leaving no excess. Crimp the edge using a folk. Line the pie dish with foil and chill for an hour. Preheat oven to 400. Fill foil-lined crust with beans, rice or pie weight. Blind bake the crust for 18-20 minutes or until set. Remove beans or rice. Return the crust to oven and bake another 5 minutes. You can reuse the beans or rice for baking but probably not for cooking.

For the filling:
8 oz. pecan halves, toasted
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 tsp. salt
4 eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/2 stick butter, melted

Preheat oven to 325.

Heat brown sugar, maple syrup, corn syrup, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. In a bowl, whisk eggs and vanilla together. Pour into the egg a little of the hot sugar mixture while whisking to temper the eggs. Slowly whisk in the rest of the sugar mixture and melted butter.

Spread pecan into the cooled blind-baked crust. Pour in the Maple Butter filling.

Spread out the reserved scrap from the pie crust. Cut out little leaves with a cookie cutter. Score the leaves to make veins. Brush the edge of the pie crust with some water or a beaten egg. Place leaves around the edge, brush them with some egg. Bake the pie for 35-45 minutes or until the center is set. Serve at room temperature

A taste of Italy

Tiramisu is one of those things that if you are in Italy, you have to get a slice to make your Italian experience complete. It is right up there with the Vatican city and Venice, in my opinion. Here in the United States, tiramisu is readily available in most Italian restaurants. It has quickly become a favorite among American foodies. I would even go so far to judge the quality of an Italian restaurant based on their tiramisu.

You can find hundreds of different recipes out there for this Italian treat. I have used this one recipe for a few years. Through trials and errors, I am proud to say that this is the closest to a real slice of Italian tiramisu that I've tasted. Instead of lady fingers, I use a few layers of sponge cake. Lady fingers are essentially little sponge cakes, sometime coated in sugar. By making my own sponge cake, I can have a lot more control over the sweetness of the cake. Make it too sweet and you won't be able to make it pass two bites.

Note: I prefer sponge cake over angle food cake. They are pretty much siblings in the cake family, very similar. But for this recipe, sponge cake works much better. Angle food cake makes of egg white without the yolk. The beaten egg white is very glossy, making it a little more difficult to soak with coffee. Sponge cake works like.... a sponge.

Sponge cake

4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
4 Tbsp. cold water
1 Cup cake flour
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Brush three 8-inch pans with butter and dust with flour.
Beat egg yolks and sugar together until very light. Add water. Sift together flour and baking powder. Add to batter. Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into batter. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 20 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes before taking them out of the pans.

Coffee soak

2 cups coffee
2 Tbsp. Kahlua or rum

Combine and set aside

Mascapone cream

3 tub of mascapone cheese (8 oz each)
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar

Beat all ingredients together until light. Mascapone is an Italian cream cheese that is a lot lighter than regular creme cheese. It gives tiramisus their distinct creamy flavor.

Soak the sponge cake one layer at a time in the coffee soak. Be careful not to soak too long or your cake layer will disintegrate in the liquid. It takes some practice. A brush will help getting the liquid soaked into the cake.

After soaking a layer of cake, spread some of the mascapone creme on top and sprinkle cocoa powder onto the creme layer. Repeat with the other two layers and make sure to cover the side of the cake with mascapone creme as well. Chill before serving.


This dessert is such an explosion of flavor. The sweet creamy cream is met with the bitter cocoa and nutty coffee flavor, while the liqueur adds a warm note to a well chilled cake. It is simply decadence at the same time add so much charm to your party.

Brown Gravy

This thick and dark gravy full of flavor and body can be used for any beef dish, from Beef Wellington to Prime Rib. It really adds the extra boost to an already-perfectly moist and tender slice of meat.

Brown Gravy

In a sauce pan, saute:
1 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced.

After the shallots and garlic are soft, about 5 minute, add:
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. all purpose flour

Stir together until the mixture turns brown. Then add:
1/3 cup marsala or red wine

Wait till most of the liquid has evaporated, add:
1.5 cups beef broth

Bring to a boil and simmer until thickens, stir frequently.