My grandma used to make this icebox style “cake” when we were kids for special occasions. It’s a shortbread with a light cream cheese pudding and a stunning top of fresh strawberries and Jello.
My grandma doesn’t enjoy cooking and this cake she made was definitely considered humbug since it consisted of making separate layers. But, she made it for special occasions anyway because everyone thought it was festive, impressive and so delicious to eat.
I lived in Florida for a short time while I was doing a pediatric internship and key lime pie is everywhere and it is amazing. You can get terrific key lime pie anywhere in Florida. I remember our go-to key lime pie run was from Publix (it’s a grocery store).
This pie is sweet, tart, and creamy. The graham cracker crust is buttery with depth of homey comforting flavor coming from the magic alchemy of graham flour, brown sugar, and a touch of cinnamon that graham crackers have simply bought from the store, just adding butter turns it into a crust. You can make it a showstopper by simply showcasing your piping style and ideas with whipped cream on the top.
In Hawaii, where I am from and currently live, homegrown citrus abounds. We have a variety of limes including the Persian variety as well as the highly aromatic Filipino Calamansi limes so I’ve chosen to use both.
Calamansi limes are tiny, green or yellow on the outside and orange on the inside and extremely tart but with a distinct and unique refreshing citrus flavor. If you love the exotic flavor of Yuzu, the flavor of Calamansi will intrigue you.
Hazelnut Dream Cake – Yule Log
This yule log, or buche de noel is the genius combination of ice cream and light and airy sponge cake. You can flavor the sponge cake and pick the ice cream flavor that you like the best. One of my favorite holiday flavors is cinnamon ice cream so, I’ve chosen a cinnamon spiced Biscoff Cookie gelato that we serve. The bark on the top are delicate thin sheets of white and dark chocolate that look like a modern interpretation of a tree trunk.
This is THE brownie recipe that we use at Via Gelato to make dark chocolate fudgy brownies with a deep complex chocolate flavor. They are unanimously voted as better than box mix brownies.
These iconic New York City rainbow cookies are gorgeous to look at, make and eat. They have a flavor of almonds, a moist and dense sponge cake texture with tart notes of fruit jam and a thin delicate sheet of chocolate on top. I used to buy and received many gifts of these Italian rainbow cookies from Court Pastry when I lived and worked in Brooklyn, New York. There are several Italian bakeries in Carrol Gardens and they are called rainbow cookies and sold by weight along with all the other Italian shortbread cookies and biscotti, but really, they are tiny layered cakes.
