Schiacciata alla Fiorentina

I had this cake while visiting my friends in Florence.

With some help from my friend Silvia who I stayed with there, I got a recipe to try it out here.

Of course the original was much better, but my first time attempting this wasn't bad, and I really surprised myself.

The cake is a lightly orange flavored sponge cake sliced thinly in half and filled with crema chantilly.

Powdered sugar and cocoa decorate the top :)

Donuts. Is there anything they can't do? --Homer Simpson

Homemade Oven Baked Donuts

I saw a donut molded pan in a bakery supply in downtown Los Angeles and it seemed like a cute idea. I found a recipe for making donuts in the oven, and I iced them with chocolate, peanuts, coconut, cinnamon sugar, and powdered sugar.

Fresh Fruit Tarts

Fresh Fruit Tarts.

I made these for my mothers birthday dinner tonight.

This was my first time making these.

A sweet pastry tart crust, with a slight orange flavor, with the insides coated in chocolate.

An Italian custard like cream recipe topped with fresh kiwifruit, strawberries, mandarin oranges, blackberries, blueberries and sliced almonds.

An apricot glaze is usually used to cover the entire tart, till it cools and dries, but we didn't end up having it on ours because we wanted the fresh fruit taste. Really, really good :)

Crostini

with pork sausages and stracchino cheese ( we couldn't find stracchino in American super markets, so we improvised.) I learned to make them in Florence, Italy from Luisa Montone and Silvia Menza who I consider family. I learnt a lot from Luisa's fabulous cooking, and I can't wait to stay with her again to learn more!!!