The Artistic Whisk – St. Petersburg, FL

 

Lance has left most of the wedding planning up to me since I’ve got more of an opinion about most of it – but one thing he was really excited to be part of was the cake tasting!

I went to a bridal show back in June and honestly, I wasn’t impressed by most of the cakes I tried.  I know fondant can make some really pretty designs, but I just don’t think it tastes good.  And surprisingly most of the cakes we sampled from the bridal show venders were pretty bland or dry. 

But luckily we stumbled upon Jovana’s booth for The Artistic Whisk while we were there.  The name sounded familiar because another engaged friend, Padma, had just done a tasting there a few weeks prior.  She had samples of her chocolate peanut butter cake and it was amazing!  (it’s actually not the cupcake pictured above…that was a competitor’s chocolate peanut butter that looked prettier than it tasted…) 

Jovana was just about to get married herself, so we arranged a cake tasting once she got back from her honeymoon to try her other flavors. 

Her bakery is in a warehouse strip in St. Pete – so luckily not too far from our venue.  She uses all natural flavors and has a pretty impressive background – graduating from Le Cordon Bleu and baking for Tampa’s Marriot Waterside, Clearwater’s Sandpearl Resort, the Ritz Carlton in Naples, and Innisbrook Golf and Spa Resort in Palm Harbor. 

My mom and dad joined Lance and me for the tasting.  She brought us all champagne while we walked through 21 different flavors and rated our favorites.  Luckily we can pick different flavors for each cake tier since it was really hard to narrow down which ones we liked best – they were ALL amazing.  And each had homemade fillings and different types of buttercreams to compliment the cake.   

My favorites were the orange creamsicle, almond raspberry, coconut with rum roasted pineapple, bananas foster, carrot cake, Bailey’s macadamia, Boston cream, chocolate chip cannoli, German chocolate, mint chocolate chip, mocha, and the chocolate peanut butter (I know, that’s a long list!) 

The four of us narrowed it down, and we decided on the coconut with rum roasted pineapple, chocolate peanut butter, and Bailey’s macadamia.  Plus she adds in a complimentary cake topper for us to enjoy on our 1 year anniversary, which will be the chocolate peanut butter.  We discussed designs and sketched up a plan based on the Pinterest ideas I’d sent her. 

I’m so excited that we found Jovana and I’d highly recommend her to any of you that need a cake for a special occasion.  Looking forward to the big day next April!

You can reach Jovana at theartisticwhisk@gmail.com or call her at (727) 560-5662 – her bakery is by appointment only.

Chocolate Baileys Cheesecake

 

Every Easter since 2008, I’ve baked a cheesecake (you can see all the previous ones on this tbt post from last week).  I’ve tried to make a different kind every year, so I have tons of cheesecake recipes saved on Pinterest.

This year I baked a chocolate cheesecake with Baileys, topped with chocolate chips and chocolate covered espresso beans.  Like the chocolate peanut butter kind I made in 2012, this one was super rich. 

We drove down to Fort Myers to celebrate with Lance’s family this year.  After spending the afternoon at the pool, we headed to his aunt & uncle’s place for dinner.  They have an Easter tradition of crafting bunnies out of pears with maraschino cherry noses, marshmallow tails, clove eyes, and paper ears.  We ate those along with a huge dinner, so we barely had room for cheesecake afterwards. 

 

 

 

I’d never baked this flavor before but I’m very happy with how it turned out!  When cut, it showed all the layers really well – chocolate graham cracker crust, chocolate cheesecake, sour cream topping, and the chocolate chip/espresso bean garnish. 

Baileys Chocolate Cheesecake (adapted from Cozy Country Living)

Crust:

·        2 cups chocolate graham crackers crumbs (about 12 whole crackers)

·        8 T butter (1 stick), melted

Cheesecake:

·        4 – 8oz pkgs cream cheese

·        1½ cups granulated sugar

·        1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

·        1 tsp vanilla

·        4 eggs

·        ½ cup Baileys Irish Cream liquor

Topping:  

·        1 – 16oz container sour cream

·        ¼ cup granulated sugar

·        ¼ cup Baileys Irish Cream liquor

·        1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

·        About 50 chocolate covered espresso beans

 

Directions:

1.  Grease a 9” springform pan (I used coconut oil spray) and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grind your graham crackers in the food processer.  Mix with melted butter and press into the bottom of your pan evenly and part way up the sides. 

3. Bake crust for 8 minutes, then allow to cool while you prepare the filling.    

4. In a small saucepan, heat chocolate chips on low, stirring until just melted.  Set aside to cool slightly. 

 

5. In a large bowl with a hand-mixer (or this year I was able to use my KitchenAid mixer!), blend the cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. 

6. Slowly add the melted chocolate by the spoonful, scraping the sides to make sure it combines well. 

7. Add eggs one at a time, beating until just combined after each addition.

8. Add the vanilla and Baileys and mix together until combined. 

9. Pour filling over crust and spread out evenly.  Bake for about 60 minutes, or until almost set.  Remove and let stand for 5 minutes. 

 

10.  Blend together the sour cream, sugar, and Baileys for the topping.  Spread evenly over cheesecake and bake 5 more minutes. 

 

11. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes.  Carefully go around the edges of the pan with a knife to loosen, and move the cheesecake, still in the springform pan, to a cooling rack and let sit another 30 minutes. 

12. Top with chocolate chips and chocolate covered espresso beans. 

13. After another hour, you can cover the cheesecake with foil or plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator overnight. 

14.  Remove the sides from the springform pan, cut in slices & enjoy!