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Food Blog Business | Food Styling & Photography | Food Blog Design | Food Writing

Food Blog Forum Orlando is a full-day seminar on Saturday, March 17, 2012, at Epcot Center, designed specifically for food bloggers.

We’ll be covering the most relevant topics for food bloggers, including food styling and photography, photo editing, recipe writing and development, food blog design and social media.

In addition to the information and skills you’ll be able to immediately implement, we’ll have several networking and social opportunities throughout the weekend.

Schedule

Friday, March 16, 2012
Friday Evening – Welcome Reception at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa sponsored by Walt Disney World

Saturday, March 17, 2012
8:00am-4:30pm
Coffee and continental breakfast provided by Walt Disney World

Food Photography & Styling: Sharing your food story through your creative voice
Diane Cu & Todd Porter
Everyone has a unique food story to share through images. Crafting your visual voice and sharing your authentic story in compelling food images is what makes your unique style stand out. Learn how to define your own food photography style and food storytelling. Elements of lighting, composition, style, basic propping, editing and story will be discussed to help you make your best photographs. Be inspired to craft images that are original, fresh, authentic and uniquely you.

PRspectives
Jaden Hair, Rachel Barbarotta, Arianna Bastianini, Tom Smith
A lesson in PR 101, from various perspectives. This panel brings together bloggers, brands and PR professionals to give you an inside look into the process of working with brands and forming relationships that can benefit both the bloggers and companies they work with.

How to Write Bigger, Better, More Badass Food Posts
David Leite
In this solo panel, learn what it takes to write the kind of posts that move people to leave comments as well as to forward, tweet, stumble, and Facebook the hell out of them. Not to mention getting awards and recognition. Use David’s checklist to evaluate how successful your posts are and how to improve them.

From Hobby to Professional: Taking your Blog to the Next Level
Dawn Viola
Do you want to take your food blog from hobby to professional? Food writer and research chef, Dawn Viola, will show you how to develop your unique food writing niche, find your blogging voice and harness free marketing tools to establish yourself as a professional writer.

LUNCH

A (Healthful) Taste of Disney! Sponsored by Walt Disney World

Experts Round Table

Dive deeper into the topics that interest you most. We’ll have our speakers and other experts available to you during a series of four 30-minute “speed-networking” sessions. Ask questions and get advice from our experts in a more personal setting. Explore topics such as Social Media, Technology and Design, Photography & Styling Live Demonstration, Basic Photo Editing and File Management, Pitching to Editors, Writing Cookbook Proposals, Recipe Development, The Business of Blogging and more.

Closing Party

Saturday, March 17, 2012
Sponsored by Walt Disney World
Private dessert party at Epcot Center with front row viewing of Illuminations

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Brunch At Whole Foods Market Orlando

Does this look amazing or what??!

Are any of my fellow food bloggers going? If so, let me know in the comments! I’d love to meet!

Related posts:

1. GIVEAWAY: 2 Tickets to the 2011 Philadelphia Food & Wine Festival!
2. Atlantic City Food & Wine Festival, take two.
3. Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival: The Countown is on!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• loaf pan
• parchment paper
• off-set spatula
• half gallon of ice cream (if you are using two flavors, use half of each container)
• hot fudge sauce
• oreo cookies

ASSEMBLY

I decided that I was going to make mine in a loaf pan. It doesn’t take up a ton of room in the freezer and I figured it’d be easy to slice. So I started out by lining my loaf pan with some parchment paper. I cut a strip for it to go long ways, and then I cut another piece that would fit the other way. This way it would be easy to take it out of the loaf pan to cut.

I let the base flavor (chocolate) of my ice cream soften a bit before starting on the assembly of my ice cream cake. I wanted it to be easy to work with. I used a medium sized cookie scoop (you could use a regular ice cream scoop if you prefer) and scooped the ice cream out of the ice cream container and placed it in the bottom of the loaf pan. I placed one scoop right next to the other scoop so that they were closely touching. Once I was done that I took an off-set spatula and smoothed it all out so that it was a nice flat surface. You want the ice cream to come almost halfway up the loaf pan, but not quite all the way.

I don’t know about you, but my favorite part of the ice cream cake is the middle! I put some oreo cookies (maybe like 10 cookies?) into my Vitamix and broke up the pieces. I didn’t make it a fine crumb or anything. They were little round pieces of cookie. I tried getting it as close to those Dairy Queen “crunchies” as I could. It’s hard, though. I took half of the cookies and put them on top of your base layer. I pushed them in a bit so that they would stay kind of glue themselves to the bottom ice cream layer.

Next it was time for some hot fudge sauce! I recommend using some amazing homemade hot fudge sauce, and you can find the recipe here. Take some of your hot fudge sauce and drizzle it over the cookie pieces. It would be easiest to use a squeeze bottle, but make sure it can be heated up a bit so that it’s squeezable (recommendation: pancake syrup bottle that can be heated up!). If you can’t use a squeeze bottle then just take a spoon and lightly drizzle it over the cookie pieces. Once you have an even layer of hot fudge on top of the cookies, take the rest of your cookie pieces and place them on top of the fudge sauce. Push down a bit to make sure it sticks to the fudge sauce.

Take your top flavor of ice cream (in my case it was cookies n cream) and scoop the ice cream and place it on top of the cookie mixture (just like how you did it for the base). You want to make sure you cover the entire cake. Once that’s done take your off-set spatula (rinsed off, of course!) and smooth out the top. Do not cover it yet; place in the freeze for about 30 minutes and let it firm up a bit before covering.

After it’s firmed up a bit, cut a piece of parchment paper that fits right on top (so the length of the loaf pan) of the cake. Then take some saran wrap and wrap up the loaf pan and place in the freezer.

I know that Dairy Queen does that whippy icing on top, but I’m not a fan of that so I left it off. But if I were making a round ice cream cake for someone’s birthday I would probably pipe some real buttercream icing around the edges.

TRIAL & ERROR

Now on my first trial run of this ice cream cake when I was making the middle layer, I combined my hot fudge sauce and the oreo crunchies. That didn’t really turn out all that well. When we went to eat the ice cream cake the center was quite hard. So this is when I knew I had to go back to the drawing board to find “the perfect recipe.”  Don’t get me wrong, we ate that ice cream cake! But I knew it needed work.  So then I tried doing the cookie/fudge/cookie layer in between the two flavors of ice cream and that worked out so well. It was not hard and it had the right amount of hot fudge to go with the cookie pieces. I was so pleased with how it came out!

This is probably as close to Dairy Queen’s ice cream cake that I’ll get without buying a cake from them. I’m pretty happy with how it came out. There are so many different flavors you can use! I really want to try cake batter flavored ice cream with the chocolate ice cream.  I also plan on experimenting with middle layers – like perhaps a brownie batter middle layer. How amazing would that be?!

Related posts:

1. Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce
2. Cake Batter Cookie Sandwich
3. Baking for the Holidays

Okay – now let’s talk about this Hot Fudge Sauce! I used up the Hot Fudge that was purchased from the grocery store on the first Ice Cream Cake run. I needed some for my second Ice Cream Cake (since the first one was all gone!) and I didn’t have any more. I didn’t feel like going to the grocery store, so I started looking up some recipes online to make my own. I came across one on Allrecipes called Sue’s Hot Fudge Sauce. It got 4 1/2 stars and looked pretty simple so I figured I’d use that as a base recipe and make a few of my own modifications to it. You can find the original recipe here. The ingredients/instructions below include the changes that I made.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 1/2  cups white sugar
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup mini marshmallows
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine butter, cocoa, sugar, chocolate chips, espresso powder, marshmallows, and evaporated milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Use a whisk to combine everything. Continue to whisk while the mini marshmallows melt.

Bring to a boil and boil for about 7 – 8 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat; stir in vanilla. Pour the hot mixture into a blender and blend for 4 minutes.  I would not skip this step – it’s essential. Some people have used a hand blender – you could probably try that if you wanted. I used my Vitamix and it worked perfectly.

Once it starts to cool it will thicken up.  Store in refrigerator.

This Hot Fudge Sauce was amazing.  I really loved the addition of the marshmallows – it seemed to make it more fudgy. The espresso powder brings out that rich chocolate flavor. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t have the espresso powder. I think it’ll be fine without it. I don’t think I’ll ever buy jarred Hot Fudge Sauce again!

Related posts:

1. 5 Ingredient Friday: Homemade Caramel Sauce
2. 5 Ingredient Friday: BBQ Sauce
3. Homemade Instant Oatmeal

So I was browsing online and I came across a Hashbrown Crusted Brunch Casserole from Just A Pinch. I thought it looked pretty good so I figured I’d give it a try. I wanted to change a few things in it though, so what I put below includes my changes. You can see the original recipe here.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 package Simply Potatoes Shredded Hashbrowns
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 2 Shallots, chopped
• 1 cup Bacon
• 3 Scallions, diced
• 1 cup New York Sharp Cheddar
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 cup Milk
• Salt & Pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes until top is golden.

Related posts:

1. Sweet Onion Casserole

The night before I was going to make the Carmelitas, I decided to make the Salted Caramel Sauce. I wanted to give it plenty of time to cool and set up.

SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon gray sea salt, crushed or kosher salt

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar and water over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and bring to a boil, without stirring. If necessary, use a wet pastry brush to wash down any crystals on the side of the pan. Boil until the syrup is a deep amber color, about 5 to 6 minutes.

Remove the sugar from the heat and carefully whisk in the heavy cream. The mixture will bubble. Stir in the unsalted butter, and salt. Transfer the caramel to a dish and cool.

I transferred it to the fridge once it cooled and let it set there over night. I took the caramel sauce out of the fridge about an hour or so before starting the Carmelitas.

CARMELITAS:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 3/4 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup chocolate chips (I didn’t use the chocolate chips)
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1 1/2 cups Salted Caramel Sauce
• 2 1/2 tablespoons flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 13-inch pan.

Combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and softened butter in the bowl of a mixer. Mix on low until crumbly. Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions.

Press half the crumb mixture in the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and cool slightly.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips, and chopped pecans over the cooled crust.

Mix the salted caramel sauce, and flour together, and drizzle over the chocolate chips, and nuts.

Top with the remaining crumb mixture. Return to the oven and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes or until the crust starts to brown. Allow the pan to cool, and refrigerate it until the caramel filling is set.

Cut into bars and serve.

They were all ready to be delivered to my family members!

I can’t even begin to tell you how delicious these bars are. The Salted Caramel Sauce is so good! The recipe really only made enough for these bars, so if you want some for the Milkshake or something else I’d double the recipe. I really loved the bars straight out of the fridge. They were very good when they weren’t refrigerated too. I highly recommend these and I’m plotting out the next time I can make these! I know it won’t be soon enough!

Related posts:

1. 5 Ingredient Friday: Homemade Caramel Sauce
2. Souper Bowl Sunday – Week 10
3. Pizza Dough with Debi Mazar & Gabriele Corcos

I’m not really one to set goals or resolutions. I kind of just go with the flow. I got quite a few kitchen related items for Christmas, so they have been fun to play with! I’m sure you’ll see posts about them coming up in the next few weeks!

I had some time off of work, which was fabulous. I would have to say the highlight of my holidays was being able to attend the 2012 Bridgestone Winter Classic and the Philadelphia Flyers vs New York Rangers Alumni game at Citizens Bank Park.  The Winter Classic didn’t end with the outcome I had hoped for, but it was truly an amazing experience. I’m so happy I had the opportunity to go.

What was the highlight of your holiday?

What was your favorite gift?

Related posts:

1. One year ago today…

So here’s what I’m making…

• Peanut Butter Fudge (I make this every year!)
• Cookies ‘n Cream Fudge (I make this every year!)
• Kelsey Nixon’s Carmelitas
• Cake Batter Cookie Sandwiches
• Caramel Cashew Clusters from My Baking Addiction

I want to make a few other things – but I need some inspiration!

What are you baking for the holidays?

Related posts:

1. Baking for the Holidays
2. Sunny Anderson is Baking for the Troops!

As we all know, I love cake. I also love cake batter. I love cookies. Put the two together and you have Cake Batter Cookies! I was catching up on my Google Reader and came across Lovin’ From the Oven’s blog post for Cake Batter Cookies. I knew from the second I laid eyes on them that I had to try them. So I did! I wanted to try them out before making homemade gifts for the holidays. So I did a test run. And I loved how they turned out. I decided to take it up a notch and make Cake Batter Cookie Sandwiches!

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 1/4 cup funfetti cake mix
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 cup softened butter
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• sprinkles (optional)
• buttercream icing

Note: The recipe on Lovin’ From the Oven’s post called for chocolate chips, but I didn’t want to put those in.

Cream together the butter and sugars. Mix in the egg yolk, egg, and vanilla until creamy.

Add in the flour, cake mix, and baking soda. Stir in sprinkles.

Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough onto cookie sheets. I used a medium sized cookie scoop.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the edges are golden.

Let the cookies cool on a baking rack.

Place a cookie upside down and pipe some buttercream icing on the cookie. Place another cookie (bottom side down) on top to make a sandwich.

These cookies are also delicious plain if you don’t want to make the sandwiches!

Related posts:

1. Week 3 – Cake Decorating
2. Blueberry Coffee Cake
3. Cake & the Bean Stalk

According to their web site, World-renowned Chef Todd English’s newest restaurant concept, Ça Va, is located in the heart of New York City’s Theater district. Ça Va is a modern twist on the traditional brasserie serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as a Pre-Theater dining menu.

We had the opportunity to experience their  Taste of Ça Va – 3 Course Menu. You get three courses for $24.07, and let me tell you that’s a steal! They change up the menu every so often, so it’s not always the same dishes on there. I think this is wonderful for those that are repeat customers.

I started off with a Cocktail (isn’t that how you have to start?!) and I chose the Ginger Sangria. I don’t remember everything that was in it, but I can tell you that they did not skimp on the alcohol. But I guess at $14 each, you really can’t.

FIRST COURSE

FALL VEGETABLE SALAD
brussel sprouts, fuji apple, pomegranate seeds, enokii mushrooms

PUMPKIN BISQUE
maine lobster, apple sage cloud, cinnamon croutons

RACLETTE CLASSIQUE
cornichons, onion, air dried beef

So as you see, I decided to go with the Pumpkin Bisque and it was a phenomenal choice. It was packed full of flavor and spice. I loved the addition of the cinnamon croutons. What a fantastic idea!

SECOND COURSE

RICOTTA GNOCCHI
roasted tomato sauce, arugula pesto, parmesan

ROASTED LEG OF LAMB
rosemary potato, glazed carrots, black olive jus

LOUP DE MERI ROTI
roasted mediterranean sea bass, lentil salad, braised greens, vadouvan butter

I don’t think I can say enough good things about this dish. It was absolutely delicious. The Ricotta Gnocchi was so light and fluffy that it melted in your mouth. The roasted tomato sauce was packed full of delicious tomatoes and the pesto had the perfect balance of flavors. I think I could eaten a few helpings of these! They’ve inspired me to try to make my own Ricotta Gnocchi. If I can make them taste as half as good as these, I’ll consider it a success.

THIRD COURSE

CANDY CANE CHEESECAKE
oreo cookie crust, cocoa nib tuile

AUTUMN FRUIT BREAD PUDDING
warm fruit compote, vanilla anglaise

SELECTION OF ICE CREAMS OR SORBETS

Now it’s no surprise that I love dessert. I knew that I was going to try the Candy Cane Cheesecake because I do not care for Bread Pudding at all. If that was my only choice for dessert I would skip it. I was a bit nervous to try the Candy Cane Cheesecake because peppermint + cheesecake doesn’t really sound all that good to me. But I was willing to take one for the team and try it. And honestly, it  was very good. I love being pleasantly surprised.  The chocolate sauce on the plate had a slight hint of peppermint to it, and it complimented the cheesecake very well. I really enjoyed the cocoa nib tuile. And the oreo crust? My fave!

And what’s dessert without a Vanilla Latte?

If you’re ever in New York City, be sure to stop by Ça Va Brasserie for a meal. You won’t be disappointed!

Ça Va Brasserie
310 W 44^th STREET
NEW YORK, NY 10036
TEL 212.803.4545

Related posts:

1. New York City Wine and Food Festival ~ September 29 – October 2, 2011

• 4 Chicken Leg Quarters (or Split Chicken Breasts)
• Butter
• About 8  Baby White Potatoes
• 1 medium sized Sweet Potato
• Maple Syrup
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon Corn Starch
• 1/4 cup Water

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Wash the Chicken thoroughly, and pat dry with a paper towel. Season the bottom of each piece of chicken and place skin side up in a large baking dish. Make a small slit in the skin and stuff a small slice of butter under the skin. Repeat for each piece of chicken. Lay a small slice of butter on top of each piece.

Season with salt and pepper.

Wash the Baby Potatoes and the Sweet Potato. Cut up into bite sized chunks (make sure they are all about the same size so they cook evenly).

Arrange the Potatoes around the chicken. Season the Potatoes with salt.

Drizzle the Potatoes and the chicken with Maple Syrup. I didn’t put an exact measurement because you should use your judgement. Don’t drench everything with the Maple Syrup – remember that it’s sweet stuff!

Roast in the oven for about an hour. After about 30 minutes I took it out of the oven and mixed up the potatoes a bit. I also drizzled a little bit more Maple Syrup on everything. Make sure the Chicken is at least 160 degrees (use your thermometer!) and when it’s done take it out of the oven. I scooped the potatoes out of the baking dish and put them in a bowl.

Strain the juice/gravy into a measuring glass. You want to make sure you get the chicken bits, etc out of the liquid. Remove the fat off of the top. Pour the liquid into a small saucepan and heat under medium heat. Mix the cornstarch and water together. Add to the saucepan. Let it come to a boil. This will thicken it into a nice gravy.

Place the Chicken on a serving platter.

Plate it, and enjoy! The Maple Gravy is delicious on both the Chicken and on the Potatoes!

Related posts:

1. 5 Ingredient Friday: Roasted Potatoes
2. The Best Basic Potato Salad
3. 5 Ingredient Friday: Chicken Stuffed with Spinach & Sharp Provolone