Help Famous Chicago Bakery, Cake Girls!

In Karma Cakes, I highlight an organization or individual that uses baking to make the lives of others a little better. If you know of a bakery, organization or individual that does this please let us know. Mostly everyone I know that bakes, including myself, does it because it makes people happy. Then there are those that use baking as way to reach people in other ways like...

Although this may seem like old news, the impact of this devastating fire is still standing today. On the morning of March 29th Chicago's famous bakery, Cake Girls, burned to the ground. You may be familiar with Cake Girls innovative creations from Food Networks Cake Challenges and the show Amazing Wedding Cakes. The building was declared a total loss and condemned shortly after a Chicago firemen confirmed that the fire started on the residential second floor of the building at about 5:30 am.


Owners, sisters Brenda and Mary lost everything, and are now left with an entire staff out of work until they acquire enough money to reconstruct the bakery. Being a baker myself, I know the Maher sister's will not give up on their passions and dreams. These two ladies built this business from nothing and will not stop here. Here are a few of their breathtaking creations:




Please send your support to Cake Girls by purchasing a T-shirt in efforts to help the employees get by until the bakery is reassembled. I know I did, and also bought my employees T-shirts! Click HERE to help!

Guest Blogger: Nora Campisi of the Blog "Back To Brooklyn"

Every one loves getting guests and the Sugar Mama NYC blog is no exception. It's great to hear point of views, stories and great info from the world beyond my kitchen(and laptop). So when I find someone that I enjoy hearing from, I invite them (read: stalk them until they say yes) to pop in here and share with all of you. If you're interested in guest blogging, feel free to leave your info: name, email, blog link and maybe I'll be able to hang up my binoculars and night vision goggles. I hear the laws on stalking are getting kinda strict...
Now, without further ado, Introducing...

Guest Blogger: Nora Campisi, is a writer living on Long Island, New York, originally from Brooklyn. Get to know Nora better as she takes you "Back 2 Brooklyn" on her Blog and Twitter... enjoy!

Cinnamon crullers, dunked in hot oil, fried until golden brown, rolled in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar, remind me of the early 1970s when my maternal grandmother, a small woman with a thousand wrinkles on her face, would come over to my house to bake.

“Mary,” she’d say to my mother. “Set the big pot on the stove and heat the oil, proprio ora - right now!”

As my grandmother moved about my kitchen with the fluidity of a

dancer, she barked out orders for my mother to follow. At the time I was just a girl, secretly pleased that my mother – a woman never without an opinion at least when it came to me – had to comply.

The two generations of women worked in tandem. As my grandmother dumped the flour onto a cutting board, mixed in sugar, baking powder and formed a well in the middle, my mother grabbed a bowl and beat together vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla. My grandmother stood at the ready, flour dotting her nose, her eyeglasses. As Mom gradually poured the egg mixture into the well, my grandmother's capable hands turned the mixture into dough.

While they worked my grandmother took the time to find out “what was doing” with my mother – but she never asked direct questions. Instead, she indulged in the Italian version of “Can You Top This?” She focused on the accomplishments of her other children - my aunts and uncles - and waited for my mother to respond in kind.

Sometimes Mom bubbled over with stories about her own children – good stories that made my grandmother laugh as their hands worked over the dough. Other times, Mom didn’t have much to say – she was worried about one of us or all of us –– a child was failing in school; another was trying her patience – and so she kept silent as she kneaded the dough, which was then flattened across the kitchen table with a rolling pin, cut it into two-inch long strips and braided into ropes.

Still, my grandmother talked as she stood at the oil pot waving her slotted spoon.

“Mary – you move into this big house, and still no dining room table? When you gonna get one? Quando – when"?

“Soon, ma,” My mother, never explaining money was tight, rolled her eyes as she handed over the roped dough.

My grandmother made a face and dropped the crullers into the oil where they floated like buoys. With a quick turn they puffed into a golden brown twists. Plucked from the oil and drained, they were rolled into the cinnamon-sugar and cooled on paper bags (which my grandmother claimed absorbed more oil). Always, I snatched a warm cruller and bit down. The bland taste of the warm dough coupled with the hardened exterior and the hint of sweetness from the cinnamon-sugar made them irresistible.

After the baking was done and the pot cleaned and put away, my mother and grandmother, content to nibble on crullers, avoided the tougher questions. They laughed as they enjoyed the fruits of their labor, forgetting for a time the complexities of their mother-daughter relationship. Perhaps, on some level they realized that a fresh cinnamon cruller came with its own reward.

The way I remember it, they certainly did eat a lot of crullers.

Nora Campisi

www.back2brooklyn.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/noracampisi

Sugar Mama NYC's Giveaway: Pink Sugar Bakery

Every one loves getting free stuff and giving it away is even more fun! Sugar Mama NYC will host giveaways as often as possible featuring the coolest stuff we can find.
It's easy to enter: Just click on one of the links below. Enteryour info, the name of the giveaway featured in the title above and your give away entry. Best of luck in Sugar Mama NYC's Giveaway!


Today's Giveaway:

Giveaway Name: Pink Sugar Bakery
Giveaway Entry: Candy or Jewelry? And why?
Giveaway Prize:one cupcake pendant on a silver-tone chain (retail value 23.50) and one cell phone charm (retail value 22.50)
Giveaway ends May 26th, 2010!



Pink Sugar Bakery is an online boutique featuring sweet shop inspired jewelry and accessories for the fashionista with a sweet tooth! Each piece is handmade, and often, they're made to order. Many of the items available at PinkSugarBakery.com are hugely customizable, like the super cute cupcake jewelry and accessories that can be made in virtually any color combination you can imagine. Treat yourself or treat a friend - gift certificates and gift wrapping are also available!


**We love comments, but leaving one below will not enter you in the giveaway. You must submit an entry form by clicking the link below. Be sure to enter the GIVEAWAY NAME & GIVEAWAY ENTRY to qualify**


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Karma Cakes: Please Give Me 5!

In Karma Cakes, I highlight an organization or individual that uses baking to make the lives of others a little better. If you know of a bakery, organization or individual that does this please let us know.Most everyone I know that bakes, including myself, do it because is makes people happy. Then there are those that use baking as way to reach people in other ways like...

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Please Give Me 5

I first came across Jakob's story through my wonderful group of flickr friends. Jakob's mom is a cake designer from Down Under named Kathryn and the following post is reprinted with permission from her blog 4 Goodness Cake. I actually sat in front of my computer for 20 minutes trying to write a blog post before realizing that I couldn't find words any better than Kathryn's. If you were touched as half as much as I was you'll click on the link above the "Please Give Me 5" logo and donate. It's $ 5 in New Zealand but only about $ 4 in the US. Also, please post on your own blog, facebook and twitter page. Jakob's halfway to his goal and there's only one week left!

Here's Kathryn's post, originally published on 3/27/10:


"For many of us Christmas is that moment in time when we focus on the people we love and we do everything in our power to make sure they feel it. We even extend part of that love and kindness to people who we don’t really know just in case they don’t have someone giving them that support.

Anyway, that ‘s how it should normally go but in the moments before Christmas 09 my friend Tracey was told that her daughter Kelcey aged 9 years had a disease known as T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. You don’t need Wikipedia to work out that this is a damned serious disease that has no right to be in anybody’s life especially someone so young and hungry for life like, Kelcey. As you can expect this was devastating news for Tracey, her husband Kelvin and all their family and friends.

The road ahead for Kelcey is a constant barrage of invasive treatments that will challenge every physical and mental part of her being. She is a child with a whole bunch of dreams and wishes that have now been cruelly wrenched from her. It’s not fair. Tracey and Kelvin are determined to see their precious Kelcey overcome this disease and begin to enjoy the things that children are designed to enjoy. I will be fully supporting Tracey and her family in this campaign because she has done so much for me, my family and many other people who know her. I am confident she probably has no appreciation whatsoever of how much she has inspired and strengthened those around her.

Tracey has unwittingly done this as she waged her own battle against breast cancer a few years ago. Yes, it’s hard to believe that while she still has her own fight to finish she has found the reserves of courage to fight for Kelcey. That’s too remarkable for words.

My 9 year old son Jakob has developed a strong relationship with Kelcey through this time. Perhaps this had its beginnings when Tracey and I were two friends with three months between our pregnancies. Jakob has seen and understood how very different Kelcey’s situation is from his own so when he talks about her you can feel the powerful strength in his belief that she will be cured. He wants to help Kelcey so tomorrow he’s joining a “shave off” that will be staged by the Auckland Police Dog Section.

Yes, my son is going to shave his head to raise funds for Kelcey.

He made this decision himself and he already has set himself a target figure. Jakob’s theory is that if a 1000 people amongst the billions who live in this world sponsored him $5.00 each then he would have $5000 to give to Kelcey and her family. The mother in me wants to say to him “Son let’s keep it real. You don’t want to be disappointed” but he believes he can do it so I’m going to believe with him.

So this is where YOU come in.....

Please donate $5 to Kelcey’s fund and then PLEASE forward on to everyone and anyone you can think of!
We have about a week to get this thing ‘global’ and I will be updating his progress as the figure climbs and adding photos of the ‘Shave Off’ Fundraiser..... with the new look Jakob!
If you made it this far then I thank you.....now PLEASE go press that Donate button :O)"

Click here to donate to Jakob's cause! Only one week left!

** Jakob is a huge fan of the Ellen Show and has written to Ellen in the hopes that she will help him bring attention to Kelcey's cause by sending a tweet to her fans. Here is a link to send an email to Ellen. Maybe if enough of us email, she'll help!**

Well it's bake to work for me!

Thanks for tuning in! Until next time...

Sugar Mama NYC's Giveaway: Wilton baking and decorating supplies

Every one loves getting free stuff and giving it away is even more fun! Sugar Mama NYC will host giveaways as often as possible featuring the coolest stuff we can find.
It's easy to enter: Just click on one of the links below. Enter your info, the name of the giveaway featured in the title above and your give away entry. Best of luck in Sugar Mama NYC's Giveaway!

Coming soon, Sugar Mama NYC will have an online store on our website selling Wilton baking and decorating products! To kickoff our upcoming store, we will be giving away an assortment of Wilton baking and decorating products.

Today's Giveaway:

Giveaway Name: Wilton baking and decorating supplies


Giveaway Entry: What baking/decorating tool can you NOT live without and why?

Giveaway Prize: Cake and pie server, Baker's blade, Decorating tip cover set, and 12 icing bag ties.
Retail Price: Over $25.00
Giveaway ends April 22, 2010!

Wilton Enterprises, based in Woodridge, Illinois, and founded in 1929, is the leading food crafting company in the industry, with the number one position in cake decorating, bakeware and tea kettles. Today, Wilton Enterprises offers the industry´s most comprehensive and innovative selection of baking, cake decorating, candy making, cookie making, wedding, baby, party, seasonal, kitchen and hydration products. These products are designed to make it easy for anyone to enjoy the thrill of serving something special and utilizing unique style and design while doing it. Consumers trust Wilton brands such as Performance Pans™, Candy Melts® brand confectionery coating, Cupcakes ´N More® dessert stands and Copco® Housewares to help make celebrations more exciting. Along with great products, Wilton classes and publications have helped hundreds of thousands of people around the world create impressive party desserts, served with flair. Celebrating its 80th year, The Wilton School of Cake Decorating and Confectionery Art still educates 1,400 students a year who have come from 88 countries and all 50 states while Educational Marketing with its almost 4,000 teachers across the US taught 262,000 people the art of cake decorating in 2008.

**We love comments, but leaving one below will not enter you in the giveaway. You must submit an entry form by clicking the link below. Be sure to enter the GIVEAWAY NAME & GIVEAWAY ENTRY to qualify**

Enter Here:
Read the Rules... or
Skip to the good stuff!
if the link is not working cut and paste this url to your browser:

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