What I've Been Up To

This week marked quite possibly the busiest (yet most rewarding) period of my entire year. Like many, many years before this, I was again asked by the wonderful folks of the Autism Ontario chapter of Simcoe County to donate a cake for their gala's annual dessert auction. I not only agreed wholeheartedly (their cause is one I fully support) but I also offered to donate a second dessert - one that those with ASD who were on a gluten- and casein-free diet could enjoy without worrying. I don't have all the photos yet (to tell you the truth, even though they're due tomorrow I still need to put the final touches on the Stout Cake!) but this is what the last few days have been filled with - hence my absence from the virtual world:

GF/CF/nut free/vegan Orange Creme Cupcakes! Adapted from Gluten Free Goddess. Grand Marnier in the frosting FTW!

Sparkles. Lots of sparkles. And chocolate - in my hair, my skin, under my nails, you name it!

Filling with beer caramel, masking frosting (not shown) with Godiva liqueur. Drenched in bittersweet ganache and decorated with pretzel/gummi butterflies (dusted with sparkling sugar) trailing silver dragees around a sprinkle/sugar/chocolate rock meadow.

I'll fill you in on all the sweet (sweet!) details tomorrow, after I sleep off the sugar / caffeine / booze / chocolate high ;-).

However, I'm still shocked that so many people in the Greater Toronto Area (you know who you are!) are passing up one of the best Christmasy gift-type goodies out there. I mean, here I am with $40 of dinner for two at one of the swankiest artist-designed buildings in Toronto (which just so happens to be one of the coolest hotels I've seen) and there are only three entries! According to the know-it-all power that is Google, the T-dot's got 2 503 281 of us poor suckers living here... surely we could all use a free Gladstone meal?