Career Day

Tomorrow (Friday), La Bella Torte was asked to speak at Career Day at P.S. 287 in Red Hook.  We are very happy, and excited and nervous about this.  Someone asked us to talk to young children about possibly going into the pastry field as a profession.  The questions that go around in your head - Do you think they'll listen?  What do we say to them?  Do we bring pictures,or maybe something we made?  Will they be interested? Will they fall asleep? Will they throw stuff at us?  Oh My God the pressure of a 10 minute presentation.

After thinking long and hard about this we decided to first - bribe them with cookies.  Talk a little bit about what we do (hopefully it will be interesting for them) Then - show them some pictures of cakes, and then show them a couple of items made out of modeling chocolate. 

I think Joe will do most of the talking, since he's excellent at it and besides being a kiss ass pastry chef, he's a kick ass salesman.

Now I must get back to baking so the we'll have enough cookies for the kids.

Busy Busy Busy

We have'nt blogged in a couple of days.  We have been busy (Thank God).  I have a picture of the cake we just made for a sweet 16, we're also in the midst of filling our weekly orders for our restaurant account and Italian specialty store account, and we just got another account, but we just wanted to say a quick hello don't forget to check out our cake and stay tuned for our next popup and or outdoor market.

 We'll try to post other pictures of the cake later.  It looks much better with the bowl filled with m&m's.

Picture day

we have a picture from Sunday's Greenpoint Foodmarket. 

and check out a cake we did for a local church organization.  They asked for a cake with a crown of roses.

And here's a little bride and groom we made for a friends bridal shower.  They sat them donuts.  I think they're adorable, if I do say so myself.

Right now we're working on a sweet 16 cake for Saturday. We'll post the pictures when we're done.

Updates

Had a great time at the Greenpoint food market at "Taste Williamsburg".  We made a lot of connections, met a lot of great people, and Oh Yeah, we couldn't help but sample some of the amazing food that was being served.   Thank you to our old friends that stopped by and to our new friends we look forward to hearing from you.  And a special thank you to Jamie at Superior Vans. 


Right now, we're busy preparing for a tasting, and we're still working on our next pop up, and we'll have pictures of our latest events and cakes very soon.

Upcoming events

we've been busy trying to secure our next pop up.  Hopefully, that will be done very soon.  In the meantime, we will be at the Greenpoint food Market pop up on Sunday May 16th from 12-4pm at Superior Vans on Wythe Avenue.  It will be alongside "Taste Williamsburg".

"Taste Williamsburg" is going to benefit the building of the Northside Town Hall, it will be held alongside The Brooklyn Brewery, and its $35 a ticket.  There is a long list of restauarants giving tastings at the event, and the Greenpoint Food Market is being held up the block (admission is free).  The vendors will be giving discounts to people who have tickest to "Taste Willaimsburg".  So stop by and say hello,  and buy a cannoli or better yet, buy a desset dipper - they went over big at our pop up at the Cozy Royale.

See Ya Sunday!!!

Thank you

We would like to thank our family, friends and new friends for making our pop up a success.

We would especially like to thank the Greenpointers for getting the word out there for us.  You guys really put us on the map.  Just tell us where to send the cannoli's.

The Big Day is close and the sample are here

One more day to go.  Everything is in place for our Pop up store.  In case you have'nt seen the flyer its at the Cozy Royale, located at 434 Humboldt Street at Jackson Street.  from 4pm to 10pm.

In the meantime, we will be on the corner of Graham Ave and Conselyea Street, handing out samples, just to give you a little taste of what we'll have tomorrow night.  We should be there around 7 O'clock.  so come out and try our cannoli see what Al Pacino raved about.

Finally!! Pictures

There are 2 pictures on the side.  One is  poker cake we're very proud of and the other is our famous cannoli's.  I just figured out how to get our pictures posted (I know, it takes me a minute, but I eventually figure things out.).  The more I figure out, the better our blog will look. 

Just think of this as a hit or miss preview.  As we figure things out, and that could be a while before its completely figured out, you'll see more and more of our work. (hey, we're pastry chefs, not computer techs.)  :)

The Preparation

So, today is Tuesday, May 4th.  3 days to our Pop up store on Friday at the Cozy Royale - 434 Humboldt St at Jackson St.

We're busy making the dough and baking the cookies and the cake and whipping the cannoli cream to perfection.  We will be on Graham Avenue on Thursday evening just to give you a little taste of what you can get on Friday.  And, hey, don't forget to check out Greenpointers and Grubstreet, we're mentioned again.

We are so stoked about this Friday; the only thing that would make it a perfect day is if Al Pacino himself were to show up.

Bedlum in Williamsburg

Had a hectic afternoon.  We had to get 100 cupcakes ready for the dance school, and 3 dozen pastry for our local church .  Both had to be delivered at the same time.  We ran into a problem with the chocolate cupcakes and the chocolate cream. had to remake both at the last minute.  It got so bad I almost frosted the cannoli and stuffed a cupcake.  But we got through it. 
Everything was delivered on time, everyone was happy.  Williamsburg is at peace once again, and life just gets sweeter and sweeter.

cupcake day

Made cupcakes for The Center for Performance research in Williamsburg.  Tomorrow we're decorating and putting on the finishing touch.  It should be fun.

looking forward to warmer weather, possible 9 holes of golf on Thursday.  Then its crunch time getting everything ready for our pop up on the 7th. 

Oh the pressure of the pastry chef.

Here' the flyer for our pop up store

Save the Date for "One Sweet Night in Brooklyn"

We have our date for our pop up Cannoli shop or as we like to call it our "Cannoliteria".  Friday  May 7th at the Cozy Royale at 434 Humboldt Street at Jackson Street.  From 4pm - 10pm.  We will also be serving coffee, cappuccino, of course our famous cannoli's, in different flavors, and the premier  of our "Dessert Dippers" as well as other delicious sweets, and the bar will be open.

On a personal note

Had a great night last night.  It was our 12th anniversary. Had dinner at Bamonte's,  had a great time and great food.

Sprintime in Brooklyn

It's a beautiful day inthe Burg.  Hope everyone is enjoying it just as much as I am.

                                                                                                    - Chef Joe.

Remember Dear Old or Young MOM

First off happy Earth day, and remember cakes and cannolies are biodegradable.  So enjoy as many as you can.

I  don't know about anyone out there, but I was raised by an Italian mother, so when you talk about childhood memories and how Mom was always there to comfort you.  My Mom used the cake method. It's not just a stereotype she really did say "eat this, it'll make you feel better."  It's not just a cookbook by Dom Deluise.  When I think of my Mom or my Dearly departed Grandmother's I remember the pies at Easter, Strufella and the bows at Christmas, and helping my grandmother make macaroni or ravioli for Sunday dinner.   And the best way I know how to pay tribute to these strong and wise women is take the recipes they taught me and make it for them.
So don't forget that special lady in your life called mom.  Give her the sweetest mothers day possible with a cannoli cake, or just one sweet cannoli for one sweet mom.

One more thing, we're almost there with the pop up, and just to ensure that you'll show up, we will be at a location to be disclosed at a later date to hand out samples.
www.labellatorte.com

Reaching New Heights

We are so excited, not only were me mentioned on Greenpointers, but we were also mentioned on Grubstreet.  Go to both blogs and check out the articles about the cannoli's for Al Pacino.  Our only mistake we never mentioned the name of our company anywhere.  We are La Bella Torte.  If you would like to get an idea of some of the stuff we have, go to www.labellatorte.com,or email us at Joeg@labellatorte.com,or Annmarieg@labellatorte.com.  We do deliver in the area.

We are a little closer to our Pop up store.  We're shooting for a May date, and we'll definately have our dessert dippers.  Hopefully we'll have more information about that by the end of the week.

Cannoli's to the Stars!!!

Today was a great day,  I a movie set on Metropolitan Avenue.  I decided to try to get some business out of it. I went to the craft services table and I spoke to the woman in charge, who asked for a sample.  So I went to my truck and brought out some biscotti and butter spritz cookies.  When I went back with the samples she opened the bag to taste them.  There was a man standing next to me who took a biscotti, tasted it and grabbed the whole bag.  I looked surprised at his response.  I looked at the woman and her response was "You know Mr. Pacino, don't you?"  "YES IT WAS AL PACINO!!!" and YES, He liked my Biscotti!!  He asked me what else I made, and I proclaimed my famous cannoli's to which he replied "Bring me a dozen - Extra powder."  And so from this a cannoli star is born.

Let me introduce you to the sweet side of Brooklyn!!

I'm Joe, my wife is AnnMarie, and we are two pastry chefs bringing you the finest in Italian Pastry's such as Cannoli and Sfogliatelle (pronounced sfoooyadell).  We are located in the Greenpoint/Williamsburg area.  We are planning our first popup store in the area.  We'll keep you posted to the when and where.  We bring old style Italian pastry to the streets.  We also want to put a new twist on eating old style desserts in a new way.  The dessert dipper. If you want to know what they are you have to keep reading our blog.  We will try to update daily, and each day we'll reveal a little more about the dipper and ourselves. So stay logged in for more.