Growing up, I was an inveterate chocolate lover.

Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Oreos. Chocolate cream pie. And, of course, chocolate ice cream.

My brother, on the other hand, was Mr. Vanilla. White-on-white cupcakes. Vienna Fingers. Twinkies. Vanilla ice cream.

On hot summer nights after Little League games, our parents would treat us to a cone at the Kenwood Farms ice cream stand, just over the river from our home in in Glastonbury, CT. Dad would have peach; Mom, butter-almond. My sister, Meagan, was an orange sherbet type gal. No question at all about my choice: chocolate, with chocolate jimmies.

And Mike?

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I hope the spring berries have started to arrive in your store, or better yet have started to blossom in your garden.

Why? Because we’ve been baking a plethora of berry beauties to share with you all summer long, and this is just the beginning.

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Doughnuts… for dessert?

For breakfast, sure. With coffee, of course.

Maybe even as a late-afternoon snack, if Krispy Kreme and Dunkin’ have their way.

But as the coda to an elegant dinner party – or even a simple supper?

Read on. By the end of this post, you’re going to be DYING for a dessert doughnut – I guarantee it.

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“WOW… This is the best cheesecake I’ve ever tasted.” – Halley, my boss.

“This is really good. In fact, I think it’s the best cheesecake I’ve ever had.” – Jeff, my co-worker.

“Hey, this cheesecake is REALLY good…” – John, my brother-in-law.

There’s nothing like unsolicited raves from taste-testers to make my day. Especially when what they’re tasting is uncharted territory – at least for me, a New Englander with only the tiniest of connections to New York, from whence this particular type of cheesecake springs.

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PLOP!

The sound of cranberry sauce being dropped from its can onto a serving plate.

“Ahhhhh….” The sound of an appreciative dessert-lover enjoying a bite of buttery, tender, tart-sweet cranberry cake.

PLOP is OK. But “Ahhhh…” So much more satisfying, when you’re a DIY-type person.

Read: home baker.

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So, did the title of the blog get you riled up? No worries, I’ve no intention of starting a turf war nor am I trying to stick labels on anyone. I was just pondering the other day where I fall in the baking scheme of things, and thought it was an interesting topic.

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Who’s that behind those Foster Grants?

Er, I don’t really know, but I definitely want to know who is behind that Bananas Foster-style shortcake!

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Mousse.

No, not the stuff you put in your hair.

And surely not the large, antlered animal drivers here in northern New England worry about meeting some dark night on the road.

I’m talking mousse, as in chocolate. And strawberry. And “easier than you think.”

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Tonight is my late night. No, not a late night of Letterman, or a late night baking pies for Thanksgiving tomorrow, but a late night here on the Baker’s Hotline. Once a week we all take turns closing down the hotline, answering questions after the kiddies have gone to bed, and the sourdough starter is at rest.

So, what is it like here after most of the company has left for the day?

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Move over Eve, Marilyn, Cleopatra and Mae West, and let me show you how this temptation thing is really done.  Plan ahead, you’ll want plenty of time to be ready for this.

First you warm things up. Then you…

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