FAQ

I wish I could take an ounce of the credit, but alas, I am not able to. A widget sounds like a gizmo which sounds like a whatchamacallit in my book! My website was created by an incredibly patient and talented web designer named Yael Reinhardt-Matsliah. I highly recommend her if you have any website needs.

Jennifer Reed at The Sugar Monkey made the two-tiered, gorgeous cake in the middle that you are probably wishing was sitting in front of you. You will be reading more about Jennifer soon, but suffice to say, everything she makes is over the top incredible. I made Marcel Desaulnier’s Death by Chocolate, which is the main focus of the picture on the left, along with Rocky Road Candies and Cap-olate Cheesecake (cappuccino and chocolate cheesecake) in the background. On the right I made the Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake in the foreground and Murcell’s Chocolate Covered Peanuts are behind it. Peaking out of the right side are a few of The Sugar Monkey’s French Macaroons.

I grew up using the American Standard system and even though I weigh some of my ingredients, I still covet my measuring cups.  Additionally, since math was not my strongest subject, I found it easier to work with what I knew rather than convert all of my recipes and most of the recipes in my very extensive cookbook collection.  I realize that many people throughout the world use the metric system and therefore I have a couple of resources for you.  My go-to, all time favorite one is the gold standard of cookbooks, Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker.  They have every conversion needed to bake and/or cook whatever you are in the mood for.  For those of you who do not own this book, I also found a basic conversion chart on parents-talk.com.

My recipes are from all over. I had a baking business years ago, and many of the recipes are mine from the good old days. I also am an avid cookbook collector. David Lebovitz wrote a very helpful blog post that addressed questions a novice blogger like myself had and I am very thankful to David for helping me to avoid pitfalls I would not want to go near. When I use a recipe from a cookbook, you will know it. The recipe will have ‘adapted from’ under the name of the recipe and give credit to the creator of the recipe as well as a link to either the book and/or original recipe if possible. If the recipe is from a cookbook, but has been drastically changed, it will say ‘inspired by’ and list the creator.

I want this blog to be about positive energy. I am always on the hunt for new products and write about all those I love.  At this point I am not going to be doing traditional reviews of products.  If you want to send me something and it turns out that I LOVE it, then I might write about it.  But for right now at least, I cannot promise to post a review of your product.  If this policy changes, I will let you know.

I can guarantee you any and all errors are there despite my best efforts. I proof my blog before posting and have additional eyes check what I wrote, but occasionally mistakes get by us. So, sorry to all of my English teachers in whose classes I spent too much time staring out the windows. Hopefully, there are not too many of these slipups!

Absolutely. I would love to hear from you. Please email me. I try my hardest to respond in a timely manner.

Desserts Required is a site that solicits comments that are written kindly. Anonymous and/or mean-spirited comments will be deleted. I do not have a problem with constructive criticism, but it must be done in a non-offensive way. Please keep kindness and manners in mind when typing.

Please contact me directly to discuss advertising opportunities on my site.

I take the pictures for my blog. I come from a family of incredible photographers. I wish I could say that their knowledge magically seeped into my pores, but that is not the case. I am still learning all the ins and outs of my Canon Rebel XSI digital SLR camera. I have had to remake some recipes because I was not pleased with the lighting. Hopefully, as time goes by, that will happen less and less.  I want you to see what I find so incredibly wonderful about the process of making a recipe and hope that my pictures help tell the story.