Here at the Loveless Cafe, we have lots of love for dessert! We make homemade pies every day, we share recipes using Loveless pantry products, and our Pastry Chef, Christa Nash, is always creating new and exciting desserts to delight our customers! We were excited to welcome Manuela Kjeilen, a world-renowned baker and blogger with a very successful business, Passion For Baking! Manuela sat down with Christa, who made several fall treats for their tasting in the Harpeth Room. Here’s what Christa created, and what Manuela had to say!
Up first was Red Velvet Cake, and boy did we start off right! Manuela doesn’t usually care for red velvet, but after tasting ours, her mind was changed. She said, “it’s the first Red Velvet Cake I like! It’s really really really really good!” and was happily surprised to find out we publicly share the recipe
Honey Chess Pie is very much a Southern dessert, and Manuela wasn’t in love with the sugar overload. Chess pie was created hundreds of years ago when farmers made dessert with the only ingredients they had: eggs and sugar. Ours adds a just few more ingredients, including our Clover & Wildflower Honey. It’s definitely a dessert for anyone with a serious sweet tooth!
We were happy to hear Manuela loves snickerdoodles when we brought the next treat to the table, which we call Peachy Doodles! It’s a relatively simple recipe that can be modified with any flavor preserves even apple butter or pumpkin butter and we sometimes sell these fresh in Hams & Jams market.
Next, we presented Manuela with Jalapeño Bacon Chocolate Cupcakes, which we consider a novelty item using our own Jalapeño Bacon. Manuela is often referred to as the Cupcake Queen, and while she was not familiar with the recent bacon-chocolate trend here in the U.S. (Bacon?? Like what you eat for breakfast??), she was a good sport to try.
Ok. Now. Our Blackberry Pie, according to Manuela, is [drumroll please] “The best pie I’ve ever had”! Now that is a compliment! Coming from someone so knowledgeable and experienced in baking, we were of course very pleased to receive this praise.
Last on the menu were Pumpkin Whoopie Pies also sometimes available fresh for purchase in Hams & Jams Market. Manuela was especially impressed with the buttercream filling, and we were happy to end our tasting menu on a high note!
All in all, Manuela’s visit was a fantastic opportunity to learn and share ideas, knowledge, and stories. She and her team toured the rest of the property, stayed for lunch in the Cafe, and were sure not to leave without a few new kitchen accessories from Hams & Jams Market. Look out for a feature on the Loveless on her blog and in her upcoming magazine! Thank you, Manuela, for coming to the Loveless and spending the day with us! Until next time.
