This is one of my favorite custom cakes.  The client asked for something delicious and spooky for their Halloween party.  I went a little crazy with the modeling chocolate, but it was fun to attempt a realistic bones, especially in the hands.  The crispy peanut butter eyeballs take it over the top!

We transform our super yummy mallo puffs into fuzzy tarantulas.  It takes a few steps, make the mallos, pipe the legs, spray with chocolate for the velvety texture, then add the eyes, but they are worth the effort!

Speaking of eyeballs...

These are handy when carving a jack-o-lantern!  Yeah, that's a bottle of Bushmills photo bombing my pumpkin pic.  Happy Halloween!

A couple of months ago, long time allocation subscriber gave me this amazing gift, a gorgeous tin of saffron from his recent trip to Iran.  I promised to use it in an upcoming allocation!

After a little research, I found an interesting recipe from British chocolatier, Paul A. Young pairing saffron, honey and Valrhona Caraibe 66% dark chocolate.

And of course, these Yotam Ottolenghi cookbooks are a great source of inspiration!  Fragrant rice pudding with rose water and cardamom.  Yes, please!

Looking for even more inspiration, I called up SOSChefs in NY.  My box of goodies arrived just in time to finalize the flavors.  The zereshk or barberries were particularly delicious.  And they have the best extra green pistachios!