SWEET TREATS
SHE BAKES,
YOU EAT
By KATRINA MEDOFF
@KATRINAMEDOFF
@KATYA_M22
What’s your favorite dessert? Your favorite snack?
Cereal? What about your go-to coffee order?
Which flavor do you prefer: chocolate or vanilla?
Who’s your celebrity crush?
Fill out a questionnaire with these
and other questions from local
Broadway actress and baker Ashley
Mortensen, and prepare to
have a dessert experience you’ll
never forget.
I discovered Mortensen’s treats
on Instagram (@shebakesyoueat). The
close-up shots of gorgeous cakes — literally
the definition of “food porn” — caught
my eye, but the descriptions of the
unique desserts really got me intrigued:
“Rose water and vanilla bean poached
plums top this olive oil cake with lemon
ricotta buttercream and candied pistachios.”
“Paleo chocolate cake filled with blackberry
elderflower compote frosted with
dairy-free lemon Swiss meringue and
honeyed sugar candies.”
“Chocolate-red wine cupcake filled
with rose-blueberry compote and topped
with champagne buttercream and sherry
chocolate ganache.”
Mortensen has no formal culinary training,
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but she’s an accomplished baker
with a knack for creating custom recipes,
and the results are not only delicious,
but also unexpected. You, the customer,
fill out her detailed questionnaire about
your specific tastes (or those of the person
you’re buying the treat for), and
Mortensen’s creative process begins.
I arrived at Mortensen’s apartment on
the Sunnyside/Woodside border for my
tasting, not knowing what to expect. I
knew that she was concocting something
inspired by my responses to her questionnaire,
but I had no idea what it would be.
I arrived to find three personal-sized,
mouth-watering treats, made just for me.
Mortensen was really excited about
the first dessert, a tart inspired by my
favorite childhood dessert, homemade
black raspberry chocolate chip ice cream
in a waffle cone from a local farm and
creamery.
What she created was inspired: a tart
with a dark chocolate and pistachio crust,
filled with rose water-scented mascar-