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6 Tips for Planning the Perfect Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is a special occasion to celebrate and show appreciation for the important role that mothers play in our lives. It’s an opportunity to express your gratitude and make your mother feel special. While it’s important to show your love and appreciation for your mom throughout the year, Mother’s Day is the perfect occasion to go all out and plan something special for her. In this blog post, we will provide you with some tips and ideas for planning the perfect Mother’s Day.

Plan in Advance

The first step in planning the perfect Mother’s Day is to plan in advance. Start by deciding on a date and making a reservation if you plan to take your mom out for a meal. If you’re instead opting to stay in for Mother’s Day, adding some sweetness to your mom’s day with a few cupcakes and desserts can go a long way! Make sure to place your order in advance, as most bakeries, like ours, book up for these holidays fast. You don’t want to be scrambling at the last minute to make arrangements, so it’s important to plan ahead of time. If you want to place an order for Mother’s Day, you can do so online here.

Desserts for mothers day

Personalize the Gift

Gifts are a great way to show your appreciation, but it’s important to personalize the gift to your mom’s interests and preferences. Think about what she likes to do, her hobbies, and her favorite things. For example, if your mom enjoys cooking, consider getting her a cookbook or a kitchen gadget. If she loves gardening, a new set of gardening tools or a plant could be perfect.

Plan a Special Outing

If your mom enjoys going out, plan a special outing for her. This could be a trip to a museum, a concert, a show, or a movie. Make sure it’s something she would enjoy and something that’s not too strenuous for her.

6 tips for the perfect mothers day

Prepare a Special Meal

If your mom loves to cook, prepare a special meal for her. You could cook her favorite dish or try a new recipe. If you’re not confident in the kitchen, you could order food from her favorite restaurant and bakery, or hire a chef to cook for her. Our favorite desserts for mom’s on Mother’s Day have to be our mini cupcakes! You can order a dozen with a variety of flavors, making sure everyone is happy!

Give Her a Day Off

One of the best gifts you can give your mom on Mother’s Day is a day off. Take over her responsibilities for the day and let her relax. This could include doing the laundry, cleaning the house, or taking care of the kids. Give her the opportunity to rest and recharge.

Spend Quality Time Together

No matter what you plan for Mother’s Day, make sure to spend quality time together. This could be going for a walk, having a picnic, or simply sitting down and having a conversation. The most important thing is to be present and show your mom that you appreciate her.

In conclusion, Mother’s Day is a special occasion to show your appreciation and make your mom feel special. With a little planning and thoughtfulness, you can plan the perfect Mother’s Day for your mom. Personalize the gift, plan a special outing, prepare a special meal, give her a day off, and spend quality time together. Remember, it’s not about the grand gestures but the thought and effort that goes into making your mom feel loved and appreciated.

Setting the SEEN // with BCZ

Good afternoon, readers!

Today we are featured on “Setting the SEEN” with SEEN editor – Natalie Bencivenga – and style editor – Sara Bauknecht! – The main topic of discussion is The Midwife Center for Birth and Women’s Health 10th annual Let Them Eat Cake competition and fundraiser.

Not only do they discuss this great cause, but they also channel their inner “cake boss” with our very own BCZ team! Our lead cake decorator, Breanne, shows both lovely ladies a few tricks and techniques of the trade!

Click the link below to check it out!

Setting the SEEN, Let Them Eat Cake!

#WinterWedding by BCZ

Tis the season! The season for gorgeous weddings… that is! Today we’re featuring the wedding of Alexi Pankas and Stephen Martin on October 4th.

Our Events Director, Amanda, worked with Alexi to perfect all of the details of her dream wedding cake and sweet table. The vision for the cake was elegant and the decision to add a #BCZ Sweet Table added an element of fun!

The cake was the epitome of elegance. A stunning white, 5-tier cake with a striking petal design, finshed with a touch of pearl shimmer. Don’t these two look adorable cutting it, too?! Here’s another, photo in color:

As far as the Sweet Table, Alexi and Stephen were bringing together Italian and Greek family cookie traditions. Wow – can you imagine what a delicious table that was… those two backgrounds are like T H E cookie people!

So… we incorporated each families cookies and gave them our Bella Christie’s Sweet Treats flair. We created more premium and customized items such as buttercream cookies with their monogram, glitter bon bons in the colors of their wedding, and cake truffle pops incorporating their colors and monogram. All of the sweets were a perfect blend of tradition and contemporary. Feast your eyes on the these photos…

Sweetly Yours,
The Bella Christiez Sweet Team

*The first three photos you see in this post are credited to: Caroline Yoon Fine Art Photography .

Holiday Gift Guide

Good afternoon, #BCZ Readers!

This week we want to fill you all in on the details of our Holiday Gift Guide, 2014!

Bella Christie and Lil’ Z’s Sweet Boutique offers only the highest quality and most delectable treats to make this year’s holiday season the sweetest for you and your loved ones.

Q: What exactly do we order when it comes to a #BellaChristiez gift?
A: For starters – Our Gourmet Holiday Bakery Boxes include scrumptious buttercream frosted and assorted Gourmet Cookies, our Famous Decadent Bars, Brownie Minis and Chocolate Covered Pretzels – all put together in a beautiful gift box… topped off with a holiday cookie gift tag that can be personalized with your message or company logo. // Medium (24 pieces) $29.99 and Large (42 pieces) $49.99. You also have the option of choosing from our Gourmet Holiday Treat Boxes and Towers which include the same items above as well as Glitter Bon Bons, Cake Truffle Pops, and Hand Dipped Oreos. // Medium Box (24 pieces) $39.99, Large Box (42 pieces) $59.99, Medium Tower (28 pieces) $44.99, Large Tower (48 pieces) $69.99, VIP Tower (88 pieces) $159.99

Q: What other Holiday Gifts can you order?
A: Our #CustomCookies, of course! The most popular buttercream cut-outs can be customized right into your holiday design then bagged and tied with a beautiful bow. Transform your family photo into a decorated cookie with a personalized message or send out Seasons Greetings from your company to all of your clients with logo cookies. Do you have you own, creative-custom-cookie idea for the holidays? Let us know, and we’ll make sure it gets done, just as deliciously as all the others! // Starting at$9.95 each for 6”-8” cookies and $4.50 each for 4’’ cookies.

Who doesn’t love glitter?! Especially around this time of year? Place an order for our Holiday Glitter Bon-Bons… a unique gift to give to that special someone who has everything. Delicious rich chocolate bon-bons covered in holiday sparkle. // A 4-piece gift box is $7.99 and an 8-piece gift box is $14.99.

…and who doesn’t love a good Chocolate Covered Pretzel? They’re simply sublime! A gourmet assortment of chocolate covered pretzels gorgeously wrapped and ready to go. A 4-piece gift box is $8.95 and a 9-piece gift box $18.95.

Another one of our favorite options for #SweetTreat gifts… Gourmet Apples – our crisp and tart Granny Smith apples are dipped in creamy caramel and covered with loads of toppings and rich chocolate – 8 flavors to choose from, each individually wrapped. // 1 lb apples (4-6 servings) is $11.95 each, a box of 4 Mini Caramel Apple is $14.95 each.

We’re also offering Individual Holiday Treats…

Caramel Pecan Popcorn $5.75
Santa Bag Stuffed with Assorted Mini Pretzels (8 pieces) $10.50
Large Chocolate Dipped Pretzels $2.50
Chocolate Dipped Oreo $2.75 each
Chocolate Dipped Oreo, 6-pack gift box $16.95

One more gift idea and that’s all she wrote… Our fun Cake Truffle Pops are the perfect few bites of a rich and creamy cake covered in chocolate and garnished to dress up any party. Prices, below 🙂

$1.75 each Drizzled
$2.50 each Glittered
$3.25 each Elaborate
8-piece gift box $17.25
12- piece gift box $25.00

All gifts are customizable to be themed for Christmas, Hanukkah, or Neutral – just let us know when you place your order. To place your order, give us a call at 412-772-1283 or e-mail bellachristiez@gmail.com.

Sweetly Yours,
The Bella Christiez Sweet Team

It’s Beginning to Look a lot like…

Good morning, BCZ Readers!

Thanks for stopping by =) It’s getting to be that time of year, it’s getting colder – the days are getting shorter and we’re getting excited for the holidays. We can’t believe how fast time has flown, it’s already the 2014 Holiday Season! And naturally, we’re celebrating with all things custom-sweets. It’s so much fun to see the orders that come in every year, they’re different every time! And… oh-so-creative.

In prep for the holiday season, we wanted to give you all the necessary details for placing orders, times we’re open – times we’re closed and what to expect from now until January 1st.

Thanksgiving is coming up and we hope you’ll be spending the day with your family and good friends, fill yourselves with stuffing and green bean casserole (or cupcakes that look like them ;-), see picture below). And while you’ll be celebrating – so will we. Our doors are closed Thursday and Friday, November 27th & 28th. Normal hours on Wednesday… the day before TurkeyDay and regular hours resume the Saturday, afterwards.

We’ll fill you in on Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanza/etc. coming in December. But! As a rule of thumb: place all orders for your special holiday parties – AS SOON AS POSSIBLE =) The earlier we get your orders in, the better! The last day to place orders for Thanksgiving is Monday, November 24th.

Before we go today – wanted to introduce you to our newest holiday-related creations… The Cookie & Cupcake Trays. How convenient for festivities, eh? Please also see our Thanksgiving Flyer 2014 for inspiration for orders and pricing!

bella christiez, pittsburgh bakery — Cupcake Tray

Sweetly Yours,
The Bella Christiez Sweet Team

Bella Christie’s has been TOONED!

Good morning, Bella Christie & Lil’ Z’s Readers!

So – today we have a really awesome-cool illustration we were just involved in! Michelle Littler created TOON in the Burgh six months ago. Her objective? To create cartoon-like depictions of locations around town! …ourselves included. Ever since she sent us our pretty picture (it’s displayed here in this post, right below this paragraph), we’ve been waiting to feature her design and her story on our blog.

We asked Michelle, “How long have you been creating your TOON designs?”
A: Well I have been creating TOONs for all sorts of things for over 15 years but I just started “Toon into the Burgh” in the last 6 months!

Q: Other than us, what are some other well-known businesses that have been TOONed?
A: Franktuay (yummy hot dogs), Sorgel’s Orchards, Carnegie History Museum, South Side BBQ Company and even the Pirates!

We couldn’t help but inquire how Michelle comes to design these amazing TOONs…

I first go to several businesses and I have to love not only what they are selling but the overall atmosphere. I take a bunch of pictures and then freehand draw a few different ideas. Once i’m set on a solid idea thats when I create them on the computer.

And of course, we had to ask her… what’s your favorite thing about Pittsburgh?
A: The food. I am a huge foodie. So I have to be very careful that all my TOONs aren’t all centered around food, haha.

Finally, the most important and pressing question… how did we, Bella Christie & Lil’ Z’s get so lucky to be selected to be TOONed?
A: First I love nothing more than a good cupcake and I was always drawn to the signage. I loved the decor and all of the little touches inside. And after eating the Ho-Ho brownie I know it was a business that people should check out. Everything was super yummy and the staff was so nice. My only complaint is I never know what to try next.

Well, thank you, Michelle! We are so happy to have worked with you and proud to say we’ve been one of the ones you especially picked to TOON! #ShamelessPlug: TOON in the Burgh is accepting commissions for the holiday season. They make great holiday cards and are wonderful marketing materials.

Check out previous TOON in the Burgh on Facebook.com/toonintheburgh and give ’em a “Like”.

Sweetly Yours,
The Bella Christiez Sweet Team

Station of the Month: Liquid Nitrogen

Doesn’t Liquid Nitrogen just sound cool?! Literally, sometimes we can’t get over it either. Let’s just dive right in, what exactly is a Liquid Nitrogen Station and what does it have to do with a Pittsburgh Bake Shop?

Well, thanks to co-owner, Kadee – while in Miami, she taste-tested a Liquid Nitrogen Shot. After one too many shots (*wink) and laying beneath the night stars – she thought to herself “We could totally incorporate this into our Sweet Treats at Bella Christie’s & Lil’ Z’s!” And there you have it, the Liquid Nitrogen (bakery version) was born!

Q: So what all can you enjoy if you have a #BellaChristiez LN Station at one of your weddings, mitzvahs, corporate parties, birthday parties (or really, any party or get together!)?

A: Flash Frozen Treats: This popular station flash freezes an array of your favorite treats, such as marshmallows, apples, bananas, and brownies. Frozen treats can be dipped in chocolate, caramel, peanut butter, biscoff, or “Nutella”. Guests can choose to dip their treat in one, two, or all three dips for our famous “Triple Nitro Dip”.

Ice Cream / Ice Cream Sandwiches: Delicious hand crafted ice cream. Our fresh crème anglaise base is flash frozen using liquid nitrogen right in front of your guests’ eyes! Your guests will choose from vanilla or chocolate ice cream, then they can select from an assortment of toppings and sauces to create their prefect dessert! We can also create an ice cream sandwich using chocolate chip, oatmeal, or M&M cookies or peanut butter, HoHo, or triple chocolate brownies!

Frozen Cocktail Sorbets: For adults only! Cocktails are flash frozen into delicious cocktail sorbets. Clients will choose and provide 2-3 “signature” drinks to be flash frozen. Popular drinks are Cosmopolitans, Mudslides, Strawberry Lemon Drops, White Russians, or create your own! NOTE: Non-alcoholic beverages can also be flash frozen. *Alcohol/drinks will be provided by the client or venue. Kids’s cocktail sorbets: Kids can bring their soda-pop, juice, or Shirley Temple to the liquid nitrogen station to watch it become a refreshing sorbet!

Mmm, oh yes – how tasty do all of the above sound? If you want your event to stand out from the rest, our unique liquid nitrogen stations can help! These special treats are created right before your eyes through a flash freezing process using liquid nitrogen at -320*! This Sweet Treat Station is extremely popular – so we advise you booking, as soon as you know you want it – months in advance.

Sweetly Yours,
The Bella Christiez Sweet Team

Halloween is here!

All Hallow’s Eve – the kick-off of the holiday season! We’re still enjoying the crisp, cool fall weather, looking forward to a night of dressing up and trick or treating with our children, family or friends. It’s a fun time of year! Which means it’s even more FUN for us in the bakery!

Custom Halloween Cupcakes/Cakes/Creations couldn’t be more fun to bake and make. We’ve featured a few ‘fall related’ wedding cakes these past blog posts – but now, we’re really shifting into the Halloween spirit!

Have you ever visited us in Aspinwall? (Our first of 2! locations) After walking through the big pink doors, to your left you see a display table – full of our latest creations. And these next weeks, all we are seeing is custom Ghost & Boo cookies, pumpkin-shaped rice krispie treats & candy corn, and chocolate bar goodie bags.

We also just did a Halloween #SweetTable for a party. Frankenstein & Pumpkins were amongst the sugar cookie portion of the display. Ghosts, scary – hairy purple & green monsters lined the cupcake part of the table… and our most note worthy piece to finish off this B.C. S.T. was he 3-tier Frankenstein + Skeleton + Pumpkin Cake! From the bottom up, each layer custom iced-fit to its character.

Adding zest to this Halloween season – we have carmel apple, apple chai, and salted carmel flavored options! And even though we aren’t quite to Thanksgiving, just yet! …we are starting to make our famous pies! Blueberry, triple berry, pumpkin, apple and pecan. Did we forget to mention? Those pie-flavors come in pie-pop devours, too!

Before we go – stay tuned to our Social feeds next week – we’ll be featuring our Halloween-themed favorites!

There are more pictures, below*

Sweetly Yours,
The Bella Christiez Team

#EmployeeSpotlight: Anastasia – Head Pastry Chef

Good morning, Bella Christiez Readers!

It’s that time again – Our Employee of the Month Spotlight… this time around we are featuring, Anastasia – our Head Pastry Chef. The passion behind her craft goes beyond – “It’s science, its art, and much more! I love that I can focus on creating and building something that brings others much joy!” Anastasia says.

Anastasia originally enrolled to go to school for fashion merchandising…

Q: Did you go to school for pastry arts or did you just have a passion for it?
A: I originally enrolled to go to school for fashion merchandising, realized I would not be happy in the long run, and decided to give my favorite hobby of baking/cooking a whirl. I am so glad I did. I love what I do! Plus this new fad with cats on clothing, I could never get behind.

Q: How long have you been creating pastries?
A: I have been professionally baking for about seven years. I tried to cook when I was little, had no direction, quit… and revisited the craft in high school.

Q: What is your past experience with pastries?
A: I have been lucky to learn a lot everywhere I have worked around Pittsburgh. I have worked in a small bake

house, grocery stores, café/bakeries, and catering. Breakfast to dessert, every day baked goods to dietary friendly (vegan, gluten free, sugar free).

And then we asked Anastasia what her favorite pastry was to make… “There are a few favorites but gourmet cheesecakes are my absolute favorite! My favorite to EAT, pain au chocolate!!” Which we can all surely tell you, not only are they her favorites to make – they’re our favorites to eat, so delicious.

Q: Do you experiment often with different styles and techniques?
A: When I can, I’m always willing to learn, exercise my skills and grow!!! What’s great about Bella’s is that there is always something new and creative thrown my away.

We love that too – it’s not everyday you get someone to ask you to make an upside down wedding cake… we totally agree with Anastasia – we’re always honing our skills, someone comes in with something super creative and different, almost everyday!

We asked Anastasia what her daily schedule looked like and how she fit her Pastry Chef-awesomeness, in…
“First, {I} greet everyone with a good morning, grab some coffee, then start to organize my daily production and get to baking!”

Does she bake at home? “Yes, I love to bake and cook at home! It is always interesting to see what I can create out of all the random ingredients I have laying around the kitchen!”

And, of course – we had to ask… what is your favorite part about working at Bella Christie and Lil’ Z’s?

I think the group of people working at Bella Christie’s is pretty special! I am happy to be a part of such a hard working and deserving team. I also enjoy what I get to create, I do not think I will ever get bored of our menu and ever evolving offerings!!!

And before we go… here are some fun questions we ask Anastasia – cheers to getting to know all about her!!

Q: Who is your celebrity crush?
A: Hands down, I Love Harrison Ford! …Favorite celebrity chef is Michael Simon!

Q: If you could live in any other country for 2 years where would you go?
A: I think about this all the time! I would love to live in France on a working farm! Although I want to travel the world my top places to visit are France, Greece, Austria and Italy.

Q: What are your favorite Pittsburgh restaurants?
A: So many to choose from, but a few I will always go back to:
Breakfast: Coca Café, Lunch/Dinner: BRGR, Dinner: Casbah, Dessert: Milkshake Factory!\

That’s a wrap, folks!

Sweetly Yours,
The Bella Christiez Team

*All images pictured are Pastry Creations by Anastasia.

#FallWedding, Congrats Amy & Andrew!

Good morning, Bella Christiez Readers! bczwedding, custom cake, pittsburgh Thanks for stopping by today =) How is your October getting its start? We hope rather sweetly – with pumpkin flavored everything. It’s one of our favorite times of year to bake. We love creating fall and halloween-themed custom cookies, cakes, cake pops, & sweet tables. And do you remember when we talked about fall weddings a few weeks ago? Fall weddings, are amongst the ‘favorites’, too!

Today we’re featuring one of the most recent nuptials of the brand-new season: Amber and Andrew Good married at Buhl Mansion in Sharon, PA – Thursday, September 25, 2014.

Mr. & Mrs. Good choose a simple fall-themed wedding cake to bake… 3 tiers with white buttercream icing, and real fondant pumpkins for a little decor. Add on some of those custom fall caramel apple bites and pie pops. Pie Pops – we’ve never talked about those… but yes – dreams to come true, we have all different flavors for the season: blackberry, blueberry, pecan, and of course apple and pumpkin. Amber & Andrew’s wedding was quite the inspiration. You can pick from any fun-fall flavors to make your custom cake or cupcakes — pumpkin cake with a cinnamon cream cheese filling, vanilla cake with a pumpkin mousse filling, or apple cake with an apple compote filling. Yum! Thank you, to the newlyweds for letting us share their BC Wedding Story… we were so excited to talk details and blogging with them – we’ve decided to amp up our featured Weddings on this here blog =) Stay tuned to the feeds and make sure to hashtag #BCZWedding anytime you see our Sweet Treats at a ceremony, and visit us back here… maybe your any-themed Wedding will be here, within these pages. Yours Sweetly, The Bella Christiez Team