Let them eat cake and cookies

For kids, the holidays are all about the presents. For adults, though, food and drink move front and center--especially food, as in scrumptious desserts--come this festive time of season. As our favorite writer Oscar Wilde was fond of saying, "I can resist everything except temptation." And to think, old Oscar never was confronted with the twin temptations of Bake Me A Wish! cakes or Mrs. Fields cookies.

Launched in 2004, Bake Me A Wish!, in the spirit of the season, is going full-throttle with its "Project Wish Cake" initiative, in which it will donate 5,000 gourmet cakes--as well as five percent of all online cake sales--to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. These 7" diameter cakes (serving up to eight or, if we're at the table, one) are made with only the finest, freshest ingredients by an award-winning family-run New York bakery that also supplies pastries to some of Manhattan's most elite restaurants and food vendors. All cakes are packaged in a customized box at the bakery with a personalized note. On-time delivery is guaranteed.

While the choices seemingly are endless, we opted for Chocolate Mousse Torte and Red Velvet Chocolate Cake. The Torte has two chocolate layers filled with luscious chocolate whipped cream mousse, then covered with milk chocolate frosting and a dark chocolate glaze; garnished with fudge rosettes and dark chocolate shaves and a Belgian chocolate Birthday plaque on top. (That's right, we said: chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.) The Red Velvet, meanwhile, is a Southern classic of rich, red chocolate--there we go again--cake filled and covered with pure cream cheese frosting, with white chocolate sprinkled around its sides and a Belgian white chocolate Love plaque on top.

This pair of sinful delights, however, is just the beginning. Also ready for your indulgence are Cafe au Lait Cheesecake, Tiramisu Classico, Vanilla Bean Cake, Strawberry Short Cake, Triple Chocolate Enrobed Brownie Cake, Caramel Apple Crumb Cake, Dulce De Leche Cheesecake, and many, many more. To order, visit, www.bakemeawish.com.

While all of Mrs. Fields baked goods are a terrific treat, you gotta dance with the one who brung ya--cookies are what put the company on the map, so we chose the Cookie Basket, which is brimming with milk chocolate chip, milk chocolate with walnuts, semi-sweet chocolate, white chunk macadamia, joy mint, chocolate truffle, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, cinnamon sugar, and triple chocolate cookies. To order, call 1-800-COOKIES or visit www.mrsfields.com.

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