Cake decorating was my main thing in my late teens and I won many competitions. I also was a pretty good candy maker, everyone said. By age 20 I was solely focused on those arts. I opened my first cake decorating and candy making supply store when I was 23. My hands built that store, with my husband's help on weekends. It took a while for word of my store to spread, but eventually I gained a solid clientele and spent decades as a cake decorator, candy maker, food stylist, and owner of two retail outlets. Also I taught those arts to a ton of students. That lifestyle caused me to interact with many talented people, and I seldom passed up an opportunity to discuss mutual interests with other professionals and non professionals alike. So, I have a lot of knowledge to share, which you'll discover as you venture through this website.

A while back I was contemplating my long involvement in the above arts and when I shut my eyes I saw many happy faces. But then a fear crept in: all my work was going to vanish with those happy faces, and nothing tangible would be left behind. Boy, that kicked me into gear and I've been hard at work since, striving to publish some of my creations. Three books are now published on my new website, thechocolateexplosion.com. These publications, consist of recipe collections unlike any you've seen before. Many of my recipes contain surprising ingredient combinations, and all my books have "arty" formats you'll find appealing. Just look a little further and you'll discover what I mean.

My first book, The Chocolate Fudge Explosion contains 254 fudge recipes I collected over decades. The feedback from this book has really caught me by surprise. Everyone raves about its format. Just look at the sample recipes and you'll understand why. My second book, 100 Boujee Chocolate Puddles, contains recipes for a candy I created in the 1960's. I named it "Puddles", and it's morphed into over 100 varieties today. This candy is always a "homerun", and many times I've been asked why I didn't commercially produce it. My third book, 100 Boujee Chocolate Barks, is a collection of American bark recipes I compiled between 1998-2004 after Williams Sonoma introduced Peppermint Candy Bark. That prompted me to create this collection. Each of my books has a dedicated page on this site where you can explore sample recipes, view the table of contents, and learn more about each collection. Chocolatiers will be pleased with what they discover.