Cake decorating was my main thing in my late teens and I won many competitions. I also received lots of oooh's and aaah's from fudges and other candies I gifted to family and friends. By age 20 my life was almost exclusively focused on those arts. Mom taught me to work hard, and I always did. 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. Like most new businesses, it took quite a while for word of my store to spread, but eventually I gained a solid clientele that appreciated what I offered. Thereafter I spent decades as a cake decorator, candy maker, food stylist, and owner of two retail outlets catering to those arts. Also I taught those arts to a lot of students. My lifestyle caused me to interact with many talented and creative people. I seldom passed up an opportunity to discuss mutual interests with other professionals and with non professionals, so I have a lot of knowledge to share. You'll discover that 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 countless happy faces. But then a fear crept in: all my work was going to vanish with those happy faces, and I'd leave nothing tangible behind. Boy, that kicked me into gear and I've been hard at it since, striving to publish some of my creations. I plan to have three books published and my new website, thechocolateexplosion.com, functional by May 1, 2026. These publications, "my treasures", consist of recipe collections unlike any you've seen. They contain many, unique ingredient combinations, and they're presented in an artistic format that will surprise you. Look a little further, and you'll discover what I mean.

My first book, The Chocolate Fudge Explosion contains 254 recipes I collected over decades. The feedback from this book has really caught me by surprise; I am so proud. I'll just repeat here that you've never seen a recipe book vaguely resembling this. My second book, 100 Boujee Chocolate Puddles, contains recipes for a candy named "Puddles" I created in the 1960's. Puddles morphed into over 100 varieties by the 1990's. This candy is always a "homerun", and I've been asked many times 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. Williams Sonoma introduced peppermint Candy Bark in 1998 which prompted this collection. Each of my books has a dedicated page on this site where you can view sample recipe pages, the table of contents, and learn more about each collection. Chocolateers will be happy they stumbled onto these classy resources.