cake

The Gracious Goods Cake Dome & Pedestal is one of the most elegant ways of presenting baked goods that I have seen in quite a while. The highly-stylized pedestal is made of cast aluminum, so it is lighter than it looks, and is topped with a glass dome with handle that matches the base. While it is easy to see a bundt cake under the dome, it actually seems like it would be the perfect way to present scones or muffins at a spring brunch, where the lid can be lifted and replaced as guests take what they want. It measures 16"H x 14" and is dishwasher safe. Price: $215.

If you're not planning on making the dessert for a holiday party or for Thanksgiving dinner, it's better to go all-out and get a top of the line cake than to buy a less-than-average supermarket pie and try to pass it off as your own. This Autumn Harvest Cake qualifies as over-the-top. Inside the white chocolate Limoges-style box, which has been topped with elegant grapes, leaves, a kumquat and two chocolate truffle pears, there is a Bourbon vanilla cheesecake with a macadamia nut crust. The cake is elegant and the combination of flavors is wonderfully decadent. The oval cake weighs 5.3 pounds and you'll probably get more than the recommended 8-10 servings from It, especially since people are usually fairly full following the main course of a holiday dinner. Price:$150.

You can buy all the pumpkin-shaped pans that you want and spend all day in the kitchen, but the odds are good that no matter how much time you put into it, you will have difficulty getting a cake to come out as perfectly as the this Harvest Pumpkin Cheesecake. We know we would, which is probably why we like this one so much. The 3-pound, handmade cake is entirely edible, including the realistically twisted stem. The cheesecake beneath the white-chocolate "skin" is swirled with an addictive pumpkin hazelnut toffee crunch and has a crispy cookie crust. With some judicious cutting, you'll probably get about 10 servings from this cake, making it a good choice for Thanksgiving, as well as for Halloween. Price: $100.

Now that it's October, it's time to start thinking about upcoming holidays, like Halloween. The holiday revolves around sweets, so what could be more appropriate than a decadent,seasonal treat. The Gourmet Witch's Hat Cake from Perfect Endings is a chocolate cake with a chocolate-caramel truffle filling, all wrapped up in a white chocolate fondant hat. One more reason to think about this cake this early in the month is that there is a lead time of 3 weeks on orders, so if you want it, you should plan ahead. It weighs about 4-lbs and should serve 10-12. Price: $99.

If you're looking for a wedding cake topper that is a little bit different than the standard bride and groom figurines, Swarovski Crystal Cake Jewels can add a lot of sparkle to the presentation. The cake jewels can be customized to many designs in just about every color you can imagine. Popular patterns include butterflies, flowers, hearts and the initials of the happy couple. Initials really make the cake unique, as you can see on Law and Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay's cake, but she also used a variety of the other designs offered, including flowers and dragonflies, on her cake. See the full price list for details, but letters start around $150 for a small size.

I Dream of Cake is a bakery that excels in producing the most exquisite cakes you can imagine. Of course, many of the cakes are intended as wedding designs, but there isn't a single occasion that can't involve a cake of some sort. Mother's Day, for example? Some of the very unusually shaped cakes done by I Dream of Cake are actually made to look like purses - designer purses, no less. They have done Louis Vuitton more than once, Chanel and many others. Prices vary and all the cakes are made to order, so if you're interested, you'll have to call for pricing.

For the Mom who is not only a fashionista, but a chocolate lover, you cannot go wrong with handbag-shaped chocolate truffles. The Choco Choco House is run by an exceptionally talented pastry chef who produces some delicious truffles in traditional and unusual flavor combinations. It's hard to say whether eating them or simply looking at them is more pleasurable, but I'll wager that Mom will opt for eating them.

Individual purse designs are sold in sets of 6 for $20 and 12 for $40. They can also be packed into cute vintage boxes, to make the gift even more special. This is the Spring Romance box, with milk chocolate truffles filled with lightly flavored almond and vanilla ganache. The bags are adorned with a candy violet and sugared pink lilac petal and are packed in an adorable matching box. If you cannot make up your mind, you can pick out your own assortment or opt for Choco's Choice, a premixed selection.

Elegant Cheesecakes certainly did an elegant job with their Hand it to Mom Handbag Cheesecake. The cake is a nice sized satchel built out of a triple mocha cheesecake with a shortbread crust. The exterior of the cake is finished with high-quality Belgian chocolate that has been colored and shaped into the stylish bag that your Mom deserves to receive this Mother's Day. You might want to set it on its side before you serve it, though, otherwise you will need to get some new dessert plates to hold those extra-tall slices. For an extra $5, you can have the tag personalized. Serves 12. Price $150.

Eleni's makes some of the finest cookies in New York City - both in terms of taste and appearance. Every cookie her bakery puts out is hand decorated with a level of detail that anyone (especially Moms) can appreciate and enjoy. Of course, Eleni's already has great taste covered, assuming you can bring yourself to eat these! The Designer Handbags collection includes 18 sugar cookies that are decorated to look almost exactly like the real thing, though they are only 2.5x2.5-inches. Each of the 18 cookies features a unique design and they are all packed into a lovely gift tin. Price: $75.

To see all the individual designs, click past the jump.

We are kicking off a week of edible purses in preparation for Mother's Day, which is only two weeks away. Fortunately, there is still plenty of time to order one of these treats if you know it is something that Mom will like. And when you're combining fashion and food, what's not to like?

Today's purse is the Sweet Couture Cake from Dean and Deluca. It is a four-layer vanilla butter cake that sandwich a decadent chocolate filling. The bag itself, which covers the cake, is made out of a pink fondant embossed with a crocodile-skin pattern. All the "leather" trimming is hand done. Price: $150.

High on the list of things missed most by New Yorkers when they take up residence in another state is the Black and White Cookie. The cake-like consistency of the cookie and the smooth, sweet chocolate and vanilla icing combine to make one of the ultimate treats. As a gift for your favorite ex-New Yorker, or perhaps for yourself, consider getting a box of Dean & DeLuca's Black and Whites.  Black and Whites tend to be huge, since New Yorker's like things big, but the Dean and Deluca cookies are normal sized and packed in a box that fits two dozen. The cookies are a perfect version of the New York classic - tasty as well as beautiful to look at. If you can't eat them all at once, they freeze beautifully, but if you invite a friend over to share them, you might not have any leftover. Price: $30.