Business/Profile:

What is the name of your company?
Sweetface and Bubba a treats and eats company

Where did the name come from?
My two beautiful children~ Aren (Sweetface) and Caleb (Bubba)

When did you start it?
I launched quietly in 2000, and was forced into the limelight in 2005, when I did my first big birthday party.

What are some of the services offered?
We do small parties, from full service soup to nuts meals to casual buffets. We also do desserts parties and accept individual orders as an augment to your own event.  We don’t do large parties (except for dessert) because the quality in our service is in keeping the quantity controlled and besides, I rather like it that way.  Living in the city, I realized a long time ago that bringing friends together in your home shrinks the city and allows you to commune in a way that restaurants don’t.  With our food, we hope to help set that backdrop and allow your time to be spent enjoying your guests.

I would describe Sweetface and Bubba as Gourmet Soul Food.  And not soul in the traditional meaning, but food that feeds the soul, sparks the mind and engages the senses. I am influenced by the melting pot that is America, but by also my history of parents and grandparents who are gourmands.  If I could, I would eat every meal backwards just so dessert could take center stage as opposed to being the afterthought that it far too often is.

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Miss Melissa Ivey, hmmm…. what can I say, well it’s more like what can I not say -LOL! I will leave that fully open to interpretation.
I met Ms. Ivey as an NYU Violet who repped for Philly & head nodded to her Tribe Called Quest just as much as she rocked to her Dave Matthews Band. The tomboy who always made sure her hair was “freshly did”, yet I had to always tell her “You know you can’t come out with me with that baseball hat on-right?”.

Ms. Ivey is the beautiful mother of two, wife, sister, daughter, friend &  fashionista who has worked with top brands like Ralph Lauren & Swiss Army. She is a limitless entrepreneur who launched her catering company, specializing in sweet treats called, “Sweet Face & Bubba”!

Ms. Ivey is a woman I choose to not only call my friend, but  also my sister!
Enjoy the beautiful sweetness of Sweetface & Bubba’s “Mini Ginger-Lemon Cheesecake”. One of my all time favorites!

MINI GINGER-LEMON CHEESECAKE

INGREDIENTS
16 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
¼ cup heavy cream, cold
1 tsp vanilla extract (I like Caswell-Massey)
1 cup of graham cracker crumbs
2 tbs of finely chopped crystallized ginger
2 tbs unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
½ cup water
¾ cup granulated sugar
Zest of one large lemon, grated
¼ cup fresh ginger, grated (really it’s about eyeballing a good-sized knob)

*A mini cheesecake pan can be found at most any specialty cookware store. Theses pans have removable bottoms.

PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 325°.
Grease a mini cheesecake pan with either butter or a vegetable spray. Combine cracker crumbs, butter, ¼ cup of sugar, and crystallized ginger in a bowl. Stir until the butter is absorbed. Portion the crust evenly out amongst the cake cups. Lightly pack the crust to an even level. (a shot glass works great!) Bake for 5 minutes until the crust is set. Allow to cool. Lower temperature to 300°.
In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the water, ½ cup of the sugar, fresh ginger and lemon zest; bring to a simmer and stir with a rubber spatula until the sugar is dissolved (be careful! Hot molten sugar can cause a very bad burn). Remove from the heat.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth (if your cream cheese is not room temperature, you will have lumps and they will end up in your finished product). On a lower speed, add eggs one at a time, heavy cream and vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth. Strain the lemon-ginger syrup through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl (btw, this is a fantastic simple syrup for a cocktail!)and add to cheesecake batter. Mix on low until incorporated. Divide batter evenly amongst the cups and bake until the cheesecake are slightly set (think the jiggle of jell-o, not soupy), for 15-18 minutes. Start checking them at 15 minutes for doneness (you may notice some puffing, but they will come down once out of the oven).
Cool the cakes, in the pan, on a rack until room temperature. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Tip: To unmold the cakes, use a took pick to run around the edges of each cup, wiping the pick after each cup. Take a thin spatula and detach the removable disk from each cake and place on a serving platter. I’ve gotten the best results by unmolding the cakes straight from the refrigerator.
Courtesy of Melissa B. Ivey, Sweet Proprietor ~ Sweetface and Bubba

Knowledge is power tidbit:

Ginger is used globally in cooking & healing.

Ginger is native to India and China. It takes its name from the Sanskrit word stringa-vera, which means “with a body like a horn”, as in antlers. Ginger has been important in Chinese medicine for many centuries, and is mentioned in the writings of Confucius. It is also named in the Koran, the sacred book of the Moslems, indicating it was known in Arab countries as far back as 650 A.D. It was one of the earliest spice known in Western Europe, used since the ninth century. It became so popular in Europe that it was included in every table setting, like salt and pepper. A common article of medieval and Renaissance trade, it was one of the spices used against the plague. In English pubs and taverns in the nineteenth century, barkeepers put out small containers of ground ginger, for people to sprinkle into their beer — the origin of ginger ale. In order to ’gee up’ a lazy horse, it is the time honoured practice of Sussex farmers to apply a pinch of ginger to the animal’s backside.. http://www.theepicentre.com/Spices/ginger.html