Nemo Cake

A "Finding Nemo" cake for a friend. It only needed to be a small cake so I decided to make it a jellyfish and have it on a pedestal. The tentacles are made with ruffled fondant and pulled sugar to give it more texture and interest. I was really happy at how these turned out. Inside is a devil's food cake with hazelnut feuilletine and buttercream. For the Nemo, it was my second attempt as the first one looked a little wonky. I guess fish isn't really my forte. The mini birthday cake was my sister's favorite.

More Roses

Inside this rose covered cake is mango mousse with fresh mangoes and vanilla chiffon.

Earl Grey and Hazelnut Chocolate

Earl grey mousse, hazelnut chocolate mousse, flourless chocolate cake, feuilletine base. This cake has been made before but I did some tweaking and made some improvements. I love this log mold and think I'll be putting it to good use from now on.

Bibimba

This was a packet of Bibimba mix that I bought from the Muji in Hong Kong. I love Bibimba! For those who don't know, it's a fried rice mixture, usually a little spicy, that they put into a very hot clay bowl so that the outsides sear making it crispy. I made this with some egg, shrimp, green onion, and shiitake mushrooms, added the packet into it, and then placed it in a frying pan to mimic the sear from the clay bowl. It didn't quite do the trick with the crispness but the flavor was very good.

For All the Twilight Fans

This is a recreation of the cover of the first "Twilight" book. I admit I struggled with the hands but they turned out pretty good! I wanted to make a stiff top so that they could just lift off the cover and cut into the cake so I decided to decorate the inside "front page" as well so it's not too plain when they cut it. Not having read any of the books myself, I had to look online to see when the 1st page looked like.

Hong Kong Part 1

I didn't take many pictures while I was in Hong Kong being worried of coming off as too "tourist-y" but these are some food-related ones.

The great thing was the variety of bottled fruit juices that would be available at the grocery store, Starbucks, and in this case, food court restaurants. Watermelon juice with your ramen?


When I first saw this at the local grocery store, I was surprised and kind of chuckled in my head. Then I thought that it does make sense and would be convenient for people who don't like crusts on their bread.


Pretty self explanatory:


These are just 3 of the rows and rows of dried seafood stalls in the Sheung Wan area of Hong Kong. Everyday I would see them dry out assorted seafoods by the side of the road. It definitely makes me think twice next time I eat dried seafood when I think about how polluted it is and all the exhaust fumes the seafood must absorb while drying.


More to come!

Angry Birds

I've finally had some time to post up this cake that I made before I went to Hong Kong. Inside this was a chocolate cake with hazelnut buttercream and caramelized hazelnuts. We've got all the angry birds characters plus some piggies as well! I think it's adorable.

That Dreaded Day

Last weekend was the annual Quady Dessert competition. The Quady winery asks competitors to create a dessert that will pair well with their wine; this year being the Essensia that has an orange blossom flavor.

Let me get one thing straight: I don't do competitions. I wouldn't say that I'm not competitive but I hate people watching me and argh...judging me. I'm a nervous wreck when it comes to reviews, tastings, and meetings already so entering in this competition was completely out of character. I wanted to just try it out, to see if I could handle it, and to see if maybe, in the slightest possibility, I might create something that may be in the same league as some of the best pastry people that are up and coming in this city.

This is what I did: a roasted almond sponge layered with a white chocolate peach mousse, stewed peaches, peach gelee topped with a bruleed roasted peach, an orange yogurt sorbet, and an orange tuile. I made a few mistakes that I kick myself for (like choosing peach when it's not in season, and not making the tuiles perfectly straight) but it's done and over with and I can't change what I did. I learned a lot though and saw some amazing stuff!

Would I do it again though? Not quite sure. I couldn't sleep the night before (I kept worrying that my tiny ice cream machine wouldn't be frozen enough to churn ice cream and lo and behold, the morning of, I was right!) I ended up using a backup that I wasn't too happy with. Couldn't sleep well for at least a week leading up to it. As I predicted (though I hoped I wouldn't fall into my usual self), I was a ball of nerves and my hand was literally shaking as I was placing the tuiles on the plates. I remember driving to the location and getting closer and closer to it and thinking, "oh, god, I don't want to do this. Why did I do this?" It was a learning experience and I'll leave it at that.

More Fondant Fun!

A "train-themed" cake was what was asked for and it was for a two-year old so I wanted to do something fun and colorful that would definitely draw a kid's attention. The bottom was just a sheet cake and the individual trains were sculpted cakes. It was a lemon pound cake with vanilla buttercream icing. I added the pig and lion peeking through the windows because I thought it needed an extra "oomph" to it and kids love animals anyways!

Carrot Cake Muffins

These are carrot cake muffins studded with raisins and topped off with cream cheese icing.