Elegance

I had decorated this cake a couple years ago but never got around to posting it. It was one of my first wedding cakes so I was very happy with the outcome. I remember it took me hours for all the piping because it was such a large cake (the base cake was 16") but it was all worth it in the end.

Cars

The Lightning Mcqueen character from Pixar's "Cars". An airbrush machine would have done a better job with the red so I think that will have to be my next investment.

Inside is vanilla cake layered with vanilla bean buttercream and homemade strawberry jam.

Red Velvet

A classic red velvet cake with decadent vanilla cream cheese icing.

Cherry Blossoms and Tea

There's something about cherry blossoms that's always so cheerful and bright. The pink hues and fluttery petals; maybe makes the heart go aflutter too?

Fitting well with the high tea, this was the strawberry coconut cake covered in a beautiful blue green and adorned with cherry blossoms in various pinks. A little bit of lustre dust gave it that extra girly softness. I had extra flowers so I scattered them across the cake stand and was beautiful.

Lychee, Rose, Raspberry

Pierre Herme's signature "Ispahan" is the combination of lychee, rose, and raspberry put together to make a delicious dessert. This is my take on that. It has an almond feuilletine base, rose soaked sponge, lychee rose jelly, and raspberry mousse. Topped with a raspberry glaze and fresh fruit with a bit of rose chantilly and rosebuds.


Below is the lychee rose jelly. I steeped the rose petals in simple syrup, added chopped lychees and threw in some crushed freeze dried raspberries for some added color. This was delicious!

Raspberry

It's been a while and I haven't really been focused lately so today I baked. Baking always helps me get my mind off of things, focus on the baking at hand. It helps me unwind and is way more practical and productive than just sitting on the couch, watching tv.

I made teeny tiny raspberry tartlets filled with vanilla pastry cream and decorated with freeze dried apricots. I also made some chinese coconut buns and worked on some fondant flowers but I'll put pictures and recipes up later for those. I just love these adorable tartlets. Definitely a one-biter but it's quite a bite!

Hazelnut Macarons

Macarons made with ground hazelnuts in place of ground almonds and filled with a hazelnut ganache.

Mochi

Soft mochi made with Mochiko rice flour and filled with red bean paste. I added matcha powder to the mix for the one on the bottom and coated it in kinako which is roasted soy powder.

Warming Up

The weather the past week has been reported as a "high of 9 degrees" but it really feels much colder. Waiting for the bus in the morning, I'm finding that I really need to pull start pulling out my gloves and scarves. I warmed myself up with the traditional french onion soup topped with toasted bread and melted gruyere cheese. That did the trick!

Pao De Queijo

At the bakery that I used to work at, we used to make pao de quiejo, or Brazilian cheese bread. It is lightly cheesy with a crisp exterior and a soft, chewy interior due to the use of tapioca flour in it. It was quite popular among the customers also because it was gluten free. I remember that none of us in the kitchen particularly liked making it because it was quite laborious and very temperamental (and the fact that our hands smelled like cheesy tapioca flour afterwards).

However, I stumbled upon this recipe on a great website containing lots of asian recipes where the method is super simple and the result is fantastic! I used parmesan cheese this time but I think I may add some cheddar and chopped chives to the mixture next time as well.