Lavender's Blue

My friend had requested a lavender cake and I was a bit hesitant because when you're working with floral flavors, you need to be very careful not to overdo it or you'll end up with something that tastes like soap. However, the lavender still has to be the main note and be prominent enough so that you're not guessing as to what flavor it is.

The base is a thin layer of feuilletine followed by layers of honey lavender sponge and a strawberry blueberry compote infused with lavender. A layer of vanilla custard and then lavender milk chocolate mousse. I did a cold infusion of the cream for the mousse with the lavender and just let it sit for a few days before straining it.

Light purple lavender macarons to decorate with strawberry agar cubes among chocolate soil gave it a very playful and natural look.

Korean Dried Anchovy

Dried anchovies+brown sugar+sesame oil+sesame seeds+garlic=addicting snack!

Chocolates to snack on

These are great for when you need a chocolate fix but don't want anything too heavy like a chocolate bar. I took dried cherries and clustered them together with tempered dark chocolate, then tossed them in cocoa powder. Fruity, chocolatey, slightly tart.

Take 2

This was another version of the lychee raspberry rose cake. The first one I did was here. This time, I covered it in chocolate tiles and had it sitting on some raspberry gel.

Salted Caramel Coconut Macarons

Trying to use up leftover coconut buttercream, I made these:
Salted caramel is always good, but I didn't realize how awesome it would taste with the addition of coconut! Definitely a keeper!

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!