My First Car!.....Cake

This cake was for my friend who loves his car very much. So much so, that he hesitated when cutting into it. This was definitely a good practice at shaping cakes and I admit I struggled a bit with the inset wheels ( I made the wheels the day before out of rice krispies but ended up making them bigger, then smaller, to get the right size) though I think the car being a sports car that is lower on the ground is easier to make than a regular car that would have to be lifted up somehow in the centre.

Inside is chocolate cake with ganache and peanut butter icing. I'm happy with the result and hope that I can improve on more of my decorating skills soon.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter

Like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, chocolate and peanut butter are a match made in food heaven. Inside this cake are layers of peanut dacquoise, chocolate mousse, chocolate cake, and peanut butter ganache. I went a little chocolate curl overload here but I wanted something really showy and this is definitely it. Milk chocolate curls of different sizes with peanut butter truffles scattered on top add texture and interest to the design.

Strawberry Season

Right now, it's the perfect time for B.C. strawberries. When I was at the market yesterday, I could smell the strawberries as soon as I arrived so I knew I had to get them. Not only are they adorably cute, they are bright red, juicy, and sweet, not at all like the watery large ones one would get from the grocery store. I put these on some chiffon cakes with whipped cream. Super simple yet delicious.

Chocolate Bars

If you've never tried bacon and chocolate together, you're missing out. I know it sounds weird at first but the saltiness and slight smokiness from the bacon really goes well with the chocolate! Here I tempered a mixture of dark chocolate and milk chocolate, and mixed in some crispy, chopped bacon.

Vancouver Weather

So it's almost the end of June and yet just yesterday morning, it was pouring rain. Today was also rainy for a bit but thankfully cleared up. What's going on with the weather? Where's my summer? I'm still waiting for all day sun and hot weather with just a slight breeze. Sigh.

I'm glad it stopped raining today so that the delivery of this wedding cake went quite smoothly. Champagne background with darker curlicues and accents highlighted with gold dust. The topper was made with white and pink peonies, orchids, and roses. Fresh flowers are so beautiful.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

It finally feels like summer so I've been craving barbeque lately. After watching Top Chef Canada last week, I was really craving pulled pork. I've never made it before and the only times I had it were at Memphis Blues, and at a friend's who made it in her slow cooker. I have neither a slow cooker nor a barbeque so I had to go with the oven route. I used the recipe here from Top Chef but ended up swapping the vinegars since I didn't have sherry vinegar (I had sherry wine though). Mine also seemed to have a very large liquid to meat ratio so I cooked it some more after I took it out of the oven on the stove to reduce it. I added brown sugar as well as it was quite acidic. Overall though, it was delicious! I have some sitting in my freezer for future use too!

Ruffles

Another mango mousse cake. All I can say is, the mandoline is a wondrous tool!

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.