Bringing May Flowers Early

April showers brings May flowers...I'm sure you've heard that phrase before...or something similar.  We haven't really had too many showers this month...a few here  and there.  But it looks like bright, beautiful sunshine from here on out...well, at least until December ;)  That's the perks of living in Southern California!

So, I'm helping May out by bringing flowers early!  I love the look of fondant flowers.  Although they do not look as realistic as gum paste, fondant brings a simplistic sophistication to sweets.  I needed to make some fondant flowers for J's wedding in July (they will be going atop some fabulous cupcakes!)...since I had time in the last few days, I figured "why not make them now?"  This way, they will be done and out of the way.  One less thing to worry about! :)

So I brought out my supplies for making fondant flowers and got to work!  It wasn't too bad...I only had to make about 50 flowers...Although, these 50 flowers would take about 3 days from start to finish (must account for drying time!).  What I had done for the trial was to cut out the flowers, let it dry, paint on pearl dust, and then add the pearly centers. This was fine, since I didn't make too many flowers.  However, when it comes down to an amount like 50...I knew that painting 50 flowers with uncooperative pearl dust, onto fragile flowers, would be a nightmare!  It's too bad I didn't think  about that until after I made 50 cut outs of flowers (sans pearl dust)!   >.<  ...doooh!...

Hrmm, I thought...it might just be worth it to cut out 50 more (but this time with pearl dust dusted on already!)...yes, that certainly outweighed individually painting each fragile flower!!  Yes, yes, I know I could potentially be wasting more pearl dust than needed, but seriously, have you ever painted with pearl dust??  It's not as easy as you'd think!?!  So, that's what I did...rolled out my fondant, painted it with pearl dust, then cut out the flowers!  Voila...!  That certainly made life easier!! :)

Don't they just make you happy by looking at them? :)

And one of the best news of the day?...I didn't waste that first batch of 50 flowers (sans pearl dust)!  I used this noggins of mine and came up with this:

I stacked two petals together to form a slightly larger flower and used three pearls for the center.  They are special flowers meant for a special cake :)  

I hope J will love them as much as I do!

A Cake by Any Other Name

Ahhh...cake.  There's Asian cake...and then there's...well, everything else...

You know what I'm talking about!  Asian cake, sponge cake!  It has a different feel...taste...texture...compared with all the other cakes out there!  You can always tell when you're eating cake from an Asian bakery!  It has that light, airy, unsweetened, "I can eat the whole cake by myself" quality to it.  I have been trying to figure out Asian cakes for a really, really long time now.  But to my misfortune, it has always eluded me :(

WELL, not anymore Asian "sponge" cake!! You see, therein lies the problem.  I have always known this type of cake to be a "sponge" cake.  And why not...it certainly has the qualities of what a "spongey" cake should be:..well, spongey!  Besides, the sign at the Asian bakeries clearly calls it a "sponge cake."  So, why is it that every single "sponge" cake recipe I've tried to make turned out dense??  They certainly tasted nothing like that airy "sponge" cake from the bakery...(???)

Hrmph...that's because this Asian "sponge" cake is actually....(drum rolls, please!...)... a Chiffon cake!!! Really, are you sure, you might ask?  (I know, I know..I thought the same thing!)...I mean, I didn't realize these Asian bakeries were so sophisticated!  A chiffon cake indeed!

It wasn't until I was flipping through my holy grail of cake books (The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum) and happened to chance upon a chiffon recipe, that I realize: this recipe has an uncanny resemblance to my mom's story about her trip to her friend's bakery.  It involved a bunch of eggs being divided up and mixed separately and then put back together.  Of course I didn't pay too much attention to her back then because, frankly, it seemed like a pain to make (and I couldn't understand half of what she was telling me!) But it's a good thing I remembered those eggs, because now I can make Asian "sponge" cake at home!

I decided to use some fresh blackberries I had on hand.  You will usually never see blackberries on an Asian cake from the bakery (it's usually strawberries), but since this is from Linda's bakery, blackberries are welcomed :) In case you are wondering, they taste delicious!  Well..after all this time of trying to replicate it at home, I, for one, found it beyond delicious...my husband, on the other hand, found it a bit too eggy.  Hmm...well, nothing a second batch can't fix! :)





Mmm mmm...blackberries!

Of course, I can't leave the strawberries out!..They were made for whipped cream and sponge..ahem, I mean, chiffon cake!  

Enjoy!

Brianna's Birthday

Flowers.  Cupcakes.  Flower cupcake cake.  What more could a 9 year old Princess ask for?  This weekend, I helped create the sweets portion of my niece's 9th birthday part.  Usually, I do something simple: cupcakes piped with frosting or maybe some brownies or cookies.  You know, simple baking.  There's always more than enough sweets floating around...the birthday cake, some kind of Asian dessert, my simple baked goods, and of course, the pinata.  Every single year, it's the pinata that receives the majority of the excitement.  I mean, who doesn't enjoy whacking a cardboard character and having tons of chocolate fall atop their head?  ...aaah...the memories... :)

This year, however, it was my sweets table that garnered the excitement and awe.  This year, I made ALL the sweets (minus the chocolates in the pinata, of course)..and might I say so myself, it was beautiful.  This year's baking started early for me...about a week before the birthday party, I was already preparing and making my list of what needs to be done and when (especially those macarons!).  It's hard enough to bake and decorate and set up goodies, but add packing and transporting them (and everything else I could possibly need) 2 1/2 hours away from my residence makes for a difficult task for someone who is a tad bit forgetful...Overall, the sweets were a hit and the kiddies (big and little) loved them!  Here are the highlights:

The Sweets Table:

Chrysanthemum Flower Cupcakes:

Strawberry Macarons and Chocolate Hazel Macarons:

Miniature Fruit Tart with Lemon-Lime Curd:

The Flower Cupcake Cake:

Sharon’s Birthday @ Wilson Creek Winery

It may be 2011, but on April 9th, we were taken back to the days of floral dresses and big ‘ol hats!  My sister-in-law was turning 25….again (!) :) and she decided that she would like to do her birthday on the lawns of Wilson Creek Winery in the beautiful wine country of Southern California! 

She had asked me to help her out with the food stuff, since I loooove cooking and baking and thrive on catering parties! I usually do the sweets end of parties, but this time around, since we were doing a few simple savory appetizers, I did both savory and sweet.  We started out with making a menu for 3 appetizers…since this was an afternoon event and it was mainly a time to hang out and relax with some appetizers and wine.  

We decided on crab stuffed mushrooms, bacon wrapped dates, and prosciutto wrapped shrimp and pineapple! 
I’ve made the crab stuffed mushrooms before and she absolutely loved them, so had requested them for her birthday.  I’ve also made bacon wrapped dates before, and they were just as tasty made at home as ordering from fancy tapas restaurants in LA!  I loved the taste of the savory maple bacon wrapped around a ricotta filled date.  That sweet and savory taste was a perfect backdrop to the crisp wine we will enjoy!  The prosciutto wrapped shrimp and pineapple, however, proved just a might more difficult to maneuver than I had imagined!  Have you ever tried to grip a raw shrimp together with a chunk of slippery pineapple…and then try to wrap a thin sliver of prosciutto around it, without ripping the prosciutto to shreds, while keep the shrimp and pineapple together? OH, and then poke a toothpick through it??  

They were tricky lil suckers! But, luckily for us, they turned out great! 

Stuffed mushrooms

Bacon wrapped dates

 Prosciutto wrapped shrimp

So how is it we went from 3 appetizers to 9??  It’s because I get over-excited about food and tend to over-do :) Who doesn’t like more food??  I sure do!  The menu has now expanded to: Sausage and goat cheese stuffed mushroom, chicken wing pops, cold-cut sandwiches, French macarons, celebratory champagne cookie cutouts, and mini chocolate cups filled with whipped cream or custard and topped with fresh fruit! Everything was fairly simple to make…mostly…just a bit time consuming.  

Let me tell you about those chicken wing pops.  I almost developed carpel tunnel making them!  I learned about chicken wing pops from Chef Tim at the culinary institute I’m attending, during our chicken class.  All I can say about these pops is: slippery chicken wing + sharp knife + trying to remove one bone = carpel tunnel and lots of knicks on my fingers!  It was well worth it though!!

My favorite part of the menu would have to be the desserts!  Since we were at the winery, and there were kids present, I figured the kids would get a kick out of these champagne cookies!  And they did!  They were “toasting”  us with the cookies…not to mention gobbling them up as fast as humanly possible!  The mini chocolate cups went so fast, the birthday girl didn’t even get a chance to try it!  I was originally going to make chocolate dipped strawberries, but that was something I’ve made several times already…so I wanted to try something different: hence, the chocolate cups!  I individually molded each cup and filled it with either custard or home-made whipped cream and topped with fresh fruit!  This was a fantastic alternative to chocolate strawberries; it was a very classy and elegant dessert, perfect for a classy and elegant setting!