Thanksgiving Rush

Late again, but at least it's still technically November! Maybe next month, I'll be able to post three times! I know I keep saying this, but time passes so quickly! A very unhappy Sara-kitty and I went home to MA last Tuesday for Thanksgiving break. It was so nice to have Wednesday off! I spent it baking at the very busy Pastry Shoppe and then rushed home to go cheer on the Celtics with G! I had fun, even though we had some very drunk and clumsy people in front of us. And they won-- even better! By Thanksgiving morning, however, I was wiped out.. and on my own baking day. I ended up making Auntie Mary Mocha Cake with Ganache frosting and G's flourless Almond Torte with Raspberry Coulis. The cannolis didn't happen.. I'm fairly sure my second challenge fail has got me kicked out of the club :-( We'll have to see! In any case, a very nice day with fantastic food and great company (hi Mum! hi G! hi Dad!)

The rest of the weekend was spent at D's new house, where I think I might have overdone it on the friends and food and booze. Ah well. New Years Eve is coming soon enough with its resolutions... I can be a good girl in 2010 :-)

Here are some pics.

Mocha Cake with Chocolate Ganache

I love to make whirls!


Here's a cross-section. I need to figure out my camera a bit better next time!

Macarons!

Hey there!
Sorry for the long lapse between posts! Between Heather's beautiful wedding, a super busy Halloween and volunteering at Toot Sweet bakery in Hampton, the weeks have been flying by. I absolutely love it there-- the pastries are delicious and the people are so friendly and talented! I have definitely been learning a lot. It really makes the weekend go faster- time in that kitchen just flies! I can't believe we are two weeks into November. With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, I've only a short window to start working on recipes before Thanksgiving!

In the meantime, here are some tasty French Macarons to look at! People usually think that macarons are those big coconut-sugar concoctions, but in France they are delicate sandwich cookies. Made of almond flour and meringue, French macarons are known for having small 'feet': which are a sort of raised edge at the bottom. Mine came out okay, but I think I'm going to let them dry out a bit more next time.

These cookies are made with almond meal instead of flour (thanks, Mom! That stuff is expensive!) and sandwiched with a pumpkin buttercream.



You can kind of see the feet...


You can see the feet a bit better here... and all that tasty frosting.




...TASTY.

Bachelorette Party!

A success!

Failed butter cream aside, I managed to pull together Heather's Bachelorette party cake pretty well if I say so myself! And I even managed to get it there in one piece (which is a bigger feat, considering Cupcake Gate August 2009). I was so incredibly happy when I finished it. The buttercream was delicious! And so much easier to do than the cooked one.. though I haven't given up on that yet! The buttercream was 3 sticks of butter, confectioner's sugar, pinch salt, vanilla bean paste and milk... whipped to oblivion. It was very rich but also super light. The cake came into shape much easier than I thought, too. After shaping them, I did a quick crumb frosting and then sandwiched the cake with some buttercream and raspberry preserves. The piping was quick, and a trail of coarse yellow sugar crystals on the sides pulled it together!

Here is a full shot of the cake, placed on the table at the Bachelorette party! (Ignore the tiny penis confetti around it... girls just wanna have fun! )


The piping came out pretty well.. minor spacing issue aside :-) I was pretty pumped- the small "Welcome" cookies are made from the tart dough (pate sucree!) They were tasty.. and wicked easy to make. I'm glad I didn't try to pipe them instead. I really like the 3d effect.


Here's one from the side..


You can really see the air bubbles in my buttercream. I tried to smooth them out, but to no avail. To be completely fair.. this was my first "big cake" and I was pretty stressed out about just getting it to the party! It is a little wonky on the sides from transport, but nothing wicked bad happened...So.. I really consider it a success! If anything, I've learned from my mistakes!

Now, as for the Bachelorette party...

It was a really fun (and completely innocent) night! We all warmed up with some pina coladas, cake and silly games before heading to Common Ground in Allston for 90s night. What fun! After waiting outside in line (seriously! I couldn't believe they didn't let us hop the line, in our Vegas-y shower costumes!) we finally made it inside right before they cleared the room for dancing. And the music was great! It's funny how you can remember song lyrics even if you haven't heard the song in years! There was a lot of singing and dancing; drinking and laughing. I got to see some good friends from high school too, and having them there really made it! I don't get to go down to Boston very often, and when I do, I'm happy to be able to catch up with a lot of people. And when different groups can come together on the dance floor? Even better! Definitely a successful evening... even if we didn't get into bed until late.

Believe it or not, the wedding is next week! That means wedding cake... yum. I'll definitely be back before then though, since I have my Baking Challenge ending soon!

Hope you all have a good night!

Nothing beats baking on a rainy day...

Good evening!
What crazy weather we've been having! Today was mostly grey and rainy, but it had a couple surprising bright spots! When I went out for lunch around 12, I caught the best weather of the day. By 3:30, it was thundering, lightning and even hailing! I would not want to be working outside when all of that came down. I hope that D's construction workers made it inside!

In any case, the streets were wet when I got back to my apartment with my evening planned: Day One of Operation Bachelorette Cake! I made an 11X13 vanilla cake modified from Flo Braker's "Baking For All Occasions". I made it with this new vanilla paste from a small gourmet shop on Commercial Street. It was expensive but totally worth it!It is a blend of vanilla beans and vanilla extract. I also attempted a Swiss Buttercream; to be honest, I'm not sure whether I did it right! I don't have a thermometer, so I pretty much guessed that it was at the right temperature before getting it into the mixer. It whipped up into such a gorgeous consistency, sort of like Fluff! But then I added the butter... and then it melted, d'oh! It's in the fridge right now. Luckily, I still have half the butter. I'm hoping a quick chill will help the consistency before the rest is added. Cross your fingers! I need this to work out for the assembly tomorrow.

In any case, I figured I should try to get up to date with some pictures of tasty things I've baked.

From Class: Plum-Almond Cafloutis


And now a close up...


From Class: Cheese Danish (with a honey glaze)

Gorgeous layers of butter!

.. Right out of the oven.


.. and super flaky.

Well that's all for tonight. The buttercream didn't work :-( The mixture is too greasy now to hold shape. It looks like I'll need a trip to the grocery store tomorrow...!

October

Happy October!

Posting definitely fell by the wayside in September. I was so busy! To be honest, I barely know where the time went. One minute it was August, and now here we are, in the first Sunday of October! I won't complain though: I love fall. Fresh picked apples, Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks, and finally, cooler temperatures in the kitchen!

One awesome thing? I started taking pastry classes at Chez Boucher in Hampton, NH... and I love it! The head pastry chef is so friendly and talented! She is so cool and has already done so much even though she's so young! I really enjoy the classes. It's a group of 8 ladies, each very friendly and happy to be there. We've made a good range of stuff so far- starting out easy with ginger snaps and a butter cookie, moving on to tarts with Plum Clafloutis and a Roasted Tomato Tart, and then learning how to roll with Danish! So good. I was a bit nervous about making the Danish since you have to be careful not to rip the dough or sploosh the butter, but since I'd made puff pastry for the Daring Bakers challenge the weekend before, it all went really smoothly!

Here are a few pics from the puff pastry challenge. I filled the buttery, crisp vol a vents with slightly sweet whipped vanilla cream and fresh strawberries. More pics from class to come later!

Rolled puff pastry, waiting to go in the oven.

Crispy!


Filled.


Delicious.

First Post :-D

Hello there!

You know, I do an awful lot of baking. I've baked with my mum since I've been little, and I love just about everything about it. It is calming, creative, and pleasing. It fills the kitchen with delicious smells, is always a welcome gift to friends, and has endless possibilities. I've been working as a Technical Writer for about a year now, and baking gives me something to think about besides documentation! I've decided here on out to keep track of what I've been baking: the successes AND the failures. Hopefully, there will be more of the former :-)

Wish me luck!