Designer cakes for special events

The change of the seasons is soon to arrive. We are already in August, starting the final steps to Autumn. Fall is a very busy wedding season and with it, comes interesting changes in things like themes, flowers and tones of colors. I just checked out the Pantone Fashion Colors for this Autumn 2010. The choices are beautiful and enticing. What a great palette to be working with this. The colors are Endive, Golden Glow, Living Coral, Lipstick Red, Purple Orchid, Chocolate Truffle, Lagoon, Woodbine, Oyster Gray and Rose Dust. Obviously, most of these colors and tones are derived from nature. Woodland-themed weddings would still be very much relevant during the season.

Besides, looking at flowers or changing leaves for wedding themes, we should think about what’s in bounty. Fall is also a time of a major crop harvest. Much variety can be found at the farmers market with plenty of color. Things like the wide array of colors in carrots, apples and corn. My absolute favorite is looking at the color variety of cauliflower (I also enjoy eating it). It may just inspire me to create a wedding cake with this natural swatch.

Hope this helps spark some ideas!

But not just watermelon paletas… watermelon lime and mint paletas. What could be more refreshing than biting into a super juicy and sweet watermelon on a hot summer day? Answer: Watermelon paletas on a super humid day of 95 degrees F. Well, this summer in NY has been really hard and my family and I found relief in watermelon popsicles.

Lime has always been my secret with watermelon, more than cucumber or other melons. It’s the secret ingredient in the watermelon balls I like to serve when I have guests over. People always ask me, “What is in that watermelon? It is SO good!” It’s so simple, just toss the watermelon with some lime zest and you’re set. For a little extra something, you can sprinkle in some tequila or white rum. It was my inspiration for this paleta recipe. There is enough to make 6 standard-sized home kit popsicles. Use the leftovers for a watermelon mojito (just add ice and white rum… it’s killer!).

Watermelon Paletas

3 1/2 –  4 cups cubed seedless watermelon

1/2 tsp finely grated lime zest read more »

I had a chance to do something different this past week and that was to put together my very first dessert table. Fortunately, it came out perfect, after all of my careful planning and daily goals. I did a very small plate of green macarons. The first being green tea, then pistachio. These are two standard flavors I offer. However, I did want to share one recipe and that was for mojito-flavored French macarons. I have to say that even I am surprised by the subtle deliciousness of the cookie. When devising this flavor, I first thought of the obvious… adding the lime zest to the shells and having a minty filling. However, after remembering a recipe I had seen where the extract/essence was added to the shell, I was intrigued at the idea. Furthermore, I cringed at the thought of a mouthful of minty filling. I added Creme de Menthe to the shell recipe, and not only ended up with an interesting subtly minty flavor, but a wonderful hue of green. I did cheat a little and add a pinch of blue to it. The results are macarons with a notable lime flavor at the start, followed by a tinge of rum, and finished off with a quick zing of mint. Perfection.

*Remember when making macarons, prepare the parchment ahead of time, with your circle templates. Also prepare a piping bag with a round tip.

Mojito Macarons

Shells:

2 egg whites (aged 24 hours)

1/4 Cup granulated sugar

1 Cup powdered sugar

3/4 Cup almond flour

1 tsp. Creme de Menthe read more »

July is an exciting time for produce, especially fruits! All my local favorites come back this month, some (sadly) for just a few short weeks. There’s a lot to write about in the way of flavors right about now. There’s peaches, gooseberries, currants, black raspberries (YES!) and sour cherries (WHOO-HOO!). I’ll write about black raspberries a couple of weeks down the line when they are at their prime, at which point, they also seem to quickly disappear. Cherries have always been a favorite of mine. As a child it was dark sweet cherries, then around twelve, I discovered the surprising yellow Rainers. As an adult, I started shifting towards sour, and greatly began to appreciate the balanced sweet and tart flavor of bright red Bings. My whole experience as a child with sour cherries was the stuff out of the can, which I found quite cloying and overly sweetened.  Still, my mind wandered to the bright little cherries perched on tables at the farmers market. I knew I was missing out. Of course, now, I spend most of the summer thinking about when they will come into season.

I just canned some maraschino cherries, old-school style…. not that Red 40 stuff in the jars. I’ll tell you how they come out in 2 weeks! But now, I’ll share a wonderful and absolutely scrumptious sour cherry pie recipe. What makes it so great is that it keeps much of the tartness of the cherries, but is sweetened by the amazing crumb topping. Use whichever pastry crust you prefer. Don’t forget the vanilla ice cream! read more »

I have been experimenting lately and have come up with an even better recipe for homemade cake release. The previous recipe, which contained shortening/butter, probably got 90 percent of the job  done, but I’d still get some spots at times. The secret to the new recipe is vegetable oil. It is much better for spreading as well as keeping the cake from sticking to the pan. This recipe is a lot simpler too! You’ll come out with perfect results every time.

Improved Cake Release Recipe

1-1/2 Tbsp. flour

2 Tbsp. fine corn flour

1/2 Cup vegetable oil (any scentless oil will do)

Mix ingredients together. Cover and refrigerate (will keep indefinitely).  The flour mixture will settle to the bottle. When using, no need to  stir completely together. You want to get only a little bit of the flour mixture on your brush, and get mostly oil on it. Brush a thin coat evenly onto your pan. Make sure every inch has at least some corn meal/flour. Try not to have clumpy areas either.

The season for apricots is upon us. I’ve always loved it’s tartness and intensity in flavor and perfume and usually seize up the opportunity to use apricots galore when the season is here. Apricots are amazing in the sense that they really do go well with most other flavors, including savory flavors and meat. Besides all the wonderful cakes and pies they can be used in, there are also great alternatives such as preserving. One of my favorites of course, with seasonals is making flavor-infused vodka such as with the Meyer Lemon entry I posted a while ago. However, I do love making homemade jams and confitures, although the preferred choice for my own use is preserving them in syrup, very much like the canned peaches you find in the store, only with apricots.  Once you have this around, you can pop them in almost anything.

*Make sure apricots are the correct ripeness. Under-ripe and they don’t have nearly as much flavor, overripe and you get a mushy mess with a skin that doesn’t want to come off.

Home-canned Apricots

Apricots, just ripe

Sugar

Water

Lemon juice (optional)

Wash and sterilize glass preserving jars in boiling water. Let cool. read more »

There is almost nothing more basic in the world of confections and desserts as honey and as vanilla. However, putting these two things together really makes an amazing splash of not just flavor but extraordinary fragrance. I’m paying tribute to honey and vanilla this week, because I feel that it doesn’t get the attention that perhaps it should. It’s also a combo that is mild enough to pair well with other flavors, but flavorful on itself alone to make a delighted reaction on its consumer. So, here’s to you honey & vanilla. I salute you!

*Make sure to check different local honeys at your farmers market. They can vary in flavor and body considerably depending on the flowers they are extracted from. Also try using whole vanilla bean whenever possible for even more flavor and aroma. You can also use Tahitian vanilla instead of the widely popular Madagascar Bourbon for lighter floral notes.

Honey & Vanilla American-style buttercream frosting

1 Cup of unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temp.

3 1/2 – 4 Cups of sifted confectioners’ sugar

2-4 Tablespoons milk (optional)

1 vanilla bean, split

1/2 C honey read more »

Being a huge LOST fan, I knew I needed to make something sweet to mark the occasion… of saying goodbye to six years of great television, of some of the most memorable characters I have grown love and hate over the years (as you can see, I am still reeling from separation anxiety). I had just a few fellow LOST fans over and decided we all needed our own Dharma Initiative beers. Here’s what I ended up making. I didn’t spend too much time planning, but I think the end product was pretty satisfactory. The mini cakes were tropical flavors, with rum cake, passion fruit filling and coconut buttercream. Goodbye LOST. You will be sorely missed.

I’m starting a new flavor of the week beat. This week’s flavor is strawberry cake. Normally, we all eat strawberry shortcake, but how often do we have strawberry cake itself. Sure, Duncan Hines has its own artificial rendition, but why not make fresh strawberry cake at home. You won’t regret it! Just take a regular 1-2-3-4 cake recipe and sub the milk for some freshly pureed strawberries. Note: In this recipe, you can either put in the eggs whole or separate them. If you separate them, you will be whipping the egg whites and folding them into the batter for lighter version of this cake. Also note that you can leave some small strawberries chunks if you like the appearance in your cake.  I also like to mix the strawberries with some milk (3/4 C strawberry puree and 1/4 C milk), but this is totally not necessary. If you are using cake flour for a more delicate crumb, add 1/2 C more of cake flour. read more »

Here’s a cake to prove Brooklyn Cake does classic cakes too! This cake was created for a special 80th birthday. It loosely follows an Asian theme, with the chinese character for ‘life’. Realistic gumpaste peonies and white cherry blossoms were handmade to go along with the theme.