I’ve noticed lately that one wedding cake is no longer sufficient. Here are some cake trios we’ve worked on recently (although not thatrecently, because my roses have gotten considerably better).
And who could forget this classic?
Does five count as a trio?
I think I spot a trend.
Photo credit (from top): Lane Dittoe, Braedon Flynn, Henry Chen, T & H Photography, and Ja Tecson.
Read MoreChocolate ganache is, in its most pure form, absolutely heavenly. I use it as both a filling and an icing on my cakes. Traditionally, chocolate ganache is a mixture of cream and chocolate in equal proportions. This one-to-one ratio is the proportion of cream to dark chocolate–chocolate with 50% or more dry cocoa solids. Semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolate both fall into this category. Other chocolates, such as milk chocolate and white chocolate, have higher fat contents, making them more viscous. Since adding equal proportions of cream to them would yield a ganache too soft to hold its form, the proportions of cream-to-chocolate for milk and white chocolate are different.
Ganache is very easy to make, but a kitchen scale is absolutely imperative. Back in the day I made a ganache recipe that called for 8 ounces of chocolate. I knew that 8 ounces was a cup, so I carefully measured my chocolate in my one cup measure, and added my 8 ounces of cream. What resulted was a soupy (albeit delicious when eaten with a spoon) mixture that never firmed up. The problem? A cup of chocolate weighs only about six ounces. (Think about your 12 ounce bag of Nestles chocolate chips. The Toll House recipe calls for two cups–or 12 ounces–of chips, making each cup about 6 ounces in weight). When measuring chocolate–even in ounces–do not use a measuring cup.
Chocolate must be measured by weight not by volume, hence the necessity of the kitchen scale. Below, the chocolate in the 8-ounce measuring cup above weighs in on a kitchen scale at only 6 ounces.
For any ganache recipe, you’ll need:
The Rose Levy Beranbaum Method for Making Chocolate Ganache (from The Cake Bible)
Break chocolate into pieces and process in food processor until very fine. Heat cream to the boiling point and, with the motor running, pour through the feed tube in a steady stream. Process a few seconds until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and cool completely. Allow to cool for several hours or until frosting consistency.
This method makes an incredibly smooth ganache. Also, this method cools down more quickly than the double boiler method. The only disadvantage I have found to the Rose method is that it involves cleaning the food processor when finished, and I hate cleaning the food processor.
Below, Ghiardeli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chips, Callebaut Milk Chocolate (32% cacao), and Callebaut White Chocolate.
Dark Chocolate Ganache
8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (measured by weight, not a measuring cup!)
8 ounces heavy cream (use a glass measure)
Milk Chocolate Ganache
8 ounces milk chocolate
4 ounces heavy cream
Follow the Rose Levy Beranbaum Method (above)
White Chocolate Ganache
8 ounces white chocolate, chopped
3 ounces heavy cream
Follow the Rose Levy Beranbaum Method (above)
Chocolate Chai Ganache
8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (measured by weight, not a measuring cup!)
8 ounces heavy cream (use a glass measure)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Combine cream and spices and bring to a simmer in a heavy saucepan. Turn off heat and allow to steep. Pour cream through a fine mesh strainer to remove any residual spices.
Follow the Rose Levy Berenbaum Method (above)
Note: All of the recipes above use Callebaut (my absolute favorite). Be sure to test the recipe first with whatever chocolate you’re using, as different chocolates will have different fat contents.
Bring to room temperature to use ganache as a cake filling or frosting. And good luck!
Read MoreYet another photo shoot I got roped into by Megan Gray (Honey and Poppies). She’s got a knack for suckering me into these things by inventing some oxymoronic yet catchy title that has just the right balance of pretension and kitsch to really intrigue me. (Seriously, just the other day she emailed me about a Depression-era chic-themed shoot. Really? Depression-era chic?) In short, she’s quite crafty.
I think this one was called “Psychedelic Glam”, or something like that. Anyway, the pictures are quite lovely. (You can see some additional shots on Green Wedding Shoes.) I know everyone likes to see the inspiration and how I interpret it into cake, so I included it here too. (I never know where the photos for the inspiration boards come from though so I never give credit. That’s pretty bad, huh?) Enjoy.
The shoot was at the very dusty yet interesting Star Ranchin Southern California.
And a few shots of the cake before the wind blew it over (it was a faux cake) and knocked all the decorations off. (Luckily I had gone home by this time and didn’t have to witness the casualty.)
Photos: Erin Hearts Court
Concept Design + Styling: Melissa Elise Event Design & Styling
Florals: Honey & Poppies
Hair + Makeup: Emily Dawn Artistry
Vintage rentals: Pow Wow Vintage Rentals
I had heard about Rancho Las Lomas in Silverado, CA for years. I knew that it was way out of my budget when I got married four years ago. I heard that it was absolutely beautiful. And I learned that they, unlike many other venues happy to get free exposure, do not offer their facilities for photo shoots. So I guess you could say that it held a certain mystique for me.
When our friends Vinny and Candice announced that their July, 2011 wedding would be at Rancho Las Lomas, I was excited to finally get a glimpse inside. I was even more excited when they asked me to make their cake.
We arrived at Rancho Las Lomas early to deliver the cake, and asked the first person we could find where the cake drop off was. She told us to turn around and “make a left at the lions.” We followed her instructions, both of us expecting to see two lions statues at either side of the road. Instead, we were greeted by real life lions at the head of the road, and I was beginning to see just what makes this place so amazing. You can read more about their zoo and gardens on their website.
My husband and Vinny have been poker buddies for years, and Vinny and Candice are great because:
1. They’re two of the most generous people I’ve ever met.
2. They have great parties with all this great food, all prepared by Vinny.
3. Their wedding vows consisted of lyrics from the Family Ties and Golden Girls theme songs, delivered with complete sincerity and without a hint of irony: And if I had a party, and invited everyone I knew, you would see the biggest gift would be from me and the card attached would say “Thank you for being a friend”.
For the cake, Candice wanted peacock colors with hints of gold. The LOVE cake topper was Candice’s. I used teardrop cutters in various sizes and overlaid some of the cutouts on top of each other. (For a professional look, be sure to roll your fondant as thin as possible.)
Special thanks to Jeff Shipleywho beautifully captured all the vibrant colors and thoughtful details that made Vinny and Candice’s wedding so unique.
Sam and Elizabeth were both super gorgeous and very easy to work with (and I’m not just saying that because Sam is from New York like me.) Their wedding was at the Casino Ballroom on Catalina Island in California.
They chose to do a quartet of rustic-style cakes in different flavors. Believe it or not, this was the most challenging design I’ve had to execute all year. It’s not that the technique is difficult–in fact, it’s quite easy and something a home baker could easily achieve. (That’s the point of these cakes, right? To conjure up warm fuzzy memories of the homemade cakes your mom made when you were a kid? I say your mom, not my mom, because my mom definitely would not create a home baked cake, not when I was a kid and definitely not now. You can read more about her here.) With my other cakes, I strive for perfection: perfectly iced sides and top, perfectly smooth fondant. With these cakes, the difficulty was in intentionally creating something so imperfect. I damn near cried.
Anyway, that’s not the point. I really wanted to share this because I love the creative way Sam and Elizabeth instructed their guests to “swap, split, or sample” the various flavors of cake. Clients often ask me how it works at a wedding when serving more than one kind of cake. (Yes, my cakes are that good that couples often cannot limit it to just one flavor and end up choosing several.) Truth is, I don’t really know. I do like the idea of guests just digging in to each other’s cake with their forks, blatantly disregarding any conventional notions of table etiquette. Sam and Elizabeth came up with a really great way to address the issue, and it’s pretty much exactly what I imagined:
From now on, when clients ask me how it works with multiple flavor cakes, I know just what I’ll say.
Photo credit: Shana Cassidy Photography and Caroline Kidder.
Read MoreThe search for commercial space can best be compared to dating: you have your highs, your lows, excitement and letdowns, a few heartbreaks, and then maybe, with a little luck, you find the perfect one.
I’ve seen a lot of spaces in the past few weeks, learned a lot about Connecticut commercial code (it differs significantly–and expensively–from California), argued with my sister, made up with my sister, and thought and rethought my plan.
Space # 1 can best be described as something that might appear on Hoarders: Restaurant Edition. I won’t share any pictures of it lest anyone should associate such nastiness with my business.
Space # 2 was in a great neighborhood and had a really nice layout. I just loved the cute exterior and the exposed brick walls. I could even get past the fact that there was no parking, but it had no AC, an absolute must for me, so I had to pass.
Space # 3 worked on the inside, but the outside just wasn’t, well, cute enough for me. (The fact that the landlord decided he didn’t want to rent it to us is beside the point.)
Space # 4 was really expensive and had seemingly little to offer, so we eliminated it right off the bat. We ended up revisiting this space, and as it turned out the realtor misquoted the rent by almost $1,000, but the low ceilings and other cosmetic issues were real turn-offs for me. These pictures actually make it look better than it did in real life.
Space # 5 was super cute but way out of our price range.
Space # 6 might be the love of my life. High ceilings, bright sunlight, ample storage, reasonable rent. The neighborhood is adorable and very supportive of small local businesses. We configured a design for the front (on this fabulous website I found) that I think would work for both me and my sister, and now we just have to tackle some minor logistical issues (Health Department, Planning and Zoning, Water Department, Buildings, get a structural engineer to sign off on everything, buy all our equipment, get a commercial contractor to do our buildout, etc.) and we’re in businesses. Easy peasy.
I think it might look even cuter in person. Here’s a shot of the exterior. Picture it with an awning, a window display, some ambient lighting, and my logo.
A shot of the interior looking out.
I think this is my favorite part. The already high ceiling is currently covered in acoustic tiles. We pushed one up to see what’s underneath, and it has the ORIGINAL TIN TILE CEILING! This is a photo taken of the ceiling, so this is what you’d see if you looked directly up.
Hopefully my next post will include good news and a signed lease. Wish me luck!
Read MoreToday is my last day before I move to Connecticut from California after almost six. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people, and I’ll miss them all, but I wanted to say a special goodbye to some of the friends and family who mean the most to me here.
My Father-In-Law, Pat
Pat is generous to a fault, ridiculously tolerant of others, and extremely forgiving. Over the years I’ve passed no fewer than four of our pets on to Pat, and he’s loved even the most unlovable among them. My daughters love him wildly. I would not hesitate to call him if I were stranded somewhere, and the last time I flew back to California from Connecticut, he picked me up at LAX at 1:30am even though he had to work the next morning at 5. He’s not the type to say “I love you” or “I’m proud”, yet there is something so warm and loving about him you just know without a doubt that he does. So thank you Pat, for being a wonderful father, grandfather, and father-in-law. I love you. And what’s not to love about this?
My friend Christina
Christina has a very special talent that enables her to complain about just about anything. Comment on the beautiful weather, and she’ll complain that she can’t wear her hoodie. It’s actually a rather endearing quality and she has a good sense of humor about it. She’s the most dedicated teacher I know, and I have tremendous respect for her professionally. Plus, her husband is on my highly regarded Top 10 Funniest People I Know list. She has twin boys now, and I have two kids, so things are a little different, but she’s been a really good friend. We couldn’t be more different, but I love her just the same. I’ll miss you so much Christina.
Right: Christina–wearing her hoodie, of course–with her twin boys.
My friend Megan
Megan pushes me creatively and challenges me intellectually. She’s the Lucy to my Ethel (albeit a post-Little Ricky Lucy who couldn’t get into too much trouble), and she’s way more hip than I’ll ever be. Her house is sort of like a museum, filled with interesting things you’re just not cool enough to have in your own house. She and her equally hip husband have a cat, Abigail, whom they’ve not only assigned a very human personality but also a very human voice. It’s too bad I’m moving, because although Megan currently refuses to do the Abigail voice for me, I’ve been inching closer and closer to persuading her to do it. All I needed was a few more months and the aid of a few margaritas, and I’d be having a very intellectual exchange with Abigail.
Frank
Frank is the guy you call to ask if he knows a guy that knows how to: fix a dishwasher; replace an alternator; repair termite damage; move your entire household across the country; etc., but instead of referring you to someone else, he’s over in an hour to do it himself. He’s one of the warmest, most generous people I know. He’s got two solid, grounded sons and a baby granddaughter who is sure to adore him and incredibly lucky to have him. He’s everything you would want in a friend, in a dad, or in a repairman,. My husband and I are eternally grateful to him and will miss him immensely. Thank you Frank, for everything.
Back in May I wrote about two of the sketches I submitted to Bride’s Magazine for their Most Beautiful Cakes issue that were ultimately rejected. I was sworn to secrecy on my two other design submissions, but now that the issue is on newsstands, I’m free to share.
I love interior designer Jonathan Adler. His Nixon rug, left, is a favorite of mine, and I thought it could be fantastic on a cake. I wanted to juxtapose the edginess of the geometric print of the rug against something soft and romantic, like garden roses. Below right is the mood board I submitted.
My second concept was also based on interior design elements. I really like Ethan Allen’s starburst mirror (below), and thought it would work well against a neutral color.
Here’s the starburst mirror sketch:
The next step in the process once the design was accepted was to submit a sugar “tile”–a flat piece of fondant (I backed mine with foamcore board) approximately 8″ by 8″. Brides editor Maria McBride–yes, that’s her real name–wanted to see the Adler cake with both the garden rose and the starburst mirror.
For the Adler pattern, I commissioned a stencil which I airbrushed onto the fondant tile using a custom-mixed color. Below left, my sugar tile with the Adler pattern and starburst mirror (yes–it’s broken. I realized after I packed it that I hadn’t taken a picture and as I was taking it out of the box, I smashed it), and below right my rather un-gardeny garden rose, a work in progress.
Within a week or two of submitting my tile, and to my great surprise, I got an email from Ms. McBride saying that they wanted me to create the Adler cake with the starburst mirror for the BRIDES Most Beautiful Cakes shoot on May 10th in New York. There was still no guarantee my cake would make it into the magazine, since shipping disasters and design difficulties have been known to render even the most perfect of cake concepts unworthy of print. I wasn’t taking any chances: I booked my ticket to New York and delivered my cake personally. After waiting for what seemed an excruciatingly long time, Maria McBride emailed to say the Adler cake had been accepted for print. I’m proud to announce that our cake is now one of BRIDES Most Beautiful Cakes! Below, the cover and inside of the September, 2011 BRIDES Magazine.
And an individual shot of our Adler cake as seen on the BRIDES website:
If you work with fondant–and since you’re reading this you probably do–you’ve likely found that purple fondant quickly fades to a shade of blue that barely resembles its formerly purple self. I was researching the issue and came across this Flour Confections blog post which I read with fascination.
The post begins:
Finally, when the pH of your fondant or gumpaste is not balanced, the red can fade out. To balance the pH, you can add an alkali such as baking soda. A good ratio is 1 tsp of baking soda per 1 lb of fondant or gumpaste.
This brings me to my blog post. I wanted to see for myself the effect of baking soda on purple fondant, so I conducted a little experiment.
I used both Wilton’s Violet and AmeriColor’s violet to test whether they fade differently. I colored a small amount of Satin Ice fondant. (I specify the fondant brand because I didn’t test to see if different fondants react with the color differently and fade differently.) The Wilton (on the left) is more of a true purple while the AmeriColor (right) is more of a periwinkle with a strong blue appearance.
I then set them directly in the blazing sun for an hour to see what would happen. (Note where the shadows from the food coloring containers are. These areas did not fade as much as you will see in the final photo.)
After an hour (give or take–I kind of forgot to time it), these are the results.
