Eight is Great - the sweets!

Next up from Graham's Disco party - the sweets! As a pastry chef, putting together the dessert table is always a passion for me. Since I knew the kids were going to be inundated with piñata candy, I tried not to go too overboard. I created a 2 tiered fondant covered fresh strawberry cake, mini vanilla cupcakes, glitter dusted truffle pops and milk chocolate mousse cups. For the first time, I asked another baker to contribute. I am so happy I did! Sarah of Bird Treats created the most exquisite and delicious G & 8 sugar cookies. It was really nice to take one thing off of my plate! I already own a ridiculous number cake stands and platters, but I just had to buy the acrylic risers to complete the modern, clean look.

Still to come... favors & party pics!

Credits:

Concept, styling and baked goods: Cakewalk Baking

Photography: Sherry Heck Photography

Invitations, CD labels, custom buttons, heart stickers: Merry Happy by Cake.

Sugar cookies: Bird Treats

DJ: Chip “Mancub” Corwin

Gourmet French Macarons - what's not to love?

Hello, long lost friends! I'm coming out of blog hiding today for a great reason - to help spread the word about Mindy Cone's fabulous new book, Gourmet French Macarons. I have been a fan of her blog, Creative Juice for a long time and had the pleasure of meeting her at Alt SF this summer.  Let me tell you, this is a subject that she is passionate about.  Mindy developed (and photographed!) over 75 unique and creative designs for the book that are perfect for any holiday or season. I'm especially excited about all of the Halloween designs - Frankenstein, pumpkins and ghosts, oh my! When you purchase the book it comes with a CD that has printable templates to make piping circles or unique shapes so much easier. Though making macarons can be daunting, Mindy's recipes, techniques and templates make it simple.

 Chocolate macarons are my absolute favorite. Mindy has been kind enough to share this recipe and it is on my baking agenda for the week. 

Chocolate French Macarons with chocolate ganache filling

Free 1.5 in circle template download for this recipe here:

Chocolate French Macarons

100g of egg whites aged at room temperature

Pinch of Cream of tartar

35g of superfine sugar

110g of Almond flour

200g of Powdered Sugar

10g cocoa powder 

1. Measure out all ingredients using a gram scale

2. Prepare the baking sheets by lining them with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Slide a printed 1 ½ inch template sheet underneath and set aside. Prepare piping bag to be filled and set aside.

3. Sift powdered sugar, almond mixture, and cocoa powder together two or three times through a sieve and set aside.

4. Place the egg whites in a large bowl or in stand mixer with wire whisk attachment. Whisk on low until egg whites become foamy. Add the pinch of cream of tartar. Continue to whisk until soft peaks form. Slowly add in the superfine sugar. Once all of the sugar is incorporated, scrape down the sides with a spatula.

5. Turn your mixer on medium-high and continue to whisk until you reach a stiff meringue. If adding liquid or gel food dye, do so toward the end of whisking.

6. Sift 1/3 of the almond flour, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder mixture through the sieve and into the meringue. Fold the dry mixture into the meringue. Repeat with the remaining mixture. Once all of the dry ingredients are incorporated, the batter will be thick and have a dull shine. Continue to fold. As you do so, the batter will loosen. Stop folding when the batter has a glossy sheen, a “lava-like” consistency, and falls in a ribbon like manner off the spatula.

7. Transfer the batter into a large pastry bag fitted with a round tip and pipe 1½ inch rounds on the parchment paper following the template.

8. When all of the rounds are piped on the parchment, rap the sheet pans evenly on work surface a few times. Remove templates from below your parchment paper carefully. Let the batter rest at room temperature for 20-40 minutes.

9. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Reduce temperature to 300 degrees and bake one sheet at a time for 12 minutes rotating the pan half way through.

10.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.

11.  Match up similar size shells into pairs and sandwich with filling.

MAKES:

About 4 dozen 1.5 in shells (two dozen sandwiched macaron cookies)

Chocolate Ganache Filling

100 g (3.5 oz) chocolate*

1½ Tbsp. heavy cream

Place chocolate in a heat proof bowl.

Boil cream and pour over chocolate.

Stir until all the chocolate has melted and texture is smooth**

When warm, pipe onto macaron shells.

*I prefer to use the mini chocolate chips when possible to speed up the process.

** If the cream is not able to melt all the chocolate, place bowl in microwave. Heat for 20 seconds on low power. Remove and stir. Repeat until chocolate is fully melted.

Watch this adorable video to learn more about Mindy and how her passion for macarons developed:

Gourmet French Macarons from TK Productions on Vimeo.

 

"Epic" Blondies

(the finished product, cut when they were still warm - we just couldn't wait)

• 
  
• I read somewhere recently that blondies are the new brownie. I think - or was it just another wacky dream (last night I had a washi tape nightmare)? True or not, it got me thinking and baking. Most blondie recipes I've tried have been dry and a bit blah. I found this Martha recipe and tweaked it a bit to bump up the excitement factor-adding white & dark chocolate chips and my favorite secret ingredient, Maldon salt.
• I will not often say this, but friends, you must make this recipe. You will not be sorry. Well, you may be sorry because you will try one little nibble and then another and then another.  An adorable hostess at work called them "epic" and even though I am way too old to be throwing such terms around, the name stuck. So here you have it...
•  
• "Epic" Blondies  
• Ingredients:
• 2 1/2 sticks (10oz) unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Maldon or other sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
• 2 cups packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped toasted walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper with sides overlapping; spray parchment paper again.
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the butter until it turns golden brown; remove from heat, strain, and let cool. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine browned butter and both sugars; stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Attach bowl to mixer; add eggs. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla, and beat to combine. Add flour mixture, chocolate chips and walnuts (if adding). Mix until thoroughly combined, and pour into prepared pan and spread out as evenly as possible. Sprinkle the top with a pinch of Maldon salt.
4. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes (this will really depend on your oven, so start checking after 25 minutes, do not overbake). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Use the overlapping sides of parchment to remove blondies from the pan.

 (Ready to go in the oven. See those flakey sprinkles of salt? Heaven!)

Amelia's 1st birthday

A couple of weeks ago, I put together a dessert table for the sweetest little 1 year old, Amelia. The party, held in Tilden park in Berkeley had a farm theme with a decidedly girly twist. I made a smash cake for the birthday girl, chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, brown sugar caramel corn and homemade giant Oreo cookies. Amelia's mom, Lea, an admitted Etsy junkie, provided lots of great elements to decorate the table including personalized cupcake flags, vintage farm animal tags, monogrammed popcorn boxes, and a beautiful hand sewn cake bunting (which was unfortunately a bit too big for the cake, but looked adorable hanging from the crate).

Typically when I put together a dessert table, I have the design mapped out far in advance. In this case, the client was providing the table, linens, candy jars, and some of the props (hello, gorgeous wooden crates), so when I arrived at the event I had to put everything together on the fly. While it was a little nerve-racking (especially because the party was in full swing and there were lots of onlookers), it was a fun challenge and I was really happy with the way it all came together. 

Sweets for my sweets

fresh strawberry milk and chocolate/chocolate cocoa nib shortbread hearts

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to win a giveaway from one of my favorite party stylists, Pure Joy Events for bunch of adorable Valentine's Day goodies from Cute Tape. As last minute treats for friends and family, I was able to put the heart straws and little chevron bags to good use.

By the way, have you ever made real strawberry milk? It is easy and delicious and actually tastes like strawberries!

Fresh strawberry milk
1 lb strawberries, washed, hulled and sliced in quarters
6 oz sugar

Combine the strawberries and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes until syrupy. Pour off the syrup and cool. At this point, you can continue to cook the strawberries for about 15 minutes to make a delicious jam. To serve: Mix 8 oz of milk with 1/4 cup of strawberry syrup and shake vigorously.

My subtle valentine

Unlike me, by husband doesn't like stuff. He doesn't collect anything or have any particular hobbies. This is all fine with me, but it makes gift buying difficult at best. The one thing I know he appreciates is homemade chocolate chip cookies (always with nuts!). With Valentine's Day coming up, I wanted to make him a sweet, but not cutesy, over-the-top gift. Using Silhouette vinyl and glass etching cream, I created the simple "Je t'adore" (I adore you) cookie jar that I can fill with treats he loves all year long.

Cooks Illustrated perfect chocolate chip cookies (with a couple of changes..)

1¾ cups (8¾ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
14 tablespoons (1¾ sticks) unsalted butter, melted
½ cup (3½ ounces) granulated sugar
¾ cup (5¼ ounces) packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
¾ cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted

Preheat oven to 350, and prepare 2 baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper

1. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

2. Mix the melted butter and sugars together until fluffy

3. Add the egg and egg yolk and mix until combine. Stir in vanilla

4. Mix in dry ingredients, then chocolate chips and nuts.

5. Scoop out cookie dough into 18 balls and bake for approximately 16 minutes.

Note: In the original recipe the butter is browned, but I don't think this step makes a big difference. For thin, crispy cookies, bake immediately. I made a happy discovery by leaving the dough at room temperature for 1 hour before baking - the cookies turned out thick and chewy and crispy - perfect!

Would you like to make your own cookie jar? Leave me a comment with your email and I will send you the "Je t'adore" file.

Before and after

It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint and some new hardware can do!

(and a great photo by Sherry Heck)

Pink + Gold + Glittery all over ~ the sweets

As always, collaborating with Becca of Cake. and Sherry Heck is a dream - a very, girly sparkly dream in this case. We shot these photos in my recently renovated office and I've been sweeping up plumes of glitter ever since (just how I like it!).  We shot these with Valentine's Day in mind, but color scheme would be equally lovely for a shower or birthday party. Enjoy the recipes and make something glittery today!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Cupcake Ingredients
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/4 cups whole milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Bring the eggs, milk & butter to room temperature (don’t skip this step, it’s very important!) In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and pale. Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until combined. Sift (yes you must, sift!) together flour, salt and baking powder together. Stir together vanilla and milk Alternately add dry ingredients and milk to mixing bowl, scraping down after each addition. Start and end with dry ingredients. Fill paper-lined muffin tins with batter 2/3 full. Bake at 350° for 18- 20 minutes.
recipe adapted from Amy Sedaris

Frosting Ingredients
1 lb unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
8 egg whites
1 cup crème friache or sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Seeds from 2 vanilla beans

Directions
Combine sugar & egg whites in mixer bowl and whisk together over simmering water until hot to the touch and all of the sugar has melted and no longer grainy. Transfer bowl to mixer stand and whip on high until fluffy & cool – about 10 minutes. With the mixer on low, add the softened butter 1 tablespoon at a time until incorporated. Add in vanilla, crème fraiche or sour cream, and vanilla beans. Beat until smooth (it may look curdled, but just continue to mix & it will be come together!).



Homemade Gumdrops

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup corn syrup
3/4 cup water
1 box powdered fruit pectin (1.75 oz)
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp citric acid
¼ tsp natural citrus oil
a few drops of gel food coloring

Supplies
Pan spray Candy molds
Sugar for coating
Disco dust (if desired)

Directions
Prepare your molds (you can use chocolate or hard candy molds) by liberally coating them with pan spray. Mix the sugar & corn syrup together in a medium saucepan. Mix water, pectin & baking soda together in another saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Bring to a boil and cook for approximately 8 minutes, until the foam from the baking soda mixture has died down. Pour the baking soda mixture into the sugars and stir constantly for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the citric acid, citrus oil, and food coloring. Working quickly, fill your molds with the hot liquid. If you wait too long, the mixture will begin to gel and is difficult to pour. (Alternatively, you can pour the mixture into a 8” square cake pan and cut out shapes). Let your gum drop set up in the molds for several hours. When they are firm, coat them in sugar (with a pinch of Disco Dust for sparkle if desired). Enjoy!

recipe adapted from Sew Can Do

Truffle Pops
Ingredients
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
½ cup whipping cream
2 oz Brandy (or other liquor, if desired)
Candy Melts in your color of choice
Oil food coloring (if desired)
Disco dust (if desired)

Directions
Place the chocolate in a heat proof mixing bowl. Bring the cream and brandy to a boil in a small sauce pan. Immediately pour the cream on the chocolate and let it stand for a few minutes. Sir the chocolate with a spatula until smooth. Leave the chocolate at room temperature, stirring occasionally until firm. This can take several hours. Once the chocolate is firm, roll into balls of your desired size. Insert lollipop stick and refrigerate until hard, preferably overnight. Melt the candy melts in a heat proof bowl over a double boiler. If desired, add a few drops of oil based food coloring. Holding your pops by the lollipop stick, dip them into the candy melts and swirl to coat completely. Remove from the chocolate and tap gently to remove excess. Insert into Styrofoam block to dry. When dry, sprinkle with disco dust.

Macarons
Ingredients
125 grams almond powder (ground blanched almonds)
225 grams powdered sugar
100 grams egg whites
25 grams of sugar
pinch of cream of tartar
Gel food coloring if desired

Directions
Separate the egg whites the day before you want to use them and leave them covered at room temperature. Put the almond powder & powdered sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade and pulse until well combined. Whip the egg whites, cream of tartar, sugar and 2 drops of food coloring (if desired) until glossy peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the almond mixture until combined – approximately 50 strokes. Pipe the batter into 1 1/2” diameter circles on a Silpat or parchment lined sheet pan. After piping out the macarons, give the baking sheet a whack on the counter and let them sit for about 30 minutes before baking (this helps develop their “feet”). Bake for approximately 15 minutes at 300°. After they are cooled, pipe center on 1 cookie with buttercream

Happy Holidays everyone!

snowflake sugar cookies for Graham's classmates

I've been busy, busy working and shopping and crafting and baking and candy making and party throwing, but unfortunately can't seem to do all those things and still take interesting photos and blog about it. Oh well, there's always next year...

In case you still have some baking to do, here are my favorite recipes from the season:
1. Homemade peanut butter cups - to D-I-E for! I used milk chocolate and topped off with crushed peanuts and Maldon Salt.
2. Peppermint Bark - I doubled the recipe for a 1/2 sheet pan and added half the oil. Make sure to wrap them it and store in the fridge.
3. Penuche fudge - I tried this recipe with both dark & light sugar and they were both equally as yummy. Make sure to not over cook or it will be crumbly.
4. Gingersnaps - I subbed the cardamon for black pepper and left out the fresh ginger because I didn't have any. I rolled the cookies in raw sugar before baking.
5. English toffee - Using chocolate chips makes this so easy, I prefer it will almonds
6. Mexican wedding cakes (or Russian tea cakes) - my husband's favorite. I added a 1/2 teaspoon of salt because every cookie should have salt.
7. Gingerbread caramels - Perfect!
8. Vanilla Bean marshmallows - I add the seeds from two vanilla beans as well as adding the extract.

I hope your holidays are merry and bright! See you next year...

xoxo,

Graham's Pumpkin Patch Party - part 1

I know that Halloween is soooo 3 days ago, but I am finally getting around to posting all the pictures from Graham's party. When we visited G&M farms with his preschool class last year, I decided it would be the perfect spot for a party. Their party "rooms" are an amazing deal (only $20 for 2 hours) and hosting it away from home meant I didn't have to clean up or plan any activities. When the kids arrived, they immediately ran off to the straw bale maze, petal cars and giant corn box (like a sand box, but with corn kernels). After a bit, I rounded up the kids to dig in to their "wicked good" boxed lunches that included PB & J, Pirates Booty, apples and juice. It was definitely a little tricky getting kids (especially mine) to eat their lunch when they were surrounded by goodies! For the sweets, I made chocolate + orange cupcakes, baked pumpkin donuts, and Halloween sugar cookies (the bats were my favorite). The orange cotton candy had unfortunately melted before anyone got to taste it, but the swirly lollipops were a hit. With the added energy from the sugar rush, the kids headed out with wagon in tow to pick out to the vast patch to pick their pumpkins. In addition to their pumpkin, the kids took home a muslin favor bag an adorable hand knit finger puppet, a ghost cookie and a cd of Halloween music.  Stay tuned for more pictures of the fun!

Credits:

Cake.:invitations, cd labels, & "wicked good" boxed lunch labels (available for purchase), assisted with styling 

Sherry Heck: photography
Cakewalk Baking: baked goods, concept & event styling
WeeKnit: hand knit finger puppets
G & M Farms: location

Graham's Pumpkin Patch Party

Yipeee! I'm so excited that Graham's party was featured today on Amy Atlas. Stay tuned for more pictures and details Monday on Cake. Super, duper thanks to Sherry Heck for taking all of the fabulous pictures.

Yay - ice cream!!

What's more perfect than ice cream on a hot, summer day? Nothing if you ask me (though photographing it is another story!) I put this party together for my son's graduation from preschool and I think it was my favorite yet. The grownups were just as excited as the kids to indulge and create their favorite sundae combos.

I started with four different flavors of homemade ice cream: vanilla bean, milk chocolate, mint chip & strawberry. Sauces included bittersweet hot fudge, salted caramel, and strawberry. Cherries, candied almonds & rainbow sprinkles were offered as finishing touches. For those who preferred a cone, there were traditional cake cones and chocolate dipped sugar cones. I made ice cream sandwiches and bons bons that were delicious, but very messy and began to melt right away (if the future, I would freeze the these items for a few days to extend their non-'meltyiness'). I also baked ice cream cone cupcakes and offered root beer for root beer floats. The ice cream cone cookies in pink striped bags were given as favors to the kiddos. One of my favorite aspects of the table was the oil cloth tablecloth. It both looked cute (didn't wrinkle!!) and was extremely practical for doing little clean- ups throughout the party.

I'll be back next week to share recipes and more tips.
Many thanks to Becca of Cake. for helping out with the styling of the table and taking all of the pictures.
The incredibly talented Paige of Paiges of Style created all of the party printables and they are available for download FREE! Invitation, ice cream carton labels, toppings labels, 'thank you' tags

Sources:

Striped & polka dot ice cream cups, white wire cake stand: Sur La Table

Wooden ice cream spoons, striped bags, blue polka dot cups: Shop Sweet Lulu

Pint containers: Smart & Final