Chambord

Wedding | Sandy & Mike in Malibu

May 29, 2015| Featured, Weddings

I previewed, but never got a chance to feature, the event that premiered the new Milo’s Bonbons logo. At Sandy & Mike’s wedding in Malibu earlier this year, we set up a dessert table with a wedding cake centerpiece. It was colorful and fun, and a real smorgasbord of sweets.

I had a lot of fun collaborating with the bride and groom on interesting flavor ideas and presentation. They were excited to present unique desserts that featured some of their favorite flavors like Earl Grey tea, bourbon and peach. I was also inspired by their wedding colors, which were along the lines of coral and slate blue. What made the experience really special for me was the abundance of support and enthusiasm the couple had for Milo’s Bonbons. It was amazing seeing the tent card signs they printed for the desserts, especially the “Desserts by Milo’s Bonbons” sign. Thank you Sandy & Mike!

The dessert table featured mini cupcakes, macarons, tarts, mini cakes and parfait cups. For the cupcakes, I made two types: a chocolate bourbon ganache cupcake with bourbon buttercream, and an orange cupcake with champagne buttercream.

For the macarons, I made two types as well: an Earl Grey chocolate ganache macaron, and a passion fruit pastry cream macaron.

The mini tarts had a layer of baked almond cream and was topped with mascarpone mousse and little gumpaste flowers.

To add variety in height and shape, I also had parfait cups filled with layers of granola, peach custard and raspberry puree. The photo I took of them was unfortunately a bit dark.

The wedding couple’s wedding cake was three tiers, but only the top tier was actual cake for cutting purposes. The bottom two tiers were dummy cakes. The cake was a strawberry layered cake with Chambord buttercream and in order to share this with guests, I also created mini cakes with golden heart skewers added by the bride. That was actually the most challenging item of the event, as I was exploring different cake textures and cutting techniques and learning as I went. I certainly learned a lot for future events!

Photo below by onelove photography:

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Prosecco & Chambord Cupcakes – Happy New Year!

January 1, 2012| Uncategorized

My original plan to gift cupcake assortments for the holidays didn’t quite pan out. Milo’s Bonbons went on a brief hiatus while we relocated, and baking supplies were packed away. But, we’re back for 2012!

These mini champagne cupcakes are made with Prosecco, with half of the cupcakes topped with champagne Swiss meringue buttercream, and the other half topped with Chambord Swiss meringue buttercream.

Champagne Cupcakes
Makes 20 cupcakes (or 50 minis)

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (or 3 cups + 1 Tbsp. cake flour for a finer texture)
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup champagne (or in this case, Prosecco)
6 egg whites

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together, and then blend into creamed mixture alternately with champagne.
In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into batter to lighten the batter, then fold in remaining egg whites.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (or 10-12 for minis), or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

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Champagne Cupcakes – Happy Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2011| Uncategorized

Okay, I admit that there now appears to be a trend in my most recent postings . . .

But I had to try making these cupcakes after seeing a version of them on Cupcake Wars. The cake here is a variation on a standard white cake recipe with about 3/4 cup of Chandon Extra Dry Riche sparkling wine added. I think the sweeter the champagne (or sparkling wine), the better this cupcake is, although dessert wines would probably be overdoing it. When looking up other bakers’ attempts at champagne cupcakes, there were many suggestions for adding strawberries or using strawberry flavored wines. However, I can tell you that a simple, standard champagne works perfectly well, and I was thrilled with how light and subtly sweet this cupcake was.

To get some berry flavors in there, I topped the cupcake with Chambord buttercream. For those of you who are new to Chambord, I discovered this raspberry liqueur in a magazine ad—the kind that has the “open here and smell” panel that usually accompanies perfume ads. Since then, I have been obsessed with this liqueur’s delicious scent! Chambord alone doesn’t add sufficient coloring (unless you’re going to use the entire bottle . . .), so I added a dab of pink food coloring. Then I topped with some sanding sugar and white pearls. Sparkly, sprinkled pink cupcakes aren’t normally my style, but hey, it’s Valentine’s Day.

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