chocolate

Wedding | Congrats Stephanie & Michael!

| Featured, Weddings

(Photo credit for featured photo above: Sara Richardson Photography)
ETA: Updated with photos from wedding photographer(s). Also, the wedding was featured on Jet Fete Blog! 
Last weekend I had the honor (and challenge) of making the wedding desserts for my good friends Stephanie and Michael. I first accepted the honor of making the ~100 red velvet cupcakes. Then I found out the wedding was in Mexico. That’s when it became a challenge . . .

and you know I don’t back down from challenges!

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Photo Credit: Sara Richardson Photography
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Photo Credit: Sara Richardson Photography

I’m happy to report that everything went off without a hitch. We did a cupcake taste test a couple months in advance, experimenting with a combination of fillings (e.g. lemon curd, chocolate ganache, cheesecake), frostings (plain cream cheese frosting, lemon cream cheese frosting, ginger white pepper cream cheese frosting) and decorations. After it became apparent that bride and groom (and participating wedding party taste testers) had drastically different taste preferences, we settled upon two cupcakes: (1) red velvet with lemon curd filling, lemon cream cheese frosting and white pearl sprinkles, and (2) red velvet with dark chocolate ganache filling, plain cream cheese frosting and chocolate curls.

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Photo Credit: Sara Richardson Photography

As a surprise, I also made a 6″ topper cake, which was alternating layers of red velvet cake and cheesecake, covered with cream cheese frosting. The idea was to use this either for the cutting ceremony, or for the couple to take home and freeze as a 1-year anniversary cake.

I went back and forth about what to prepare ahead of time, and what to do once in Mexico, but at the last minute after a trial run, I decided to bake the cupcakes and frost them ahead of time. The cake was made in advance and frozen. The cupcakes were baked the night before I traveled, refrigerated and then frosted right before I barely made it on my flight. The 84 cupcakes + 1 6″ cake were just the right amount to fit into two cardboard boxes that were each the dimension of carry-on luggage. As soon as we got to Mexico, they went into the hotel refrigerator.

The morning of the wedding, we transported these to the wedding villa for decoration and setup. Unfortunately, we lost about 6 cupcakes due to mishandling by hotel staff, but everything else held up! The gumpaste sunflowers I made for the topper cake had some breakage issues, but I sacrificed one petal to use as gumpaste glue the night before the wedding to make some repairs.

I breathed a sigh of relief when the cake was finally cut, and the cupcakes were gobbled up. Whew! Exciting and so much fun!

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Baby Shower | Congrats Charlin & George!

| Baby Showers

My dear friends Charlin and George are expecting a baby girl soon, and I had the honor of catering desserts for their baby shower this past weekend! I’m thankful for the faith that my friends have in me, and also really appreciated the opportunity to practice and experiment 🙂

For this celebration, I made a two-tiered custard and strawberry cake, chocolate cupcakes, and some puff pastry treats. The cake had layers of lemon chiffon cake, crème légère (pastry cream lightened with whipped cream), and fresh slices of strawberry, with a buttercream frosting.

I then decorated with handmade gumpaste roses and leaves. I originally planned on adding whole, fresh strawberries as well, but I was a little worried about everything staying intact and in place during the drive to the baby shower.

The mini cupcakes were chocolate with a chocolate ganache center. For half the cupcakes, I used a cream cheese frosting and decorated with fondant yellow duckies and bubbles.

For the other half, I used a chocolate ganache frosting and decorated with fondant teddy bears. These were labor-intensive pieces, but it was a satisfying accomplishment for me, as I don’t usually tend to make “cutesie” decorations.

Finally, I made some puff pastry dough and created cinnamon sugar twists and quick vols-au-vent filled with lemon pastry cream and strawberry slices. While the cake and cupcakes got the attention, these puff pastry treats were my favorite to eat!

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