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Wedding | Jamie & Eugene in Saratoga

| Featured, Weddings

Yesterday was Jamie & Eugene’s 1-year anniversary! I didn’t get around to blogging about their wedding last year, as we were preparing for our baby to arrive. But they brought out their cutting cake from the freezer this weekend to celebrate their anniversary, and just polished off the last of it tonight. It’s about time I commemorated this special wedding!

I’ve known Jamie since elementary school and have been lucky to call her a friend ever since. I remember her first date with Eugene, and the many double dates that came afterward. At one point in time, I was housemates with Eugene, and then housemates with both. Add in a couple dogs, and it was a full, but joyous house with lots of dessert eating. It was an honor to be in their wedding, and to also make the desserts as well.

These beautiful photos are from Julianne Brasher (http://www.juliannebrasher.com/).

For the wedding guests, there were salted caramel chocolate cupcakes and vanilla lemon curd cupcakes, each topped with buttercream.

I had been a little worried about the cupcakes being out in the sun for a long time since I had to set up the cupcake tower earlier than usual in order to prepare for the ceremony procession. However, the chilly afternoon and evening had a convenient refrigeration effect! For the cutting cake, I made a strawberry jam and strawberry buttercream semi-naked cake, with wafer paper flowers. I love the following photo for capturing the magic of the night (with cupcakes to fuel the dancing).

A belated congratulations Jamie & Eugene, and cheers to many more anniversary celebrations ahead!

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Baby Shower | Congrats Vickee & Ian!

| Baby Showers

Back in November, we celebrated the expected arrival of a baby girl for my dear friends Vickee and Ian. I was unfortunately recovering from appendicitis and unable to stay for the baby shower, but was happy to deliver a lavender + bunny themed cake and cookies for the party. The cake itself was a white cake with lemon curd and blackberry Bavarian cream:

For the cookies, we had bunny-shaped iced shortbread cookies and salted chocolate chip cookies:

I love the opportunity to make gumpaste flowers for cakes. While they are a bigger time commitment, they are probably most reflective of my own cake decor aesthetic and I find the process meditative. For this cake, I made lavender buds, a white rose and some white filler flowers. Thank you to Subodh Kolla for sharing these beautiful photos!

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Wedding | Congrats Tiffany & Jon!

| Featured, Recipe, Weddings

A very belated post, but . . . This past July, Milo’s Bonbons had the honor of appearing on my cousin’s wedding menu! It was a whirlwind of a preparation for the wedding, but such a pleasure to cater desserts for Tiffany’s and Jon’s celebration.

My cousin asked for salted caramel chocolate cupcakes and lemon bars. Believe it or not, it was my first time making lemon bars! I probably should have experimented with that a little more, as I wasn’t perfectly happy with my crust to filling ratio, but it’s hard to go wrong with the flavor. I made both lemon and and lemon-cherry swirl bars as a nod to the wedding colors.

To give the desserts a little something extra, I decided to present the cupcakes and lemon bars on a display stand. I didn’t have enough chocolate on hand to make a chocolate stand and thought nougatine would be a better vehicle for my cousins’s wedding themes of red + gold and succulents. However, in retrospect, nougatine wasn’t the best choice for an outdoor wedding. The display held up, but it sure got shiny and sticky! Next time I’m sticking with using isomalt instead of sugar, or just using something material.

Here is the making of the nougatine, from toasting the nuts, to cooking the sugar and rolling out / cutting the pieces:

 
Nougatine
Makes about a half sheet pan

Ingredients:
  • 600g granulated sugar
  • 250g sliced almonds, lightly toasted and warm

Directions:

  1. Make a dry caramel (or wet, if you don’t want too dark a nougatine) with the sugar in a saucepan.
  2. Stir in the warm, sliced almonds.
  3. Immediately pour mixture onto a nonstick silicone mat and spread as thinly as possible.
  4. Place a second map on top of the caramel and roll out as thin and even as possible. Begin this step as soon as your can handle the heat.
  5. Remove the top map, carefully life the nougatine sheet and place on cutting board or oiled parchment paper. If mat sticks, then caramel is still too hot.
  6. Using a knife or cutting mold, cut desired shape, working quickly. If nougatine is too cold to cut or shape, place back on silicone mat and into a 350 degree oven for just long enough to soften.

I was quite limited by the size of my oven at that time, which couldn’t fit a full sheet pan, and thus limited the size of my cylinders and ovals. But, I’d like to think there was something “organic” or “artistic” about the pieces I built with 🙂 I added succulent trimmings to my nougatine leaves/petals to tie everything together:

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