puff pastry

Wedding | Milo’s Parents Get Married!

| Milo, Weddings

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You may have noticed that our blog was pretty quiet at the start of 2016. That’s because we were working on a recent wedding — our own! I’m so excited to share some photos of the wedding cake, particularly the gumpaste flowers that were a labor of love over the first couple months of the year. (Photo credit above to the wonderful Tyler Branch Photo.)

With a color theme that spanned a gradient of dusty blues and greens, I made gumpaste succulents, silver brunia balls, dusty miller leaves, silver dollar eucalyptus leaves, and an assortment of white peonies, mums and filler flowers.

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I had also made a dusty blue dahlia bundle for the surprise groom’s cake, but then forgot the flowers in the hotel room. Bummer.

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Fortunately gumpaste flowers don’t die, so now we have a lovely gumpaste flower centerpiece arrangement to keep as a memento at home 🙂

The cake itself was a Napoleon, which is made of layers of homemade puff pastry with custard filling. After covering with buttercream and creating a tree bark pattern, I sprinkled the top with feuilletine flakes and dusted with powdered sugar. We only made the top tier as a cutting cake (the bottom tiers are dummies), and served our guests with Napoleon sheet cake from Porto’s Bakery which makes a delicious version.

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Baby Shower | Congrats Alice & Mark!

| Baby Showers

Babies on the way are always exciting news, but this one in particular makes me so happy. Alice has been a sister to me, friend, confidante, mentor, and even once-employer. Her recent baby shower was a no-frills gathering of friends and featuring great food (Waffle Roost Food Truck), reflecting the priorities of Alice and Mark. Other than some flavor preferences, there weren’t any special requests for desserts. So left to my own whims and imagination, I made chocolate hazelnut mousse (with flourless chocolate cake and chocolate meringues), matcha green tea “napoleon” cakes and lemon curd strawberry buttercream mini cupcakes.

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The chocolate mousse cups had a small circle of cake at the bottom, topped with the chocolate hazelnut mousse, and a cluster of meringue sticks inserted on top. Although baked until they dry out, the meringue absorbs a bit of moisture over time, resulting in a melt-in-your-mouth texture.

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The matcha green tea cakes had layers of green tea chiffon cake, green tea pastry cream and puff pastry (one of my favorite combinations these days). I topped them with buttercream and sprinkled with matcha green tea sugar and turbinado sugar and served as small slices.

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Birthday | Trio of Old Friends

| Birthdays

Happy birthday to me! And my friends!

During a recent weekend getaway, I was lucky enough to celebrate my 30th birthday with some dear friends, a few of whom are also turning 30 this year, and a couple of whom share July birthdays with me. So, I made each one of us a cake.

I knew I would have very limited time to decorate, so I made a batch of Italian meringue buttercream, and brought some fondant and piping gel along to the getaway in case I was struck with inspiration. The idea of representing the growth of a long friendship over time came to mind during the drive. So here is our trio of cakes to celebrate old friends:

 

The first is a green tea chiffon cake with green tea pastry cream and puff pastry layers, requested after I posted about that flavor combination in a previous birthday cake project.

The second is a purple yam chiffon cake with mango Bavarian cream. This one was fluffy and light. Maybe a little too light on flavor in my rush to make it.

 

The third is a lemon pound cake with lemon curd pastry cream and fresh strawberries. Perfect for a hot summer day!

 
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