strawberry

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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Passion Fruit Cake – New Beginnings

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Passion fruit is one of my favorite fruits, and has sentimental meaning to me as well. I made this passion fruit cake to commemorate the closing of one chapter of my life, and to toast new beginnings.

This cake has layers of ricotta pound cake brushed with a passion fruit simple syrup, and a whipped cream / passion fruit curd filling layered with fresh strawberries and kiwi.

I also made a cupcake version using the passion fruit curd as the filling, and the whipped cream / passion fruit curd mix as the topping. If you need to find passion fruit puree or concentrate, your local mercado should carry some.

 As for this following cupcake . . .

This cupcake isn’t one of my creations—it’s Kara’s passion fruit cupcake—but it has special meaning for me. Nearly 4 years ago, a beautiful sparkling ring was given to me on this cupcake. It was a magical, memorable evening, and there have been many magical, memorable moments since.

My dear baking assistant and I now officially part ways after nearly 7 years together, but I have no doubt we’ll be sharing laughter and memories in the future, over Milo, cupcakes, and life’s many other bonbons.

We began and ended our relationship with a leap of faith, and a deep sense of trust. While I wouldn’t wish the heartache we went through upon anyone, I do wish everyone could experience a friendship as meaningful as ours. Love you, always.

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Ivoire Royale – White Chocolate Mousse & Berry Cake

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According to Extraordinary Desserts’ website:

“Ivoire Royale — An exquisite torte made of fine layers of vanilla bean soaked pound cakes and creamy white chocolate mousse. Bursting with fresh raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries, this delicate mousse torte is hidden by white chocolate shaving dusted with powdered sugar.”

This is a 10″ cake, with sour cream pound cake layers, brushed with vanilla simple syrup. In between the layers are white chocolate sour cream mousse, fresh whipped cream, and berries. I only used strawberries and blackberries in my cake, but I think any combination would work. The decoration is white chocolate shavings and curls.

I’m not sure the recipe for mousse in the cookbook quite worked. For a better mousse consistency, I suggest the following:

White Chocolate Sour Cream Mousse
  • 4 egg yolks
  • â…“ cup granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup sour cream (room temperature)
  • 6.5 oz (1 ¼ cup) white chocolate
  • 2 cup heavy cream
  • â…“ cup powdered sugar

Directions

  1. Heat ¾ cup of the heavy cream in a saucepan until it boils/simmers. Pour over white chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let sit for a couple minutes before stirring with a spatula until the white chocolate is melted and smooth.
  2. Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a stand mixer until pale yellow and fluffy.
  3. Add melted chocolate to the whipped egg yolks.
  4. In a separate bowl, beat the remaining heavy cream and powdered sugar together until peaks form.
  5. Gently fold in the whipped cream and sour cream into the white chocolate-egg yolk mousse base.

I played with this while in-process, so the measurements may not be exact, particularly with respect to the whipped cream addition. I think that part can be made to-taste and to-texture, depending on what consistency and level of sweetness you are aiming for. The important addition here to the cookbook is the whipped egg yolk base, which gives the mousse a sturdier structure that won’t run.

I had previously attempted this in cupcake form, but because this cake relies on being soaked in vanilla simple syrup, and having almost as much (or perhaps more) mousse and whipped cream than cake, I don’t think the cupcake form delivers the same texture and flavor. Not to mention, I also dropped my entire batch of cupcakes before delivering them to a potluck event, so it is not quite a happy memory. One day, I will post a collage of all my disasters (usually in transit), when it doesn’t pain me so much to think about it!

Yellow roses for my SYZters:

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