Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Jaime's BEN 10 cake



"Dear Shirley,

Thank you so much for preparing this beautiful cake for
Jaime." --- Archie and Shawie
I made this BEN 10 cake for my adorable nephew, Jaime, who just turned 4. This cake was made of moist, dark chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream, decorated with BEN 10 toy characters (as requested by his parents) and covered with pistachio green, blue and black fondant icing.

Monday, February 22, 2010

PULLED & BLOWN SUGAR CLASS WITH CAKE ALCHEMY































It was a gorgeous day to go to Manhattan and I was looking forward to attend Chef Lauri Ditunno’s Pulled Sugar Class. Chef Lauri is a star in the TV show Amazing Wedding Cakes and also owns Cake Alchemy in the lower East Side. In the show, Chef Lauri and her staff creates gorgeous wedding cakes, artfully decorated with pulled and blown (glasslike), sugar balls. Aside from being a fan of her show, I was ecstatic to learn her signature technique for pulled sugar work. Not all bakers have the skill set nor the patience to execute this upcoming trend in the cake decorating world.

To my readers, the secret to creating artful pulled sugar and blown sugar is PATIENCE! Not to mention ISOMALT. Isomalt is a form of sugar that does not crystallize, unlike regular granulated sugar.

Here's what I learned: Place the ISOMALT in a saucepan and add enough water to cover it. Clip a candy thermometer and heat up to 165 degrees C. Pour on to SILPAT and fold until pliable (make use of the SILPAT when folding). The SUGAR is VERY HOT! (Be very careful you may be at risk of burning your hands!)

Please note that these instructions are over simplified --- this requires patience, practice, trial and error.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

CUSTOM DESSERT TABLES BY PASTRY PASSION


The complete dessert spread


decadent cakes: hazelnut dacquoise, rum cake &
strawberry shortcake


all-time favorites: le macaron (melon & cafe/cocoa),
russian tea cookies, chocolate explosion and
chunky white macadamia nut cookies


Pastry Passion creates dessert bars that caters to your unique and personalized concepts and your chosen theme. Whether it's for a simple birthday celebration, christening, or an extravagant wedding reception, these desserts cannot only be a dazzling treat for your eye but also an explosive, delectable and divine treat for your palette.
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