Refreshing isn't it?

Working on a new look and a new feel. Updates to follow.

More wedding cakes

Here are more wedding cakes!

More cake!

More cakes that I've made at work!

Penguins!

Harvest Cake

You can't see but it has rhinestones around the base. It was actually kind of pretty

New city, new job!

I (finally) moved to Seattle at the end of June and started working for Blue Ribbon Cooking as their pastry chef, mainly their wedding cake maker. I have thoroughly enjoyed working here thus far! I am learning so much about the industry, not just about pastry work, but about being a part of a real catering company and what all happens behind the scenes. Believe me, you never really realize how much work goes into one wedding until you are the one working behind the scenes. I'm kind of becoming a jack of all trades at Blue Ribbon, I started out making the wedding cakes, I have now progressed to server, bartender, and now prep chef? Wait a minute... As the owner of Blue Ribbon told me, once you've been working here long enough, you learn to do a little bit of everything because you will be put to work, especially during the busy weekends like this weekend. There are 9 weddings this weekend...guess who's making all of the cakes for those weddings? Yours truly. Oh and I'm also bartending 2 nights in a row...Wish me luck!

Here are some pictures of cakes that I've made since I started working at Blue Ribbon!

So that whole updating thing...

Hopefully after I graduate (16 days!!!) I'll have more time to update this thing on a more regular basis...

In the meantime, here's some of the noms I've made of late:

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Lemon Meringue Cake

Double Chocolate Cake


Lemon-Raspberry Cake with Coconut Frosting

Sometimes you just get too busy...

So I kind of fail at this whole regular blog update thing, I apologize. Believe it or not I do have a life outside the kitchen! Well, sometimes. No, with the end of summer and the beginning of school, my baking productivity did not decrease but my picture taking/uploading and then snarky comments of said pictures took a spin on the back burner.

While I made a plethora of goodies at the end of this summer including a strawberry tiramisu, apple-cinnamon turnovers, and yummy angel food cake the one thing I remembered to document was an orange-ricotta cheesecake.

Start off with a simple pastry dough recipe:

• 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• pinch of salt (usually a pinch means between an 1/8 and 1/4 tsp.)
• 1/2 c. chilled butter (1 stick), diced
• 1 egg yolk

To bang out the pastry:

Sift the flour, sugar and salt together on a cold, clean work surface. Make a well in the center. (In this case, the well is not the thing that Lassie needs to save Timmy from, it's simply making an indent in the center of the flour mixture. Kind of like the mashed potato volcano your mom told you not to make because you weren't supposed to play with your food.) In said well, add the butter and egg yolk and gradually work the flour into the diced butter and egg yolk using your fingertips.

See, the mashed potato volcano metaphor wasn't too off-base

Once the dough is formed, gather it together and press it into a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and chill the pastry shell for roughly half and hour.

Now it's time for the yummy filling!

Mmm...cheese product

• 2 c. whole milk ricotta cheese
• 2 8-oz. packages of cream cheese (I used Neufchâtel cream cheese instead, makes the cheesecake a little less guilt ridden)
• 3/4 c. of sugar
• 1/4 c. orange blossom or clover honey
• 1 Tbsp. orange zest
• 4 eggs

Blend the ricotta in a food processor (I just used an immersion blender, it seemed to do the trick) until it is very smooth. If you don't blend the ricotta enough, the cheesecake will not have that smooth, yummy-delicious texture. Add the cream cheese and sugar, blend well. Don't forget to occasionally pause and scrape down the sides! Add honey and orange zest, blend. Then add the eggs and blend.

This recipe calls for a lot of blending, by the way.

After you've chilled the pastry shell, prick the bottom with a fork (this allows for even baking and so your shell doesn't puff up leaving less room for the yummy filling). Line the shell with aluminum foil and fill with baking beans (any dried beans will do). Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Remove the foil and beans. Let tart cool.

Stick a fork in it!

Caution! These beans are now no longer for human consumption, unless you like really, really dry beans...

Kinda looks like the surface of the moon?

After the shell has cooled, pour the filling to the tart shell. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden and set. (Set means that when you nudge the tart pan, the middle doesn't look liquidy). Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool. Then carefully remove the side of the pan, leaving the cheesecake on the bottom of the pan. (Unless you've got serious kitchen ninja skills, it's best to leave the bottom on the pan). Eat and enjoy! Note: If you want to be super fancy, you can add candied peel on top to decorate or even add it to the filling before baking.

Delicious.

Coconut and Butterflies

It has been over 2 years since I stared working at the WWU Foundation. And in those 2 years, only a handful of people actually know my name, most people know me as the cake girl (it's better than 'Hey you'). I have even over heard people who I see regularly from other 4th floor offices refer to me as the girl from Old Main 430 who always brings in cake (doesn't roll off the tongue quite as smoothly as 'the cake girl' but I guess it works?) All I know is that when people see me walk up with my white cake carrier, their faces instantly light up and I feel kind of like a cross between Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

And now that I've become famous (hopefully not infamous) on the 4th floor of Old Main for my cake creations, I was asked by a coworker to donate a cake to the dessert dash for the Whatcom Museum Fundraiser in July. Of course I agreed, not only did it give me an opportunity to help out a good cause but it also might (fingers crossed) get my name out there. I'm not sure who is familiar with the concept of a "dessert dash" but the basic concept is the table that donates the most money gets to choose their dessert first and then so on and so forth.

With task in hand and no real limitations other than my own imagination (cheesy, I know), I set out to make a fanciful cake that encompased what I believed to be along the lines of the theme: "Downtown Aglow."

For the base of this masterful creation, I made a dark chocolate cake with a dark chocolate ganache and a Kahlua buttercream frosting. (Delicious, I know.) Now for the fun part, fondant butterflies.

I started out with yellow, red, and orange rolled fondant (you can easily purchase some from your local crafts store) and a butterfly cookie cutter.

Sprinkle some cornstarch on a cleaned work surface and roll fondant out to a 1/8 inch thickness. Using your cookie cutter, cut out as many butterflies as you need/want. Transfer cut outs to a sheet of wax paper.

In order to form the shape of the butterflies, take a piece of cardboard and bend it to a 70-80 degree angle and place the butterflies on the cardboard and allow to dry. This should take at least 24 hours.

Once the butterflies have dried, use royal icing to pipe the bodies and wing decorations. Allow those to dry for a few hours and then adorn your cake with beautiful butterflies.

Following the fundraisier, the coworker who asked me to donate the cake said that by the time her table got up to go collect their dessert, my cake had already been taken. Her table put in $300. My cake went for more than $300 dollars. Holy cow :)