Wedding Season Has Begun!

Wedding season has officially begun for Jillicious Desserts and last Saturday, May 15th I delivered a simple, yet elegant wedding cake and mini cupcakes for the bride's outdoor wedding.  The wedding was held at a venue that I hadn't been to before, called Dancing Deer Mountain.  Although I didn't actually see any deer, let alone a dancing one, it was a very beautiful location and I imagine that from time to time deer are probably seen in this area.

The next wonderful surprise was the wedding cake topper.  I've seen many toppers over the years, but this one just might be my favorite yet!  I didn't know what the wedding cake topper would look like or the size, so I had to finish decorating the cake on site. I brought a tray of dark chocolate curls to finish the decorations on the cake and once the topper was in place, I was able to finish this wonderful, first wedding cake of the 2010 wedding season.

Along the back part of the wedding gown, there was a beautiful quote by Shakespeare and it just added to the wonderful details of this topper.

I just loved all the details on the wedding gown of the cake topper and I just had to take a few more pictures to show the details.  It worked out so well that I had decorated with some pearlized sugar pearls and I added a few more around the base of the topper for some special details.

In addition to the wedding cake, the bride ordered five different flavors of mini cupcakes for her guests.  The colors just added a nice contrast to the gorgeous greenery that surrounded the tables and once everything was set up, it just couldn't have worked together more perfectly.

The bride also added a small, 6-inch Chocolate Decadence Cake without the whipped cream, for a gluten-free and lactose-free option; so she too, could enjoy her wedding cake.

As I set up the wedding cakes and cupcakes, I just took a few minutes to relax and enjoy the process of putting the final touches on the cake and arranging everything just so.  I think that is really my favorite part--seeing it all come together and knowing that I played a small part in making the bride's wedding day so special. 

On my way home from the wedding venue, I stopped by a local hazelnut farm and purchased some hazelnuts and the lady noticed that I was wearing a chef's jacket and asked where I was coming from.  I explained that I had just delivered a wedding cake and she said:

"Oh, how wonderful!  Do you realize that all these people that you've done wedding cakes for have pictures in their scrap books or photo albums of your work?  What an amazing thing to know that your work will be remembered for years to come.  It's like you are a part of their lives for such a special day." 

She was right, and I hadn't really thought of it that way before, but I love the idea of being able add to their experiences that they can have wonderful memories to remember.

Wedding Cake Details:

• Black & White Chocolate Cake [Dark Chocolate Cake w/Chocolate Chips, White Chocolate Cream Cheese Filling & Icing, decorated with Dark Chocolate shavings and curls w/sugar pearl details.]
• Chocolate Decadence Cake [Raspberry Glaze and decorated with Dark Chocolate curls and fresh raspberries.]

Mini Cupcake Details:

• Orange Zinger Cupcakes [Vanilla Cupcakes w/Orange Zinger Frosting]
• Devilishly Moist Chocolate Cupcakes [w/Chocolate Buttercream Icing]
• Coconut-Lime Cupcakes [Coconut Cupcakes w/White Chocolate & Lime Cream Cheese Icing]
• Lemon Surprise Cupcakes [Lemon Citrus Cupcakes w/Lemon Curd Filling & Lemon Buttercream Icing]
• Devilishly Moist Chocolate Cupcakes [w/Vanilla Buttercream Icing]

Heavenly Cake Bakers: Whoopie Pies & Banana Cupcakes

Do you ever have the best of intentions to follow a PLAN that you've carefully thought out and scheduled accordingly? And once the PLAN is in place, have you ever had that PLAN completely fall apart or rather be replaced with a new PLAN, because LIFE happened? This is what has happened to me over the last month (some really BIG decisions regarding Jillicious Desserts moving in a new direction) and I'm in the process of finalizing these plans and will share when I know more. But more about that later and in case you noticed (or not) it's been a month since my last post, so today I'm getting back on track, at least in the blogging world.

Today's Heavenly Cake Bakers recipe is: Two Fat Cats Whoopie Pies, named after the Two Fat Cats Bakery in Portland, Maine.

These were quite easy to make and very quick, both in mixing and baking. The whoopies are made with dark chocolate and cocoa powder, but aren't overly chocolatey (as if there is such a thing as TOO much chocolate--well, at least not in my book).

The filling was actually the part that took the longest, but again, not too difficult. Rose points out that this "marshmallow cream" is actually a type of mousseline-buttercream; having more butter and sugar than a classic mousseline. And if you would like to know exactly what a mousseline is, see the definition below.

mousseline [moos-LEEN] "Any sauce to which whipped cream or beaten egg whites have been added just prior to serving to give it a light, airy consistency." ~ Food Lover's Companion, pg. 400

The filling is fairly sweet, so the dark chocolate whoopies are a nice contrast to the sweetness and help to balance it out. I actually liked them better after they had chilled for an hour in the refrigerator. I felt like the sweetness of the "marshmallow cream" filling relaxed and it worked well with the dark chocolate whoopies.

Now, I would like to review last week's Heavenly Cake Baker's pick: Banana Refrigerator Cake w/Dreamy Creamy White Chocolate Frosting. The recipe yield was a 9 x 2-inch round, single layer cake, but I decided to make mini-cupcakes instead.

This was a fairly straight forward recipe and was quick and easy to make. It called for either creme fraiche or sour cream and since I had sour cream on hand, the choice was made. Instead of granulated sugar, Rose uses turbinado sugar (raw cane sugar) which added a nice flavor, to these cupcakes.

I was looking forward to trying this Dreamy Creamy White Chocolate Frosting, since so many of the Heavenly Cake Bakers had great things to say about it. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised and I too, agree that this is a wonderful frosting.

I think that refrigeration is the KEY to making this recipe a success. I tried these right after I frosted them and was kind of disappointed with the overall taste--it seemed to be missing something.  After they had been chilled in the refrigerator for at least an hour, I decided to taste them again and I was happy to discover that they tasted MUCH better. The frosting is a wonderful, slightly tangy, creamy flavor and paired with the chilled cake, the flavors really melded and came together in the perfect ratio of subtle banana flavor and white chocolate.  I stand corrected from my first reaction.

I garnished these cute mini cupcakes with a white chocolate curl and I was very pleased that this cake recipe worked well portioned as cupcakes.  If you have this book, try this recipe and don't forget to keep it chilled.

Happy Monday!

Happy Halloween!

Lavender Inspired Cupcakes

I like experimenting with cupcake flavors.

The flavor combinations are endless--so many possibilities! Cupcakes are quick and easy to make, you don't have to feel guilty by eating an entire cupcake in one sitting (see you can't say that about eating an entire cake) and with the right recipe they are oh-so-tasty!

Ideas or inspiration can come from different sources. Today it was the direct approach when my Mom made the comment "You should make lavender cupcakes," because I had some extra lavender-colored buttercream from a Birthday Gift Cake I had made for a client earlier today.



And as it just so happens, we grow lavender in several varieties, including English Lavender, which is the best one for baking (aka Culinary Lavender).



After doing some quick research online and reading about the different ways you can incorporate the lavender, I decided to use the lavender we had gathered in bunches and hung from a rod to dry out (we have this in a very small closet-like space which stays warm and is perfect for drying out flowers and herbs).



Next, I used a small coffee grinder that I use solely for grinding herbs and spices and it worked perfectly. I wanted the lavender seeds to be small, but not too small that it turned to a powder. I made my favorite white cake recipe, adding some lemon zest, lemon juice and towards the end of mixing, I added the ground lavender. I also tinted the batter a pale lavender color.

As I mentioned before, I had a White Chocolate-Vanilla Buttercream to frost the cupcakes with and I added some freshly cut lavender for decoration. Ta da!

*Although I love the smell of lavender, when it comes to incorporating it in my food, I tend to appreciate just a hint of lavender flavor, rather than it being the main focus. I added about 1 Tbsp. of the ground lavender for 1 dozen cupcakes, and for me, it was perfect. If you like a stronger flavor, I would maybe double or triple that amount.