The bun in my oven

I've missed you. But I have a good reason why this blog has been dormant since December.

A little bun was in my oven and the oven decided to start overheating at 19 weeks, you could say. And so, I was off my feet since January, out of the kitchen entirely to avoid strenuous activity as well as any adverse odours which aggravated my morning (& afternoon & night) sickness. Although frustrating to be on bedrest for so long, it was ultimately worth it to avoid having my little bun be half-baked.

My creative pursuits are temporarily on hiatus as I figure out this new creature in my life and cope with sleep deprivation which accompanies such mysterious beings. Hopefully, in the weeks and months to come, our lives will develop a new normal which includes diapers, playtime, sleeping, and artistic endeavours in my food, photography, and writing.

Still here

Although it has been eons since my last post, I am still alive but have been greatly distracted by some personal matters during the last few months. My poor little blog has suffered from negligence but alas, an infusion of some creative juice will hopefully rescue it from complete dissolution.

Let me show you a few cakes that I did manage to do during this hiatus. This surfing Hello Kitty cake was from the end of September for a young-at-heart 40 year old. Blue buttercream scares me a little but what else is Hello Kitty going to surf on?

Then, in early November, my niece Caitlin turned six. You may remember her past cake requests involved turtles, rainbows, and planets. This year, she wanted a flower cake. Rather than your typical big fat daisy cake, I remembered seeing Penny Porschen's posy mini-cakes in a book and decided to re-create it in larger form. Two 6 inch round tiers were stacked and then topped with a 6 inch half-dome. At first, I thought that this cake would be quick and easy but it was actually fairly time-consuming to roll out all those thin stems!

The final frontier

My niece Caitlin turned five recently and initially requested a Space Invaders themed birthday cake. After contemplating how time consuming the production of an army of alien invaders would be, I asked if there was anything else she might want. Luckily, she currently loves the Solar System and this planet-filled birthday cake was born.


Showcasing all eight planets meant that much surface area was needed. A 10" x 15" x 2" slab of chocolate cake, dark chocolate ganache, and raspberry mousseline was assembled and glazed with a shiny chocolate glaze in order to resemble the deepest darkest depths of the universe.

Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars were simply little balls of fondant, whereas Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune were Rice Krispie domes covered in fondant and later airbrushed. I did try hard to maintain the relative scale of each planet in terms of size and distance from the sun but alas, some creative license was taken.

Feeling sorry for poor Pluto's recent demotion, I decided to include Pluto by hiding it on the side of the cake near the bottom edge. Can you see that little grayish blob in the above photo? Happy Birthday Caitlin!

Happy days

Every October, our Thanksgiving dinner is hybridized with two birthday celebrations, my dad's and mine. Then last year, my niece Hayley had the foresight to enter the world on my birthday, making Thanksgiving a quadruple occasion, condensing one holiday and three birthdays into one single event. Turkey was rarely, if ever, on the menu; instead, good old fashioned Chinese food is typical fare.


This year, I threw together some leftovers into a birthday cake and decided that the best way to differentiate between the three celebrants was not by name, but rather by Chinese Zodiac animal. Luckily, Hayley, my dad, and I are different animals; Hayley is the Rat, my dad is the Monkey, and I am the Ox. Yes, I took a little creative license with the Ox and made it resemble a Holstein dairy cow but isn't it much cuter than a plain old ox? Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Birthdays!

Diversion: Sooke Harbour House

The Sooke Harbour House deserves more blog time than the one sentence I allotted in my last post. This lovely hotel combines nature, food, art, and relaxation anytime of the year (my four favourite things in life) and is just a short 40 minutes drive from Victoria, BC. Overlooking the Olympic Peninsula, SHH is remarkable for so many reasons but my focus was on the culinary philosophy and offerings from this luxurious but whimsical destination.

Both the exterior and interior of what is essentially a great big oceanfront house reflects SHH's devotion to all things food, celebrating the journey that food takes from the field or ocean to the plate. Even in the winter, wild greens flourish and end up in my Seventeen Leaf salad (I counted just to double check). Undoubtedly, the summer months would offer a more bountiful harvest of edible flowers, herbs, fruits, and vegetables but we were impressed by what was available during this cold dreary March, especially the 8 foot tall walking stick cabbage.

As a city mouse, not a country mouse, having a wood-burning fireplace in our room, the Passion Flower room (appropriate since my all-time favourite pastry ingredient is passionfruit), was a novelty. Every nook and cranny of the house is covered in local artwork inspired by the natural vistas and wildlife from land and sea. The wall of crabs in the dining room was particularly amusing, especially because of Eric's birthday cake.


There is very little negative to say about the SHH, except that I did not like the deconstructed apple strudel which concluded the seven-course tasting menu. Exceedingly sweet, it was a far cry from the impressive trio of sorbets we had the night before, pairing local flavours such as apricot and sage in creamy form. Ignoring this minute detail, our weekend at the Sooke Harbour House was the perfect romantic getaway to celebrate four decades of Eric's existence with outstanding local cuisine and beautiful surroundings.

Surprises

I have never successfully organized any event which involved an element of surprise, mainly because I am a notably bad actor/liar. This weekend, however, required major covert operations in order to celebrate Eric's 40th birthday in high style without his knowledge. Even the taxi driver was in on the surprise as I kidnapped him to his first helicopter ride to Victoria and onwards to Sooke for a relaxing and luxurious excursion at Sooke Harbour House.


The problem was that I had also promised to make him a cake of his choosing before deciding to spend his birthday out of town. Eric has an affinity for crab, biologically and gastronomically. Many of our travels, including this weekend, have involved tidepooling and in fact, we were engaged in Tofino in the rain, surrounded by a large party of star fish. Hence, he choose a crab-themed birthday cake to be served after our return on Monday, giving me a challenge, both technically and logistically.


Working with pastillage was the best choice since I needed a medium which allowed me to work well in advance. Using a live (later cooked and eaten) Dungeness crab model, I shaped the leg segments by hand from pastillage which were airbrushed with my new Aztek airbrush system which I love. The sides of the gift box (and a lid with bow which I forgot to photograph!) were also made of pastillage.


The cake itself was also made in advance and frozen after being masked in buttercream. An 8" x 8" square cake served as the gift box interior and the crab's body was carved from a 6" diameter round cake. Three layers of chocolate cake and two layers of pistachio dacquoise were sandwiched by dark chocolate ganache, passionfruit curd, and pistachio mousseline. After returning home on Sunday night, I covered the crab's body in rolled fondant and airbrushed the final details. Don't you love its smiling face?


The element of surpise with Eric's Crab birthday cake was not the cake itself since it is impossible to hide multiple crab parts littered throughout the kitchen from the husband. Instead, the expectation was that this cake was to be served at a small family dinner Monday evening; however, I stealthily planned to present the Crab to him at work Monday morning which meant I only had a rushed few hours to assemble, photograph, and deliver the Crab intact. With only a few minor hiccups, the Crab was a hit, finally cut and consumed after great initial reluctance to destroy it. Happy Birthday Eric! Forty is the new thirty!

When life gives you apples...

Fresh local winter fruit is essentially non-existent in our northern climate. Imports from California, Mexico, or South America prevent me from developing scurvy through these cold months until I can indulge in Fraser Valley blueberries and Okanagan cherries once again. At the Winter Farmers Market, the fresh fruit selection includes only stored apples but there are a variety from which to choose.

My recent favourite has been the Ambrosia, a delicious eating apple, but they were unavailable and so a big bag of Honeycrisp came home instead. Unfortunately, these Honeycrisp were not so crisp and the picky apple eater in me refuses to eat a soft apple. But what a good excuse to make apple pie instead!


Funnily, I never had a home-made apple pie growing up until I made one myself in my late teens; however, I did consume my fair share of MacDonald's apple pie, those deep-fried golden bars ready to spill their molten apple innards which were replaced by the "baked" version in 1992. I remember them so well and with such disturbing fondness. Even the characteristic pillow box packaging makes me a little sentimental, thinking of the many times my sister and I would sit in the back seat of my mom's Volvo eating our MacDonald's apple pie while being shuttled between piano lessons and dance class.


Meanwhile, these Honeycrisp apple pies were assembled in small 5.5" diameter pie plates. This relieves the unavoidable urge for Eric and me to gluttonously consume an entire 9" diameter pie as fast as possible since a freshly baked pie is always yummier than leftover pie, in my opinion. Only one small pie was baked and shared à la mode while the rest patiently await their turn in the freezer. It's all about portion control, right?

Would we?

My husband and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary last week and despite the record snowfall in Vancouver, we had a superb time. In fact, five years earlier, our wedding day was preceded by snowfall which gave the perfect backdrop to our ceremony, cold and crisp but clear with freshly dusted North shore mountains glowing at sunset. Oh I'm gushing.


This year's gift, in accordance with the traditional anniversary gift list, is wood, seemingly not the most romantic of substances, but nonetheless worthy of giving in some form to the one you love. The Scrabble Premier Wood Edition game was the obvious choice for him, especially appropriate for wintery house-bound evenings. So far, we are tied at one game each and I am expanding my vocabulary with legitimate 2-letter words.


After some brainstorming, my secondary gift which had to be wood-related but edible was the cinnamon bun. True cinnamon is the bark from the Cinnamomum zeylanicum tree, although, what North Americans call cinnamon is more likely a related species, Cinnamomum aromaticum, which is also called cassia, a more intensely flavoured and woodier bark.


As seasoned alumni of the University of British Columbia, Eric and I both have a soft spot for those legendary UBC cinnamon buns and several years ago, I found the official recipe (I use butter instead of margarine). These buns are not as gooey and smothered in icing as typical cinnamon buns; instead, they have a lovely caramelized crust and soft interior. As a freshman, I may have consumed one per day before my waistline begged me not to. Happy Anniversary!

ROYGBIV

Between the ages of 8 and 13, I was obsessed with rainbows. Almost all my worldly possessions were in full rainbow colours, including pillow case, leg warmers, and hair accessories. My favourite sweater was a black cardigan with different rainbow coloured buttons. For Grade 4 art class, I made a mobile festooned with rainbows which hung in our family room for probably 6 years. I could go on listing my rainbow-mania childhood memories but I shan't.


Today, while my love of bright, some may say garish, colour is still alive but less visible in my everyday life, I have the opportunity to relive this rainbow fixation through my niece Caitlin who celebrated her 4th birthday on Sunday.


The rainbow cake was constructed from a 10" diameter round cake, which was divided into two halves, one for the rainbow arc, and the other further divided to make two clouds. Three layers of vanilla cake were filled with a vanilla-lemongrass mousseline and fresh strawberries, with Italian meringue creating the puffy cloud decor. (And yes, I purposely left out indigo.)


Having leftover rolled fondant, an impromptu turtle, reminiscent of last year's birthday cake, was added. I figured that it would be a nice keepsake for Caitlin to enjoy since she still loves turtles and rolled fondant seems to last forever. I was incorrect and thank God I was not at the party to witness such savage yet innocent consumption of my well-dressed turtle (party photos by Auntie Jennifer). Happy Birthday Caitlin!

Sticking by

Candy and sweets were not a big part of my childhood. For reasons unbeknownst to me still to this day, we never went trick-or-treating on Halloween and instead, helped my mom give out candy to our friends and neighbours who would visit. We never felt deprived, however, because my sister and I were allowed to select a few items from the candy bowl and my habitual choice would be those Kraft caramel squares. Incidentally, my GUND Snuffles teddy bear was even named Caramel.


Decades later, I now can make my own soft caramels (en français, les caramels mous). They are dead easy to make and even easier to infuse with different flavours. Personally, I do not like the combination of salt and sweet and so have avoided the salted caramel trend. My tastebuds prefer caramel with fruity notes and so I frugally used some leftover blueberry purée to make blueberry caramels mous. After patiently letting them set overnight, cutting them was an exercise in restraint as I had to resist snacking on all the trimmings.


Having no dental cavities and not wishing to get any this late in life, the majority of caramels were destined for travel as gifts to a few friends, near and far. In fact, they ship well since they are not extremely temperature-sensitive, have a fairly long shelf-life, and are not delicate creatures like macarons, for example.

Meanwhile, I must find my dusty vintage GUND teddy bear...

Sweet air

My sister Michelle's birthday was this past week. She is perhaps the biggest bread lover I know, a connoisseur of all things spongy and composed of carbohydrate. Whenever we went to dim sum as children, my favourite items were always crispy but Michelle's were soft and spongy, her ultimate selection being Ma Lai Go, a sweet steamed sponge cake served warm in large wedges. I am still in search of a good Ma Lai Go recipe so in the meantime, I decided to make another spongy classic, angel food cake. It was also a good opportunity to use up my excess egg whites which have been haunting the refrigerator.


I could not find my angel food cake tube pan which must have wandered away during one of my multiple long distance moves so my Bundt pan was used instead. To dress up this fairly plain cake, a passionfruit Italian meringue was piped to give flavour and a more finished look. An impromtu strawberry-lime coulis was also prepared because I was afraid the cake would be too dry but surprisingly, it was quite moist and I forgot to serve the sauce anyways! Happy Birthday and I will hopefully make Ma Lai Go instead next year!

Losing sleep

I am not a morning person; however, due to the ungodly hour at which Eric's alarm clock rings every morning, my sleeping habits have slowly evolved over time. During my teens and twenties, fourteen hours of uninterrupted sleep on weekends was normal. In contrast, on my days off now, you will rarely find me in bed after 8 am. One of the benefits of waking up earlier is time to make and enjoy a civilized breakfast before rushing off to complete a page long To Do List. This Sunday, I used up some leftover buttermilk by making blueberry pancakes, served with an old family friend, Aunt Jemima.


I have been losing sleep for another reason. We have a house guest of the feline variety who likes to scratch on our bedroom door nightly. Simba is my sister's cat of nine years who, sadly, can no longer live with them because of allergies. Even though Aunt Charmaine is also allergic to cats, my attachment to Simba is so strong that we are considering feline adoption. During this short trial visit, I am weighing my itchiness and dislike of sticky fur against her gentle presence and undefinable bewitching qualities. I am so torn.


Soon, I will be jetlagged (or not, if melatonin can help it) because we are traveling to Europe again. In particular, we are returning briefly to Paris so I can attend Europain 2008, a large international trade show for baking, pastry, chocolate, and ice cream, before heading off to Italy. I love Parisian pastries but dare I say, I am looking forward to Italian cuisine even more!

Meow

This Sunday was the birthday of both my husband Eric and a little girl named Simone. Obviously, my cat with daisies cake was for the latter's birthday party, created especially for a girl who loves cats and her mother who loves cake. Two tiers, 6" and 8" rounds, were constructed with vanilla sponge, lemon curd, and lemon mousse, aiming to feed at least 30 hungry children and adults.


As always, the most enjoyable part of the process was decorating the cake and the most painful part was letting it go. I used a total of 2 kilograms of rolled fondant; the cat was made entirely of fondant (except for the fishing wire whiskers). In fact, because I was running out of white fondant, the bulk of the cat's body is actually shaped from pink fondant with white fondant covering only the outside, making it mildly anatomically correct.

Sculpting the face took the longest time, as I was determined to capture the look of a genuine feline rather than a cartoon version. The eyes were the most hilarious for me because, I suppose, the ophthalmologist in me still exists and I discovered that there is nothing scarier than a fondant cat with exophthalmos and exotropia (my sincere apologies to anyone suffering from either condition). Ultimately, I was very pleased with the final result, even though the cat does have an uncanny resemblance to Salvador Dali. The cat cake could only fit in my fridge after removing one shelf. I could not stop myself from constantly opening the fridge door compulsively to peek at it.


After the decorating marathon on Saturday, I managed to throw together a 4" Devil's Food cake for Eric. Although small in size, it was simple and delicious. And perhaps because it did not have a face, Eric's cake was much easier to cut and consume without any hint of melancholy. Happy Birthday!

Turtlemania

My niece Caitlin turned three this weekend and her inexplicable obsession with turtles was the obvious inspiration for this year's cake. Last year, cats were the primary focus but these days, turtles are undeniably superior creatures. (Photo below taken by my sister Michelle)


The cake itself is the dome of the turtle which I simply constructed with chocolate cake and vanilla buttercream in a plastic-wrap lined mixing bowl. Giving the turtle life and character with rolled fondant details only took me two hours which means I must be improving compared to my previous fondant experience this spring. The birthday hat was my favorite detail, even though Eric commented that, before the polka dots were added, it looked like a hat that Dumbledore would wear.


Rolled fondant (in small 1 kilogram batches) is easy to make at home thanks to my KitchenAid; however, at work, preparing just 6 kilograms is like arm-wrestling with a sticky reluctant octopus. Unfortunately, I overestimated the quantity of green fondant required and so perhaps, green Christmas themed fondant items (holly leaves? trees?) will be this week's project.


What I did not expect was how attached I became to my Turtle Cake creation and how I actually dreaded carving it up for its execution... I mean, consumption. Being so new to the pastry industry, I wonder whether others share the same attachment to certain products of which they are particularly proud. Maybe it is just me, the sentimental fool, who will never be entirely able to let go without some small hint of sadness.

A tale of two entremets

This week, I produced two entremets as a favour for my mom's friend who was hosting a dinner party. It was a chance to test my new KitchenAid stand mixer as well as to exercise my creativity muscle. The experience made me recognize how little space I have in my freezer and how important it is to taste everything that you make.

The first entremet was a repeat of one I created for my plated dessert assignment during my Pan Pacific practicum, except a strawberry gelée was used instead of raspberry. This gave me an opportunity to use a beautifully simple row of strawberries to garnish this entremet, with a touch of chocolate for movement.

The second entremet was composed of mango passionfruit mousse, pistachio coconut joconde sponge, some fresh mango, and coconut basil bavaroise. Having an abundance of basil currently in my patio herb garden, I was very excited about combining coconut with basil. Unfortunately, I have a tendency to underestimate the intensity of herbs and decided to add 5 grams of basil instead of 2 grams, resulting in overpowering basil flavour. The same thing happened during my pastry school final black-box exam when I underestimated the power of thyme in an apple-cranberry compote. When will I ever learn my lesson?

Nougat love

My assignment this week was nougat de Montélimar, a favourite sweet treat from childhood but more recently, from both pastry school and our trip to France. This traditional Provençal confection is full of almond and pistachio nuts, cemented together with very dense Italian meringue cooked with sugar and lavender honey. Different dried fruits or citrus peel can be added for variety. When set, the nougat can be cut into small pieces or long slabs to enjoy; to prevent drying out, it should be wrapped tightly or enrobed partially in chocolate.


My sister and I have vague recollections of how my mom would give us small silver-foil wrapped cubes of white nougat when we were young. During pastry school, my love of nougat was reawakened! As a result, our recent trip to France included a mandatory pilgrimage to Montélimar, the birthplace of nougat, where we spent a few short hours browsing the countless nougat shops before catching the train to Lyon. Interestingly, nougat de Montélimar must officially contain either 30% almond or 28% almond and 2% pistachio, and honey must be 25% of the sugar content. My recipe from pastry school produces a fairly chewy nougat, whereas in Montélimar, both "tendre" and "dur" were available.

Taking a break

Due to my mom sustaining a serious distal tibial fracture several days ago which needed surgical repair, I am taking some time off to help her get back on her feet. This is not her x-ray but it is quite similar. More pastry related posts to come soon once I return to my practicum...

Not your Safeway Black Forest Cake

Growing up, Eric always had a Black Forest Cake from Safeway as his birthday cake and still has great fondness for this traditional dessert. Flipping through Alain Ducasse's Grand Livre de Cuisine: Desserts & Pastries (which was a Christmas present from Eric), I found his Forêt Noire version and decided to create a similar version, using chocolate biscuit and dark chocolate mousse recipes from my own collection. The entremet would have appeared more "finished" if I had a chocolate sprayer and fresh cherries; however, my chocolate decorations (to represent an abstract forest) did suffice.


Starting from the bottom, the layers are: chocolate biscuit, cherry compote, dark chocolate mousse, 2nd chocolate biscuit, kirsch cream, more dark chocolate mousse, 3rd chocolate biscuit, more dark chocolate mousse. Both the compote and kirsch cream layers were assembled as frozen inserts. Even though cherry and chocolate are not usually my taste, it made a lovely entremet which we enjoyed with kir royale. No offense to Safeway, but this version was definitely more palatable!