Birthday Bakes and Wedding Tea Cakes

Hi guys!!!

Welcome back. After a big celebratory week, we're back to real life. We celebrated two birthdays and a wedding in the past seven days, finishing with a BBQ and a bang. Life is great and it's those moments we live for. 

I was particularly proud of myself, as I have now catered (a small order) for a wedding and the dessert was a hit. As you know, I made the tea cakes, which become more popular by the day. This has given me incentive to be more adventurous with my creations and it has boosted my confidence in the kitchen greatly. Come back next week to hear about my experiments with an ice cream cake.

A Coconut Cream Cake for Dad

Wednesday, my dad turned a whooping 61 years and to commemorate his 6 decades and 12 months, I went ahead and made him a Coconut Cream Cake. All credits to the amazing recipe go to Christi, author and creator of Honey and Butter. I even included her original decoration. I know...such a copycat, but it looked decadent and downright elegant, I couldn't help myself. I told my dad I had ordered him a cake from a local bakery and he complained that everyone has gotten a cake from me and he'd be getting one from someone else. His smile when he saw the cake was priceless. 

The birthday Dad preparing the lobsters

He decided we'd would eat in, and for dinner, we grilled lobsters and steaks and veggies. It was happy occasion and it ended with bang. He was opening his presents when the cake was brought in, candles lit and ready to be blown. Half the cake was gone and it was truly enjoyed by all.  By next morning, only a small slice was left. My cousin's birthday followed, and according to his wishes, I baked him the never-disappointing-absolutely-divine Red Velvet Cake. I topped it with fresh strawberries and mint leaves and made my way to his house. Once more, the candles were lit, a wish was made and the cake was cut. Now a teenager, it was the perfect ending to a wonderful day. 

A Red Velvet Beauty

Friday night, I found myself scurrying around the kitchen, baking tea cakes, frosting tea cakes and baking a Black Magic Cake. Yes, it tastes as good as it sounds. A delicious, insanely moist, chocolate cake. Jamie, of My Baking Addiction is the genius behind this creation and the recipe is flawless. I've been using it for years now and the result is the same always: perfection. I frosted the cake with a traditional French Meringue and chocolate shavings. The reviews were great. Try it sometime.

A Birthday Black Magic Cake

Saturday morning, after frosting the cake and sending it, we were hurrying about. Errands needed to be run, tea cakes delivered, and hair and makeup became a priority for the girls in the house. It was the wedding day and by 7 o'clock pm, we were at church. The ceremony was short and beautiful and the bride and groom oozed happiness. The reception was buzzing with electric life. Dancing, laughing, the night carried out to the early hours of the morning. Sunday morning, we hosted a BBQ, reminiscing on the night's events and laughing. 

Monday has greeted Tegucigalpa with a beautiful sunny sky. I say it again, life is great. I wish you all a great week and I'll be back next Monday with details of my adventures in the kitchen.

Until next time.
xx

Brownie Bites for the Bride-to-be and a Coconut Cream Cake for Dad

 Hi guys!!!

My deepest, most sincere apologies for my extremely late post. It's been over a week and now I seem to owe you two posts. Inspiration has eluded me these days. As I sat last Monday, ready to write down my adventures, I realized I had nothing worthy to write about. Half asleep, my fingers began to type and suddenly they stopped, only for me to wake up and see I had typed useless gibberish. But I think I'm good now hehehe...

Busy making brownie bites

So welcome back. Entering the third week of the third month of the year, my head's been filled with different projects and ideas. Like many of us, I don't really have the slightest idea of how to get where I want to, so we begin to experiment with different jobs and careers. Last week, for the first time in a long time, I had a short glimpse of what I wish to be (and can be) in a near future, and although the picture caught me off guard and scared me a bit, I realized I have the potential to reach that point. All I need is to push myself of that edge. So the question is, how do I take that leap of faith?

But enough pondering over the unknown...it'll come to me.

I'm happy to announce my small business is back on, and although I still lack some conviction on my abilities, I've pulled off my orders successfully. I have baked cakes and small orders for wedding showers and a wedding and this coming Saturday I'll be delivering a small order of English Tea Cakes (seriously guys...try the recipe I posted a while ago). Now, tomorrow is my dad's birthday and while we debated a bit on what I should bake him, we decided in the end for an Italian Coconut Cream Cake. I hadn't heard of a particular coconut cake before and while I fed my eyes on foodgawker, I found it. If my experiment with this cake deems itself successful, I'll post the recipe. I want to apologize...again...as I keep mentioning I'll be posting recipes soon and I haven't but I really haven't experimented in my kitchen lately. Now I'll gladly post random recipes I find, but it's not my style. I'd rather try them out for you guys and let you know if there are slight adjustments to be made to make them better. 

English Tea Cake for a happy bride-to-be

Two weeks ago I agreed to provide desserts for a small bridal shower on a Saturday afternoon. I emailed potential choices and prices and it was decided that Tea Cakes and Brownie Bites would be perfect. So I set off to bake them Friday night. I began by baking the brownies to allow them to cool while I made the Tea Cakes. The tea cakes were baked and allowing them to cool down for the frosting, I shaped the brownies. I cut down the sheet into 48 squares and turned each square into a truffle shaped ball. The order was for 35 and I was laughing when I heard my baby, Mila (beautiful black Lab, recent mother I might add) had made her way into the kitchen and found them. I rolled some of the balls in cocoa powder and the rest in confectioner's sugar. They did look like truffles.  I arranged them nicely on the mini cupcake liners and packed them up. I moved on  to the Tea Cakes, frosting them. It was 9 pm by then and I decided to let the butter frosting set completely in the fridge and I'd cut them up in the morning. It was a good idea. The frosting was firm enough to cut and avoid smudging and soft enough to cut nicely. I finished the packing up and set off to work. My mom agreed to drop them off for me. I was happy to know I'd gotten great reviews on them when I got home. I had also baked an Apple Spice cake for a birthday on Saturday and this also got good reviews. 

Truffle shaped brownie bites

Now, I think my love for meringues is become a thing of the past as I've been having trouble with the proper baking of them. I managed to burn two batches of meringues at work and mess up one batch for pavlovas this past week. Perhaps my head is telling me to find something new to try out. I might just consider this...Still, the pavlovas I made for a wedding were a hit, despite being "watery". After being consulted on this, I advised that pavlovas do not make the most practical desserts to be catered, as it is a dessert that needs to be eaten within the hour of being assembled. The cream moistens the meringue, making it sticky and if not refrigerated (which also caused the meringue to become sticky) the cream begins to loose its strength and eventually collapses. Still, it was decided to be made and I happily obliged. Of course, as the baker, you don't like hearing something wrong went down with a dessert, but knowing they still tasted good (thank the Lord I can poach pears blind if needed) makes up for the small details. 

The Messy Chef's weird experiment:
Berry Tiramisu

While shopping for apples for the cake, I spotted blackberries at the supermarket. Being rare to find them here, I quickly snatched up two containers and decided I'd make a berry tiramisu. I made one back in 2010 for the first time and it a success!!! Not a crumb was left. I decided to revisit the idea and make another. Now, because of work, I hadn't had much time once I got home, but they needed to be used as they quickly rot. I should have left them in water with lemon to kill off bacteria (it does work...I've done it many times with raspberries when I know I won't be using them immediately), but I didn't. Coming home from work last Tuesday, we stopped by the supermarket to pick up mascarpone cheese and lady fingers. Cheese: check; lady fingers: nowhere to be seen. We couldn't find any at the nearest grocery shops and in the end, I gave up and picked up very porous Honduran biscuits a substitute. At home, to my horror, I found out the blackberries had rotten and the cheese I bought was coffee flavored mascarpone cheese. I did have frozen blueberries and some cranberries in the fridge. I went ahead and made a very weird looking (and tasting) berry tiramisu. Oh well...better luck next time. 

Coffee flavored mascarpone...oops

My parents tried it the following day and despite the clean plates afterwards, I'm sure they were just being nice...I tried it after...it was just awful. Sweet blueberries aren't a match for tangy cranberries and neither really complement the coffee flavor of the cheese. All in all, a messy sweet experiment that was fail. Hey, not all of them will turn out ok. Now I know...read the labels hahahaha. I'll be making Tea Cakes once more, for 75 people this time, as there's a wedding to attend this coming Saturday. Can't wait!!!

All in all, it's been a fun journey in the experiments I've tried and I can't wait to see what the coconut cake looks and tastes like!!! Be sure to stop by next Monday for the recap.

Until next time.

xx