Wednesday, January 20, 2010

My mom's best friend since high school is a kickass lady and a huge fan of animals, and she had a cute little farm on Cape Cod with two sheep and two horses. For her birthday a while back, I decided to make her some 'healthy' low-fat carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (okay, not so healthy). The recipes came from a great book, Crazy About Cupcakes. The cute dude munching hay above is one of her adorable sheep. I had a hard time getting close to them, as all they wanted to do was run away, and would then sneak up behind me and go 'BBBAAAHHHHH!' and take off again before I could get a photo. I think I blinded him with the flash, in this photo I actually managed to take. My goal with these cupcakes was to make them in the likeness of her sheep:


Some turned out better than others, they kind of look more like sheep-clouds, but they did taste great! I used black and white jelly beans for the faces, and nonpareils for their feet. Baking projects don't always turn out perfect, but as long as it tastes good, I can live with it. As soon as she saw the cupcakes she laughed, and knew who they were supposed to be, so mission accomplished, I guess!


Posted by Petitfoureyes at 3:27 PM | 2 comments
Tuesday, January 19, 2010


Wow, how did I forget to post about this dessert?! It was possibly the best dessert I have ever made. SO MANY components. Time consuming, for sure - but so damn worth it! This is an Apple Trifle with cinnamon-sugar apple fritters, the recipe comes from the spectacular cookbook "Maze" by Jason Atherton. I linked to Amazon in the UK because Amazon.com seems to have a different, new edition, and I honestly have no clue if it's the same book (it most likely is).

This dessert consists of, from bottom to top: apple jelly, caramel custard, Calvados cream, and cider granita. The recipe includes the delicious cinnamon-sugar apple fritters. My description of this dessert will never do it justice, but the pictures speak for themselves!

Posted by Petitfoureyes at 1:18 AM | 4 comments






This was my wedding cake design for our final project in my Baking & Pastry Arts program in 2007. Fondant is interesting to work with, I'd like to become more familiar with it, as I haven't worked with it since this project. Black-eyed Susans are one of my favorite flowers (my other top faves are Godetias and Wild Roses), and I tried to recreate them with piped royal icing. I found some 'edible' gold dust from Wilton, to serve as the pollen, which I was thrilled about! I thought my cake was really cute, and I had a lot of fun making it. My cake got second place in the whole class, and while I didn't win a prize, I was proud! I love looking at photos of wedding cakes and think I could really get into making extravagant, detailed cakes! The only thing that turns me off from pursuing making wedding cakes for a living, is dealing with the brides! For real.

People often ask me if I'll make my own wedding cake when I get married, and the answer always changes. Since I'm not planning on a huge or expensive wedding, I will probably be of sound enough mind that I'll actually be able to do it myself...but at the same time, I love to indulge in fancy sweets that I didn't have to make myself! I think I'd just like to have a mountain of cupcakes, and I honestly just want this cake, from La Provence Bakery in Kanata, Ontario, Canada:



My sweetheart got me this exact cake for my birthday several years ago, and it was DELICIOUS! chocolate mousse layers galore! Not to mention my childhood nickname is "Hedge", and I have a little hedgehog companion of my own, Vince Blanc! Here he is in action:



Posted by Petitfoureyes at 12:46 AM | 0 comments
Saturday, January 9, 2010

Posted by Petitfoureyes at 1:37 AM | 0 comments