Sweet Enough

It's been a while since I've posted! It's been a while since I've baked anything special, really. In early December, I made some cupcakes for an art opening at work. They were well received, and I have really been craving cupcakes, lately. I like bite-sized ones... That way, I get to sample a few different flavours, and they're easy to stuff into your mouth and eat quickly (lest you be judged by those strange 'I hate dessert/I hate myself, so I'm going to judge YOU' type of folk). :)

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!

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!

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: