Japanese themed cake

I don't think I got the Japanese characters right. It's supposed to say "Thank You", but I think I did it backwards or upsidedown or something. I tried. It was for a retirement party for a coworker of a family friend. She likes Japan, and is going there right after her retirement. The red thing is from the Fushimi Inari Temple in Kyoto. I did the cherry blossoms individually in royal icing, using brush technique, painting them on.

Birthday cake for Daas-B

Here's the cake I made for my second cousin's first Birthday- Jungle themed, clearly. The decoration was in white chocolate, but the inside was Angel Food cake with whipped cream and berries

William Morris Cupcakes

It's been a long time since I posted, because I haven't done anything outside of work. I did do something interesting a few days ago at work, however. A customer came and asked for cupcakes with designs inspired by William Morris on them. They jut wanted some samples so they could decide if they wanted them for their wedding or not. I was assigned the job of translating his designs onto the cupcakes. Here's how they turned out:


No word yet on whether or not they liked them...

Emma Watson... on a cake?

A certain someone I know likes a certain someone I don't know. So here she is, folks... Emma Watson on a Birthday cake for my dear friend

New job

Hello! It's been a while- I'm now working at a lovely little bakery named Soutine, on W. 70th street. I decorate cakes to sell and for orders, along with making all sorts of other things, from cookies to soups. It's a great place, and I have a lot of fun, as I get to do more or less whatever I want on cakes for the store. Here are three of ones I did today- they have to be relatively simple and easy (quick) to do, hence why they're all in buttercream and white chocolate



If you want to try one.... come to Soutine! Or call me...

Belated post of final projects

We graduated! How exciting is that? Actually, it happened over two weeks ago, but I've been away. Our final was to make a tart or cake, a viennoiserie item, bonbons, and a petit four item, along with a showpiece to hold the tart/cake, the bonbons, and the petit fours. The theme of the showpiece was to be our favorite place. Some of us took it quite literally and others (myself included) stepped a little outside of the box. So here are (almost) all of our final projects, in no particular order:


Paula


Krystal


Claudia S.


Rachel


Ryan- his broke. It was originally a tribute to his frat


Claudia O.


Jess


Amy T.


Meghan


Kelly- hers broke, it was originally her car


Sofia


Sheron


Troy





Violetta


Josh


Kristy


Kristyn


Mine: A chocolate violin! I had a lot of fun doing this one. I love chocolate, and I love my violin, so it was perfect. The entire thing is chocolate- white, milk, and dark. Though it's not very apparent in the picture, there is woodgrain on the violin itself. I had some challenges making it- primarily in making the strings, which I unfortunately left to the last minute. In addition (After this photo was taken) the front piece of the violin came off, then broke in two overnight- whether it broke itself or someone touched it I don't know. I was fortunately able to repair it so it wasn't completely hideous for it's display after the graduation ceremony.

Wedding Cake Woes

These, in no particular order, are most of the wedding cakes made by other people in my class. Pastry II, the class below us, gave us a presentation detailing a wedding of their own creation, including all details but the design of the wedding cake. The wedding took place in St Petersburg, at the Peterhof. The colors of the wedding were deep red and white.









These are the nesting dolls on top of Claudia's cake- they did actually come apart, and did have dolls inside






Amy's cake- the middle tier is based off of the Peterhof, where the wedding took place
















Kelly's cake- the piping is based off of the bride's veil





And mine:




I felt very pressed for time, but I did complete it, and I'm mostly pleased. The bottom tier is based off of a Faberge egg, called the Lilies of the Valley egg- look it up online, it's quite beautiful. The very top is a miniature sugar paste replica of the bride's bouquet.
The cakes for all of them were the same- hazelnut sponge with creme d'or, and wildberry mousseline

Today we took our written final exam, and started our practical. Only 3 more days and then we graduate! I'll have one more round of photos when we've finished our showpieces.

Last of plated desserts

Last day of plated desserts! This is a tropical tasting plate with exotic fruit couscous, passionfruit and coconut napoleon, and lime rum savarin

These next two desserts are the ones I created for my test on plated desserts- the one where we designed a restaurant and a dessert menu for it. Our teachers then "ordered" two items. After a disastrous (I really mean disastrous) day, they turned out edible at least

Lemon tartlet with cherry sorbet, white chocolate sauce, and blueberry coulis


My baby: Chocolate ginger souffle with lemongrass sorbet and coconut curry ice cream.

Chiboust!

Beaumes de Vignes cake with roasted grape compote, a tuile, and fromage blanc sherbet

Coconut chiboust with chocolate sauce, coconut sauce, and a coconut financier topped with chocolate sherbet

Lemon chiboust with blueberry compote (underneath), lemon verbena clear sauce, cassis and sweet basil sorbet, and a rosemary sprig (I don't know why Chef Cynthia put it there... there's no rosemary in the dessert)

Liguarian Lemon cake with almond gelato, pineapple, and a tuile