The Cake Parlour

embarrassing

Our camera battery died this weekend at my friend Shayna's wedding, so the only picture we managed to get of the cake was one with me in it...so sorry, but several people are waiting to see this cake so I have no choice (click on it, you can see the cake way better.) These were our bridesmaid dresses, though...they were gorgeous. Her whole wedding was gold and chocolate brown, with trees and leaves as the theme. And it was outside, on a farm, set next to an old farmhouse....it was gorgeous. The cake was apple spice with caramel cream cheese filling and cream cheese frosting. The designs were piped to resemble her invitation...and that's a handmade fondant tree for her topper. I'll have to wait for the photographer's pictures for a good cake photo. And, I didn't get a haircut mom. It's just pulled back.

So I'm so exhausted...I couldn't do anything yesterday. I feel like I can't do anything today. But I have THREE wedding cakes this weekend so I better get workin'. I do have some exciting news for all of you though, just let me get through this week.

Busy and boring and rainy and cold.

Sounds depressing, but not really. These wedding cakes are quite honestly about to drive me crazy, though. I have a steadily growing list beside my computer of "things I want to do when my string of weddings is over this month." Get Symphony tickets, sew new dinner napkins, finally organize my spice jars, and all of the puttery Autumn treats at Brocante Home. Oh, please read them if you haven't! They are so decadent it's almost silly, which is perfect.

I wish I could show you what is simmering on my stove right now, but there is no light and the picture would barely turn out. But I will gladly tell you about it...and it's very special. Cocotte de Legumes Croquants...my favorite thing to prepare on a grey day like this one. Basically, one cooks a couple of chopped shallots in olive oil in a heavy bottomed pot over medium-low heat until soft. Add a peeled and chopped apple and a pear and a bunch of chopped vegetables (I use carrots, leeks, green beans, butternut squash, and celery). Cook slowly with half a cup of water and the juice of one lemon for about an hour until the vegetables and fruit are tender. Season with sea salt and pepper and my goodness it's delicious. The recipe is from Mireille Guiliano, from French Women for all Seasons...which is a beautiful book.

So back to work.

Fall, ya'll!

Or so it seemed.....last week. It's 80something degrees out now, but that's ok. We tasted it. We know it's coming, for real. Apples are coming...for caramel apple cupcakes and curried apple soup and apple and onion chutney for pork tenderloin. And soon I'll be back to blogging....I PROMISE!

xoxo
Rebekka

Another wedding...

The cake was french vanilla almond with amaretto custard filling, decorated with royal icing, limes, and lemon leaves.

This bride pretty much designed and did the reception herself, and it was GORGEOUS. Bright, firey orange and apple green...I can't get enough of that color combo.

And, here... the groom's cake:

So adorable :)

Since all I seem to do lately...

...is blog about how I never have time to blog anymore, I'll spare you the apologies. Here is the cake from last weekend's wedding. Each tier had a layer of bourbon chocolate cake sandwiched by two layers of french vanilla almond cake, filled with chocolate ganache, and frosted in vanilla buttercream.

4th of July Desserts

Like I said yesterday, this holiday pretty much revolved around desserts. I tell you what, when you are redesigning your website and revamping the cupcake delivery page, you have to bake lots of cupcakes (for photos of course). Meet the Henry cupcake: Old fashioned cocoa buttermilk frosted in rich chocolate ganache, topped with a white chocolate flower.

Alright, how many of you were also tempted to make this the other day? You know who you are! The ones who know exactly what this is and where it came from!

To bad my stars look busted.

Oh, yes, and...

The other cake from last weekend. Too bad the lighting is really bad and so are my photography skills so I just could not get a good picture. Oh, this was french vanilla almond with strawberry filling and swiss buttercream frosting. Look familiar, Beth? She totally was inspired by your cake :)

P.S. Did everyone have a wonderful 4th of July? Like most holidays, mine revolved mostly around desserts.

Greenhouse wedding

I certainly had my work cut out for me last weekend...four cakes, two weddings! It's not easy for a one person operation. Luckily I have good helpers. More on that tomorrow.

I just thought this reception was so beautiful.

You have to click thse images so they get big and you can see how lush and verdant this place is. And pretty. Anyway, I'll post pictures from the other wedding tomorrow. I'm kind of being a recluse this week in order to redesign my website and promote the cupcake delivery service. I'll post it for you guys soon so you can give me your opinions...oh how I appreciate them.

This girl is GOOD!

I just got all the photos from the shoot we did a couple of weeks ago, and I must say I'm completely floored. Camille is amazing. I'm totally in love.

These photos make me want to redesign my entire website. I already replaced the home page photo with one from this shoot, but really...I almost want to redo the whole thing. She really captured the parlour vibe.

Haha, here is one of me that is ....well, to be honest, borderline ridiculous! It was kind of a joke to wear fur, it was hard to not crack up laughing. Ha! One of my friends told me I should commission someone to paint this in that retro, lady-of-the-house portrait style. Ha. No way.

Neapolitan

Something about this cake kind of makes it my favorite. Of course, I do say that about almost all my cakes. But there's just something so wholesome, so old-fashioned about stacking these layers and globbing chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla buttercreams between them. This cake was for a 94th birthday...I love it. Too bad the lighting in there was HORRIBLE and I couldn't take ANY good pictures. Someone needs to tell me how to fix that problem...I can't get a picture of a tiered cake until it's set up, and that's usually in a location that doesn't have much light. Hmm. Well, Happy Birthday Porter!