bridal show at the queen mary

this is wholesome cakes' first ever bridal show. will i do it again? hell yeah! the event was well organized and the crowd was awesome. i must have said " here are our featured samples today.. we have fresh whole wheat organic coconut topped with raw organic shredded coconut, caramel apple, espresso and chocolate raspberry" about 500 times! i've met amazing couples and fellow vendors. my sidekick Gricelda was amazing and on top of things. she made sure that the samples, napkins and business cards were constantly filled. I would never have survived the show without her. she stayed up late to do the photo montage and help frost the samples (about 500 of them) and managed to have the smiles and energy to last the whole show. i'll definitely hire her again!





for more photos, please go to http://flickr.com/photos/organicbaker/sets/72157603712457338/

panna cotta for christmas

i know this isn't anything close to a cupcake, but i believe this is worthy of a post.

panna cotta is something i really truly like. the creamy texture is hard to beat, the flavor is anything you want it to be, and making it, a zinch. the only thing that it needs, just like any thing nice and good is time.

now pardon my memory as i am backtracking what i did as i made this about 2 weeks ago. i can assure you though that this is definitely divine.

i used honey as the base of my panna cotta, as seen on the first picture (as i am making honey panna cotta). if you wish to do this with caramel, be my guest and just adjust.

bloom a packet of unflavored gelatin on a pot of 1/2 cup cold half and half for about 5 minutes. stir in about 3 cups of heavy cream, a tablespoon of sugar and 1/4 cup honey and bring this mixture to a gentle simmer. add vanilla beans. taste to check for flavor and sweetness. adjust if necessary. laddle in ramekins (or martini glass for pretty effect) and let sit undisturbed in your refrigerator for about 6 to 8 hours. note: if you do this in the morning, it'll be ready for dinner.

inspired by michael chiarello's honey panna cotta.

this one's for david

david's nice, and so is kathy. david was my clean up the dishes partner on that flooded sink thanksgiving of 06. he always has a story to tell. interesting stories, mind you. for his birthday, this is what i've created.

holiday basket

basket
Originally uploaded by organic baker

tara organized a holiday cupcake swap for the los angeles cupcake meet up group last sunday, december 16. it was my first time to join such an exciting thing and i must say the event was - sweet.

i paused, thought, and thought some more when i received the instructions about the swap. it mentioned something about having holiday inspired cupcakes - completely apropos for the season. sure, the obligatory decadent chocololate and spice flavors are the way to go (hey, i gave in - i made my all time favorite black forest cupcakes) but somehow, i know that in the back of my head, it was not my holiday cupcake.

i was happy with the black forest idea. if there is anything i look forward to every year during the holidays, it would have to be a box of chocolate covered cherries. i never liked it when i was growing up - too confusing, too gooey, too weird and hmm, not anything like ferrero rocher. but suddenly, december of 2002, i dragged my mom along to search for chocolate covered cherries. i remember she told me that i never liked it, with that i responded - i know, i never liked it, but now i think i'm ready for it. from then on, it was my holiday in a box.

driving home one afternoon last week i figured though black forest is holiday inspired enough, it doesn't really encompass what holiday is for me. then i remembered a cake we would have - not really my top fave, but my mom likes it a lot - then like a calling, i knew it was meant to be.

a special cupcake like this needs respect - and a special place on the table. my regular box will not serve it right, so a basket it is. the effort it took to produce one makes me more than qualified to be a grandma.

a number of people from the swap asked me for the recipe. here are the steps, and if you are patient enough, you are more than welcome to try.

2 dozens vanilla cupcake - use whatever recipe you enjoy
fill the cupcakes with custard.

custard:
simmer 5 cups whole milk with 1 cup sugar until reduced to about half the amount. let the mixture. transfer to a double boiler, add 8 egg yolks and cook until thick (about 15 minutes). let the mixture cool, add 3 T butter and 1 t vanilla.

top the custard filled cupcake with meringue, bake at 400 degress until brown - or torch it like crazy.
meringue:
beat 8 egg whites with 1/4 t cream of tartar and 3/4 cup sugar until stiff.

enjoy!

ps -

check out the following links for the cupcake swap event:
http://www.tarametblog.com/
http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/2007/12/photos-from-la-holiday-cupcake-swap.html

merry christmas

merry christmas
Originally uploaded by organic baker

for Lil Bit's christmas party, I made vanilla with candy cane cuppies topped by little christmas trees. How merry!

the golden pig

golden pig
Originally uploaded by organic baker

ms. terry requested for a cake with a golden pig motif for mr. mike's 60th birthday party. she didn't think cupcakes were fitting for the occasion so a cake it was. she simply wanted a cake drawn with a golden pig, but i envisioned her pig to be something better.
this cake had given me an exciting journey. i believed i can pull it off.
i believe i did.

notes: 10x2 base layer topped with pig shaped whole wheat organic banana chocolate swirl cake. base layer frosted with chocolate fudge buttercream while the pig was frosted with chocolate ganache. finished with edible gold spray. decorated with milk chocolate gold coins.

halloween creature 07

i thought i was wanting to make frankentstein for my chocolate peanut butter fudge cupcakes. then roan and i thought it looked more like a dead tree... then we added a smidgen of red icing and it looked terribly sad and guilty of eating something.... uhmm... bloody... so we decided to keep this as our pet... we'll save it and have it as our midnight snack after running errands.

as far as the cupcakes... it had a makeover... into this:


something nice, classically piped, fitting colors for the joyous occasion.

so after delivery, roan and i headed to valencia. we came back home hours and hours and hours later. we found this waiting for us:


i guess it got tired and fell asleep.