Éclairs

As mentioned in an earlier post, my family loves cream puffs. My husband loves éclairs even more than cream puffs. Since they are almost exactly the same thing, I can please everyone with one recipe!

I had made a lot of pastry cream for another project and had a lot left over. Since everyone loves cream puffs, that was the first thing that came to my mind to make for Mother's Day. My husband pointed out that he likes éclairs a lot more, so I decided to make them since they are almost exactly the same thing. Éclairs are made from Pâte à Choux which is also the same thing that you use to make cream puffs, profiteroles, beignets, and many other pastries. You just pipe the paste differently for the éclairs than for the cream puffs. I made a double batch of the choux paste thinking that I would get a lot of mini éclairs out of it. However, I ended up getting a lot less mini éclairs than I usually get of the cream puffs. I guess next time I will have to triple it ;) I just made a simple dark chocolate glaze for the top of each éclair. They went quickly, and I wished that I had made more.

Éclairs first originated in the nineteenth century in France. The first known English language recipe for éclairs was in the Boston Cooking School Cook Book by Mrs. D.A. Lincoln, published in 1884. In some parts of the US, Long Johns are marketed as éclairs, although they are not the same. Long Johns are made with donut dough and filled with vanilla pudding, making them much cheaper and easier to produce.

Wedding Cupcakes

An old friend from high school contacted me months ago asking me if I would do her wedding cake. Of course I said yes! This was my first wedding cake on my own. I had done some wedding cakes at my previous job, but none where I got to choose exactly what I wanted to do.

I visited my friend a little over a month ago with a few different options of cake and icing. I took white, red velvet, and devil's food cakes. And I took two different kinds of icing, buttercream and

French buttercream. Since the bride wanted cupcakes, I told her that she could choose any number of combinations that they liked. They chose white with French buttercream and red velvet with regular buttercream. My red velvet cupcakes are not very sweet, so the sweet buttercream is a better pairing with this cake instead of the French buttercream. On the other hand, the sweetness of my white cake is a perfect pairing with my less sweet French buttercream. The couple also wanted a small eight inch square cake for the top of their cupcake tower so that they could do a traditional cake cutting.

I went back and forth with decorations for the cupcakes. I tried a few things that did not end up

working out for me, so at the last minute I had to rethink my previous designs. I decided to do drop flowers with royal icing. The colors of the wedding were black and white damask and fuchsia. I decided to just stick with black and white in my designs. I made 300 black drop flowers with a white sugar pearl in the middle. Each cupcake got one flower in the center along with

some black and white sugar pearls scattered around it. I think they turned out beautifully. As for the cake, I just did a small 8 inch white cake with French buttercream icing. I covered the top with the flowers that I had made and did a simple bead border around the bottom. I put a small black sugar pearl in between each bead.

Royal icing is fairly easy to work with and is a great tool to allow you to get some decorations done in advance. Royal icing is simply meringue powder, powdered sugar and water. If you fill your pastry bag and have some remaining in the bowl, you must keep it covered with a damp paper towel. Otherwise, it will harden in the bowl leaving it unusable. When making lots of drop flowers, I like to cut small one inch squares of parchment paper. I put just a dab of icing on my flower nail, then stick the paper square to it. I make my flower on the paper and can then just lift up the paper and set it aside to dry. These flowers will last for quite a long time. They are a nice addition to the top of a brownie square for a more formal occasion. You can add these drop flowers to any decorated cake or cupcake. They are fun to make and come in very handy. If you are interested in learning how to decorate, this is a good place to start!

Martha Speaks Cake

My baby was turning 1, so I decided to do a Martha Speaks cake. She loves that show, especially the theme song. It was super cute, and everyone loved it!

Chocolate cake with my French buttercream is my very favorite combination. I decided to do the base which was a double layer half sheet cake with that combo because it is always a crowd pleaser and I love it so much! I did the dog bowl with the same icing, but white cake instead. I made my baby her own little smash cake with white batter as well. I didn't know how much of her little cake she would eat, and I didn't want her eating an entire 6 inch chocolate cake. It turned out that she didn't eat that much of it, mostly icing :) I decided to use a stuffed Martha for several reasons. One of the reasons was because I thought my daughter would really enjoy the stuffed Martha afterwards, which she really does! Another reason, though, was because Martha is a cartoon character and not 3D. I didn't really want to sculpt a 3D version of a flat cartoon character . I used rolled fondant to cover the cakes. I don't like the taste of it, and I think only one person ate it, but it was super cute! Everyone loved the cake, and I am very proud of it!

Do you use nonstick pans to bake your cakes or cookies? You may want to think twice about that. You will get a much more tender, evenly baked product if you use regular baking pans that have been well greased, if the recipe calls for that. Dark metal pans are typically heavy, and therefore conduct and hold heat more than pans that weigh less and are a lighter color. If you do choose to use these dark pans, you must adjust the baking time and sometimes even the baking temperature. Otherwise, your product will be overbaked. I, as well as most professionals that I have come across, prefer lighter pans to bake. I think your product turns out much better overall.

Easter Cake

I got a last minute order for an Easter cake last week. She wanted yellow cake with chocolate icing and fun Easter decorations that a 3 year old would like. Since I have a 3 year old, I knew exactly what to do, and I think it was super cute. I know my 3 year old daughter loved it!

I decided to decorate the cake with a big Easter bunny, some grass, and jelly beans. What kid doesn't love jelly beans, right? I made an outline of an Easter bunny's face on the cake, and did the rest freehand. I planned to do grass around the border with a tip with several holes to make lots of blades of grass at one time. I could not find that tip anywhere. I ended up just using a tip with one hole so it took me 3 times longer than it should have, but it turned out just fine. I know my daughter wanted to keep the cake, so I know any 3 year old would have loved it!

Jelly beans first known appearance was during the American Civil War when a man from Boston named William Schrafft promoted sending them to the soldier fighting in the Union Army. It was not until around 1930 that jelly beans became a popular Easter candy most likely due to their resemblance to Easter eggs.

Chocolate Chocolate Cake

I had an order for chocolate cake with chocolate icing. This is one of my most popular cakes. It is very rich, but oh so delicious! I had complete freedom in decorating. My husband had to climb a fire escape with the cake and my 3 1/2 year old to deliver it too!

I love chocolate cake and so does my husband. My chocolate cake is super moist. Being the pastry snob that I am, I often find other chocolate cakes to be dry. I have been making this cake for many, many years now. It is a favorite among my customers and family :) I prefer French buttercream with my chocolate cake, or with any cake for that matter, but my husband LOVES all things chocolate, including chocolate buttercream. I generally do not prefer icings made with powdered sugar. They are often far too sweet and take away from the cake, in my opinion. It is a very decadent cake, but this chocolate buttercream does pair very nicely with my standard chocolate cake.

Do you have a recipe for icing with powdered sugar that you find too sweet? Well, here is a tip for you. The more you mix it, the less sweet it tastes. The longer you mix icing, the more air you are incorporating into it. This makes the icing taste lighter and less sweet. I often end up mixing icings with powdered sugar upwards of 10 minutes sometimes.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Half Moons

I really love to bake with my little girl. She loves helping and watching. And I really like to think that she will one day love baking as much as I do. She may not, and that is ok, but I enjoy passing my knowledge and skills on nonetheless. When the baby was napping today, we decided to make some cookies. I tried a brand new recipe that I found!

My daughter is obsessed with this one specific episode of Mister Rogers . It is an opera with a character that she loves called Half Moon. I saw this recipe and knew immediately that she would want to make them because of the name. They were basically a simple peanut butter cookie with chocolate chips. You could use peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, or any combination. I just used chocolate chips. The recipe said that the cookies would be soft when they come out of the oven and to be very careful not to overbake them. Well, soft was an understatement. They were so soft, I had to let them cool for several minutes before moving them to a cooling rack. They are called half moon cookies because you are supposed to dip half of them in a chocolate glaze. We decided against it because they were way too soft to dip. I know that the half that I was dipping would have just crumbled. Also, we wanted to try one so badly that we didn't want to wait for them to cool, then dip them, then let them set. And they were so yummy as they were, they did not need the extra chocolate.

A lot of recipes tell you to move cookies from the baking pan onto a cooling rack a few minutes after they are out of the oven. Usually, cookies have to set when they come out of the oven before you can move them. If you try to move cookies (that have not been overbaked) too soon, they will fall apart. Leaving the cookies on the hot pan for too long though can cause them to be overbaked because the hot pan can continue to bake the cookies. There is just a perfect amount of time to leave the cookies on the tray. It is different for every cookie. You just have to experiment and see what works for you!

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

In my MOMS Club, we have breakfast bunch once a month. This month we were meeting at someone's house and having a potluck breakfast. These are always my favorite because the kids can get down and play while the moms can (kind of) enjoy their breakfast in peace. I always try to see what everyone else is making before I decide what to take. I often end up making a quiche or something savory instead of something sweet because everyone signs up for sweets. This month, I was able to make a coffee cake. I tried a new recipe, and it was really tasty.

I really like breakfast sweets. Donuts, muffins, quick breads, cinnamon rolls, coffee cakes. It doesn't matter. I love them all. I decided to just make a pretty straight forward sour cream coffee cake. The recipe called for a tube pan, but I could not find my tube pan anywhere, so I used a pretty bundt pan. I just made sure that I generously greased and floured the pan so that the cake would come out easily. There was a streusel that went in the middle and on top of the batter. After the cake was cooled, I made a simple glaze of powdered sugar and real maple syrup and added enough water to make it pourable. It really was perfect with a hot cup of coffee.

Coffee cake is a class of cakes meant to be eaten with coffee. They do not necessarily contain coffee. Coffee cakes are most often flavored with cinnamon, nuts and fruits. They often have a crumb filling and/or topping (streusel) and a glaze drizzle. It was not until the late 19th century that the term "coffee cake" became a common term. Up until that point, "tea cakes" were much more common.