Creme Brulaylay

Do you ever have those days when you're sitting in class at 9:30 in the morning thinking about a really yummy dish you had a while ago? I mean yeah your obviously paying attention to the lecture and studiously taking notes. But your also drooling over a big fat piece of pie or a creamy dessert...like creme brûlée.

Well that's what I was doing last week and then had the opportunity to put my dreaming into action.
Recently, my roommates and I had a girls night and I decided to whip up some creme brûlée...obviously I can use phrases like 'whip up' and 'throw together' because I'm such an expert...duhh.

It was surprisingly easy. There weren't too many ingredients and I found a really good video showing the process...and the cook was French....with a French accent. The accent proves his expertness so I went with his video. I'm sure there are many other variations and ways to do it.


Here's the link to the video. The ingredients are also listed on there.

I didn't have a flamethrower...I mean blowtorch so I set the oven to broil and carefully put the ramekins in and watched them with hawk eyes. I wish I had the blowtorch though. It would have been cooler.

They tasted really good. They were a little warm and more liquidy since I put them in the oven instead of torching them. All in all, very fattening and yummy.

Rose Cake

Today is a milestone! I know I say that a lot, but this one is for realz!!!

And technically it wasn't today, it was last weekend....but the excitement carries!

I officially had my first client/customer/person-who-I-didn't-just-give-cake-to.

Go ahead and scream and do a little victory dance for me...you know you want to...go ahead I'll wait.

I don't think I can explain the feeling of PROFESSIONALLY baking someone a cake for the first time...ever. I think its right up there with having your first kid and getting married....okay maybe not THAT far up...

It's not the getting paid part that is exciting (but it definitely don't hurt!!) but rather the feeling that someone considers your work serious and professional and GOOD enough to pay you hard earned money for it.

I think I need a tissue.

I was talking to my friend yesterday about being a cake 'artist'. I didn't consider myself to be creative or an artist because I can't draw to save my life. Then she mentioned that baking is my 'medium' just like photography is hers.

Meeedddiiiuummmm. I rolled that around in my head for a while and came to the conclusion that I am a kid with crayons. I want to do great things. Paint Mona Lisa's and be a Van Gogh in my own right (but I'm keeping both my ears). Often times though, I am my own worst critic. So for now I'm going to focus on colouring in the lines and learning bit by bit.

And today I feel like I've graduated kindergarten! Yay me!

Inspiration for this cake (and by inspiration I mean totally plagiarized) came from I am Bakers beautiful Rose Cake. I dressed it up pink and added a few nonpareils. Inside is a lemon cake and its covered in vanilla buttercream.

Credits to my super photographer Emily.

And get this guys....I EVEN SENT THE CAKE OFF IN A PROPER WHITE BOX.

*FAINTS*

Happy Baking!

Vanilla Cupcakes

Since I am still in the early stages of my baking obsessions/passion/hobby/career/learning process, one of my goals is to test out recipes until I have a couple of tried and true go-to recipes.

I seem to have landed on a good foolproof chocolate cake recipe that works great in both cupcake and cake form. 

Vanilla is a bit more of a problem. I've tried out a few but have never been completely satisfied. 

Until I ordered this book. There are some mouthwatering recipes in that book as well as a whole lot of drool-worthy pictures. But more on that later in a review post.

I tried out a basic vanilla cupcake recipe in one of the first few pages. The first time I tried it, I added MnM's into the mix because my roommates are children and want candy and chocolate in everything. I didn't bother to dress them up too fancy because I was just testing them out. 

They came out really good. Soft and fluffy on the inside and just a tad crispy on the outside. They also rose very nicely. However the batter was not very liquidy...it was more doughy and thick...which isn't really a negative point, just an observation. Anyway, the trial went with no major catastrophes and the result was more than satisfactory.

The second time I decided to make them a little fancier. I had some frozen buttercream left over from the last birthday cake I made and it was already coloured purple. 

This time, the cupcakes rose TREMENDOUSLY...they could have passed for muffins. They also rose lopsided which probably has to do with how I filled the liners. Since the batter isn't as liquidy, I guess it didn't even out in the oven while baking like I expected it to....go figure -_-

I think what I did differently was mix it for longer in my mixer. This is the only thing I can think of that I did differently. 

They still tasted fine though which is a relief. 

I learned from this experience that having a ice cream scoop or some kind of device to distribute batter evenly would make the cupcakes more even and consistent. I used a measuring cup (I think it was a 1/4 cup scoop) and then used a spoon to help it into the liner....not very efficient and took 5 million times longer. 

All in all a good stepping stone. I will post the recipe soon....if I don't forget....what? I'm only human!

Oh and also I didn't do an MM post this week...midterm and no time....c'est la vie!

Happy Baking!