carberry soap co.

The Carberry Soap Co. had their official grand opening this weekend and asked me to provide them with treats for their customers. So, I prepared 100 cupcakes and 100 cookies for their big event!

Vanilla sugar cookies were topped with an edible logo and packaged individually in cello baggies. 

...and this is what 100 of them look like.

Vanilla and chocolate mini cupcakes were topped with pastel coloured vanilla buttercream to match the soaps, and finished with a fondant topper with Carberry's logo.

With a little help from some gorgeous flower arrangements, the set up turned out very well. Congratulations to Carberry Soap Co. owners Margo and Martha on your beautiful (and aromatic) new store!

And thanks for the soap :)

-Danielle

welcome baby

It's a boy!

 This weekend I was asked to provide cookies and cupcakes for a baby shower. The mother-to-be is having a little boy, so blue and white dominated this colour scheme. For half of the cookies, I made vanilla sugar cookies in the shape of baby onesies and decorated them in different shades of blue:

For the other half I made cookies in the shape of baby bottles.

 

After the icing had set, I packed them individually into cellophane baggies and attached a special greeting to each one. 

 

As for the cupcakes, I baked half vanilla and half chocolate all topped with vanilla buttercream and attached fondant cupcake toppers in different shades of blue with different baby-themed decorations. Here, we have baby footprints, bottles, pacifiers, bibs, teddies, and way off on the blurry right side of the image are individual blocks that spell "L-I-A-M". 

I had a ton of fun with these, even if my hands were left somewhat blue afterwards. Congratulations to the mommy-to-be :)

-Danielle

i love macarons

It's been a while since I've made macarons, mostly due to the fact that the last few batches had really inconsistent results and I've been discouraged from trying again. One batch had shells that wouldn't even lift off the baking paper, another batch completely deflated after being taken out of the oven, and some cracked beyond recognition. But, I so much enjoy the challenge of baking these delightful sandwich cookies and the feeling of accomplishment that comes with an edible product that I decided to attempt them yet again. Waiting patiently for the feet to appear generates a suspense I've yet to experience from anything else. I know, I'm lame. I decided to go beyond chocolate and experiment with some different flavours this time. I used the French meringue method described here.

Mocha macarons (coffee shells with dark chocolate ganache)

 
You can't go wrong with coffee and chocolate, and macarons are no different. Yum.

Strawberry macarons (almond shells with strawberry buttercream)

While the shells weren't as smooth as I would have liked, the texture on their insides was great and the flavour was really bold. I could probably ease up on the vanilla in the buttercream and just focus on the berry next time.

Tangerine macarons (tangerine shells with vanilla-tangerine buttercream)

This might be the best looking batch I've made so far. The shells are as smooth as I've ever seen them and there are no air pockets between the outer shell and inner feet. It takes a lot of playing around with oven temperatures and timing to get these cookies right. 

Pistachio macarons with chocolate ganache

These were hands down the trickiest macarons I've ever attempted. I used a food processor to grind the pistachios into powder, but I was left with small chunks; I then thought to use a coffee grinder to make the mixture finer... and ended up with pistachio paste. I didn't even think about the oil content. So my pistachio powder ended up like guacamole and had to be chucked. I used what little powder was created and mixed it into the dry ingredients, then sprinkled the coarse bits on top of the shells after piping.

Pina colada macarons (coconut shells with pineapple-coconut buttercream)

I love cocktail-inspired desserts (see: daiquiri cookies and margarita cupcakes) and macarons are no exception. I ground up some dessicated sweetened coconut (30g) and added it to the dry ingredients. I also sprinkled some coconut on top of the shells after they were piped so that it'd toast in the oven. And because of love coconut so much, I added it to some pineapple-flavoured buttercream. Om nom nom.


Salted caramel macarons (almond shells with salted caramel buttercream)

Macarons can be intensely sweet, so I found a recipe that would cut through the sweetness by adding sea salt, and it was gooood. These macarons reminded me of caramel corn. I added some gold luster dust to the shells shortly after they were piped and before the batter had hardened to create a nice finish.

Pink almond macarons (with chocolate ganache)

I went back to an easy favourite with just plain almond shells and a rich dark chocolate ganache filling, but I dolled them up with hot pink food gel.

With the sense of encouragement that comes from a job well done, I can't wait to experiment with some more ingredients (matcha, lavender, lemon-mascarpone). What flavour combinations are you curious to try?

-Danielle

valentine's treats

I've been spending a lot of my down time from the 9-5 (or in my case, the 24/7... that PhD won't earn itself!) in the kitchen lately, and I've been having fun with some Valentine's Day baking. There are so many fun things I want to try so I'm getting a head start on this holiday's baking, which happens to be a favourite of mine not for the celebration of love, but for the celebration of sweet, sweet carbs.

a) A small 1-2 serving heart-shaped french vanilla cake covered in red fondant with a tiffany blue gumpaste bow.

b) Another small 1-2 serving heart shaped french vanilla cake covered in chocolate ganache and a white chocolate drizzle, with a glitter-accented gumpaste rose.

c) A cupcake bouquet - a dozen cupcakes with buttercream piped roses in a decorative vase. This was a little trickier than I thought it would be. Piping the cupcakes was no problem, but getting them to sit in the vase was a challenge. They're stuck into a styrofoam ball (available at any craft store) with lollipop sticks. The styrofoam ball was really stiff, and every once in a while a cupcake would topple off. Some structural arrangements were made (i.e. crossing my fingers and hoping for the best) and everything worked out fine in the end!

d) Box of chocolate (covered cake truffles) - peanut butter cake truffles covered in dark and white chocolates, each one uniquely decorated, atop a chocolate mud cake candy box. This was a lot of fun! Too bad the cake truffles didn't stand a chance in my household. 

e) Dark chocolate cupcakes with pink vanilla buttercream icing - a sweet and simple treat. 


-Danielle

new! edible image treats

Edible images - your favourite picture or photo on a yummy treat. Here I tried out my new edible printer/paper apparatus with some sugar cookies: above are paintings of different fruits, below are photos of some beautiful butterflies!

meringue mushrooms

These small treats are most commonly found on yule logs around the holiday season, but I think they're so cute they should be available all year long. Which explains why I made them three months early. Meringue stems are attached to meringue mushroom caps, the undersides coated in dark and white chocolates, and the tops dusted with cocoa powder or dipped in coloured chocolate. Perfect as cake toppers or snacks on their own!

-Danielle