Festival of Macarons - Chicago, IL

I'm obsessed with macarons (and if you followed me on twitter you already knew that). In the beginning of May 2011, I enrolled in the Festival of Macarons course at the French Pastry School of Chicago. The class was taught by world-renowned Master Pastry Chef, Stephane Glacier, entrepreneur and consultant of pastry and confectionery arts.

In this three-day hands-on workshop we learned how produce all kinds of macarons, like the Dutch macaron, the Gerber macaron, the Nancy macaron and the Classic Parisian macaron. The Chef also taught complimentary confections to the macarons such as lavender creme glacee, green apple sorbet, nougat, and croquembouche/pate choux.

The whole experience was absolutely incredible. To be able to work in a state of the art kitchen alongside a team of like-minded individuals who share the same work and passion, and to be taught by the best of the best and learn the true secret of a parisian macaron.

A special shout-out to my partner, Riki Tanabe, Pastry Chef at Albemarle Baking Company in Charlottesville, VA. Thank you so much for all your help and for making us the "dream team" of the class. You are an incredible teacher and I appreciate all your tips and tricks and more that you shared with me.

Here are a few pictures from the course:

Real Weddings: Kimberly & Michael

Real Life: The Cake Show

... and of course, here are the cakes from the other competitors. 

This cake was completed by Beth Appleton and won the grand prize. 

This cake was completed by Nadia Colella.

Happy Mothers Day

Real Weddings: Cara & Shaun

Real Weddings: Steven & Leora

I’ll admit, I have a tendency to fall in love with my clients. Although I might be a bit of a marriage cynic in my own life, I somehow become completely entrenched into the love stories of everyone else.

Steven and Leora were no exception. There was something about them that captivated me from the start and I was thrilled when they asked me to design the cake for their wedding.

By the way, Steven owns an incredible entertainment production company. Click here for more info: MK Productions.

Growing in popularity are individually packaged mini cakes. I absolutely LOVE the idea of having a replica of your wedding cake given to all the guests as the main dessert or party favour because they become the WOW element for any event.

I've said it before, but mini cakes are like backward Oreo cookies. The idea and the final designs are spectacular, but assembling them... not so much. After covering these 200 mini cakes with fondant, I was just thankful to have 24 hour access to the hands of my physiotherapist sister.

Aidan's First Communion

The Cake Show

Come and watch me compete against two talented cake designers at this years annual Cake Show in Toronto. Competitors have 6 hours to complete an edible masterpiece in our interpretation of the theme,  The Four Seasons. 

Location: Artscape Wychwood Barns

When: Sunday, May 15, 2011 @ 12:00pm

(Winners announced at 5pm)

Wish me luck!!!

For more information, please visit www.thecakeshow.com.

Save a Bunny, Eat a Macaron

HAPPY EASTER!

Real Life: Gateau Givenchy

I was recently asked to audition for a spot on Slice Network's newest show, Cake Walk.

Part of the audition process required me to submit a show piece for the producers to see my work.

The piece I created was inspired by Cake Blanchett's Givenchy gown worn at the 2011 Oscars.

The dress was a true work of art. I translated it to edible art.

xoS

Trials and Tribulations of a Cake Designer: Transporting

Many will agree that one of the toughest and most stressful parts of running your own cake design business is the delivery. 

On the Food Network Challenges, the music cues and the dramatic sounds waves through the audience as the competitors are asked to move their cakes from their working station to the presentation table one meter in front of them.

Every week I deliver my creations all over the city. It would be typical for me to drive through over 7 stop signs, 25 traffic lights and an array of bad drivers before I arrive at my destination. Weather condition is another lemony snicket... sure, our 6 months of snowy road conditions and sporadic rainfalls don't help, but neither do those hot summer days when the temperature hits 30 degrees celsius and I have a butter based cake sitting in my back seat.

I remember one incident late last year when my girlfriend and I had to deliver a cake from downtown Toronto to Muskoka, about a two hour drive. When we hit Vaughan (about 30 minutes in), my breaks warning light went on (the image with the exclamation mark wrapped in parenthesis). Awesome. (Side note: it was pouring rain and I drive a rear-wheel car). But only a cake designer knows, there's never time to spare and delivering a wedding cake late was unthinkable, so we kept going.  Needless to say, the cake made it and so did we.

One thing I've learned is that it is very important that cake designers assemble a "cake kit" - like a first aid kit - filled with all the necessary tools you need to fix any damages during transportation. Sometimes I like to call my backseat a cake hospital. I've had to perform a few surgeries in my time but I'm happy to say we've had a zero percent  death rate.

Welcome to Candyland

"Where is Pearl Harbor?" I asked my fourth-grade history class. "Here’s a hint: It’s a place where everyone wants to go." One student blurted out, "Candy Land!"  - Readers Digest

Many of my friends get excited when they see or hear about the Candyland game. It brings back memories of childhood events. Not me. I actually never even heard about Candyland (thanks, mom) until about month ago when I received a cake request from a client.

Similar to the Monopoly board I designed a few weeks back, I like to thoroughly investigate new projects to ensure that I maximize all the little details that only a "player" would know. So two weeks before the execution, I began my research. I picked up my own copy of the Candyland game from a local toy store, 3 pounds of gumballs from bulkbarn and a couple bottles of wine from the liquor store (it was my selling point to get my friends to give up their Friday night - what can I say, I needed 2+ players).

I don't think the wine bottles contributed positively to the analysis and the gumballs made my teeth hurt after 2 minutes of chewing... but the game was loads of fun and I was excited to execute the project.

xoS