Martha Stewart’s Vintage Cake Stand

Jenn — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:51:22 +0000

I have found inspiration to start a cake stand collection. Is this not the mother of all cake stands?

I recently watched a re-run of Martha Bakes on the Hallmark Channel. It was an episode on cookies and Martha used this grandiose cake stand for displaying.

I can’t imagine how heavy that glass dome must be.

Now off to start collecting so that one day I’ll have my own prop room full of stands.

First Peek at Yigit Pura’s Tout Sweet

Jenn — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:29:22 +0000

At the Meals on Wheels Star Chefs & Vintners Gala dessert reception, San Francisco’s best pastry chefs came together to present showstopping dessert spreads. One of the tables that was abuzz the entire night was that of Top Chef Just Desserts winner and Meals on Wheels 2012 calendar star, Yigit Pura. We all got a preview of what is in store for his new pastry shop, Tout Sweet Patisserie set to open this summer.

The macaron table getting prepped. I loved the use of the glass apothecary jars to display the macarons. It lends a sophisticated, Parisian aesthetic like at Laduree.

Yigit in action, serving up macarons to all the guests. Tout Sweet logo board on display on the left. The O in “tout” is a rose. Can’t wait to see it on brick and mortar.

A hold-your-breath moment as the beautifully crafted macaron tower wobbled slightly. But of course being the skilled pro, Yigit kept it in place while transporting it to the front table. Have to love the expression on his face.

Left: Raspberry rose macarons with red sanding sugar for sparkle.
Right: Spiced Pistachio & Sour Cherry Gum

A close up on the Spiced Pistachio & Sour Cherry Gum. This was the most inventive flavor combination. The two-tone macaron shells were filled with a smooth and luscious buttercream.

Front and center are lavender macarons in a gorgeous purple hue with a brush stroke of edible silver paint.

A twist on the classic vanilla, this macaron was infused with tea and garnished with tea leaves on top.

Macaron Menu for the night:
Coconib
Raspberry Rose
Lavender
Vanilla
Spiced Pistachio & Sour Cherry Gum
Coffee & Praline
Caramel
Milk Chocolate Passionfruit

Overall, I was completely wowed by the spread. Yigit fully went above and beyond my expectations for how I like my macarons and I honestly can say my search is over. Parisian macarons have finally come to America. His creativity is reminiscent of Pierre Herme and cannot wait to see what else he has up his sleeve.

Follow Yigit and Tout Sweet on Twitter for updates on his shop!
@YigitPura
@ToutSweetSF

Raspberry Coconut Macaroons

Jenn — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 03:37:14 +0000

I’ve been so invested in French macarons that I felt for once I should attempt macaroons. I often find myself wanting to correct people when they mistakenly speak of macarons as macaroons only because they are different things and not because I want to correct others’ French pronunciation. Macarons are the little discs with filling and look like colorful sandwich cookies while macaroons are the coconut mounds.

I decided to do a twist on the classic coconut by adding raspberry. I like the marbling effect by swirling in the raspberry which make them look like mini ice cream bites.

The recipe calls for flaked coconut and fresh raspberries to be broken down in a food processor. I had shredded coconut and frozen raspberries on hand. With the raspberries, I first pulsed them alone just in case there would be a lot of excess moisture that I didn’t want.

The coconut and raspberry pulsed together. To get the nice marbling, make sure there are still streaks of white coconut. I think I could have stopped a few pulses sooner. Mine came out about 90% raspberry pink color.

Little macaroon bites. I used my truffle scoop which is about 1″ in diameter to make dainty little cookies. They will puff up slightly in the oven but not too much.

All neat in a row. I got approximately 50 cookies just as the recipe states.

These chewy little cookies were moist and fluffy. I kept them for a few days in an air tight container and they tasted the same as on the first day.

Raspberry Coconut Macaroons
from smittenkitchen.com

Notes:

Sweetened, flaked coconut- as mentioned above I used sweetened, shredded coconut which was fine because it was broken down in the food processor.
Fresh raspberries- I pulsed frozen raspberries and didn’t have any excess liquid so there was no need to pat them dry. If you choose to frozen, I would get rid of any extra liquid so the batter doesn’t become completely pink and also too liquidy.
Someone suggested dipping these in chocolate which I’d probably do the next time.

Quotable

Jenn — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 04:34:44 +0000

Here’s hoping you eat something that great this week.

Surprise Rainbow Cake

Jenn — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 19:56:27 +0000

This rainbow cake has been on my to-do list for quite some time and since St. Patrick’s Day is coming up I thought it’d be perfect to try it out now.

Crayola vibrant colors. 4-8 drops of gel food coloring for each color weighing in at 9 oz. of batter

A LOT of butter. 4 sticks just for the frosting.

Tackling swiss meringue buttercream frosting for the first time. Thought I’d take a couple of pictures of the proces because a lot of the reviewers mentioned “soupy” frosting. Egg whites beaten to soft/stiff peaks and ready to add in the butter.

After adding all the butter, the frosting looks like this cottage cheese mess. This is right. Then you switch to a paddle attachment and whip it for about 5 minutes and it becomes a glossy buttercream.

Cake ready to assemble! Purple layer…

Blue layer…

Green…etc. You get the idea.

Voila!

All covered. I like that its a surprise as to what is inside. It’s going to be left rustic because I just couldn’t make any more frosting.

I didn’t freeze any of the cakes but everything was room temp before assembling. The first slice was not hard to take out.

Single… OR

Double rainbow!!

Before tackling this project, note it was 4 hours with two extra helpers (thanks Sarah and Janet!)

Rainbow Cake
from Whisk Kid blog and featured on marthastewart.com

My notes:

I used 9″ cake pans so the cake layers were very thin (1/2″) and fragile. I would recommend 8″ or even smaller if you want thicker layers. If you use spring form pans, line them with parchment because the batter did leak under.
To make sure I had an even amount of batter for each color, I weighed the bowl with the batter (84 oz) and subtracted out the weight of bowl (27 oz- Kitchen Aid 4 qt metal bowl). So for each color it was 9 oz of batter.
I used Ateco gel food coloring. 4-8 drops per color.

Lemony Swiss Meringue Buttercream
from marthastewart.com

My notes:

RECIPE: There are two recipes- one for filling the cake + crumb coat and another for the final coat. The first recipe has 9 egg whites + 4 sticks of butter. At this point I’ve used 5 egg whites + 2 sticks of butter in the actual cake so the total = 14 egg whites + 6 sticks of butter. A lot yes. I couldn’t stand the thought of doing the 2nd recipe unless absolutely necessary, so the cake didn’t get beautified as I’d had wanted.
LEMON: Calls for one teaspoon. I think it could have been a little stronger or maybe added to the cake as well. I’d add another 1/2 teaspoon.
EGG WHITES: I bought a pint carton of egg whites for this recipe so I wouldn’t end up with a ton of egg yolk.
WHIPPING: When whipping the heated egg mixture, the recipe says to do so until it reaches room temperature. The important part is to whip to soft peaks and also make sure the mixture is cooled enough. I mixed for about 8 minutes until it stopped steaming. The bottom of the bowl was still slightly warm but not hot.
CURDLING: Once the egg whites are at soft peak, add the butter one cube at a time. The mixture did become soupy.
CREAMING: Switch to a paddle attachment and whip the soup mixture for 5 minutes and it will turn into a frosting.

My Take: ink. restaurant

Jenn — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 04:48:22 +0000

What a great way to start out 2012, having one of the best meal’s ever at Michael Voltaggio’s ink. in Los Angeles. It is absolutely deserving of GQ’s vote for best new restaurant of 2011. The dishes visually look serious, sophisticated and plated just so but as I made my way through each one, I couldn’t help but feel giddy like a kid. There were clever surprises waiting in each course and it was such fun to experience them. I am envious of the Top Chef judges who spent an entire season eating Michael’s creations. He is a genius in the kitchen.

Through the ink. doors about to have an incredible meal.

Had a little difficulty with a foreign camera so the pictures are a little fuzzy but should give an indication of the current menu as of February 27th.

beef tartare, hearts of palm, sea bean chimichurri, horseradish, rye
My first time tasting hearts of palm and I liked the sweetness that it added to the dish. Texturally they reminded of starchy potatoes so they were hearty and satisfying in combination with the meat (beef tartare). Of course the dish came with a little twist. When my fork hit the white powder it melted into sauce! Here it was the horseradish that provided a nice little kick to the overall dish.

fluke, caesar tempura, tiny romaine, fennel pollen, togarashi
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this dish but it was the favorite of the night. The CAESAR TEMPURA. They looked like little cubes of tofu that were deep-fried. The only thing I got right was the deep frying. The lightly crisp coating encased a tangy sauce. Liquid form! I don’t know how it held together in the fryer but when eaten with the fluke, the sauce oozes onto the fresh fish and it is amazing. I hope some form of this dish continues to stay on the menu.

brussels sprouts, pigs ears, lardo, apple
I’m a fan of brussels sprouts but I’ve only ever had them with bacon so its hard not to like them. Here Michael Voltaggio stays true to the classic flavor combination that I’m familiar with and executes it perfectly with tangy brussels sprouts, the tanginess I’m guessing comes from the apple and for a crunchy contrast, salty pigs ears.

poutine, chickpea fries, yogurt curds, lamb neck gravy
I’ll admit I had no idea what poutine when ordering the dish but I was confident anything on the menu would be great so I went with it. This was the comfort food dish of the night. The pulled pork was tender and bathed in a thick gravy that was so flavorful. When eaten with the chickpea fritters it was like having mashed potatoes and meat.

pork belly, charcoal oil, BBQ flavor, macaroni and cheese
Second best dish of the night. It is hard to see but the pork belly is at the bottom. The portion was very generous. There were two slabs of crispy fatty pork belly at the bottom that were glazed in BBQ sauce, reminding me of “char siu”, Chinese BBQ pork. Where was the mac and cheese? It was in the form of a long tube of pasta with gooey cheese on the inside. That combined with the pork was fantastic and felt like a heartier more grown up version of bacon mac and cheese.

apple, caramel, burnt wood ice cream
I’d like to know how this white sphere was formed. It is so perfectly smooth! Definitely not a metal spring ice cream scoop. The ice cream was so light it was more like a whip cream texture. Underneath was caramel and a thin caramel disc. The apple spheres were cold and crisp. Toasted nuts scattered around the entire dish for extra crunch. When all the components were eaten together it tasted like apple pie. As with all the other dishes that night, I tried everything separately to understand what each component lent to the dish (wow how food geeky is that) and then assembled it all together. This was the one dish where the combination was truly so much better than each part individually. I couldn’t get over how much it was like a slice of pie and yet the deconstruction looked nothing like it.

Then the check came and I was devastated because that meant the meal was over. So…

another dessert. Had to stretch out this meal experience as long as possible. It was just too good.

chocolate, coffee cream, sesame cake
This dessert was not as exciting to me as the apple but I think its because chocolate is a more classic dessert menu item and I’ve tasted a lot. The cannele of chocolate was creamy and delicious. The sesame cake cubes added a nuttiness to the chocolate. Alone the sesame cake was a bit odd, not sweet at all, so its definitely meant to be in combination with everything else. The cylinders of coffee cream and a nice strong coffee flavor. The crisps on top had a reddish tint so I think they may be beets.

1 hour and 20 minutes later my stomach was full, despite my desire to stay at the restaurant and continue tasting the entire menu. I feel quite spoiled having had such a great meal and so early on in the year. I’m not sure if anything will top it, and if not, LA is not too far to make another trip. (My birthday falls on a Monday in the fall.. too early to make a res?). I would recommend making a reservation. Mine was made two weeks in advance so its not too difficult and better than just walking in because its packed all night.

ink.
8360 melrose avenue
los angeles, ca 90069

Where to get it: Giada at Home, Season 4

Jenn — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 19:25:22 +0000

Season Leaf Bowl SHOP
Episode: Sweet & Spooky
This serve bowl in black was the perfect vessel for the lime green granny smith apples sitting on her counter for this Halloween-themed episode.

Envirosax Monochromatic Bag SHOP
Episode: Sweet & Spooky
Giada takes this reusable tote along while shopping for candy at The Candy Baron with Jade. This particular style is no longer available but the Midnight Safari set has a similar design.

Chilewich Cubic Gunmetal Runner SHOP
Episode: Elegant Appetizers
Giada uses this runner to dress up the table for her appetizer party.

Beach-Themed Ornaments from Seaside Inspired SHOP
To go with Giada and Todd’s coastal lifestyle, the outside Christmas tree was decked out in adorable ornaments like these surfboards and shells. The full assortment can be seen on seainspired.com.
Episode: Christmas

Flow Large Pasta Dish SHOP
Giada serves her quinoa in this pasta bowl from West Elm’s Flow collection.
Episode: Giada’s Book Club

Glass Footed Dessert Bowl SHOP
The lemon meringue is served in these Crate & Barrel individual dessert bowls.
Episode: Giada’s Book Club

Valentine Gnome Scene

Jenn — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:11:12 +0000

For Valentine’s Day this year, I was inspired by this Gnome cookie collection and decided to make my own. I first caught on to the ingeniously cookies by Dani Boglivi-Fiori when she appeared on the Martha Stewart Show in December 2010 to demo these Snow Globes. Since then, Dani has gone full steam ahead with her cookie business and continues to amaze with ideas like this year’s holiday work of art, the Nativity Scene and Lovebird Owls. The best news of all… she recently tweeted that her book is tentatively launching at the end of the year!

This is my take on Dani’s Gnome collection. I went with the traditional gnome color scheme and added blue. And a good 8 hours later…..

Gnome couple and the mushroom family

Just getting started. All half naked.

Sweet Gnome in need of Gnomi

Recipe:

Gnomi on Martha Stewart’s site to get the list of decorations Dani used

Notes:

If you have the time, wait 4-8 hours in between colors that touch. I didn’t and mine started to bleed into each other.
Use the flattest cookies possible. It will help you have an even icing layer. My Gnomi’s dress started to run a bit.
The icing bottles are great to really guide the icing around the cookie. I used standard size bottles from Michaels which are decent but would definitely like to have the different sized tips like on the ones Dani designed.

Supplies:

Below are the links to purchase the cookie cutters. I printed out images from the links and cut out my own guides for tracing the cookies. Official templates will be in Dani’s book.

Gnome and Gnomi cookie cutters by SweetDaniB
Mushroom cookie cutter, the mini ones I traced myself
Icing Bottle Kit by Sweet DaniB

See, he’s her lobster!

Jenn — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:00:50 +0000

And I thought I’d never figure out what to do with lobster cookie cutters. Happy Valentine’s Day!

See the Friends clip here

Favorite Cookies in NYC

Jenn — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:57:05 +0000

Along with my macaron tasting, I was able to fit in some cookies without having a sugar overload. My latest find, the cookies at Levain Bakery, were so good, I had to make a second trip for more so everyone at home could experience them. Okay and because I wanted another for myself. Here are some snapshots of Levain and my other favorites in the city.

It’s hard to miss this Upper West Side bakery as there is always a crowd spilling out onto the sidewalk. To get to the shop, you walk down a set of stairs as if entering a basement and are welcomed with the sweet smell of cookies. If it weren’t such tight quarters inside, only a few bar seats by a window, I would stay in there just to inhale more of the aroma.

BEST NON-CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE: Levain Bakery Oatmeal Raisin

Weighing in at 6 oz, each mound individually placed on a scale for accuracy, these are the heftiest cookies I’ve ever had. I don’t even want to know how many calories there are but every bite is worth it.

Oatmeal Raisin- this classic cookie was never a favorite of mine because of the texture from the oats, so I was pleasantly surprised with this. The texture is not like any oatmeal cookie I’ve ever had. No sign of oats at all. I assume they are ground up into the batter. The consistency is chewy and dense. The raisins are plump and juicy. Hands down, the best I have ever had.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip- no surprises with this one. It is what you’d expect from a chocolate cookie but what gives it an edge is the bites of fudge. Some parts are chewy, others are fudgy and all very decadent.

Inside of Levain’s oatmeal raisin cookie.

BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE: Jacques Torres’ chocolate chip

Above is a shot of Jacque Torres’ chocolate chip cookie. I borrowed this image from his Facebook as the two times I’ve had the cookie, it was devoured before I could get a suitable photo. All with good reason. Ask for it warmed and it tastes like it is fresh out of the oven. The cookie is crispy and flaky. I like how the chocolate is swirled into the cookie but remains in nice large chunks so you get bites of it. There is a nice salty component as well.

To really go all out, have this cookie with a cup of Wicked Hot Chocolate. The ancho and chipotle chili peppers add a kick that I noticed mostly in the back of my throat but still a fun beverage.

MOST CREATIVE COOKIE: Anything from Momofuku Milk Bar

I love Christina Tosi. She has such unique cookies and on her recent book tour I got to taste them all. Here is my post from her October visit to Williams-Sonoma.

Blueberry and cream cookie- this is still my favorite concept of all the cookies. I love berries and this reminds me of a blueberry muffin. I did think it was a little too sweet but I had a taste from the Momofuku cookie mix at Williams-Sonoma and it was perfect.

BEST COOKIE RE-MAKE: Bouchon Bakery Nutter Butter

Thomas Keller’s version of the peanut-shaped cookie is extremely rich but so good you forget that you may feel sick afterward. Best eaten over the course of a few days or shared with others. The cookies are crisp and the filling is thick and sweeter than the original.

If peanut butter is not to your liking, there is also the TKO, the Thomas Keller Oreo. To me it doesn’t exactly replicate the Oreo. It is a more sophisticated version. The dark chocolate cookie has more cocoa flavor.

Cookie Location List:

Levain Bakery
167 West 74th St

Jacques Torres Chocolate (Upper West Side location, one block from Levain Bakery)
285 Amsterdam Ave

Momofuku Milk Bar
251 E 13th St

Bouchon Bakery Columbus Circle (also one at Rockefeller Plaza)
10 Columbus Cir