Cake or Death?: work

Showing posts with label work. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

No TWD; Instead, Dessert Smorgasborg!

This past week has been a blur of packing, moving, unpacking, baking, missing sleep, skipping showers, making poor nutritional decisions, and manipulating my husband into giving me endless foot massages. In short, I didn't have time to make the TWD recipe. But considering the fact that I don't drink alcohol or coffee, and I need another slice of cake like I need a hole in the head, perhaps skipping the tiramisu cake was not a huge tragedy. Moving on!

Here's what I've been up to instead. The small-scale wholesale bakery I work at has relocated from a small rental kitchen that we shared with a ravioli company to a huge, beautiful, sparkling clean kitchen that we OWN. Upgrade!

We used to do all of our baking in two ovens that looked like this. (Yes, just 2 small ovens.) This particular oven is my arch-nemesis for LIFE, because the pilot light would consistently go out and refuse to re-light for hours at a time. I really feel like we need some sort of Medal of Valor for doing mad volume in the face of horrible baking conditions.
We now rock it out in this spacious baketopia. [Ignore the clutter, these are move-in pictures.]To celebrate our swell new digs, we had a big kitchen-warming party this past weekend...5 days after moving in. Good thing we're awesome, otherwise it might have been a bit stressful! Setting up the dessert table:Chocolate-dipped strawberries. The berries came from the business next door. They're a real estate office/produce supply company/crematorium. Yes, really. And yes, I will never get tired of telling this fact to everyone I meet. Expect to read about it in every blog post from now on.
Profiteroles.
Chocolate-peanut butter mousse cups.
Brownie mint sandwich cookies, my personal fave.
Army of miniature cupcakes.

Creme brulees. These are SUCH a pain but they're really popular so we always end up making them when we do petit four catering. Curse our creme brulee skills!
Cake pops, on their own Dr. Seussical cake pop trees. They were the most popular thing at the party. We did red velvet, german chocolate, and vanilla berry. They'd be a great item to sell if they weren't so time-intensive and small. It's hard to charge a lot for a two-bite item, even if they take ages to make.
And who ARE the masterminds behind this bakery? These jokers here:
Now that we're all settled, I hope to do some more posting and be back to regularly scheduled blogging and commenting soon!

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Baby, You Can Eat My Car

In these troubled economic times, people just want to save money. They shop at discount stores, quit frivolous spending, and drive teensy, fuel-efficient vehicles. Oh yes, and commission giant cakes in the shape of said vehicles. Ah, America.

It was recently the first anniversary of Smart Car's introduction to the American car market. A celebration was held that involved a parade of hundreds of the smallest, cutest cars you've ever seen, and this big (but equally cute) Smart Car cake.

Most of it is covered in fondant, but some of the details are actually plastic--the wheels, for instance, and the rear view mirrors.

You expected anything less from a Beverly Hills-based party?

I wish I could take credit for the car, but my boss, Esti--fondant fairy extraordinaire--actually did all the work. I served as creative muse, cheerer-upper, and birthday-plaque-writer-oner. All vital jobs!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Wedding Cake Fever

People. People. I have been so busy. Apparently mid-March brings not only spring fever, but wedding fever as well. Here's a glimpse at what I've been up to lately:

This was a cake we did at work. The bride was allergic to corn syrup, so instead of fondant and gumpaste we used chocolate plastic to cover the cake, and royal icing for some of the embellishments.

Most of this cake was actually styrofoam. The top tier was real, and a small chunk of the bottom tier was real (so the bride & groom could cut it for the photos.) The rest was fake. We did do two sheet cakes for them as well, to feed the guests. It was a chiffon cake with vanilla pastry cream and vanilla-poached pears.

The H's were cut out of chocolate plastic and painted gold with luster dust.

This is a wedding cake I did at home. The bride and groom met through their cats, so they wanted to incorporate their cats into the cake.

The paw prints actually go all the way around and climb down the back of the cake.

Each paw and claw, individually cut and molded from fondant, with love.

This is how the finished cake looked. The florist added the flowers at the location. The cake itself was a lemon cake with lemon cream and fresh strawberries.

I also did the favors for this wedding. Each guest got two truffles (milk and semi-sweet chocolate) decorated with the heart and the couple's monogrammed initials.

Stay tuned, because this week we're working on a Smart Car cake that promises to be awesome. Hopefully I will be back on the regular blog-posting train soon. Life is still crazy busy, so I can't guarantee anything. In the words of Homer Simpson, "I can't promise that I will, and I can't promise that I'll try. But I promise that I'll try to try."

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Life Lessons and the Pinkest Cake You've Ever Seen

60 quart Hobart mixer: $5000
16 pounds of powdered sugar and cocoa: $35
Adding the sugar while the mixer is on the highest speed: Priceless

(Picture is my boss Esti, who graciously agreed to allow me to post--and mock--her secret shame in a public forum. What a champ!)

We called this the "Paris Hilton cake" because every reference picture we received for the cake's design involved Paris Hilton in the background. In real life it was even more scorchingly pink.

Can you believe we made this bow ourselves? The whole process was a comedy of errors involving holding fistfuls of unraveling ribbon, florist wire, grocery store twisty ties, and the occasional dab of glucose. I don't even want to tell you about the shenanigans going on in the back of the cake to make the number sparklers stand like that. Let's just call it...cake magic.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Take Your Blog to Work Day

I've been a little quiet lately because work has been hectic. This past weekend we had a 100-person wedding (tiered cake, groom's cake cupcakes, and mini cookie wedding favors) and a 300-person dessert catering event, in addition to our usual daily orders. And have I mentioned that we are currently a two-woman operation? Fortunately, we are more like two superwomen, so everything turned out well. But to apologize for the lack of posts, I have some pictures from work to tempt your taste buds.

The catering event was for a clothing company, hosted at an upscale department store. We did three mini desserts: chocolate-raspberry verrines, chocolate cupcake cones, and strawberry shortcakes. The verrines were layers of cream cheese mousse, chocolate mousse, and raspberry jam, served in a glass the size of a shot glass, and topped with a bit of champagne-pop rocks chocolate. (Yes, really. And yes, it's as gross as it sounds, and no, it was not our choice.)

Plated and ready to be passed:Sure, they look adorable, until you realize that to serve 300 people, you have to make approximately a bajillion verinnes composed of a kablillion fiddly little layers, each layer carefully applied so that it's even and smooth, and each application requiring an extensive chilling period before the next layer could be added. I think I am done with verrines for a long, long time.
The cupcake cones were probably the most popular item. Miniature ice cream cones were filled with chocolate cake and topped with buttercream and sprinkles to resemble ice cream cones. They were a perfect two-bite dessert, and really appealed to both adults and children.
We had special trays constructed for passing, since they wouldn't balance on regular trays. The best part is, they can double as ping-pong paddles after the event!
This server graciously agreed to model for me to show the scale of the cones. He pretended reluctance, but he's probably an aspiring actor so I suspect he was secretly pleased. Also, notice the clothing racks in the back? That's because we were set up in, like, the alterations room of the store. You may be asking, is an alterations room equipped for catering? NO, no it is not. But who needs counters and running water and space when catering? Not us!Strawberry shortcakes. Kind of awkward to pass, but it's what the client wanted. Homey desserts are big, and who can argue with fresh strawberries and cream?

This was the wedding cake. My boss actually made it, and while I would love to take credit for it, and under most circumstances I would, she might be reading this, so...hi boss! You do good work! *innocent whistling* This was taken before fresh flowers and other finishing touches were added.
Each layer was a different flavor. The bottom was vanilla sponge with vanilla buttercream and four types of fresh berries. The middle was chocolate cake with oreos, and the top was chocolate cake with caramel sauce and chopped Twix bars. It kind of makes me want to get married again, just for the cake!
These are the wedding favors. Each guest got a package of two miniature black and white cookies. I am beginning to suspect black and white cookies might be the next red velvet cupcakes. Mark my words: in a year we'll be surrounded by black and white cookie specialty shops, and all the cupcakeries will be out of business.