The Great Luster Dust Massacre of 2010

So the other day i was opening this box that i keep all of my craft type things in. I also keep all of my cake decorating things in this box as well. So i was going through this box checking out what i had in it. As i was pulling things out of it i looked down at my leg and discovered this...

I then looked down at my floor and hand which was also covered with silver luster dust. could not figure out where it came from. I then found one of the little containers of dust which was completely coated with silver. I thought oh this must be the one maybe it got a whole in it or something (this one actually turned out to be gold not silver). So i put it in a little bag and started to clean the floor, but every time i cleaned somewhere more luster dust would just pop up somewhere else. I finally found the real source of the problem 

The cap had come off of the silver so the whole thing was all dumped into this bag and some in the box. I then realized how cool this looked on skin so i covered my hand 

Waste not want not right?

I  must say it looked much cooler in person, i looked like the tin man. 

So the moral of this story is don't keep your luster dusts in places where they can be jostled around since apparently there caps can come off quite easily. Or you'll have a luster dust massacre on your hands quite literally. 

madeline patisserie

So today i went on a little trip to NY cake & bake to pick up a few supplies for a dummy wedding cake design i will be doing soon. I decided to check out this little place called madeline patisserie (or apparently la maison de macaroon since thats what the box said) which is really close by. I knew that they sold macaroons which i love so i decided to take a peak at what they had. The place is really small and cute its like a little french country home. They had about 15 different flavors and they were $2.50 a piece. Which is a bit pricey but not too bad because they were on the larger side. So i decided on  apricot champagne, white chocolate passion fruit, and caramel fleur de sel. I ate the apricot champagne on my way home so sadly i wasn't able to take a picture, but it was a beautiful bright peachy orange color and was delicious.

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This was the caramel fler de sel, it was very good, the filling was a buttery semi-salty caramel.

                                         

Here is the white chocolate passionfruit. I took 2 photos of this because i wanted to make sure you could see the edible gold on :] fancy! 

My favorite was the apricot champagne it was soooooo good, i mean they were all delicious but that one especially.

So this has been my little review, if you live in nyc or plan on visiting i highly recommend checking this place out. 

If you wanna learn more about making macaroons i recommend this book its cute.

holy grail

So today at work i finished the holy grail cake i've been working on. If you haven't seen Monty Python and the holy grail you need to go rent it now! It is one of my favorite comedies. The person brought in a picture of the poster that they wanted it to look like.

It was a sheet cake with vanilla icing (colored blue) and all the decorations are made from fondant.

Now one of my favorite parts in the movie is the killer rabbit (if you haven't seen the movie then you won't really get it) but the rabbit wasn't in the poster but i added him in, i figured any true monty python fan would appreciate it.

I really enjoyed making this cake almost as much as the movie :]

lychee nut cupcakes

So today i made some lychee nut cupcakes, with a coconut rum glaze. 

This recipe comes from vegan cupcakes take over the world, but i did a little tweaking to it. I think this recipe came out pretty good. It's not your typical cupcake, its not too sweet, and has a glaze as opposed to a frosting. So if your feeling adventurous and looking for something light and not too sweet, then this would be a good recipe to try. 


So first off heres a little info about lychee nuts for those of you who may be unfamiliar with them. Lychee nuts come from Lychee trees which are a medium-sized evergreen, that produce the small fruits. The Lychee nut has a pink-red rough textured rind that is in-edible. However this is easily removed, revealing a sweet, translucent white flesh. They are mainly popular in china, but have been gaining popularity in many other countries. They can be found fresh in many asian markets. They may also be found canned in many specialty grocery stores, or stores such as Whole Foods.

So here is the recipes:


Lychee nut Cupcake
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
5 tbsp ground flaxseed (or flaxseed meal)
1/3 cup oil (plus i added about 1 tbsp more)
1/4 cup coconut milk (plus i added about 1 tbsp more)
1 can (4 ounce) Lychee fruit drained, chopped, and syrup reserved 
1/4 cup lychee syrup (i added maybe 3 tbsp more)
2 tsp vanilla extract


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F and line muffin tin with paper liners. 
2. In a large bowl, vigorously mix the flaxseed with 6 tbsp of water with a fork until gelatinous. Then add the oil, coconut milk, and lychee syrup to flaxseed mixture and mix to combine. 
3. Add your dry ingredients, and mix to combine. I found the mix to be very very thick which is why i added a bit more of the oil, coconut milk, and lychee syrup. Just use your judgement on how it looks add more of the lychee syrup than the other 2 ingredients, so it will have a stronger flavor. You want the consistency to be about as thick as boxed cake mix batter, maybe slightly thinner than that.
4. Fill liners about 3/4 of the way full and bake 20-25 minutes, until edges are browned and toothpick comes out clean. 




Coconut Glaze 
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar 
1/4 cup coconut milk
Dark rum to taste (i added about a capful and a half)


Mix all ingredients until smooth, them pour over cooled cupcakes. I used a piping bag to make it easier, but you could always spoon some in the middle, and it will spread over the cupcake. Top each with a bit of coconut right after the glaze has finished spreading, before it sets or the coconut won't stick. 

Toasted coconut 
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut 

Spread evenly over a baking sheet lined with parchment and bake at 325 for about 7 min, rotating halfway through. Just keep a close eye on it. You may have to shake it halfway through to disperse the coconut so it cooks more evenly. Cook until its golden brown. 

some more cupcakes to come

I will be experimenting with a lychee nut cupcake tomorrow so stay tuned i will have pics and recipe asap.