Stavrides-Galvez; Forever 21

It wasn't my first time to create a wedding cake, but it was my first time to create one for a dear friend. This entry is dedicated to my good friend, Rianna as her new journey began, which I'm very delighted to be part of. It's my sweet, great, pleasure to do her wedding cake.

We started drafting designs and concepts towards the end of 2014. The Filipino-Christian culture of We Will Marry Just ONCE is in my mind all the time, I really want this to be extra special, all the details will be of the bride's dream wedding cake, I will support it, I will be the Wedding Cake Fairy Godmother of sort, I will cast magic spells, draw my hands to the air and blow the details with pixie dusts, it will be her dream Wedding cake.

I don't remember how many designs I drafted, I was focused on conceptualizing something the bride and the groom will both adore, will they like piping works? string works? gumpaste flowers? oh wait, the couple is on a modern-glamour peg, and me, being glitzy, decided this time I will ditch the butterflies and roses! I'm so happy that this couple unlike my other past clients are not demanding, and easy to work with (Seriously brides, if you want  a nice cake, be nice to your cake maker and just like the other busy hands of your wedding prep, cooperate well and tell your designer want you want)

 The couple wanted a simple, tall (because A is a tall man), Ivory white color, yet unique and new to the eye. Ia requested something accented with Gold. I wanted to scream 'you guys called the right cake bitch here', I planned a Chocolate truffle wrapped in gold foil tower or a golden French macaron design (this is joicydoodle anyways!) -The couple loved the concept. Yay!

The edible layer cake is a tall 8 inches  by 12 inches diameter Chocolate Almond & Coconut sponge soaked in Coconut Rhum and masked in Bucayo Frosting (Sweetened desiccated coconut strips), then covered in Ivory colored marshmallow Fondant. 

A 4 tier Ivory Fondant cake with  uniform top to bottom layer pattern of  crisscross,  embossed on French emblem cut-outs;  Something light to the eyes from a far but not naive in a closer look. 

The big challenge of this project is being the sole person to run all the errands, from purchasing materials, scouting rare ingredients, lifting the tiles and ingredients box from the supplier to my place,  the actual baking and cake making.

Then the next challenge is the Philippine temperamental  climate with high humidity. Haist! Rolled fondant tends to moist and condense or dry and crack. Sometimes I wonder if it's just me, cursed or it's  science!

My first project that involved my whole family, while I handled all the baking and decorating, it was my brothers who dealt with the logistics to transport this baby.

Despite the bipolar weather that day of extremely sunny in the morning and heavy pouring after lunch, I'm glad that the wedding cake stood (though slightly reclining). And overall, my joy with the couple's validation after :) 

Such a beautiful wedding! It was lovely day in South, in a garden where friends and family cheered, it was a lovely afternoon to catch up with my dear lovies, too!

Chef Anne, Chrissy, Moi

My dear lovies!

The white chiffon tents!

Love.

Nikki, Choi, Me, Anya, Joanna, Karen and Kim <3

This is why I love and will always love my job; that though the labors of work is long and tiring, the ingredients are heavy and working with sugar is effortful, it becomes worth it whenever my baking and edible art brings happiness to the people who trusted me to be part of their special occasion.

To Ia and A, my best wishes! may God bless and continue to bless you with love, adorable kids, happiness and fruitful career. May your marriage stand the test of time, challenges and everything in between, 

Love always, 

P.S. May Forever!

Coconut & Lemon Curd Torte With Fresh Seasonal Fruits

When I was in first grade, I had a vision of a cake; soft yellow chiffon filled with tangy curd and fragrant desiccated coconut shards, masked in whipped chantilly cream and more desiccated coconut then capped with fresh seasonal fruits.  I saw that cake in the afternoon Telenovela Alondra, which I watch every day, every afternoon. In that show, Alondra, always has the same cake on a glass cake platter. Gone are the days of Mexican and Spanish Telenovelas, time slots are now occupied by Asianovelas or Fantaseryes. But believe me, it stuck it my young head until I grew up, one day I'll make Alondra's cake, and so I did.

Of all summers I had in my country I think this year's summer is what I kind of love. It's not as fricking hot as the past summers plus the fruits are abundant; cherry picked and cheaper. If you are a follower of this blog you knew by now that I have an admiration with coconut and mango, coconut and caramel or coconut and pineapple. I guess coconut is a prime ingredient, a native in this country that has a unique body of aroma and flavor.

For this recipe I used desiccated coconut and lemon as my flavor affiliations.  I really wanted to use fresh passion fruit for this but it’s hard to find some down at South, so I used lemon. The result is more than I expected.

The components of this cake are as follow: Yellow chiffon cake, coconut lemon curd, whipped cream, toasted desiccated coconut and fresh fruits.

 Yellow Chiffon Cake

125 g Cake Flour 

6 g Baking Powder

3 g Salt, iodized

100g Sugar

63 g Egg yolks

85 g Water

63 g Vegetable Oil

125 g Egg Whites

63 g Sugar

pinch Cream of Tartar

Sift the dry ingredients for about 3 to 4 times. I'm sorry, I'm just Obsessive Compulsive! You may sift it just 2 times :)

Mise En Place before mixing anything.

In a bowl, combine together water, egg yolks, vegetable oil and the sifted dry ingredients.

Whisk until you get a lump-free, uniform mixture like this. You may set aside while preparing the meringue.

Put the egg whites in your very dried and clean kitchen aid bowl...

Start whipping from number 1, increasing the speed gradually to create fine and stable air pockets

Once the egg whites had turn this white with a little body, add the sugar and cream of tartar and continue whipping until stiff peaks

Soft Peaks

Stiff Peaks

Yellow Chiffon Sponge and Meringue

My favorite part is the combining of two mixtures together, before learning this technique, I always end up with a failed chiffon cake base. My mentor taught me of this method which ever since has served me well in baking.

Remember Tempering? (which I talked about in my Pot de Creme entry)  The mixing technique of two different mixtures with different temperatures, it also applies in mixing meringue and a base like chiffon sponge.  Fold the meringue INTO the sponge, not the sponge into the meringue. First as you can notice in the photo, I folded small amount of meringue into the sponge to help loosen the batter and avoid under mixing and deflating the meringue, then continue folding meringue by about 2 to 3 additions.

Although I don't always mention it, you have to pre heat your oven ahead of time.  For this recipe, pre heat the oven at 170/170C

Pour the uniform batter of Yellow Chiffon cake into a cake mold lined with foil, no need to grease and to tap the pan before baking. Again, Don't tap the pan! Bake for about 40 mins or until done.

Coconut Lemon Curd 

1/2 c Sugar

4 pcs Egg yolks

3 pcs Lemon, juice

40 g Desiccated coconut, toasted

Fragrant toasted desiccated coconut is the picturesque of my childhood summer

Combine all the ingredients together, except for the desiccated coconut. Cook the Lemon curd over bain marie or over low heat, once the curd started to form,strain it then continue cooking until thick in consistency. I would like to state this reminder that if you don't have a silicone coated wire whisk, use a wooden spoon. Using a metal coated wire whisk will create a chemical reaction to your curd and make it taste like rust and color will turn grayish. Fold in the desiccated coconut off the heat and set aside.

I obviously tested the cake's doneness :) Cool down competely before slicing into two.

Imbibe with simple syrup to make the cake moist, then fill with the sour coconut and lemon curd.

Whip cream until stiff peaks and mask the cake.

I'm personally in a love affair with chiffon masked in whipped cream <3

Coat the masked cake with more, toasted desiccated coconut

And make that Victorian looking rosettes, very Alondra inspired!

Isn't she a beauty?

She is.

Coconut & Lemon Curd Torte With Fresh Seasonal Fruits

Alondra's cake is topped with sliced oranges, grapes and quartered kiwi fruit, mine has riped mango for that complete summer affair.

My parents will love this..

Glass Cake Platter owww! Alondra! Alondra!

The curd is just thick enough, I thought it will be too thin! It has a powerful tang that dominates the cake. - Just the way I visioned it.

Tends to be a little messy <3

The result is a moist, soft yellow chiffon cake with a thin layer of a very sour lemon curd but justified by the whipped chantilly and balanced with the texture of desiccated coconut. May I just say that desiccated coconut works so well with fresh fruits, especially mangoes? It's superrrrrrr yumm! 

Love always,