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!

Constructing My Own Macaron Tower

Hi All! First, I would like to say thank you for everyone who has been following my blog. I'm getting  a lot of visits everyday and even if it takes  me quite some time to update, I just want to say thank you for keeping up with me and my blog. I know some of you could be checking from time to time for new entries, I will really keep my weekends reserved for updating my blog. Pinky Promise!

 

In my last entry, I promised to make a macaron tower. It's not my first time to make one, although it's always challenging each time. Click here to see my previous Mac-en-bouche.

On constructing my own tower, it reminds me of what my chef-mentor always tell me and my classmates "Being a pastry chef requires extra assertiveness and resourcefulness; sometimes you are a designer, sometimes a carpenter, sometimes a sculptor, sometimes a painter, sometimes an art teacher"-Chef Carol Lavin

It also reminds me of  Disney Channel's Art Attack with Niel Buchanan. I always watch that when I was younger, I could say Niel Buchanan influenced me so much by being resourceful. If you are a baking student or baking enthusiast you know by now how expensive baking tools are. Even just a quality paint brush is expensive. 

I'm often commended for being resourceful by my work mates and mentors, say instead of purchasing silicone molds and cocoa butter sprays I will improvise whatever is available in National Bookstore and TrueValue. I sometimes even go as far as Wilcon Depot. Yep, I could be that resourceful :)

And so, while creating my first macaron tower for a rush order, I had to think deep "How am I supposed to construct this one? I cannot order a cone-shaped styro foam because ordering takes at least 2 days to be placed and worst of all, the supplier is located 2 hours away". My first Art Attack/macaron tower started by surveying Wilcon Depot for whatever I can use.

You will need chicken wire (depends on how tall your tower is), wire cutter, scissors, old news papers, straw or thread, 2 pieces 1 whole size card board paper or cartolina, scotch tape, and parchment paper.  

1. Shape the chicken wire into a cone and cut the excess with well, scissors and let your most handsome barista do the work for you, this could be a little dangerous because the wire can scratch nails and fingers. If you have a wire cutter, you know already by now.

2. Lock the edges with knotted straw or thread.

3. Fill the cone with crumpled news papers, it has to be well compressed as the old news papers will give weight to your tower.

4. Wrap the cone with a plain card board paper, you may get 1 whole size as big as cartolinas in National Bookstore.

5. Then, cover with parchment to make your tower Food-grade.

The usual woe in macaron tower making is when the pieces are falling off. I suggest that you use hard ganache as fillings instead of buttercream. On pasting the macaron sandwiches on the tower use melted and tempered chocolate.

My macaron project now however is only for display , thus it has to stand for a long time. I used royal icing with thick consistency to fill the macaron sandwiches and for pasting on the tower.

Royal icings are so easy to make, you will just need an egg white and powdered sugar. The ratio is about 1 part egg whites to 3 parts powdered sugar to achieve a thick consistency.

This shade of green reminds me a summer afternoon in the garden with flowery teas and English scones.

As part of your Mise En Place, partner each pieces and fill them with royal icing. We want them to dry well before pasting on the parchment covered tower or else it will just slide off.

Fill with ample amount of royal icing

Let the macaron sandwiches dry well before pasting them on the tower.

Like any other Food presentation reminders, it has to start with a good Macaronage.  Macaron shells must be evenly colored (if you are baking on batches), piped into same sizes and baked on standardized time to create perfect pieces.

Start with the bottom, this could take some time because we want the royal icing to dry well first before stacking another layer or it will just fall off. It will just fall off. It will just fall off.

Even sizes is essential on this aspect. If the shells are not relative on size it will look ugly or well, really ugly.  It will also be difficult to space the macaron sandwiches.

Pipe royal icing on one side of the macaron and paste it on the tower. Finesse is an advocacy, as well as Patience is a virtue. Some people prefer smearing macarons with an offset spatula, well just do it neatly.

So close!

A bucket of  left over flower gumpaste from the Mothers' day rush to accentuate my project. I was inspired by a garden tea party but also want to make it easy and practical because I was also teaching my baker, Michelle how to create a macaron tower by herself.

Finished with Twigs and Swirls.

We're done yay!

I'm so proud of this little lady. Michelle is an orphan too and like me, she is very quiet. She is so tiny and eat so little like a girl but she is a fast learner and her hands are already skilled considering she just started working last January. This is her first job and I'm her first teacher. Little girl, as we always call her...I know you will get far because you are a smart cookie, just believe in yourself and set goals. Always remember that I will always be happy to teach you some more. You want to become a pastry chef? Then I'm telling you, you will be!

Let's just call this one, Flora. Because I can't think of something else!

Flora is one of my final projects in Le Petit Cheri, please expect a really cheesy and long entry after this one that I'd like to dedicate to every beautiful soul I met in my 1 year and half in South. To end this entry, I would like to share my favorite quote from my writing goddess and hero, Elizabeth Gilbert.

Lovely Macaron ruins, in order to make this project I had to deconstruct an old macaron tower.

And in order to become the better version of myself, I learned to understand that I also had to go through certain changes, changes that sometimes ruins our soul and ruins our heart. It tears us to pieces, but one day you will realize the gift of this ruin. I humbly pray that whoever is reading this, may God bless you the heart to discover your gift of ruin. I received mine, I am a changed person, I learned my lessons and I found the gift of my ruins.

 

"Ruin is a gift.  Ruin leads you on the path to transformation." - Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love

love always,