Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts

Monday, July 6, 2009

Cake Diva Creations






















Yes there is a new blog in town, and she is a true diva!

Her name is Michelle AKA Cake Diva extraordinaire...


















I requested that she make my birthday cake, and boy did she go all out. I posted a blurry photo of one of her cakes a few blogs ago, and now I am ready to reveal her creation. This cute little cake is a recipe of triple chocolate chip liquor batter with vanilla butter cream, and/or cream cheese frosting. Once you take a bite they melted in your mouth. My friends went nuts over her creation, and now are beating her door down to have some of their own!

Michelle visits many bakeries around the Dallas/Fort Worth metro-plex area to keep up on her competition. Her phone rang non-stop while were were hanging out on my Texas visit, and it seems she stays busy with pastry orders. She also is employed by a top rated market in her area, and has been given creative freedom to bake what I saw were gorgeous, and I imagine just as tasty (as my birthday) cup cakes!

Our History: We met nine years ago in Culinary school while I worked for the director of Culinary Arts/Hospitality Karen Musa. Michelle and I also attended classes together; which gave me an opportunity to hang out with her in my office, as well as sneak out for a lunch or two now and then.

Eventually when looking for an assistant I felt she would work well in my new catering business I was starting. Michelle need to do her internship in a real food invironment, and what a better way to do it than with moi! She is a hard worker and dedicated to her craft. We had lots of fun together, and man can she roll my Tex-Mex lumpias (she is part Phillipino)!

Right away I was told that she was more interested in pastries, but Michelle was willing to help me with catering weddings and parties until she reached her goal...to open her own M Patisserie business in the area. Now watch out pastry chefs, because her melt in your mouth creations are becoming very popular! Even some of my Texas friends have already tasted these yummy cupcakes she made for my birthday, and have asked me for her contact number.

If you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and are looking for creative ways to tell someone just how sweet they really are; then call 'The Cake Diva'...she is waiting with a sugary sweet smile...





















Go over and take a bite out of Michelle's new blog...tell her Chef E sent ya!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

One pear, two pear, and the last pair...


















I have been really busy and behind this week, since my van went missing. I am posting this for the weekend, and it is not one of my favorite photo shoots of my food lately, but they were really tasty...

Buying a bag of mixed pears consisting of Basc, Red, and Anjou sounded like a great inspirational idea a few weeks ago; we ate a few in between my 'Caramelized Pear Blondies', and now I found myself with only two pears left. Since Mothers Day I have thought about my mom's ability to bake from scratch on a whim's notice, so I decided to give it another go...
















After thinking about what I could do, and idea came to me. Make a gluten-free dough, and fill it like Rugala (Rugalach). Cream cheese was added to the dough recipe, and I was not sure if it would hold up to a heavy filling- I cut the filling recipe in half.

Combine pecans, pear, brown sugar and cinnamon in mixing bowl.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease baking sheets. Spread each circle of dough with some jam, or I used some pear caramel mixture I had left over from my Blondie recipe. Divide filling among circles, spreading evenly. Cut each into 12 wedges, and begin rolling.

Arrange on prepared sheets, point side down. Bake until golden, about 16-17 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool. Cut into pieces, and store in airtight container.

My friend who is Jewish, Gen tried them and said they were great, but they needed more filling. Then they would resemble the true cookie she grew up with.

I saved some dough and made Parmesan bread sticks...
















Photography lessons still proceed, but I will have the 'expert' by my side...Donna Kay in a few weeks in Texas...with tutorials in photo shop on my new lap top I just got for my birthday...

Go over and check out our 'Friday Shoot Out' posts; this weeks theme was 'Red'...