Teaser – Clara &John Michael’s Baby Shower

I know I need to actually put up some real posts… I promise I’ll do it soon!  But for now, here’s another teaser ~

Teaser – Jen Hong’s Bridal Shower

chocolate soufflés

chocolate soufflés

This is LONG overdue but a few months ago, I decided to try my hand at soufflés.  This time, I made some cheese soufflés and chocolate soufflés. The chocolate ones turned out wonderfully and I’d like to share the recipe I used (as taken from the Food Network website).

Ingredients:
7 ounces finely chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus for preparing the molds
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons warm water
1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
8 large egg whites, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Confectioners’ sugar for garnish

Directions:

1. Brush 6 (6-ounce) ramekins with soft butter, then coat with sugar. Put the prepared ramekins in the freezer. (This can be done a day ahead.)
2. Set an oven rack in lower third of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.
3. Put the chocolate and butter in a medium heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with an inch or so of water to a very slow simmer; set the bowl over, but not touching, the water. Stir the chocolate occasionally until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Set aside.
4. Combine the egg yolks and warm water in the bowl of a standing mixer or large bowl and beat until frothy. Gradually add 2 tablespoons sugar, and continue beating until ribbons form, about 5 minutes. Very lightly fold the yolks into the chocolate mixture. (Rinse the bowl well, if using for beating the egg whites.)
5. Remove prepared ramekins from freezer. Put the egg whites in the bowl of a standing mixer, or large non-reactive bowl, add the lemon juice. Beat on medium until frothy; then gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and increase speed to high. Beat until the whites hold a stiff but not dry peak.
6. Working quickly, fold about a third of the egg whites into the chocolate to lighten; then fold in remaining whites until blended. Gently ladle or spoon the souffle mixture into the ramekins, and place on a baking sheet. (Level off the surface with a straight edge, scraping any excess mixture back into the bowl.)
7. Immediately bake until the soufflé rises about 1 1/2 inches from the ramekins, and the tops are touched with brown, about 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven, dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve immediately.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/chocolate-souffles-recipe/index.html

Holly’s Bridal Shower

With wedding season coming up, we’re getting pretty busy with bridal showers and weddings.  : )  Holly’s Bridal Shower was the first shower of the season for us and I was plenty excited to decorate these cupcakes in a spring-like fashion.  I was so glad that the color theme included yellow!  It’s the perfect color to start off the season.

This was the original idea in my head:

but then I thought, “No way are you going place those pearls into a heart shape for every single cupcake.”

So I opted for the simpler (but just as pretty) swirl:

Here are pics from the bridal shower:

~  Thanks Hanna & Christine M. for taking these great pics!

Bakesale for Japan

Tomorrow, SGC will be contributing cupcakes to Bakesale for Japan at their Berkeley location (Gioia Pizzeria).  Even if you aren’t able to make it to Gioia for SGC cupcakes or delicious slices of pizza, please stop by one of their numerous locations to help out by volunteering or purchasing baked goods!  :)  Most importantly, pray for Japan ~

beer & pretzel caramels

Beer & Pretzel Caramels

Christmas was rolling around and I wanted to give guests to my holiday party a nice sweet treat that did not require the effort of a baked good.  I saw a couture candy store selling these Beer & Pretzel Caramels for $$$ and decided I would try making them on my own.  I had never made caramels before, so when I saw a tutorial on Giverslog, I thought “Sweeet!” (no pun intended).

This recipe might look a little intimidating at first, but it’s really simple to use!  You just have to be careful to not burn yourself.  Once I tried it, I loved it so much that I seriously thought about giving up baking and going into confections!  I think my next caramel project will be Rosemary & Pecan Caramels.

Makes 1 large cookie sheet worth of caramels (# depends on how thick you cut it)
Prep and cook time ~ 1 1/2 hours

Ingredients ~
1 bottle of Indian Pale Ale
1 bottle of Brown Ale (Add another bottle if you want a stronger ale flavor)
2 cups butter, cut into small cubes
2 cup corn syrup
4 cups half and half (or 2 cups half and half + 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz.)
4 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla
1 bag of pretzels, break into pieces if using pretzel sticks (I used pretzel thins and honey wheat sticks from Trader Joes)

Tools ~
Candy thermometer
Trusty wooden spoon
Heavy >6-qt. sauce pan or pot
Parchment paper
Large cookie sheet
Knife

Directions ~
** If you don’t have a digital candy thermometer, check your candy thermometer first to make sure you know what the boiling point is.  Clip your thermometer to your pot, making sure that it doesn’t touch the bottom of the pot.  Add enough cold water to fully submerse the head of the thermometer.  When the water comes to a boil, the thermometer should read 212°F.  If it does not, make note of the difference and calculate the difference for what temperature you need to make the caramels.  For example, if the thermometer reads 210°F in boiling water instead of 212°, then take caramel off at 242° instead of 244°. **

one) Pour the bottles of ale into the pot and let it come to a boil.  Lower the heat and then let it simmer for 30 minutes or until it is reduced to half the original volume.  Once it is finished reducing, pour it into another bowl and let it cool.

two) While the ale is cooling, you can start the caramel.  Melt the butter over low heat in the pot.   Add the sugar slowly by pouring it into the center of the pot.  Stir slowly to combine the two. Wash the sides of the pot periodically with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from sticking to the sides of the pot (and forming in your caramel, no one wants crunchy caramel!).

three) Add and mix in the corn syrup and the half and half/condensed milk.  Cook on medium for one minute and then increase the temperature to med/high until boiling.  Stir frequently.

four) Once boiling, clip your candy thermometer onto the pot.  Make sure the head is not touching the bottom of the pan.  Reduce the heat to medium and continue to stir frequently, making sure everything is combining well.  You should line your cookie sheet with parchment paper at this point.

five) Add half of the ale to the mixture.  Watch the thermometer; the temperature can suddenly jump up!  When the thermometer reaches 244°~ 245°, remove the pot from the heat.  This should take 30-40 minutes.

six) Stir in vanilla and rest of the ale at this point.  Slowly stir in the pretzel pieces.  Carefully pour the caramel mixture onto the cookie sheet.  Use your spoon to even out the mixture on the pan, making sure to get the corners!

seven) Cool for several hours and then cut using a chef’s knife, pizza cutter or cleaver!  :) Enjoy!~

deborah & eddy

When Jen and I planned for Debs and Eddy’s wedding, we were a little bit ambitious.  Maybe a little too ambitious.  Before this, we had only baked for one other wedding — and that was around 300 cupcakes of the same flavor.  For the Pak’s wedding, we chose to do two different cakes with two different frostings.  Plus cookies.  Plus brownies.  Plus mini pumpkin pies (which was a lot more work than anticipated).  Plus a small cutting cake.  And did I mention that we agreed to travel around 500 miles to San Diego without being sure of where we would find a kitchen space to work in?  Needless to say, we figured that if we were able to pull this off… we would be invincible.

 

www.gabrielryan.net

www.gabrielryan.net

 

www.gabrielryan.net

www.gabrielryan.net

www.gabrielryan.net

www.gabrielryan.net

www.gabrielryan.net

Okay.  Maybe invincible isn’t the right word but I think we did A-OH-KAY.  It was a great learning experience for the both of us and we’re really glad that Debs and Eddy let us take part in their special day in this way.  Oh poo, I wish we had a picture of the cutting cake… but alas, in the rush of everything, both Jen and I forgot our cameras!!  :(

Until next time!

deborah & eddy’s tasting

In preparation for Deborah and Eddy’s wedding (coming up really soon in November!!), we held a cupcake tasting for them.

There were 6 different flavors for cakes:

• Chocolate
• Pumpkin
• Vanilla
• Lavender
• Maple,
• Red Velvet

6 flavors for frosting:

• Lemon Buttercream
• Chocolate Ganache
• Salted Caramel
• Vanilla Buttercream
• Cream Cheese
• Marshmallow

PLUS, and extra special topping of Candied Bacon (Tiffany really wanted to try this one out.  Needless to say, Eddy and the other guys really enjoyed this “manly” topping).

The eager couple ready to take on this challenge of tasting cupcakes.  Can they really eat 36 cupcakes?  Don’t worry, they had plenty of friends volunteer their tastebuds for them…

 

The moment of truth… will she like the bacon or not?  We know how the guys feel… but what about the bride?  Dun dun dun…

 

And the winners ARE (yes, we gave them the option of 2 different cupcakes)…

Vanilla Bean Cupcake with Salted Caramel Frosting AND Candied Bacon

and…

 

Lavender Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Frosting!!!

 

We’re a little bit fearful to see how the logistics for this wedding will go… we’ll have to travel all the way from the SF Bay Area to San Diego for this wedding… but we ARE excited!  :)

We’re very glad that we can take part in this wedding with this special couple (our guinea pigs).  Thanks for trusting us Debs and Eddy!  :D

mee a & bodin

This was the first wedding that Jen and I had ever baked together for.  We didn’t plan anything, we didn’t do a tasting, we didn’t even test it out beforehand (although I had already made these cupcakes before)… needless to say, we had NO idea what we were getting into.

Praise God that everything turned out well (and that Mee A was so chill about the whole thing… I don’t even think she knew what we were making!) ~

The fruits of whole night of baking and one morning of frosting: 250+ purple velvet cupcakes!

 

Though, they didn’t turn out as purple as we had initially anticipated… I’d say that it was still quite a success (beginner’s luck).  ~(^^)~

 

All photos were taken by Jerry & Ingrid (http://www.blogjerry.com/)