So ladies and gentleman I have been so delinquent in this cooking project because I've been busy caking it up!! That and I was out of town for a weekend. But really, there's been no excuse other than I've just had too much to do to fit in the TK recipes as well. So here's what I've been up to.
First week of February was filled with a slew of birthdays for some lovely ladies with whom I work (who shall remain anonymous for now). I made them a big tall birthday cake with Almond Buttercream, toasted almonds and some raspberry coulis. This pic won't make it on my website because it's not that great, and even though it really was beautiful in person, it didn't photograph well. But it was absolutely DELICIOUS.
Last Friday (was it only just last weekend? It feels like forever ago already), was KP's birthday. A big one: 3-0. And of course I had to make an extra fabulous cake for this extra fabulous girl. That and, she was having a big party so the whole ordeal was a big to-do (remember, I'm a big fan of to-dos over birthdays!). Because the almond cake had been such a hit the weekend before (and because TK is a big believer in doing things many many times so you learn vs. just do), I decided to do that one again, but spruce up the exterior a bit. You see, KP is quite the little party animal, so it needed to look a certain way. I call this DISCO FABULOUS 3-0 cake. Isn't it great?! Did the big long sparklers for candles as well (which I learned you can't really 'blow out' per se, you just have to wait for them to fizzle out, oops!). Either way, it was a hit and the b-day girl sent me the most kindest thank you note ever.
So post Disco Fabulous cake, we all shuttled out to a club in mid-town Manhattan. Whoo hoo! And partied like we were all still 23. I got up at 10am to get started on cake-baking part 2 (15 vanilla cupcakes, 15 chocolate cupcakes and a 9" Ruby Red Velvet cake). These were all for a birthday party as well, but for a different kinda crowd (4 yr olds and their parents). Saturday was a lonnnnngggg day in the kitchen. Add in that I needed to deliver these by 5pm and get my butt out to Brooklyn for a dinner party that started at 6:30pm (wha?? who starts dinner parties at 6:30pm?). Both chocolate and vanilla batters were super runny and I made such a mess in the kitchen. Remembered just before I put the red velvet in the oven that I'd forgot an ingredient, so I had to dump the batter back in the mixing bowl, rinse and regrease my pans and cut. more. parchment. paper. I abhor cutting parchment paper (it is my absolute least favorite part of cake making). Let's just say I'm not sure I was entirely 'there' due to the previous evening's festivities. I finally got all of it done, but was about half an hour late, and had to leave a sink full of dirty dishes (which I hate). Anyhow, I didn't get any pics of the cupcakes, but here's the red velvet (used the same swirl technique I used on Missy's cake in January - am really liking it!). When I delivered it the couple was very excited about the little silver dragees on the dots.
Ok, so now we're in the homestretch of Valentine's dinner (Monday night). Several times I thought about bailing. I couldn't find an inspiring recipe (I decided I was going to go off the beaten TK path), so I settled on one I'd done before and really liked: "Mushroom Gnudi with Truffle Sauce, Pancetta and Fried Sage". I remember this being incredible the first time. But I also remembered I'd made this while drinking LOTS of wine with my friend while doing it. Because I swear this time it turned out differently (not bad, just wasn't the same). But boy loved it and he gave me chocolates and tickets to the ballet!!!! Am I not the luckiest?? He got a foot massage. As it turns out he's actually quite ticklish, so this was a funny sort of activity. All in all, great valentine's day!
Whew, this blog posting is almost as exhausting as the weekend itself!
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