July « 2010 « Wildish

July 14, 2010

Lemon Cupcakes with Berry Preserves and Vanilla Buttercream

I made these homespun beauties to share with friends on Canada day. They were light lemon cake with home made strawberry/raspberry preserve and vanilla bean buttercream. Each one was served with fresh strawberries and raspberries. If you try making these at home pick up a nice raspberry jam with a low sugar content. My partner Dan loves to eat these jam filled cakes in the morning without icing.

I had a pretty relaxed Canada day enjoying the company of friends, we spent the day drinking wine, sharing food, walking around the city, swinging on swing sets, and watching old episodes of “Kids in the Hall” until the fireworks got under way.

I forgot how much I enjoy swing sets. There is something so Zen about swinging away. I was so involved in the experience, the action, the movement, the rush of summer air, the view of clouds in the distance over the building tops as I reached the highest heights.

Amy loves parks and often suggests we go out and find one. I’m so glad Amy brings out the kid in me. I joked this was going to be my new exercise of choice, (it is a super low impact exercise and it seems to work everything.) I do plan on doing this more often though. You should try rediscovering it too.

I hope you had a relaxing Canada day as well. =)

Lemon Dream Cupcakes:

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter,
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar,
1 tsp vanilla,
2 small lemons worth of zest,
3/4 cup milk,
1/4 cup cream,
6 egg whites,
3 cups sifted cake flour,
4 tsps baking powder,
1 tsp salt
(all ingredients should be room temperature).

Cream butter and sugar until white and fluffy, add zest and vanilla.

Lightly whisk your eggs, milk and cream, then set the mixture aside. Sift your dry ingredients all together and set that aside too.

Fold half the flour mixture into the butter, then half the liquid, then the remaining flour and liquid.

Fill cupcake cups 3/4 full, leaving some space for them to rise. They take between 15-25 minutes depending on your oven. Bake at 300f if you are using a shiny pan or 350f if using a dark or non-stick pan. If you’d like extra “zing” brush the tops of the cakes with lemon juice when you remove them from the oven. The lemons I used were organic and a bit smaller than your average lemon. I recommend using organic citrus when you are using them for zest.

Enjoy!

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July 7, 2010

Cupcake Camp

My friend Crystal Ross (who is well aware of my baking obsession) asked me if I would be interested in forming a “cupcake team” and making some camp themed cupcakes together for “Cupcake Camp Halifax”. Of course I said yes, who wouldn’t want to be part of a cupcake team? I was especially excited to work with Crystal and to see what we’d dream up as a duo; she is one creative and talented lady. Her creations always look lovely, unique, and very delicious. I see her photos of them on facebook and I want to eat them up. We decided that we should make cupcakes that were camp themed to play on the name of the event.

I had never heard of Cupcake Camp before she mentioned it, so I had no idea it how far reaching it is. According to the cupcake camp directory the Cupcake Camp is “an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and eat cupcakes in an open environment.” Anyone can organize one and because of this open attitude cupcake camps are happening all over the world! There is also a blog dedicated to cupcake camp .This event in Halifax was held at the Hub and organised by Johanna Gerrits.

We had the opportunity to sample many delicious home baked cupcakes and our cupcakes won best in show! It was a great time and we left with some sweet prizes including a bottle of cupcake wine (which we enjoyed while baking together days later). I’ve been thinking about some of my favourites from the cupcakes we sampled that day, they were really amazingly tasty and inspiring. (A grapefruit cupcake, which I believe had blueberries and an amazing burst of flavour, a coffee cupcake with the most deliciously creamy frosting, an almond sponge with delicate caramel baileys frosting, a chocolate blackcurrant cake with lemon meringue frosting, a spicy mexican chocolate cake… and that’s just to name a few. I can’t wait until the next one, whenever it happens.)

Crystal and I had a lot of fun making our little diorama and camp fire cupcakes and as we worked we discussed desserts, recipes and our shared dream of exploring our baking passions and starting a small business. A few baking sessions later and we’ve decided to start of our new business, Gateaux Rose.

We both love quirky and artfully presented desserts and we both have a taste for quality sweets. If we make a dessert we want it to be as fresh, flavourful and rich as possible. We use fine chocolate, real vanilla, butter and whipped cream. When possible we opt for local berries and other ingredients.

We are inspired by French pattiseries and French attitudes about desserts, they don’t shy away from decadence and we don’t either, we refuse to feel guilty about enjoying a dessert. I definitely think that healthy eating is important, but desserts are a special indulgence. If you can only indulge on occasion, in my opinion, that special indulgence had better be a really good one. That is what we want to provide to our customers, a memorable indulgence to complement their memorable day, something beautiful and delightfully full of flavour.

We are figuring out all the details and things are about to unfold here at Gateaux Rose. I’ll keep you posted on the details and when the website will be up and running. To get in touch with us at Gateaux Rose email gateauxrose@gmail.com. You may also like to visit the Gateaux Rose blog at gateauxrose.blogspot.com.

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