GleepGlop Cake

What is a Gleepglop you might ask?

This:

This little cutie was created by a local artist. He requested a two tiered mini cake with this little guy on it for his girlfriend's birthday (who is also quiet the talented artist I might add).

End result:

The top tier was chocolate cake with chocolate ganache, and the bottom was Chiffon cake soaked in grand marnier with vanilla buttercream.

The best part for me was hearing about how happy the birthday girl was when she got this cake...

Pictures of happy clients make me so happy!

December 12th Bakers Market

Wow, what a crazy week I just had!

I dont know if I have ever done as much baking as I did this past week. Working a 40hr week baking at my day job, and then all my free time was spent baking for the Bakers Market.

But it was so fun and such a great experience, im so glad that I did it.

Thanks to everyone who came out!

Gingerbread cookies, holiday sugar cookies, vanilla bean shortbread, vegan snickerdoodle cookies, and mini fruit cakes!

Mini Fruit Cakes

The aroma of cinnamon, allspice and cardamon is filling my kitchen. Its the most amazing warm and comforting scent. Im baking fruit cakes.

The truth is fruit cake has an image problem. In the early 90's Johnny Carson of the Tonight Show joked "there was really only one fruit cake in the world - it is passed from family to family". How many people have actually given fruit cake a chance?

These mini fruit cakes are made with premium dried fruits - apricot, dates raisins and fresh cranberries. Its sweetened with honey, brown sugar and orange juice. It's also brushed with brandy to help bring out all the sweetness of the fruits, and to add extra aroma. It is seriously good stuff.

This holiday season if you have the chance, you should should give fruit cake another try. You just might be (unexpectedly)surprised.

Mini fruitcakes will be available from Le Gateau at Vancouver's Bakers Market on December. You can also order online and Le Gateau will ship within Canada and the US.

Vancouver's Bakers Market

Im happy to announce that Le Gateau will be at the Vancouver's Bakers Market on December 12th along with many other great local bakers.

Im going to be selling mini cakes, as well as an assortment of Christmas cookies and treats. I will also have an selection of vegan and gluten-free items.

Hope to see you there!

Vancouver's Bakers Market

Bourbon Pumpkin Tart with Walnut Streusel

Looking for an alternative to plain old pumpkin pie? Look no more.

I found this recipe in the magazine "Best of Fine Cooking : Parties". As I read the recipe I was imagining the taste of this tart and I got so excited, I had to try it right away. I made it this past weekend for a dinner party at a friends place. Everyone loved it! Even my sister's husband who is one of those people who hates pumpkin and pumpkin pie really enjoyed it.

Here is the Recipe:

For the tart crust:
9 oz. (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. finely grated orange zest
1/2 tsp. table salt
5-1/2 oz. (11 Tbs.) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup heavy cream; more if needed

For the pumpking filling:
1 15-oz. can pure solid-pack pumpkin
3 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 Tbs. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. table salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup bourbon

For the streusel topping:
3-1/2 oz. (3/4 cup) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. table salt
1/4 lb. (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3/4 cup walnut halves, toasted and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger

Lightly sweetened whipped cream for garnish (optional)

---

Make the tart crust:

Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the flour, sugar, orange zest, and salt in a large bowl on low speed for about 30 seconds. Add the butter and combine on low speed until the mixture looks crumbly, with pieces of butter about the size of dried peas, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and cream, mixing on low speed until the dough is just combined. If the dough is too dry to come together, add more cream, a tablespoon at a time. Gently mold the dough into a 1-inch-thick disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or for up to a week; the dough can also be frozen for up to a month.

Make the pumpkin filling:

Spoon the pumpkin into a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly incorporated. Add both sugars and the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Whisk about 30 seconds. Whisk in the heavy cream and bourbon.

Make the streusel topping:

Combine the flour, both sugars, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse briefly to mix. Add the butter and pulse until the butter has blended into the dry ingredients and the mixture is crumbly. Remove the blade and stir in the walnuts and crystallized ginger.

Assemble the tart:

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Take the tart dough from the refrigerator and let it warm up until pliable, 5 to 15 minutes. Unwrap the dough and set it on a lightly floured work surface. With as few passes of the rolling pin as possible, roll the disk into a 13-inch round, about 3/16 inch thick. Drape the round into a 10-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom gently fitting it into the contours of the pan. Fold the excess dough into the sides of the pan and press to create an edge that’s flush with the top of the pan and about 1/2 inch thick.

Pour the pumpkin mixture into the unbaked tart crust. Scatter the streusel topping evenly over the pumpkin mixture.

Bake until the topping is evenly cooked and no longer looks wet in the center, 50 to 65 minutes. Let the tart cool on a rack for at least 2 hours before serving (or wrap it in plastic and refrigerate overnight; before serving, let it sit at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours). Serve warm, at room temperature, or slightly chilled, with lightly sweetened whipped cream, if you like.

Okay, here my confession.

I followed this recipe EXACTLY. It was suppose to make one 10" tart. However this is not what the recipe yielded when I made it. I made one 10" tart, plus I had enough filling and streusel topping for 10 more individual tarts! I was so worried that I had made a mistake, but the tarts turned out fine, so I guess the yield on the recipe is not accurate.

Also, I didn't use the tart crust recipe included, I used a basic tart dough I had leftover and stored in the freezer.

And finally, I recommend throwing in a little extra crystallized ginger into the streusel mix, because its super tasty!

The Mini's, so cute.

Trying packaging and giving these tarts as a gift. The streusel gives them support so they stack really well.

Octopus Cupcakes

I have a crazy love for octopus's. It started a few years ago, with a love for pirates! I use to get pirate and skull and crossbones everything for birthdays, Christmas's, and so on. One Christmas my sister gave me a necklace of an octopus. It was absolutely gorgeous. Ever since then I have been fascinated with octopus's and also squids(weird, it know)! Its still my favorite necklace. I saw similar octopus cupcakes on flickr and just had to try and make my own.

These cupcakes are made from a chocolate cake base, and sea foam green buttercream icing. I made the octopus using fondant and edible writers.

Happy 27th Cupcakes

Made these cupcakes for a friend of mine. Its a chocolate cupcake base with vanilla buttercream icing. I just love the color teal. Its one of my favorites. These cupcakes were a hit. The birthday girl just loved them. She actually took a bunch and hide them because they were going so fast!

Le Gateau is now on Twitter!

http://www.twitter.com/Le_Gateau

If you are on twitter please add me, im new to twitter and I need some people to follow!

Petit Fours

Petit Fours are small decorated tea cakes. The direct translation means "little oven".
I love petit fours. Cute little bite size pieces of edible art. Perfect for afternoon tea, parties and showers. They are most often made from poundcake, with fondant poured over them. I choose to make these ones from chocolate sponge cake, soaked in black cherry vodka, and layered with organic cherry spread.

Here's a mini tutorial:

It is easiest to cut these straight from the freezer...

After the first coat, I needed to use 3. How many coats you need will depend on your cake as well as your icing!

After they set I decorated them with flowers made from fondant.

They are alot of work, but the results are worth it. These also make great gifts when packaged in chocolate/candy boxes.

Birthday Bites!

I recently made two very special birthday cakes. The first was for my boyfriend. I had to think about the design of this cake for quiet a while. I wanted something exciting and eye catching, but the real challenge for this cake was for it to not look cute and girlie. This would be the difficult part for me indeed!

I thought of his favorite colors first, red and black. Mike also plays drums, so something kind of rock and roll came to mind, so I choose shapes that would give this cake kind of like a "tattoo" type of feel. The skull and crossbones fit into this theme as well, perfect!

End result:

The top tier of the cake is a rich and flavorful carrot cake. Sweet carrot and spice from cinnamon gives this cake the most irresistible taste and aroma. Filled with cream cheese icing sweeten with honey. The bottom tier is Le Gateau's signature cake: Chiffon Sponge soaked in Grand Marnier syrup with vanilla butter cream. I had made this cake many times before for weddings and other occasions so I knew he liked this cake. This cake was a definite success, Mike loved it!

The second birthday cake was for my twin sister and myself! My sister was a bit surprised when I called her to let her know I had started working on a cake, " Your making your own birthday cake?!" as if I deserved some sort of break from cake making. But for me it wasn't even a question, its a excuse to make cake! Besides, I was in the mood for making flowers.

Again, this was carrot cake. I have to say, I've been making carrot cake a lot lately. I think its pretty underrated! I find a lot of people prefer it to chocolate! This cake was the perfect end to our birthday dinner with our family.

August Bridal Showers

I made this cake for for a very special bride to be, a friend of mine since grade school. As one of her bridesmaids it was my job to make sure she had the perfect bridal shower, that means we needed the perfect cake! This bride wanted simple but stunning. This cake was designed as a mini version of the cake to be served at her wedding, pink being her wedding colour. The bottom tier is 6" and the top is 3.5". Inside is a rich chocolate cake with layer of raspberry preserves and creamy chocolate ganache filling.

Here's the recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flour (I recommend unbleached organic if available)

1 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar (again, organic!)

4 large eggs (free range)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups milk (organic)

Method-

1. preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 13" by 9" pan OR three 8" round cake pans OR 36 muffin pans. Line with paper.

2. In a medium bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda and salt.

3. In a large bowl mix at low speed butter and sugar. once they are blended beat at high speed until light and fluffy (about 5 mins).

Reduce to medium/low speed and add eggs one at a time. Scrape down sides.

4. Alternate flour mixture and milk into the bowl, beat until smooth.

5. Pour into prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean - about 25-45 depending on the size of the cake.

This cake was a hit at the shower!