Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! This year for Easter Le Gateau featured chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream topped with jellybean "easter eggs". I also made bunny and chicks fondant toppers, as well as little flag toppers made from easter ribbon.

And of course there were matching easter cookies! Classic sugar cookie with fondant icing.

Le Gateau moves to a new location!

Starting April 1st Le Gateau is moving to a bigger and better commercial kitchen. We are so excited, so to celebrate Le Gateau is offering 15% off all orders for the month April! That includes cakes, cupcakes and cookies.

Contact us at Tanya@LeGateauBakeShop.com for more information.

The Cupcake Throwdown!

A few weeks ago I was asked to take part in a Cupcake Throwdown competition. As soon as I heard about it I knew I wanted to do participate, there had never been a competition in Vancouver like this before. The best thing about this Throwdown was that all the money raised went to charity, an organization called H.A.V.E that teaches homeless people how to cook so they can get jobs in restaurants.

I searched recipes for a long time. When it comes to cupcakes there are endless flavour combinations. There was one recipe, as soon as I saw it I wanted to make it: Mexican Hot Chocolate from the book "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" . When I read the title I instantly thought of when I was in Mexico on vacation, out of all the interesting foods and flavours I tried when I was down there, what I remembered best was drinking Mayan Coffee every night. Mayan coffee is made with coffee beans, nutmeg, cinnamon, cayenne, milk and dark chocolate.

So, imagining what this cupcake tasted like, and that fact that it was vegan, and the competition was being held at the vegetarian restaurant Cafe Deux Soleil, which is on Commercial Drive, where they have held the famous Parade of Lost Souls, which got me thinking of the day of the dead which led me back to Mexican theme, I decided that this cupcake defiantly was the one.

I experimented with this recipe quiet a bit. I remember the first time I made it I could barely wait to try it. I ended up smothering the still warm cupcake in icing and shoving it in my mouth and turning to my boyfriend with a mouth full of cupcake and saying "This tastes exactly like mexican hot chocolate!!!". However, I did end up tweaking the recipe a bit for a little added kick. First I decided change the icing to a straight up vegan creamcheese icing, and also ended up filling the cupcakes with a chili and spice "ganache" made from coconut milk.

I decided to finish the cupcakes with a day of the dead inspired fondant topper. Most fondant is not vegan, but the brand Virgin Ice is.

*Photo's by Cherry Vega

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes.

ingredients
1 cup coconut milk

1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons corn flour or very fine cornmeal

1/4 cup almond meal

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)

1 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

Cream Cheese Icing

1/4 cup tofutti better then cream cheese

1/4 cup earth balance buttery spread

2 cups icing sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

Chili and Spice Ganache

1 cup coconut milk

1 1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate (I used a combination of semi sweet and cocoa camino chili and spice 71% dark chocolate)

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Pinch of chili powder and cayenne

directions
Preheat oven to 350F and line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Whisk together coconut milk and flaxseed and allow to sit for 10 minutes, then whisk in sugar, oil, vanilla, and almond extract.

In another bowl, sift together flour, corn flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne. Gently mix in wet ingredients.

Fill cupcake liners with 1/4 cup of batter (approximately 2/3 full). Bake for 20 -22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.

For frosting soften creamcheese in mixer, and the earth balance (it should be at room temperature) and beat on med speed until combined. Scrape down the bowl. Add icing sugar and vanilla then mix and low speed until smooth.

For the Ganache, chop chocolate into small pieces and put in a large bowl. Bring coconut milk and spices to a boil then pour over the chocolate. Slowly whisk together until combined. Let cool in the refrigerator.

Tip for stuffing theses little guys. These cupcakes and pretty fragile at room temperature, so when you remove a hole from the top make sure the cupcake are cold straight from the refrigerator.

For a complete review of the cupcake throwdown with some amazing photo's, check out SpillingLight.com . But I can give you the general summary - I WON!!! I have to say it was definatly stiff competition, there was alot of very talented bakers and very yummy cupckes. Thanks to all of my friends and family that showed up and help put a few extra votes in my pocket. The grand prize that I won was a free cooking class at The Dirty Apron . Im really looking forward to taking one of their classes.

Thats yours truly ^ Thanks everyone. Happy baking.

Thomas the Train Cookies

I had so much fun making these little guys! They were for a party for the people that worked on the movie "Thomas the Tank Engine : Hero of the Rails".

They are a basic sugar cookie decorated using fondant and royal icing.

The crew loved the cookies! I also had a few extra which I gave to a co-worker who's son is obsessed with Thomas, the little guy went banana's when he got these!

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.