Sweet Baptism Treats for Baby Warren!

Moon, Stars, Angel, and Lamb Baptism Cake for Baby W's Christening
Inspired by This Cake by PhoebeCakes
Photography by John Manansala

Hi there! Hope you all have been keeping cool if your area's as hot as our's (up to 108 degrees F at one point this weekend!). My new smartphone keeps buzzing me with heat advisory alerts. Even without any heat from baking, AC on full blast, everything dark, and 3 fans on, we were sweating like crazy. Please (oh please) do tell me that the summer heat's simply peaked early. Because if it turns out summer hasn't even brought out its big guns yet, I may not last the season =p. *Starts hummin' tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies...

The actual point of this post isn't actually to whine about a little temperature hike but to share some treats I made for an actual baby =p: my very first fondant cake as well as pistachio French macaron pops and decorated cookies to celebrate the christening of my friend P's little boy! I'm absolutely delighted for his entire family and can't wait to see how quickly Baby W grows in the coming year.

Pistachio Macaron Pops for Baby W's Christening
Photography by John Manansala

The inside of the cake consisted of 3 moist coconut cake layers, freshly chopped mango and mango curd filling, and silky coconut Swiss meringue buttercream. But to tell the truth, most of my attention fell to its outside. Covering my first-ever fondant cake was both exciting and a bit terrifying! I'm quite happy with how everything turned out, but I did have some issues with cracking and definitely have a lot to learn about handling fondant. Now that I've worked with it myself, I'm doubly impressed with all the smooth-sided, straight-edged cakes I see online! Even though I've watched just about every Youtube video that exists on covering cakes with fondant, I think it's one of those things that you have to learn by doing to a large extent. With my first wedding coming up soon, I've already ordered more fondant to practice with.

Hope you enjoy seeing my first fondant effort and other baptism treats and would welcome any tips or favorite fondant brand/recipe recommendations you might have to share!

Angel, Cross, and Sweet Lamb Decorated Cookies for Baby W's Christening
Photography by John Manansala

Yuzu Mango Coconut Cake Shooters

What can I say, but that the generosity of my blogger friends continues to amaze me! Right now I'm speaking of Joyti of Darjeeling Dreams, one of the sweetest, brightest girls I know. Though we've been online buddies for a while, it wasn't until last August that I finally got to meet her (and her husband) while visiting San Francisco. Let me just tell you this, she's even sweeter in person than on her blog (and so pretty, too). Joyti blew me away again with her generosity when she recently sent me some fresh yuzu fruit after hearing my lament not having access to it. Not only that, she also sent me a bounty of other citrus, including Meyer lemons! We also decided it would be fun to post our yuzu recipes on the same day. Thanks for the lovely package, Joyti! I can't wait to see what you've made =D.

Lately I've been really into the idea of layered cake and other dessert shooters. They're such a lovely way to fit in multiple light desserts at the end of a party...even when you're mostly stuffed ;p. Especially having just added dessert shooters to my menu, I was excited to have this opportunity to test out a different flavor.

The results were delicious but I unfortunately didn't have enough juice to make the curd from entirely yuzu. Subbing in lemon juice to make up the remainder resulted in a curd that, while delicious, tasted as much of lemon as of yuzu. So if, unlike me, you have regular and abundant access to fresh yuzu, I recommend you use it and only it for the curd so that its delicate flavor and floral aroma is allowed to shine.

P.S. - I've finally submitted my graduate school application! Sorry for the long lull between new recipe posts -- I'm finding my way back slowly and surely =D.

Vintage Sewing Party by Pure Joy Events

UPDATE: This party was also chosen for an Amy Atlas feature here. Hooray!

I'm honored to have 2 treats of mine (spool-shaped cake pops and raspberry French macarons) featured today over on Christine's Pure Joy Events as part of the amazing Vintage Sewing Party she created for her daughter's birthday. Please stop by her blog to get all the lovely details, and look out for a tutorial to come soon showing you how to create your own Spools of Thread Cake Pops!

All Photography by Rebecca Watkins Photography; Styling by Pure Joy Events