2019 California Adventure

We usually adventure somewhere in January or February and this year was California again. We flew into Palm Springs, picked up our vehicle and headed to San Clemente for three days. I wanted to stay near the beach and boy did we ever! We stayed at the Seahorse Resort right on the beach with plenty of food to eat and surfing to watch. We went up to Dana Point for a day and down to Oceanside and had breakfast on the pier. We headed back up to Palm Springs for four days which is always our favourite getaway!

Photo out of the window of the beautiful green hills in the Moreno Valley between Palm Springs and San Clemente

Lakeland Village

View from our room at the Seahorse in San Clemente. This was 6:00 am and the morning sky was starting to lighten and the moon was still shining on the ocean! 

San Clemente Pier at sunset!

Pirates cave at Dana Point! 

Dana Point education facility

The Pilgrim, a beautiful tall ship is still used at the education centre in Dana Point

Villa Aurora

Ahhhh back in my favourite place!!! The Sundance Villas by Private Villa Management!  

Looking up a Palm Tree! 

It was a great holiday +21 in San Clemente and +25 in Palm Springs, I ended up with the perfect sunburn and can’t wait to go back next year hopefully with more family so we can share our favourite place!

Pink Birthday Cake Fun!

I baked a birthday cake for a 50th birthday this weekend and I think it went over pretty well!  I started with two 9x13 inch chocolate cakes filled with rich chocolatey ganache and covered in buttercream. The thing for me is planning what I’m going to do when I’m ready to decorate and I always like to stick with less is more. I know it doesn’t look like it but I refrained from pink trim everywhere!! I added a ribbon and the only way I could think of to keep the buttercream from coming through the ribbon was to cover the back of the ribbon with a thin layer of white chocolate. 

Strawberry scones

Today, like most weekends was a scone day. I had strawberries in the fridge, a package of Bisquick biscuit mix in the pantry and my Lodge corn bread pan so it couldn’t be easier! To top it off, literally, I made a fresh strawberry topping. 

Before baking! 

Strawberries, tablespoon of water, dash of lemon juice and some sugar! 

With a side of butter, yummmmmm!!!! 

Always take time to enjoy a few moments each weekend before the rush! 

More cakes!

I bakes lots of cakes but I never post them on Instagram so I’ll put them in here!

Lorne’s birthday cake, we love to Jeep in the mountains so I thought this might be fun! 

Geode cake! This was the first one I ever made and I made my own rock candy! 

Think pink! This is Swiss meringue buttercream with a pink tiger stripe inside!

Cakes

I bake many cakes for various reasons mainly birthdays! Here are a few from this year that I would like to share!

This was my first attempt at mirror glaze. I had some bubbles even though I used a strainer but all in all it turned out not too bad for a first attempt. Having said that, it was supposed to be a night sky but maybe my next attempt will work!

Mirror glaze, 

Music cake for a musician I know! 

A little Las Vegas cake for someone heading out for a much needed weekend! 

Tried out cake painting! 

Also tried the checkerboard idea, the Las Vegas cake turned out better with pink and chocolate! 

Retirement cake for a very dear lady! 

Partially finished retirement cake for a friend! 

Pineapple cake (Do nothing cake recipe)  

Caramel meringue cake, I added meringue flowers (see below) on candy stick to the top! 

Caramel meringue flowers! 

Valentine’s Day cake! 

Simple chocolate winter cake! 

Caramel Meringues

I am posting this just to say that you can make meringues with brown sugar and that they do make lovely decorations. I really wanted a meringue that tasted like caramel without using an artifial caramel flavouring. I spread brown (golden) sugar out on a parchment covered cookie sheet, let it dry and then sifted it through a metal strainer. The recipe called for 3/4 cup of white sugar and I used a 1/2 cup brown and 1/4 cup white. 

Recipe 

3 egg whites

3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2 brown and 1/4 white) 

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt (I used closer to a 1/4 tsp) 

-use either a clean glass or metal mixing bowl because plastic is porous and can hold oils 

-cookie sheet with parchment paper (I like mine cut to fit exactly so the paper doesn’t curl) 

-piping bag with a 1M for roses or what ever tip you would like

Beat your egg whites till they are frothy, this is where I add the cream of tartar and vanilla. Beat a little more till the whites are looking more like foam, add the sugar and salt mixture slowly using a large soup spoon till it’s all incorporated and beat until they are stiff and hold a firm peak. There are some very important rules that other bakers use but I have tendency to fly by the seat of my pants!!

Preheat your oven to 225F then turn it down to 200F. I have found that if your oven is too hot your meringues will crack. I bake them for 2 hours then turn the oven off and leave them in the oven till it cools down, sometimes over night if I’m baking late. This allows them to cool till they are dry all the way through. 

caramel roses

Habs fans!!!

I had a request for a birthday cake for a nine year old boys birthday and low and behold he was a Habs (Montreal Canadiens)  fan just like me!! 

I went old school with the piping of the decal but I used a combination of candy melts for the color and butter cream for the consistency. I piped it onto parchment and froze it so I could just add it to the cake when it was ready. As you can see there are some rough patches as I had trouble with the icing for the piping of the rink lines but I was able to achieve the right colours! 

2018 Memories

So I have decided to post adventures, baking and memories this year! We started off with our first adventure to Barrett Jackson auction in Phoenix and it was great! We also decided to stop by ABC bakery supplies for a quick visit and did I ever have fun! From Phoenix we went on to San Diego and then to Palm Springs for a few days of rest by the pool. 

Barrett Jackson

ABC baking supplies Phoenix

Old Town San Diego

An amazing sunset at Crystal Harbour San Diego

Sundance Villas Palm Springs

Home time Brrrrrrrr

Now we are back home and it’s time for new adventures!! 

Brownies

I woke up this morning, opened instagram and there was the most perfect photo of brownies I have ever seen by Catherine MK (Instagram name Glitteriine) . I decided I had to make these! She posted her recipe but since I have a cold and am not feeling up to the big stuff I used a Ghirardelli brownie mix that I had in the pantry and improvised with raspberries because there are no fresh cherries till June. Instead of icing I made ganache because it was easier to make, looks great and tastes like fudge!!

Brownies, ganache and fresh raspberries!  

With a light dusting of icing sugar

The brownies look much better WITHOUT the icing sugar. The icing sugar takes away from the crisp lines and rich colour.  

Thanks again to Catherine MK (Glitteriine) for the idea and make sure to follow her for beautiful baking ideas!!

Enjoy!! 

Ice cream

Sometimes you want a pretty dessert and you don't have anything made. It's as simple as a beautiful dish for presentation. I wasn't feeling good one day last week but I just about always feel better with something yummy so I decided on ice cream.

Ice cream and raspberries!  

1.5 cups of frozen raspberries

2 tbsp of sugar

1 tsp of cornstarch  

Heat in a sauce pan on the stove till the sauce thickens. Then you can either cool it a bit or put on your ice cream right away. The ice cream will will thicken as well from the raspberries (the acid I assume) but it tastes great!! Enjoy!!