Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

We make a lot of buttercream in the kitchen of Cocoa & Fig. Lots and lots of lovely, just-sweet-enough, fluffy Italian Meringue Buttercream to be precise. Italian Meringue Buttercream begins with a traditional Italian Meringue: hot sugar syrup is added to whipping egg whites to produce the most amazingly creamy marshmellowy meringue. Then we slowly add fresh butter until a beautiful buttercream is born. This is by far my favorite type of icing. We use it on all our cakes and cupcakes. Just one problem: what is one to do with the lonely egg yolks that are left behind from separating all the egg whites for buttercream? Well, we do all kinds of things with them. But this week I decided to make vanilla bean ice cream. And chocolate chip cookies.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Plus:

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Equals:

Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich Goodness

Individual Cupcakes

We packaged each cupcake for this order in its own cute little box. The boxes were then tied with pink and brown ribbons to finish the look. I think they are absolutely adorable!

More Website Pics

Here are a few more teaser shots from our soon-to-launch website. These photos remind me of summer. And I'm just sure that summer is right around the corner.

Grilled Flank Steak Skewers with Chimichurri Aioli

Smoked Salmon and Red Onion Cream on Pumpernickel Rounds

Roasted Vegetable Skewers

Floral Applique

The cake I posted yesterday was decorated in a floral applique design. According to Wikipedia (don't you just love their site??), applique, in its broadest sense, "is a smaller ornament or device applied to another surface." This is a popular technique used in sewing and quilting. Various fabric shapes are sewn onto a larger surface to create a design or pattern.
In the case of our cake, the layering of various flower shapes and colors creates the applique look. Piping tiny royal icing dots really makes the effect pop.

Floral Cake

Spring is finally here! Well, according to the calendar anyway, although it hardly felt like it today... brr. But this cake will put you in a springtime mood. We created this bright and lovely floral cake for a birthday party. The cutout fondant flowers are layered for an applique look and then piped with royal icing for even greater effect. I'll show you the step-by-step tomorrow with some before and after shots.

St. Patrick's Day

Ok, so I'm a day late. But life as a caterer is hectic. And sometimes, we celebrate holidays a day late. Joe has a nice chocolate oatmeal stout waiting for him. Is it 5:00 yet?