Clever Cake Studio

This was a cake done for the farewell party of one of my bosses. He had been an absolutely great guy to work for, and was a bigger influence on me than he probably thinks. I’m sad to see him go.

I had asked him what his favorite drink was, pretty out of the blue, with no explanation.  I used it for this creation, which is based on the recipes of a few other food bloggers with only minimal changes.  If you want to try it for yourself, check out this recipe at Erin Cooks to start from, who got it from the book CakeLove.

As I have not drunk Mojitos before, I had to rely on the feedback from him and my coworkers. It got really rave reviews, and I personally really loved it.  This is definitely a keeper.  The cake was moist and rich with flavor, and the Italian buttercream was very light and fluffy and flavorful, not too sweet.  Balanced beautifully.

I also learned that I can make a decent cake even when I’m dead sick from a horrendous cold.  This seems to be making the rounds - starts with a sore throat, followed by days of congestion and yuck and zombified brains and utter exhaustion.  It’s been a week now and I thought I was over it, but its dragging on a bit longer.  Which really is inconvienent, as I’m doing tons of baking this month in preparation for the Punk Rock Flea Market. I’m a bit behind schedule, but will hopefully catch up once my brain starts functioning again.

This is a catch-up post.  I had gotten the photos from her awhile back, but only now finally uploaded them.  See, this is what happens when you forget to take photos yourself in the first place!  Throws everything for a loop.

This was for a friend of mine, the creative genius behind Sweet Anthem, making handmade vegan perfumes and other scented delights, for her Valentine’s Trunk Show at Sweet Petuna in Seattle.  I mentioned this when it happened back on this post.

I made heart-shaped lavender cookies, almond-anise biscotti, and sweet petit fours (the gold one is bittersweet-chocolate mint, the white one with spice dusted on top is chai, and the one with the red dot and edible pearl is strawberry).

Petit fours are really fun to make, and it’s such a lovely, ethereal treat - the poured fondant coating is thin and light, with a soft vanilla buttercream beneath, and then the not-too-sweet cake and filling within.  I think in this case, the strawberry one was a tad too sweet - next time I’ll use preserves that are a bit more tart and less sweetened.