Cakes, Sweets and All Things Bonn Boni

Happy Holidays

2011-12-23T00:16:00.000-05:00

Thank you everyone for your continued support. This is my signature dessert, gourmet Baklava for two lucky recipients this Holiday season.

Happy Holidays all and have a great New Year!

Diesal Cake

2011-11-15T22:23:00.000-05:00

What a fun cake. Bodybuilders atop this traditional wedding cake. It was a lot of fun but also very challenging making the fondant toppers with some muscle definition.

Wedding Au Natural

2011-08-17T00:08:00.001-04:00

What I like most about this cake is how it is not perfect yet beautiful. One of the guests commented how the cake looks like it was made of stone. I think of it as a sculpture too. The flowers are frangipani made of gumpaste. I then hand painted them in the colors the bride and groom wanted. The branches are made out of floral wire and covered in brown floral tape. This was my first request for an imperfect cake. I hope more clients will see that a smooth icing finish can be just as stunning as a rough one.

Floating Tiers

2011-08-12T00:38:00.000-04:00

This cake was a white chocolate mousse filled white cake. I used white chocolate fondant to cover these cakes and piped a design with royal icing. Some red fondant flowers were added for fun. I enjoyed this cake because it was my first floating tiers wedding cake.

Summer Weddings

2011-07-11T01:58:00.001-04:00

July really got off to a great start. First a wonderful fireworks display in Spotsylvania and time spent with the family. This month I am fully booked with weddings for wonderful clients. I am so happy for them all. What I loved so much about this wedding was the flowers provided by Kari from Garden Heirlooms. Flowers always puts me in a great mood. Too bad I can't share the wonderful perfumed scents coming from the flowers.

The cake topper was put together by Kari, what a wonderful job. The cake is all Red Velvet with a Swiss merengue buttercream.

Happy Graduation All Class of 2011

2011-06-26T23:39:00.000-04:00

This was an order for a very special customer. She was actually one of my first customers when I started Bonn Boni 4 years ago. I was thrilled when she asked me to make cupcakes for her sons graduation. We incorporated things her son liked on his own special cake. Everything was handmade and edible. Flavors included my moist yellow cake and scrumptious red velvet. She also asked for some toasted pecans to be added on some of the red velvets. I must say it really is delicious and I will be offering it as an option for all my red velvets.
The cupcakes were delivered to Carmines in DC.

From Fredericksburg with love,

Bonn Boni

Spring Weddings

2011-06-09T23:36:00.001-04:00

I am really loving the color combination of this cake. It is my favorite yet. The cake was meant to match the invitations as much as possible (see my facebook page for the invite picture with the cake). The ribbons were provided by the bride so she made it easy for me, although she did give me different ones to combine together. The entire cake was a marble cake with my yummy swiss merengue buttercream. The couple told me how much they & the guests loved it. I can not ask for anything more because my clients happiness is my happiness :)

Cupcake in a Cake

2011-05-23T03:43:00.000-04:00

I need to thank the client on this one for giving me the freedom within the cupcake theme to create it. The birthday girls colors were light colors. Each tier has delicious icing covered in sprinkles. Of course my favorite part is the cherry on top.

Wedding Cakes come in all sizes

2011-05-16T00:59:00.001-04:00

Simple can also be beuatiful. This cake illustrates just that. An offset square buttercream cake is adorned with fresh calla lillies and gumpaste flowers. This cake served 30 people. Inside was a vanilla velvet with swisss merengue buttercream and raspberry preserves.

All things Bonn Boni Giveaway

2011-05-03T06:30:00.002-04:00

Alas the time has come. I have decided to give a big thank you to all of my supporters who make, making cake a little easier. The prizes are irresistible and I think you would all agree with me.

First Prize: This one is open to anyone anywhere (as long as UPS/FedEx can go). It includes a Frosted Cupcake Apron and a matching set of adorable measuring spoons that I found online. I myself could not bake with something so adorable. This is much better then a blender guys!

One Size fits all, Unisex too :)

These spoons are just adorable, I know I mentioned that already.

Second Prize: This one is open only to people residing in Spotsylvania or Stafford VA. I will personally deliver 1 dozen delicious melt in your mouth white truffle peanut butter chocolate cupcakes. It's a mouthful but trust me it is one of my favorites.

This giveaway will be very simple....

For both prizes all you need to say is "I want it" or "I need it", "Give it to me", or something to those effects (but be nice) on Facebook. The person with the most likes will win, simple as that. For the second place prize the people with the most likes living in the areas I specified will be eligible.

80's Toppers

2011-04-21T23:23:00.002-04:00

These toppers are self explanatory. The 80s came back in a big way for this birthday party. Although time consuming to make it was quite fun. It made me realize that there are just some things that kids now will never know existed like tape cassettes, Micheal Jackson or pac man. I get requests now for Ni Hao characters or Sponge Bobs for kids cakes. I wonder if when they get older they will want a cake with things like iPhone and mp3 players on it.

Spring is here

2011-04-06T23:49:00.000-04:00

I'm loving the fact that now I can open my car windows and smell the fresh air while I''m driving. As much as I love it I am reminded of how hot summer will be when we have afternoons of 80+ degrees.

I'm looking forward to kayaking with my husband on the Rappahannock river here in Fredericksburg. On my last outing I had a dragonfly take a long ride with me on my little red Kayak.

This particular cake was a first birthday cake for a little girl. The cupcakes were meant to match with lilac colors. I included some purple flowers to make the lilac pop more. The monogram was made out of royal icing in the font of the invitations. I sprinkled it with lilac disco dust. It was like adding glitter in kindergarten class, too much fun. The side designs were copied as best as I could from the intricate design on the invitations.

The cake was a white cake with raspberry preserves and swiss merengue buttercream. The cupcakes were my popular chocolate chip chocolate cake.

Grand Wedding Cake

2011-03-15T11:59:00.001-04:00

The cake was inspired by the brides colors blue and white and the gift box theme she wanted. I wasn't quite sure how the design would turn out even though I sketched out a design prior. Sometimes I go on automatic and I do not stop until I am satisfied with the design. Usually it requires me to add some paint and shimmer to the cake.

My favorite part has to be the bling on the second tier. I just think that the fondant bows surrounding it is just too pretty. The cake serves over 250 people. 6 tiers tall, silver platter making it even taller.

Overall I am very pleased, and I know the couple was too!!!

Thanks for an awesome cake design, although hard and verrrrry time consuming the result was soooo worth it.

Henna Design

2011-03-03T00:32:00.000-05:00

I had the great opportunity to take a henna and white chocolate class with the owners of The Sweet Life in Annandale. It was really nice spending the day with people that share in the same interests as me from all walks of life. Norm and Zane were gracious and so helpful in sharing of their cake knowledge and business savvy.

The cake I did was free handed from a few different patterns that I combined together. I love the intricacy of henna. I think from a distance it looks stunning up close you are like what is all this mess. That is just because I am not used to cake having detail every square inch or different patterns to such a degree, but again henna is beautiful to me so it doesn't matter.

I think if it was a red background with maybe gold details it would look really grand. Maybe I will make that my next dummy cake for my next wedding show. Either way this is an example of what I love about desserts in general and I'm sure the same could be said for savory food...that you can dress up a cake in any way you want! Long gone are the days of plastic columns and water fountains with a generic cake topper. Long gone is the generic cake. Please don't get me wrong simplicity and elegance will never be lost, but we have evolved and the creativity involved is what makes me love it and wanting more.

Happy Sweet 16

2011-02-20T21:06:00.000-05:00

This is a full sheet cake that serves about 108 people. The bitrthdays girls colors

were black and burgundy. Every detail on this cake is edible. My favorite part, the picture frame I created was piped in royal icing. Once it dried I painted it in silver. I also created the tiara and writing in royal icing.

When I delivered the cake (downtown Fredericksburg) at their venue, I had the manager help me carry it in, it was way to heavy for me to handle. We went up a very old school elevator (the gated kind). I propped it up with a piece of styrofoam. Once set, guests came to look at the cake including the birthday girl. Once I saw their reactions I knew my job was done :)

Silky Sweet Cupcakes

2011-02-16T22:21:00.000-05:00

I think Swiss Merengue buttercream will be my standard frosting from now on. I rarely make the typical overly sweet buttercream these days. It is just too sugary and really doesn't taste good.
Swiss merengue is a silky, light buttercream. It is the perfect accompaniment to any cake flavor and as above pairs nicely with fruit fillings. I have both fresh raspberries and strawberries on white and yellow buttercake.

Typical buttecream as found in stores is made with confectioners sugar, butter, milk or water and some extract. Swiss merengue on the other hand is a bit more involved. First you heat up egg whites and sugar until very hot. Then it gets mixed for a time until it becomes a merengue. Then you incrementally add butter and whip it up until light and fluffy. Lastly vanilla extract is added. My Swiss Merengue always reminds me of vanilla ice cream.

Shortbread Cookies

2011-02-10T00:33:00.002-05:00

It's about time I start sharing recipes with the world. These are creative shortbread cookies that are just yummy. I dipped the ends in bittersweet chocolate. This was either loved or hated by my taste testers. If you can't stand the lack of sweetness in bittersweet chocolate feel free to dip in the chocolate of your choice or not at all (which was my preference).

Adapted From Mindy Segal, owner of HotChocolate Restaurant and Dessert Bar in Chicago.

1 Cup Granulated sugar
4 Cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/4" cubes
1/2 cup strawberry preserves
8 ounce bar of bittersweet chocolate
Powdered sugar for dusting

1. On low speed, using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment mix all the dry ingredients together for about 30 seconds.

2. Add butter and mix well until the dough starts sticking together. Be patient, this did not happen as quickly as I thought it would. If it is taking to long try coaxing the dough to form by increasing the speed briefly.

3. Bring the dough together on a work surface and form one big ball. Divide it into four equal pieces.

4. line a baking pan ( at least 9"x 4 x whatever length you have at hand). Roll each piece of dough about 1/8" thick to fit the pan you are using. All pieces should be equal in size (or as equal as possible, no worries if it is not perfect).

5. Place a layer of dough on the bottom of the pan (I added plastic wrap underneath going up the sides so the dough would be easy to remove). Spread a very thin layer of preserves on top of the dough. Keep layering dough and preserves, ending with the dough.

6. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, about two hours or overnight.

7. Preheat oven to 325 degF. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and spray with some pam or something like that. Release dough from the pan and cut into very thin slices (about 1/4"). Place slices in pan and bake until set. (Depending on your oven this can vary, start checking at 10 minutes, also the lighter your pan is the paler it maybe darker pans make cookies bake darker and more unevenly).

8. While the cookies cool, melt your favorite chocolate. I am assuming you know how to melt. remember don't overheat it or it will seize (clump up and be no good).

9. To finish your treats dip on end of the cookie in the chocolate and set on parchment paper. You could either refrigerate the cookies until the chocolate is set, or you can wait it out at room temperature.

10. Once set dust the chocolate with powdered sugar and Enjoy!

Mix it up....You could use any powdered nut for this as well as preserve.

New Look?

2011-01-24T21:52:00.000-05:00

I was playing around with some Bonn Boni logo type stuff and came across some really cool free editing sites on google's Picasa. I love the blue and red color combo design and font. Ideally I think it would be good to have a cake drawing in there. There were so many designs to choose from but I think I will stick with this one for the time being.

I loved my first picture that I associated for my little cake biz 4 years ago. I put this cake on all my business cards and continue to use it because it makes a great avatar. The reason why this one little cake is so special to me is because it was my first cake with fondant. I worked so hard making the roses and coloring them just right. This is when I realized (at the age of 23) that I had a hidden talent. Bonn Boni officially started a few years later.

This was my first paid order. I was

soooooooooooooo excited.

It's amazing the things you discover later in life. Cake continues to be my passion and I truly get lost in the decorating process. It is not simple but yet I love it. There are many sleepless nights just getting everything perfect, but it is well worth it in the end.

Brownie Chunk Cheesecake

2011-01-16T13:49:00.000-05:00

Just thought to share a yummy cheesecake in the making.

Happy Birthday

2010-12-07T22:27:00.000-05:00

Cupcakes are just the cutest things. Fluffy clouds of icing on top of your own personal cake. No sharing...at least not usually. This was for a little girls birthday. It was a Princess Tiana themed birthday. The entire cake including topper is completely edible. As you can tell the main cake was also a marble cake like the cupcakes.

Fall Weddings

2010-10-15T22:18:00.001-04:00

This cake consisted of alternating layers of fresh lemon cake and white velvet cake. What I liked most about this cake is everything is custom down to the scroll work. The cake is also covered with fondant giving it a beautiful finish. I added a touch of tangerine oil to the fondant to liven it up a bit.

Add me on FaceBook.

Fairy Cake

2010-10-03T20:56:00.001-04:00

I was super happy to make such a unique cake for a teenagers birthday. She and her mom came to me with a simple sketch and I elaborated on it. Over the summer she was into watching the popular cake shows on tv, so her only wish for her birthday was to have a cake just as special for herself. The cake is a buttercake sandwiched between layers of swiss merengue buttercream and fresh raspberry fillings. This cake took me away to a happy place.

strawberry cheesecake in cake cake = Yummy Yum Yum

2010-08-07T11:25:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to share my new favorite cake that I was able to perfect this summer. Thank you NY for the cheesecake. This is a strawberry cheesecake with homemade whipped cream. Fresh strawberries are put into the whipped cream and sandwiched in a sponge cake. This is a tall cake with different flavors that go perfectly together.
Other options that I think would go well with the strawberry cheesecake is a yellow cake instead of sponge and maybe a nice moist white cake. I think the possibilities are endless. I think when the end of the summer arrives I will try a carrot cake with a plain NY cheesecake in the center. I have yet to formally add this to my menu selection but I think many people would enjoy it.

June 2010 DB Challenge

2010-06-26T14:57:00.004-04:00

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.

This was very cool to make because of all the different personalization's of this dessert. My 5 year old decorated his own Pavlova (Bottom Left), I was so proud of him and impressed.

One warning with this is beware of a chocolate overdose. This is a very very rich chocolaty dessert.

This chocolate explosion consisted of four different recipes.

1. Chocolate Meringue: This is the chocolate Pavlova. Very very easy to make. As you can see in the photos I was able to pipe some nice looking shapes even flowers that held up very well while drying in the oven. They were very crispy melt in your mouth however if you let it sit to long in the mousse cream combo it will soften but still stay yummy.

2. Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse: Very easy to make as well. You just need to make sure that the chocolate you use is of high quality. Because it is not too sweet the chocolate really comes through.

3. Mascarpone Cream: Delicious! This is the one component that I will make again in the future. I actually am using the leftover for ice cream that I will make later tonight :) This component relied on me making #4.

4. Creme Anglaise: So The components here are simple. Whole milk, heavy cream, vanilla, egg yolks and sugar. The one thing about it is you can't leave it while it is on the stove thickening. If it boils it will curdle. I learned this the hard way when my little one was asking me to help him with his video games. I of course got distracted and before you know it I had scrambled creme. I had to do it again luckily I wasn't as easily distracted and it came out wonderfully.

Million Doller Wedding Desperate Housewives Style

2010-06-03T02:14:00.003-04:00

I came across Dina Manzo's (from New Jersey Desperate Housewives) million plus dollar Wedding which aired on VH1's My Big Fat Fabulous Wedding. This was the first time I saw her husband Tommy who is Co-Owner of the Brownstone. Of course this may be geared for people that watch housewives to begin with however the entire process which can be viewed here was just fascinating to me since like most people my spending is dictated by a modest income.
It was one of the most over the top weddings. I think flowers alone cost half a million!!!! The food was incredible. They had a lobster station, a bar made of ice and a cigar rolling station just to name a few. Well now you know desperate housewives is my guilty pleasure. I do not watch it religiously however I can't help myself if I catch it on TV.
To my surprise she mentioned how he cheated on her a few times but she still stayed with him....um no comment on that but you know the saying once a ..... do I need to go on.
They also had wedding photos of the other housewives which was cute to see.
I had to share because I was just in awe of every aspect of the wedding.

Enjoy :)

DragonFly Birthday

2010-05-02T18:56:00.001-04:00

This cake was a birthday cake of obvious age due to the topper. My inspiration for the color combination and whimsical dragonflies was taken from the invitation. Although the dragonfly on the invite was very different I really liked how mine turned out.
The cake is completely covered in buttercream with a fabric ribbon accenting each tier. The additions including the 60 topper is all made of gumpaste.
This cake is one of my favorites to date due to the combination of colors and cute dragonflies... what can I say I'm a girl :)

To those we love

2010-02-14T17:26:00.004-05:00

This all edible cake was requested from a wife to husband. I was impressed that she was so thoughtful to want to make such a romantic cake just because. The dove is all cake with fondant feathers all around. The roses are also made of fondant as well.

I guess we all have different ways of expressing our love and appreciation for the special people in our lives be it cake for some, flowers for others. Whatever it may be,this cake made me remember that men in fact deserve the unexpected and maybe a bouquet of flowers every once in a while :)

Bakers Challenge Dec 2009, Gingerbread House

2010-01-09T15:33:00.001-05:00

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

This was of course great to complete because it brought me back to the days in elementary school when we used to make gingerbread houses out of graham crackers. The house held up very well. I was sure to bake it a few minutes longer so it could harden a bit more. I used caramel to bond the pieces together which I think is a better choice then royal icing. The actual taste of the gingerbread is not spectacular because it's not the sweet taste we are all accustomed to in a cookie. I think however with a nice cup of tea it would make a nice accompaniment. Of cousr decorating it was purly fun and I had the chance to go to a candy store and pick out different kinds of candy which I NEVER do.

For the gingerbread I used Y's recipi. Click here for more details.

Let's play Catch up

2010-01-02T20:37:00.008-05:00

Good times, weird times, it's great to be back.

I recently returned from my trip to Egypt. My primary reason for going wasn't R&R (although much needed). My younger brother Hamdy was getting married. I really was hesitant going because I did not want to travel while I was expecting. The idea of possibly catching swine flu sort of scared me since I opted not to get vaccinated. Luckily I went and returned unscathed, if anything my immune system got stronger working on overtime.

Being the baker I am, I always wished to create a magnificent cake for my family especially my brother. Unfortunately the oven in our apartment in Egypt is too small to bake, nor do I have the desire to take on such a task without my beloved Kitchen Aid and other worldly appliances. Okay I must admit I did not want to do anything remotely resembling work or be committed to any deadlines. The theme of my trip was to be LAZY and of course attend my brothers wedding. But again LAZY was my focus.

I did manage to bring over some of my tools so I could create the topper for the cake. I made certain main pieces from home in Virginia. The body was a piece of Styrofoam I grabbed from Micheals and shaped it into something resembling the body of a plane. I made the airplane pieces (wings, tail) and heads (of couple). I figured it would be really dumb and stressful carrying a completed topper with me overseas. It would mean that I need to take it as a carry on and I would have to guard it and care for it like my 4 year old child, maybe even closer. I wasn't thrilled with the idea so I said I will complete it in Alexandria when I get there.

Now I'm in the motherland and was I even thinking about the topper...No not really. I had some sleep to catch up on and family to see. I also managed to do a short trip to Sharm El Sheikh in the Red Sea with my son and father-in-law. I get back and find out this topper is due ASAP two days before the wedding. This leads me to pulling off an all nighter to complete the topper which at this point I am starting to hate. Why must I be rushed in my vacation, why is it wherever I go I have a deadline....anyway. Sun up, topper complete and I was very happy with the results. Of course the happiness of my family was what kept me going.

Overall the topper was awesome and the wedding was nice. Now a thing about cakes in Egypt.....

I know Egypt has a lot of European influence in their cakes, however wedding cakes as we know in the States blows away Egypt by far. They really don't do fondant there. It's mostly cream covered. The guests of the wedding do not eat the cake. Basically the brides family takes half and the grooms family takes the other half. My impression....The cake was covered in something marzipan like but it had no flavor. It was weird,not bad but really pointless. I think the cake must have been baked ahead of time and this substance was poured on top to seal in the moisture. The buttercream used on the cake was put on the cake very elementary. It did not look bad but it was different. I also had to bring gold dragees with me because it's not available there for some reason. They only have silver. In Egypt they also put this sparkler contraption on the cake like the 4th of July. I think Egypt, well at least Alexandria and for sure Cairo would be a great opportunity for a budding cake person. It would be a nice departure from what people typically see at weddings.

MACAROONS: Not the coconut ones :)

2009-11-01T23:09:00.008-05:00

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.
THE DARING COOKS OCTOBER 2009 CHALLENGE: MACAROONS

I have always wanted to make these little treats. There are so many ways they could be flavored or colored. Of course since this was my first attempt I opted to go with a green (Very unnoticeable). I'm not sure what happened with that since I have seen macaroons with very vibrant colors. The filling is a simple ganache. One tip I could give that wasn't provided in the recipe is that it is best to use aged egg whites, which means let it sit either uncovered in the fridge or countertop (if it's not too hot). This allows the excess water to evaporate. Apparently moisture and macaroons don't go too well together.

Here is the recipe. I think it worked great.

Note: Macaroon making is somewhat labor intensive, yet simultaneously less difficult than you think it will be. One thing you must do is have your egg whites at room temperature. This ensures they beat up properly, as texture is an integral component to macaroons. You will be piping the batter onto parchment paper or nonstick liners, and some home bakers use stencils to make sure their macaroons are uniform in size. It’s your choice.
Be aware that you are beating your egg whites first to soft peaks. Soft peaks means that the peaks of the meringue curl over when you lift up the beaters. After you add the granulated sugar to the soft peak meringue, you will beat the mixture to stiff peaks, which, true to their name, stand straight up. Be careful not to overbeat your eggs.
You will also be folding the nut flour into the meringue. As with most recipes when you combine something with beaten egg whites, be gentle in your mixing to keep the egg whites light.
Some recipes call for drying the piped macaroons on the counter prior to baking for 30 minutes to an hour. This recipe stipulates that you bake the macaroons at a low temperature for 5 minutes, then take them out of the oven, raising the temperature, and baking them for an additional 7 to 8 minutes. Drying is necessary to get the trademark “feet” on your macaroons. Experiment to find the best technique for you.
If you plan on using parchment paper rather than nonstick pan liners, be careful when removing the macaroons from the paper, as they can stick and are very delicate. Some recipes suggest lifting up a corner of the paper and letting a drop of water fall onto the hot baking sheet, thus producing steam, which helps the macaroons release.
Variations allowed: Fleming’s recipe calls for almond flour, but you can grind the nuts yourself if you are feeling ambitious or can’t get a hold of almond flour. (It is available at many online sources, however.) If you do grind the nuts yourself, be sure to add at least a cup of the powdered sugar with the nuts before grinding. This keeps them from turning into almond butter. Grind the nuts as fine as possible in your food processor. Maida Heatter suggests grinding nuts for at least 60 seconds, or longer than you think you need. They need to be extremely fine—powdery, in fact, like flour. If using almonds, try and hunt down blanched or skinned almonds. This helps with the texture and color. You might also consider toasting your nuts ahead of time and rubbing off the skins in some clean toweling.
If you’d like to use a different nut besides almonds, you are welcome to substitute them. Hazelnuts or pecans are good substitutes, but feel free to experiment with others. Our own Helen, of Tartlette fame, suggests that if you do want to use a different nut other than almonds, to have half almond, half other nut, as almonds are drier than other nuts and help again with that all-important texture. If you have a nut allergy, you can make nutless meringue cookies sandwiched with a filling, but it would be great if you could attempt to obtain the size and shape of standard macaroons.
Flavor variations are, as I said, infinite. In Fleming’s original recipe, she calls for adding vanilla bean seeds to the granulated sugar, and folds in the zest of a lemon to make lemon macaroons. You can add cocoa powder, instant coffee or espresso powder, green tea powder, fruit zests. You can tint the batter (Helen again suggests using powdered food coloring to keep from adding too much moisture to the batter). The same goes for fillings—anything goes. Ganache, buttercream, jam, caramel, custard. Here in L.A., there is place called Milk (http://www.themilkshop.com/) that bakes extra large macaroons and makes them into delicious ice cream sandwiches. You must make at least one filling, preferably from scratch, but what that filling will be is entirely up to you.
An important note about coloring and flavoring: liquid food coloring can be used, but be cautious! Use 1-3 drops maximum, otherwise, according to Helen, it increases the moisture in the batter, and that can ruin the macaroons. She suggests one trick: mix the liquid color with the almonds and powdered sugar and to let that air dry for a couple of hours. This reduced the moisture a little bit. If you use more than 3 drops of food coloring, you’re going to have a disaster. That means using fruit puree is out. One way to flavor the macaroons is to use 1-2 teaspoons of citrus zest, 1-2 teaspoons of matcha (green tea powder), or 1-2 teaspoons of herbs or freeze-dried fruit powders. If you want savory macaroons, you can try 1 teaspoon of saffron or other savory dry flavorings. If you want to use powdered color, Helen says that up to 1 tablespoon is a safe amount.
To summarize:
Mandatory:-Make Claudia Fleming’s recipe for macaroons-Fill and sandwich the macaroons
Optional:-Flavor variations and decoration-If you have a nut allergy, find a good nutless meringue cookie recipe but you must make them into cookie sandwiches with some kind of filling
If you are vegan, I don’t know what you can use as an egg substitute. Suggestions are welcome.
Preparation time: Not taking into account the amount of time it takes for you to bring your egg whites to room temperature, the whole baking process, including making the batter, piping and baking will probably take you about an hour to an hour and a half. How long it takes to make your filling is dependent on what you choose to make.
Actual baking time: 12 minutes total, plus a few minutes to get your oven from 200°F to 375°F.
Equipment required:• Electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a whisk attachment• Rubber spatula• Baking sheets• Parchment paper or nonstick liners• Pastry bag (can be disposable)• Plain half-inch pastry bag tip• Sifter or sieve• If you don’t have a pastry bag and/or tips, you can use a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off• Oven• Cooling rack• Thin-bladed spatula for removing the macaroons from the baking sheets• Food processor or nut grinder, if grinding your own nuts (ouch!)

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.
Yield: 10 dozen. Ami's note: My yield was much smaller than this. I produced about two dozen filled macaroons.

Hawaii Bridal Shower Cake

2009-10-31T21:37:00.001-04:00

A Hawaiian themed cake for a bridal shower. The lucky couple was honeymooning n Hawaii, hence the luau laid back theme. This was a very simple cake however the bride loved the details added especially the heart with the couples initials on it.

Daring Bakers Challeng #1

2009-09-27T23:23:00.004-04:00

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Today I had my first attempt at a wonderful pastry. Vols-au-Vent is a puff pastry very similar to a croissant or danish. I think the difference here is that the Vols-au-vent does not use any yeast. I could be wrong since the only croissants I have dished out from my oven are the ones that come in metal cylinders :)

This was absolutely delicious and heavenly. I don't think I can buy the frozen stuff again from the supermarket after tasting this. There is no turning back at this point. Due to the versatility of the "Puff" I also incorporated a savory dish because I'm not all about sweets all the time.

My first puff was a classic lightly sweetened fresh whipped cream with strawberry's. I added some powdered sugar over the puff to give sweetness to it. The puff alone is not sweet.

For my savory Vols-au-vent I have a braised lamb roast sliced thinly with a Moroccan inspired sauce consisting of dried apricots and prunes that were slow cooked with the lamb.

Baby Showers

2009-08-05T15:00:00.003-04:00

This cake was many celebrations and memories combined into one. Everything in this cake is edible. I was surprised that I did not have to support the crib with skewers. I made some modeling paste to use for the crib. My turnaround time was tight for this cake but the modeling paste dried fast so I could start assembling the crib pieces. Frogs and ladybugs were the theme for this cake. The cake is a moist yellow cake with a delicious merengue icing. I think the frog looking up at me is just to cute...I just want to say awww.

Mini Cooper Cake Old School

2009-08-02T20:38:00.001-04:00

I had the opportunity recently to do a classic mini cooper cake for a customer. The cake is chocolaty chocolate goodness. The filling was an Italian Merengue, which I think is the most stable, best tasting buttercream ever. The model she gave me did not have the mini cooper emblem we are all familiar with. The emblem on the hood was more of a square of some sorts. I had to add the wings for some type of mini cooper recognition. To get the silver color all I did was color my vanilla fondant gray and paint over it with nu silver dust with lemon extract.

Oh Fishy

2009-07-30T00:03:00.005-04:00

It has been a while since I posted some of my work. It's hard to find the time to post sometimes when you are busy with actual orders. My website has yet to be updated with my most recent photos and I'm still trying to find a way to make my gallery great without hiring some web designer person.
This order was great. It was for a 4 year old boy who requested a fish theme for his party. For the kids go the cupcakes and for the adults the cake. The cupcakes were Vanilla. Looking for a great vanilla cupcake recipe was just a massive endeavor. There are some recipes by some famous shops ie. Magnolia in NYC and Billy's Bakery that were kind enough to share there true and tested recipes. Most reviews were positive (Thanks to Martha Stewart's website), some not. I tried them both as well as a recipe from Confetti cakes also in NYC. Let me tell you not all vanilla cakes are created equal. Either the cupcakes are too dry as I noticed with the Confetti cakes recipe or way to buttery as I experienced with both the Magnolia and Billy's recipes. One thing that really turned me off as well was the egginess of some of the recipes. You could just smell the yolk, for me that is a turn off. Ultimately I think I liked Magnolias recipe the most. But as far as flavor they were definitely better the next day and did not loose there moistness. As for confetti cakes, it did not taste bad but it was much drier probably because it is made with egg whites as opposed to the whole egg. Ultimately what I decided to do for this order is make my own recipe sort of an adaptation of Billy's Bakery recipe and a Yellow cupcake recipe from Bakers illustrated. I think it turned out well and I want to try it again to perfect my idea of what a vanilla cupcake should be. Unfortunately due to all my baking and taste testing I'm sort of vanilla cupcaked out.
For the cake, I made a chocolate cake with actual chocolate chips baked in ( A mixture of dark and semisweet). This is great for chocoholics.
The fish were a concept that I came up with and ran with it. I thought they turned out adorable. I painted them very simply. I was tempted to use luser dust on them, but I had to control myself. (I always am tempted to use glitter on everything). Fish were made from modeling paste so the kiddies could eat them up.
Ultimately the customer was very happy not only with the design but also with the taste which makes it more worthwhile.

Next..a few days ago I made a classic mini cooper. I will post the one later:)

Happy Graduation

2009-06-21T16:43:00.001-04:00

This book although daunting at first really turned out so beautiful due to the school colors and details requested by the client. Inside is a red velvet cake filled with Swiss merengue buttercream with a hint of cream cheese. The cream cheese was a bit difficult to work with so before I started laying the fondant on I had to make a batch of Italian merengue which is much more stable then Swiss. They both taste the same pretty much. The difference between them is with Italian merengue has a boiling sugar water mixture added to the egg whites vs. Swiss in which egg whites and sugar are heated over a water bath. Other then those differences merengue is the way to go for buttercreams due to its awesome light not to sweet taste.

The cake board was made with fondant pieces and painted to resemble a wooden floor. Making something look inedible at of something edible is so much fun. My cake carpentry was pretty good there.

All details are made of either fondant or gumpaste. The tulips were not as hard to make as I imagined. They were hand painted deep purple.
On one funny note, as I was ready to deliver the cake I noticed that the word "Congratulations" looked odd, but of course I spelled in "Congradulations". How dumb was that!! Well at least I caught it, I will need a proof reader for all my future orders I suppose.
The family was so gracious and I was so happy to provide them with the cake for there daughters great accomplishment.

Spiderman Cupcakes, Cupcakes in action

2009-06-13T11:48:00.004-04:00

Happy Birthday!!

Can you tell where the cupcakes are, this arrangement is so neat but purely accidental. As I was taking my regular photos of this order I realized that the cupcakes fit perfectly on the images, very cool. I had a small order for two dozen Spiderman cupcakes. I had full "artistic freedom" which was really a challenge with spider man because I ended up spending a lot of time trying to decide what to do. The birthday boy just like every small boy between the ages of 2 and 10 loves spider man. I did not want to frighten the kids with spiders and webs. But I did underestimate the kids and they weren't at all frightened by the weird eyes popping out of the cupcakes. At the request of a friend I was talking to about designing this I did not make pink spidys for the girls attending the party..I guess that's best since we don't want to confuse the kids :)

The cupcakes were a variety of white and yellow cakes filled with Italian merengue buttercream (It tasted almost like vanilla ice cream to me). I think all fondant topped cupcakes should be filled with something. Although the cakes I make are moist, cupcakes need some sort of cream. Overall I was very please with this and most importantly the kids :)

2009-06-07T17:26:00.003-04:00

Luau Party...This was a fabulous order. It was for a young women's graduation party. After I completed the cupcakes with the flip flops and hibiscus flowers I just felt so relaxed and I had this desire to be somewhere on the beach. It's funny how food can evoke such feelings :) I think to date this is probably the most adorable topper I have made.

Currently I'm in the process of trying to perfect this Dulche de Leche buttercream so I can start offering it to my customers. It has taken me over three hours to caramelize the condensed milk...I think I need to find
a quicker way.

Cake Swag

2009-06-03T23:38:00.004-04:00

If a cake could swagger this would be it. Yes these are "swags" on the cake made from fondant. There is some hand painted effects on the fondant so I could make it look like fabric.
On the top are some daisy's that are just absolutely gorgeous:)

Inside is a 4 layer yellow cake with a simple delicate vanilla buttercream filling. Now people of all ages can get their "cake swagger" on.

Arabesque Birthday

2009-05-26T19:28:00.000-04:00

This is a Moroccan inspired Birthday Cake. I was so excited when I received the request from an out of state client. The client requested pink. I added a light green gumpaste tag which says Happy Birthday in Arabic. I also put Happy Birthday in English, just so the cake doesn't get lost in translation.
I love the whole arabesque look. Making this cake I learned so much about middle eastern design and how much geometry plays a role in the design.
Here is a tip for you fellow cake decorators out there, to imitate the design on the side of the cake use a calla Lilly cutter:)

Finally Figured out where this cake came from

2009-05-16T01:19:00.008-04:00

A client wanting a purse cake gave me a thumbnail size picture to go from. I wasn't quite sure where it was from but I finally found out!

This is a cake purse from Neiman Marcus.

Exclusively ours. At first, you won't want to cut into this edible masterpiece, but when you taste each layer, you'll be glad you did.
Chocolate decadance cake.• Layered with caramel toffee buttercream and chocolate buttercream.• 10"H x 8"W x 4 1/2"D; serves 10-12.

Zebra-Striped Handbag Cake
Price:
$235.00
Delivery & Processing Only:
29.00

THAT IS $23.50 per Serving...it better be good!!!!!!!!!!!

My rendering of the Cake purse is not that bad. I sort of freestyled the clasp because I wasn't quite sure what was going on there since again I had only about a 1" thumbail to go by.
If I sold this cake like Neiman Marcus my ad would go somthing like this.

Exclusively yours by Bonn Boni. Devil's food cake.

• Layered with swiss merengue buttercream.

• Serves many. • Tastes yummy.