Spring is here

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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.