L & D: It's all in the {French} details

Elegant events are about the details, and this wedding had them in spades! The colors were sapphire blue and white, but there were fleur de lis details dotted throughout the wedding and reception.

As soon as the bride heard that there was a dessert bar option she got very excited. She was all about the chocolate.

The wedding cake was a clean lined and elegant chocolate cake with layers of vanilla bean buttercream and fresh strawberries. These beautiful tags were made by Stephanie J Designs... THIS is what I was saying about the details. So nice, elegant, and really appreciated.

I absolutely adored these chocolates. This is another example of the little details really shining! This is also a great example of how the extremely popular salted caramel tartlet was transformed into a salted caramel truffle.

Even the fruit tarts got special attention. The groom specifically chose the fruits to be used. I heard several comments from guests about how pretty these little guys were. All of the serving pieces were lined with cream paper that had gold fleur de lis' on them. So pretty.

A nice top down shot, that shows off the symmetry and the crème brûlée!

Thanks to Memory Journalists for the pictures and A Day to Remember for referring me. I really do like doing dessert bars, they are fun and challenging and really let me flex my creative muscles!

Rehersal Dinner Desserts

Last night I met with Tracy and Tim and Tim's Mom to discuss the rehearsal dinner. Boy what a fun event. They are having food stations at La Perla Bistro and a band. Instead of a traditional Groom's cake or petit fours I presented them with four plated desserts. (Unfortunately the Mocha dessert had two frozen components so with the last minute plating I didn't get a picture.)

Four very different styles and flavors, but basically two chocolate desserts and two fruit desserts. I'm already scheduled to make cupcakes for their wedding at Arden Hills Country Club, so I thought something a bit different would be nice for the day before. (Side note, I also know that the day before a large wedding is very heavy on production so I don't want to over-commit myself! Plated desserts are lovely, but also far less stressful than a Groom's cake or lots of little bites.

Below are pictures and descriptions:

Lemon "Meringue" Tart (Lemon tart with graham cracker crust, topped with whipped cream and meringue shards, candied blueberry compote and vanilla ice cream - not pictured, but sat on top of blueberries)Strawberries and Cream (Mascarpone mousse with strawberries hidden inside on a white cake base, tarragon caramel, roasted strawberries, super fresh/ripe strawberry, and strawberry sorbet - not pictured)Mocha (Dark chocolate pot de creme topped with a layer of Vietnamese coffee ice cream - sweetened condensed milk and espresso, coffee granita, whipped cream, gold leaf, chocolate cigar, coffee caramel on plate)

Chocolate orange (Dark chocolate mousse on a chocolate cake base, topped with salted caramel, orange confit, grand marnier ganache, salted caramel sauce) - this was also supposed to have a salted toffee chip garnish, but I flubbed and totally forgot! After much discussion they decided to go with two smaller versions of two desserts on one rectangular plate. I'll be doing the Lemon "Meringue" Tart and the Mocha... it will be LOVELY!!!!

Frank and Julene - May 16, 2009

Frank and Julene, one of my San Francisco area couples are getting married tomorrow. They were too funny during the cake tasting! There was a lot of discussion and tasting back and forth before deciding on some lovely (and seriously tasty) flavor combinations. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens, there was a favorite flavor combination that Frank liked that just didn't make it to the final cut. Julene, sweet Julene, suggested that they order a 6" of Frank's choice as his groom's cake. What a thoughtful move!

Vanilla Genoise, Raspberry Jam with a layer of Lemon Curd with Fresh Blackberries all frosted with Mascarpone Buttercream. I decorated the top with Fresh Blackberries, a puddle of Lemon Curd, and some Raspberry Puree Dots.

Association of Bridal Consultants

Tuesday night was the bi-monthly meeting of the Association of Bridal Consultants. What a night! The meeting was at 1724 N Street in a beautiful Victorian Mansion. It's a relatively new venue, so there were still some glitches. As many of you know, IT'S BEEN HOT! here in Sacramento. That, mixed with the newness of the venue meant that the AC hadn't quite been figured out. So we sweated. It was fine.... as long as you didn't move, but boy do I need a shower! :) (Sorry for the mental picture!)

I served dessert: Frozen Wildflower Honey Mousse with Strawberry Rhubarb Compote... mmmmm, some where still frozen, but most were very mousse-y... I blame the weather, but out of 44 seats, I think I only saw two or three desserts not eaten. I'm blaming diabetes! For such a hot evening it was intended to be light and refreshing, but still very flavorful and colorful (very very pink!).

Special thank you to Carmen Salazar for the following picture!

I like da purty pictures...

Dhaling Nicole over at Memory Journalists took some stunning pics at the David Girard Girl's Night Out. Do take a read through the post on the MJ Blog, but here are the pictures I shamelessly stole off their site! Pictured are: Myer Lemon and Pink Peppermint Marshmallows, Salted Caramel Tart with Hawaiian Sea Salt, Mixed Fruit Tart, Milk Chocolate and Coconut Mousse with Coconut Meringue.

Thank you Nicole and Memory Journalists for being so long suffering! I'm forever begging for pictures.