Kate and Paul - June 14, 2009

Sunday (a beautiful California day!) was Kate and Paul's wedding at La Provence Restaurant. The first pictures here are from Brandy Novey-Capik (Brandy Sommers Photography), and the lower photos are from Monica Lunardi. This was a beautiful wedding with a food and wine theme and the evening's desserts were all about the chocolate! Amber Novey of Platinum Planning did a lovely job coordinating all the little details!

Kate and Paul were all about the chocolate, the cake was more of a formality, so we made it small, understated, and elegant, but elevated so that it was still the center of attention on the dessert table.
Chocolate Raspberry Mousse (with raspberries skewered with chocolate cigarettes and Dark Chocolate Tulip Cups (filled with white, dark and milk chocolate mousse and fresh fruit)

Yup, that's me! I didn't even see her take that picture!

Kate and Paul cutting the cake... look at all those lovely candles!

The dessert table all set up!

Chocolate Raspberry Mousse

Opera Cake with Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans and Gold Leaf

Wedding Kisses and Tying the Knot Truffles (Cabernet Reduction Truffles with Strawberry Dust and Grand Marnier Truffles with Candied Orange Zest Knots)

Tri Mousse (Dark, Milk and White Chocolate) Tulip cups with Fresh Fruit

Chocolate Eclairs with White Chocolate Hearts and Tying the Knot Truffles

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!!!!

Sweet Words...

Jennifer over at Memory Journalists is a doll. Take a read through her sweet words.

Not quite there yet...

Well, last I wrote I was expecting that Friday would be a very big day for the business (new commercial kitchen!). Well, not quite. The negotiations continue. A little frustrating, but I have to keep reminding myself that Rome was not built in a day and neither is a strong, successful business.

On the upside I had a great day on Saturday. I met with one lovely couple for a tasting on Saturday morning and they chose to go with a really fun cake option. They are having a small wedding reception (25-35 guests) so they only needed a small cake. We're going with two tiers, but the top tier will be a large Napoleon! (Crazy side note: It's not uncommon for me to dream about desserts. I actually dreamt about this being an option!) The other fun variation is that the whole cake will be covered in gold tinted white chocolate modeling paste with black ribbon trim and black piping. It should be spectacular!

I also delivered an order on Saturday evening for a retirement party up at Sequoia Restaurant in Placerville. 100 tartlets! Very fun!

I have the honor of creating the Valentine's Day Dessert for Sequoia too! They will be serving Chocolate and Salted Caramel Mousse with Orange Confit and Vanilla Orange and Caramel Sauce. Here is the mock up that will accompany the final order. Very exciting... and very tasty!
Consider this your reminder: Valentine's Day is only 10 days away. Are you ready with dinner reservations? Have you placed your order for flowers? Picked out that perfect card?