Operation Wedding Cake: It's Done!

I've been an absent blogger lately but this is what happens when you have to write a business plan, graduate from culinary management, extern, and what's that last thing again, I can't remember...oh right, GET MARRIED!

So I had a plan for Operation Wedding Cake. It involved writing a number of posts and it also involved me being calm. The fact is, my plan for the wedding cake involved me making the cake over a number of days but it got compressed into a number of frazzled hours. As such, here is what is likely the last Operation Wedding Cake post: unless I decide I need to make our wedding cupcakes in which case you will see another post and I will be self-medicating...

For our wedding cake, Collin Murray and I wanted a small cake. We weren't going for tons of tiers or gaudy decoration and I promise you that I spent (along with some of my faithful pastry friends) hours trying to decide what size pans to use and in the end, I purchased a 7 by 3 inch, 5 by 2 inch and 3 by 2 inch set of pans to use in making the cake and I was pretty happy with the scale of them all together.

Pretty pans lined and buttered

When you paper a 3 by 2 inch pan, the parchment round is teeny tiny!

Collin Murray also insisted on having red velvet cake -- you may remember from this post, the man loves his red velvet... Me, I'm less fussy on it, it is not that I don't like the cake but I just would always rather have chocolate. The recipe that I used was from epicurious.com and I think it was rather good. The cake had a nice moist crumb and good flavor. I won't post the whole thing it, but I will include a link to it at the end of this blog -- I didn't change a thing!


One thing is forsure -- this was a RED red velvet cake recipe!

I made the cake the evening before I needed to decorate simply because I had to. Normally, you make the cake a few days ahead or ideally, you use a cake that has been frozen and thawed. I know it sounds weird, but in pastry school, our chefs taught us to make our lives easy with these little tricks and having a firm cake to work with, or a partially frozen or even just a cold cake (which doesn't affect the taste at all) makes the decorating and shaping of the cake easier. Since I didn't have time to freeze the cake or even really make it in advance, I had a hell of a time shaping the cake because it was so moist and fluffy.

I'm just glad the pans fit in our mini oven!

The cakes rose well and retained their lovely red color after baking

So cute (PS: don't you love the color coordination with the cake and the apron?!)

You will notice in the pictures below that the cake goes from being iced and stacked to being covered with fondant -- that there are no pictures of shaping or the covering, this is because I had a pastry chef melt down during this part of the process. For one, I forgot to trim the sides of the cake before I iced it; I cut my cardboard rounds too small so it was hard to ice the outside of the cake properly (usually you use the cardboard as a guide to help you evenly ice the cake) and I was just super stressed and fretting the whole time. It is hard to be a perfectionist with your own wedding cake on a time crunch.

If only it was that easy!

You can't see it, but there are raspberries in the middle of the cake!

Next time I make a wedding cake, I will require more counter space!

With that being said, I finally got all the cakes covered in fondant, I stabilized them with lollipop sticks in the middle and stacked them. I had pre-made all my gumpaste flowers so all I had to do was arrange them and I also had purchased ribbon that I was going to use to accent the cake. My plan had been to pipe on the middle layer with red royal icing but I simply just ran out of time and patience. I ended up finishing the cake off with a ribbon detail instead and I was really happy with that.

The finished product!

Though I don't have any pictures of the cake being sliced yet (our photographer has those), I will say that the end result was pretty tasty and looked good. Naturally, I'm not 100% happy with it but I would say that for my second cake ever, my first three-tiered cake, and my first cake without professional supervision, I think I did pretty well. And, if you are wondering where the penguins are, they didn't fit on top of this cake -- we will be using them for our reception wedding cake and I will be sure to post a picture of the finished toppers when they are in fact finished!

Gumpaste carnations made by moi!

 And finally, for the Epicurious Red Velvet Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting Recipes, click here.

Francois Payard Bakery -- FPB

On my first day of pastry school, our chef asked us if we knew who Francois Payard was. She was rather upset when not one person raised their hand. Apparently Chef Payard is a legend in the New York dessert scene -- his croissants and pastries were frequently named the best in the city. He used to own a pastry shop on the Upper East Side but was forced to close it after the rent was hiked up so high that he could not longer afford to do business. Enter Francois Payard Bakery -- FPB:

Fetching awning, no?

Earlier this week his new bakery opened near enough to our house for Collin Murray and I to stop by and get a taste. Boy are we glad we did. Collin Murray had the croissant, me the pain au chocolat. Really, the pastries are technically almost the same -- the same dough is used but each pastry is rolled differently and the pain au chocolat has a chocolate baton (read: fancy term for little stick of chocolate that don't melt at high temperatures) inserted into it prior to baking.

Collin Murray's croissant

Pain au chocolate Before

After

The store also sold breads and lovely little cakes and tarts as well as sandwiches and an array of specialty drinks that look positively delightful.

I'm a little obsessed with the strawberry tarts

Francois Payard Bakery is located at 116 West Houston (between Thompson and Sullivan). For more information about the bakery, click here.

Photos are by Collin Murray, once again.

Billy's Bakery

Ever just crave a cupcake? It happens to me all the time and honestly even though I went to pastry school and everything, I rarely make them and I know it might sound crazy eqaully but I also rarely eat them. However, when the cupcake craving reared its ugly head today, it seemed like the perfect day to try out Billy's Bakery, a charming little bakery in our neighbourhood.

In the flesh! Billy's!

I had long been told of Billy's. One of my chef-instructors made the bold claim that Billy's made the best cupcakes in the city -- a claim that had me curious as I have had some tasty little cakes in New York. If you are wondering, there is actually a Billy. He used to work at the famed Magnolia Bakery on Bleecker street (you know, the one that you see in Sex and the City...) and when he left Magnolia, he set up his own shop. As a result, the cupcakes at Billy's are strikingly similar to Magnolia's -- both are heavily topped with buttercream and dotted with old-school sprinkles.

Our selection (Chocolate, Red Velvet, Chocolate, Carrot Cake)

Collin Murray and I tried the chocolate, red velvet and carrot cake and were reasonably pleased with our cupcakes. The chocolate and red velvet were pretty dry but the carrot cake was absolutely delicious. It was moist and tender and the perfect balance of carrot and spice. Topped with cream cheese icing that was the perfect dose of sweet and sour, this cupcake was by far the favorite of the day.

Carrot Cake deliciousness...with a little bit taken out of it!

Billy's Bakery is located at 184 9th Avenue and there is also a location in Tribeca. Either way, you can also visit their website by clicking http://www.billysbakerynyc.com/.

We ate them all...almost...

Pssst...I forgot to mention, Collin Murray was our photographer today! I think he did rather well!

The New Fulton Fish Market @ Hunts Point

I was up in the wee hours this morning in order to take a little field trip with my culinary management class to the New Fulton Fish Market at Hunt's Point in the Bronx. Fulton is one of the largest fresh fish markets in North America, as such, it was an incredible experience that I didn't mind having to be up so early for! Our large, and I must say, fairly rowdy group for the time of day, left the school on a "party bus" at 4:30 to be at the fish market by 5am. Ironically, as early as it was, we were actually getting there a little late -- the fish market's prime hours are from 1am to 5am. Being "late" meant that we had missed a lot of the serious buying action from the city's various purveyors but I still got to hear a little haggling and bargaining which was rather delightful. 

View down the market

I can't even begin to list all the different types of fish that I saw at the market. One of the chefs from school accompanied us on the trip and was able to tell us about certain types of fish but the fish mongers themselves were not at all shy if we had questions, in fact, they were quite the characters. They were also incredibly skilled. We watched one gentleman fillet fish in less then 10 seconds. He made four cuts, flipped the fish over and before we knew it, he was on to the next one! It was fascinating. 

Sassy fish monger

What surprised me about the fish market was how many purveyors were selling shark(!) and swordfish -- it was pretty crazy to see whole sharks and headless baby sharks just hanging out. Who knew there was such a demand for them? The market also had a ton of red snapper, blue crabs, tons of different white fish, lobster, tons of catfish, sea urchin, scallops, monk fish, mussels, clams (of literally every size), salmon, tuna, prawns...you get the point -- they have everything.

Baby shark and half of a larger shark

Here are a couple more photos of our fishy morning:


Sea Urchin



Hungry?

Enormous catfish

Fish hook -- what the fish monger's use to move the fish

The big buckets are attached to scales and used to weigh the big fishes

The City Bakery Pretzel Croissant

I experienced a marvelous thing today. The City Bakery Pretzel Croissant. I've been lusting after it for weeks and weeks. I've been told dozens of times by many different sources that this NYC original was not to be missed and ya know what, they were right.


The recipe is closely guarded. In fact, a few rounds of googling turned up nothing but myths and failed attempts of the many people who have tried to recreate it. If I had to guess, I would say that they make a pretzel dough and then fold and pound it, the same way that croissants are made. The taste is quite salty but also buttery and moist. The texture is not as dense as a pretzel but not as flaky as the croissant. In a word, it was delicious and I am definitely going to go back for more.

Holy Hot Pepper!

I'm not very brave when it comes to hot peppers. Honestly, I'm actually kind of a wimp. Collin Murray and my step-brother Russell seem to have iron mouths but I'm just not that brave. Lately, since it's pepper season, there have been a whole 'lotta peppers at the market and though I've been working up my courage to try them, I just haven't gotten there yet...maybe next week...


You can understand why I'm not so brave...with a warning like EXPLOSIVE HOT, you would be crazy not to be scared!


Maybe I could get on-board with a Chocolate Hot Pepper...


Sorry for the blur, the array of hot peppers made me dizzy!


These little lovelies are just so pretty, but I think I'd rather try those lovely sweet peaches behind the peppers instead.

Feast of San Gennaro...And Zeppole!

Collin Murray and I took a little walk today, a walk that ended in Little Italy and the 84th annual Feast of San Gennaro. I have to admit that though the festival is supposed to be religious (in fact, the festival's website claims that it is the longest running and most revered religious festivals in the United States), I certainly didn't find it all that church-y...unless we're talking about worshipping food. I swear, I have never seen more sausages and peppers in my life. Sacks of onions, vats of oil, and wood-fired pizza ovens right on the side of the street! It was a little insane -- especially when considering how absolutely packed with people Mulberry street was.


See! It was just a wee bit busy...


Crazy enormous sausage rolls!


They also had a fresh and fried seafood booth that smelled amazing.

Collin Murray and I didn't even make it to the end of the festival, it was just too nutty but what we did manage to snag was a steaming hot, confectioner's sugar dunked, huge paper bag of zeppole or fried bits of dough -- Italian-style.



A common pastry of Rome, Naples and Sicily, zeppole are normally consumed on La Festa di San Giuseppe (The Feast of Saint Joesph) in March but I was very excited to find them in September. Occasionally the little bits of dough are sprinkled in granulated sugar and can be filled with jam or pastry cream but ours were "served" plain and I was quite ok with that...



Click here for more information on the Feast. It will continue to run, this year, till September 26.