Found a Baker for my Future Wedding?

{E.Ho's attempt at cake decorating ~ June 2010}

So... I'm stuck in a self imposed dungeon (my desk or the library desk) most days till about early October. However, I do allow myself some time to check email and follow up with blogging stuff before I get into the grind. The other day I opened up my Gmail and one of the emails was from a good friend at work, E.Ho with the above photo attached. I was so confused... did she happen to find a photo of a cake with BT's (our mutual friend at work) and my name? She then divulged later that day that she's taking a cake decorating/baking class. And ... her goal is to make a 3 tiered wedding cake!!! I've been asked to start thinking about my potential flavor combinations. Ideas anyone?

The penmanship isn't too bad yea? So I guess I've found a baker for my future wedding?

See Ya Later At Extraordinary Desserts: San Diego, CA

My good friend Huy is moving back to the Bay Area. In some ways I'm jealous that he's leaving before me since I long to come back home too. We've known each other since middle school but our relationship at that time through high school was very different.. more along the lines of we were simply aware of each other's existence. I don't think it was until we both started attending UCSD that we actually developed a real friendship. Perhaps it was out of seeing a familiar face in a sea of strangers that brought us close together.

Anyhow this was was our last meal together before he took off. I was craving dessert at Extraordinary and normally I order a Blood Orange Ricotta Torte but there was only 1 slice left in the display and I'm not a fan of taking last slices so we went with a slice of the Roasted Coconut Cream Torte.  

They weren't kidding with the coconut in the name. It was delicious but coconut was just all about the only flavor I could distinguish. It was still a lovely combination of vanilla sponge cake, roasted coconut and voluminous lightly sweetened whipped cream.

I normally order a Chai or coffee but I was feeling fruity that day so I ordered a kiwi lemonade. What a visually appealing drink. Simply a refreshing light sparkling lemonade with kiwi puree. Most definitely a lovely drink to sip on a lovely day.

I'm not a fan of saying goodbye. I've watched as my friends moved away for family, grad school or new jobs and its always sad to say goodbye. So I'll just say see ya later! Hope you have fun readjusting in the Bay Area Huy! I'll be bugging you when I'm visiting the Folks in the area ;)

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Extraordinary Desserts

2929 5th Ave.

San Diego, CA 92103

619-294-2132

http://www.extraordinarydesserts.com/

Aki's Bakery: San Jose, CA

I had heard of Aki's Bakery years ago as it is quite a fixture in San Jose, serving the community since the 1960's. My Honor's World History/ AP US History teacher in high school would rave about and of course I remembered to add it to my "to visit" list. However, I never mentioned it when I was living at home since I figured nobody at home would be down for venturing away from the Chinese style cakes they were so familiar with. Recently I felt my family became be more open to venturing into new styles of cakes so I suggested it and it was an emphatic go.
DV and I arrived bright and early before opening but as you can see... there were others anxiously awaiting to grab some goodies. Parking is very limited in the front to street parking so we decided to park in the back where there was plenty of parking since we were driving the parents' shiny new car.
Once we were in, we were overwhelmed by the choices. Look at all the cakes! All so pretty and yummy looking. We managed to be first in line and considering there were several patrons waiting behind us, we decided it'd be wise to not step out and wave people on. So we stepped up to the counter and the attendant was great at helping us to find the cake we were looking for. Specifically we wanted a cake low in sugar yet wasn't plain tasting and the signature guava cake was recommended to us.
This pink treat consists of two layers of guava chiffon cake, filled and iced with guava whipped cream and topped with a light guava puree. The attendant said it was imperative that we put the cake back in the fridge if weren't going to eat it within the hour so we did as we were saving it for after lunch.
Check out that slice! The cake layers were light and fluffy... and had a delicate guava flavor. I'm such a fan of whipped cream as it is airy...making it less of a guilt trip to consume than butter cream or cream cheese frosting. This whipped cream icing was no different and again lightly flavored with guava. When I first saw the guava puree, I was a little skeptical that it wouldn't be overly sweet. But it really wasn't and provided a lovely different texture to the cake.
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Aki's Bakery
355 Meridian Ave.
San Jose, CA 95126
(408)287-5404
www.akisbakery.com/Welcome.html

Cocola: San Jose, CA

I really don't remember what Town and Country was like- the site of the current Santana Row. What I remember was that Valley Fair, the mall across the street was a formidable giant and still is today. I remember reading in the Mercury News a few years back that it was the top grossing mall in all of California... it should still be looming around that spot today given its lofty shops, wealthy clientèle and the sheer effort required to obtain a parking spot. It seemed like overnight that Santana Row was erected and giving Valley Fair a run for its money. It's design was not a new concept in other metropolitans but very new to San Jose. The developers sought to combine living space with chic restaurants and pricey shops much like the developments that line the streets of Rome, Paris, NY, etc.

I hadn't gotten the chance to visit till recently. By the looks of it, I think the developers succeeded in their vision. There are fancy dining joints most requiring 2 hour waits, stores that can also be found gracing Rome's Spanish Steps or NY's 5th Ave. and living spaces for the young and hip with the means to afford it.

After a filling dinner, a friend and I were searching for a coffee joint to unwind and continue the night away by catching up. I thought of Santana Row... surely there'd be such a place there. We walked around a bit and came across Cocola. It looked inviting and though I've never been to France I'd imagine this to be just like any cafe there.

I perused the desserts in the showcase and decided on a mango mousse and hot chocolate. We then found a table amongst the crowd outside. I was somewhat disappointed to find such a classy looking cafe so poorly bussed. We ended up busing what was left on the unoccupied table we chose.

We were expecting to be at least called when our order was ready since it wasn't going to be brought to us. Not the case... the order was left at the counter with several other orders for us to pick up as we wished. We did already pay so it would have been nice to take a little care in making sure the order got to us. I suppose the cafe adopted some French haughtiness as well.
My hot chocolate was frothy and not too sweet. It was a nice cup of chocolate but I didn't think it was anything to write home about. An overwhelmingly sized cup, I had wished there was a smaller size but the cashier informed me there was only one size for drinks consumed on the premise of the cafe.
I always feel an inclination to get mango-anything. Since I spotted the mango mousse cake I went with that. I was again disappointed now with the plastic cutlery provided for the cake. Plastic cutlery seemed to take away from the presentation of the lovely dessert. The mousse was creamy, smooth and faintly hinted mango. What I believed to be sponge cake which the mousse sat atop didn't taste fluffy at all... in fact it tasted dry and on verge of being stale. B for mousse F for cake.

I've had better drinks, desserts and service but I did enjoy the atmosphere.
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Cocola
333 Santana Row #1045
San Jose, CA 95128
(408)551-0018

Hoffman's Bakery: Santa Cruz, CA

So my sister and I arrived home fairly early and decided to drive out to Santa Cruz to pick up my brother since it was only a 40 min drive South West on the 17. I also wanted to check out this bakery that my family has been raving about out there. So we drive out there and hit the usual commuter traffic since a fair amount of people do live off the 17 and drive to work in Silicon Valley. It turned out to be a longish drive and I was not a happy camper to arrive at my brother’s place which he shared with 2 spoiled brats. My brother is a pretty clean dude considering he is a second year and an only boy in my family. Oh geez but the one of the guys left this gargantuan 50 gallon sized hamper of dirty laundry behind for the holiday weekend and I really need not say more since I’m sure you all can imagine. I’m so glad I’m a girl and left dorm living behind 3 years ago.

I was oh so glad to be leaving his dorm to head to Downtown Santa Cruz. I had never walked around downtown even though I had attended numerous summer programs at UC Santa Cruz but I was instantly jealous. This was a pretty chic downtown area which serviced quite a few socio-economic classes other than the ultra wealthy like Del Mar and La Jolla seems to cater to. It was also quite accessible and parking was not outrageous like Downtown San Diego. I spotted a night market… Santa Cruz residents are truly spoiled. I would love it if there were an easily accessible regular night time farmers market where I live. Well we finally arrived at Hoffman’s and start to salivate as I usually do when I see lovely baked goods. We discovered that this is actually a German bakery and has been around for many years. There was that distinct bakery - yeasty smell that lingered in the air… quite common with well established bakeries. Quite a few patrons were dining in the general dining area that night and perusing the show case to see what sweet delectable they would delight in at the end of their meals. The woman that helped us was quite friendly and helpful with suggestions. We ended up walking out with a Princess torte, some German spice breads, a few single slices of their other signature tortes and a chocolate meringue. I only took a picture of the Princess Torte because it survived the devastation otherwise known as my baby sis the next morning.

I convinced my parents to save the cake for Thanksgiving dinner which was only the next day and we did. We had dinner at Little Fat Sheep in Fremont since the kitchen is still going through a major overhaul. Dinner was so good that my parents asked for to-go cups to take the soup home. However, the cake was the true star of the show that night. Everybody, the people siting around us and the waiters couldn’t help but keep on admiring how beautiful the cake looked. If only they knew that this cake tasted as great as it looks. I have never been a fan of marzipan, suppose its because I’ve only tasted store bought marzipan and the one that covers the princess torte is made in-house. The marzipan was soft and lightly flavored, the genoise was airy and fragrant with vanilla. Mmm… there was just a right amount of cream and raspberry jam filling.

If I ever end up having my wedding in the Bay Area I will probably order my cake from here. It was decently priced at $18 for a 6inch, tasted great and looked gorgeous.

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Hoffman's
1102 Pacific Ave.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831) 420-0135
M-F: 8am- 9pm
Sa-Su: 8am-2pm, 5pm-10pm
http://www.hoffmansbakery.net/index.html

Recipe: White Chocolate Cake with Fresh Strawberry Buttercream

I have always been somewhat deathly afraid to try my hand at making a layered cake. I have made most other types of desserts since my interest in cooking and baking began however there always seemed to be an aura of mystery about the layered cake. I did once attempt to make a layer cake with raspberries and some type of vanilla cream when I was about 9 for my dad’s birthday. That turned out disastrous. I was too anxious and took the cake out of the pan before it had cooled so it didn’t come out as perfectly as it probably could have… it was broken and cracked all over. I didn’t shave off the top so it had those cake tops . I tried frosting and placing the raspberries in the middle even after this so the heat caused the cream to melt and the berries to ooze its juices. My father is a simple man and me just even attempting to make a cake for him was a great present already. He ate my cake and said it tasted great. Even though he complimented it I was still embarrassed at how it looked. So it took me more than a decade to once again try my hand at making a layered cake.

Ever since I tried one of Elizabethan Desserts wonderful cakes… I became inspired that great cakes didn’t have to look like the ones at Extraordinary Desserts. I scoured epicurious.com for various recipes that I could use and adapt to the flavors I really liked in the cake that I had tried. These original recipes can be found at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/108258 and http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/5378. Below is the recipe I adapted from the two pages I found.


Cake

• 8 ounces white chocolate, chopped
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk

Buttercream

• 1 lb fresh strawberries ( about 1 cup chopped for butter cream and the rest sliced for layers and decoration)
• 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Rum Syrup

• 1/2 cup rum
• 1/4 cup sugar

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar

For cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9-inch round cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Stir white chocolate in top of double boiler set over barely simmering water until melted and smooth. Leave white chocolate in pot; turn off heat. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk in 3 additions, blending well after each addition. Add warm white chocolate and beat just until blended.
2. Divide batter equally between pans, smoothing tops with spatula. Bake cakes until tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 20 minutes (cakes will fall). Run small sharp knife around cake pan sides. Turn cakes right side up onto racks and cool completely.

For buttercream:

1. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in chopped strawberries and vanilla, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in powdered sugar. Cover and refrigerate until thick enough to spread.

For cream cheese frosting:

1. Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar. Cover and refrigerate until firm enough to spread, about 15 minutes.

For assembly:

1. Boil 1/2 cup rum and sugar in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar and until alcohol is gone. Cool syrup. Slice the remaining strawberries to place in the layers and on top.
2. With a serrated knife, shave the top of both cakes off so there is a flat surface to frost and decorate. 
3. Place 1 layer, cut side up, on 9-inch cardboard cake round or plate and brush with 2 tablespoons rum syrup. Spread 6 tablespoons fresh strawberry buttercream over cake. Cover buttercream with single layer of sliced strawberries. Spread 3 tablespoons buttercream over strawberries. Top with second cake layer. Spread cream cheese frosting over top and sides of cake. Cover top with remaining sliced strawberries. Chill cake 1 hour. (Cover with cake dome and keep chilled. Let stand at room temperature for about 45 mins before serving.)

Elizabethan Desserts: Encinitas, CA

Things keep on piling up. I’m so sorry again to those who keep on checking in and expect to see a new post. I seriously have pictures and awaiting posts piling up but its been tough finding the time to sit down and thoughtfully write about my experiences.


Anyhow, a while back ago a good friend recommended a bakery in Encinitas to me. The parentals stop by one weekend and it happened to be Moma Kwok’s birthday. She has a very particular discerning palate so I decided to go check out Elizabethan Desserts since the pictures from the website looked gorgeous and LH said its been getting good reviews on Chowhounds. I stoped by right before closing and I got lucky. Elizabeth (the owner) had a 5” white chocolate block cake with fresh strawberry butter cream frosting destined for me. That cake is the the second cake pictured. Sitting by the counter waiting for the cake to get frosted with a lightly sweetened vanilla bean cream cheese frosting, Elizabeth wasn’t to shy to talk to me about her experience leading up to opening the bakery. I really do admire her humble beginings which I will save for you to discover should you choose to visit this quaint little shop. I love the open atmosphere. On any given day you can stop by and see Elizabeth hard at work making her wonderful creations in an open kitchen. So she frosted my cake and topped it with fresh organic berries as well as gold leaf. The cake was soo tall for the box that she had to make a sort of tent and cover the opening with plastic wrap. Nonetheless the cake was still gorgeous. I rushed back home and after dinner we all took generous slices from the cake. I must say that it tasted as great as it looked. It was such a bargain too… $25 for a 5” cake which I was able to get 8 generous slices out off.


I highly recommend this bakery for awesome looking and tasting cakes at an unbeatable price! Call ahead though to allow enough time for Elizabeth to customize your creation just the way you want it.


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Elizabethan Desserts
155 Quail Gardens Dr.
Encinitas, CA 92024 
(inside the Sunshine Gardens Nursery) 
Tu-Sa: 10am-5pm
Sunday: 10-4 
(760) 522-4141
contact@elizabethandesserts.com
http://www.elizabethandesserts.com/

Recipe: Raspberry White Chocolate Cheesecake

I have all these reviews that are just waiting to get written but I decided today that I’ll post a recipe since it was such a success and I want to share it with you all. NCT and GS came down from the OC to visit today. We took them out to lunch at Arrivederci in Hillcrest and the food was gosh darn awesome and reminiscent of Roma as usual but the service was severely under par. We visited Coronado for a little bit to check out the skyline. We than grabed some coffee at Starbucks and headed home for some dessert which I slaved over last night. I’m glad I did make it though since it turned out wonderfully. I hope you all try this sometime as it turned out to be quite a treat for the senses for me. *Sigh*…there goes my diet. Oh well I really do eat healthy on a regular basis.

Ingredients

• crust:
• 2 cups
• 6 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter

filling:

• 10 oz. frozen raspberries
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups white chocolate
• 1/2 cup half-and-half cream
• 24 oz of softened cream cheese
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 room temperature eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 shoot of Amaretto

Directions

1. Ina medium bowl, mix together cookie crumbs, 6 tablespoons sugar, and melted butter. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch spring-form pan.
2. In a saucepan, combine raspberries, 2 tablespoons sugar, cornstarch, and water. Bring to boil and continue boiling 5 minutes, or until sauce is thick. Strain sauce through a mesh strainer to remove seeds
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt white chocolate chips with half-and-half, stirring occasionally until smooth.
4. In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in vanilla and melted white chocolate. Pour half of batter over crust. Spoon 3 tablespoons raspberry sauce over batter. Pour remaining cheesecake batter into pan, and again spoon 3 tablespoons raspberry sauce over the top. Swirl batter with the tip of a knife to create a marbled effect.
5. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until filling is set. Cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refigereate for 8 hours before removing from pan. Serve with remaining raspberry sauce.