|
|
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
Welcome to the next step in cupcake evolution: The Cake in a Cup. Customers will always want cupcakes, but are starting to want something more elegant than the sweet, more casual cupcake in a paper.
A recent client asked for something more upscale than the usual paper-clad treat so based on her description of an ideal dessert to offer at her birthday party, we created 60 of the lovely Cakes in a Cup you see at left in three flavors: The Black Onyx Chocolate cake and cappuccino-Tiramisu icing is at left. We also created a traditional Red Velvet version with a wine-colored bow on the glass, and a Lemon cake version with Lavender icing (both color and flavor!). To complement the treats we also created 15 Orange-Grand Marnier truffles and 15 Port-Black Pepper truffles to round out the dessert bar.
If you’re in Los Angeles and you’d like to have some for yourself, we can take care of it for you. Just email us at info {at} superfinebakery.com and let us know what you’d like!
Sunday, July 12th, 2009  Lastnight I attended and baked cupcakes for a great party celebrating the engagement of two wonderful people, Nicole and Jeremy. For this event I baked three flavors: Red velvet, Lemon with Italian meringue, and vanilla with orange buttercream icing. The challenge with this orde r was to keep the look of the cupcakes working as a unit. I didn’t want a chaotic presentation of different color icings, decor, etc. What to do?
So I devised a plan: Use the same pattern across all the cupcakes (in this case tiny flowers) to pull them together, but indicate the flavors with the different colors. The result is the presentation above.
 Another challenge I ran into on this one was this cupcake stand. It worked great, but we had some height challenges with the hankie papers — they only fit on the bottom two tiers, calling for the smaller cuppies up top. I didn’t want the perceived smaller cupcakes to pale next to the more dramatic hankie-papered cuppies, so I phoned the Town Tart and she pointed me in a direction I love: Rubber stamping. I went out, bought a rubber stamp set of the alphabet, and did these hearts. Problem solved!
The flowers, butterflies and hearts on top were made of thinly rolled fondant, cut out, dried, then assembled with royal icing. Royal icing is like cement folks — nothing moves once it’s used to adhere sugar together.
And as any baker or chef will tell you, this is what it’s all about:
Friday, June 26th, 2009
 …here is proof that it’s actually alive and well and keeping me busy! This order was for four flavors: German Chocolate (Chocolate cake with coconut-pecan icing), Red Velvet, Lemon with Meringue Icing, and Vanilla with Orange Buttercream. Pictured above is the Vanilla with a few of the German Chocolates showing.
The German Chocolate cupcake has to be my new favorite. It’s a cooked icing, and near the end of the mixing process I added a bunch of sweetened coconut and the world’s most amazing pecans. These pecans come from trees that my grandfather planted on his farm in rural Alabama many moons ago. His neighbors who now own the land did what the best kind of Southerners do, and packed up a large bag of these plump, buttery, fat fresh pecans and sent them to me. They really take this decadent, rich icing to another level.
 Here’s a shot of the lemon cupcakes with a toasted Italian meringue on top, and the Red Velvets. The little decor you see on the Velvets is a small triangle of dark chocolate with an edible image laid onto the chocolate when it’s still warm. When it cools, you can score and break it into desired shapes. The chocolatey-ness of these Velvets begged for something chocolatey to compliment it, and the red plaid-like pattern was a perfect fit to help identify the flavor.
Enjoy!
Saturday, June 6th, 2009  I’m sure most of you saw the title of this post and thought it read “Happy Birthday, Do[o].” In fact, it’s a birthday wish for my friend Do (pronounced “dough”) Duong, a most kind, talented and successful man, turning 30 today.
To celebrate with his family, he ordered a few things from me: A large fruit tart, a cinnamon loaf (loaf of bread formed with a cinnamon spiral at the center), and the cupcakes pictured left. He wanted some vanilla and some chocolate, so I did that and kicked them up with mocha buttercream and orange buttercream. Because it’s his birthday, he also got these special papers with blue swirls on the vanilla, and edible gold dust on top of all.
Do, may you have a fantastic birthday, may Elline have a good time too, and lots of love to you both. 
Saturday, May 9th, 2009 
It’s no secret. I love cherry blossoms (or in Japanese, “sakura”). They really appeal to the mid-century modernist in me: Clean, light, elegant, and as temporary as a heartache.
This fascination with the cherry blossom began with my wedding planning back in ’06. Greg spent his high school years in Japan, so in a nod to that I found invitations featuring cherry blossoms, and riffed off that image for my table numbers, Thank You cards, and yes, my wedding cake made by the lovely Jamaica Crist at Jamaica’s Cakes.
These cupcakes and papers started as an exploration into how I might customize and further decorate the cupcake papers. I love the plain white, but it seemed I could do more. The cherry blossoms above and the cabbage rose, love heart, and colonial rose below are the results. Let me know your thoughts!
  
Monday, May 4th, 2009 
We had a lovely dinner at our friends Julie and Bill’s house lastnight and after talking through some options with Julie, she asked that I make chocolate macaroons (french style) and these lemon cupcakes with orange buttercream frosting. This cupcake is unique in the set, and it belongs to Julie. The hostess always gets the cool one!
All were sprinkled with edible gold, then for the remaining cupcakes I made marzipan and sculpted little edible oranges for the top:
 I love these cupcake papers which I call “hankie” style. To me they look more elegant than the short papers, and do a great job of protecting and containing the frosting. These were a hit and were a blast to make – I saved this one for you:
|
Superfine Bakery is an appointment-only couture bakery specializing in custom cakes for clients in the Los Angeles area.
We are inspired by all facets of the baking tradition, but at Superfine we focus on the art of the edible celebration centerpiece. Our aim is to reinterpret and reframe traditional forms to bring modern, luxurious cakes to your event and make your cake as spectacular as the occasion itself.
We'd love to be a part of your next event. See Menu, then Contact Us.
|
