Lavender and Beige Communion Cake

'Tis the season for communions!  Years ago, parents would order very traditional and religious cakes in shapes of crosses, bibles..etc.  But the recent cake revolution has allowed us (cake designers) to create some very unique and tasteful communions cakes.  This particular cake was inspired by the invitations to the communion, as well as the little girls dress.  Very simple and pretty.

J'Adore's Exclusive Cupcake Bouquet!

I absolutely love making cupcake bouquets!  Not only are they beautiful, but they taste so good!  This particular design was created for Weddingbells Magazine.  It has gorgeous piped frosting flowers...but not just any flowers.  I decided to hand pipe my favorite flowers: Ranunculus, anemonies and carnations.  As fillers, I made lily of the valley, leaves and large buds to fill the bouquet.  These bouquets are absolutely stunning as centerpieces for any occasion!

**This particular design retails for $100.00

J'Adore la brioche parisienne!

What is a brioche?  The very thought of it makes my mouth water...for those of you who wish to have a more culinary  definition, here it is:
Brioche is a highly enriched French bread, whose high egg and butter content give it a scrumptious and tender crumb. It has a golden brown, and flaky crust from an egg wash applied just after baking. 

Brioche is considered a Viennoiserie.  Some terms even refer to it as Briocherie.  It is made the same way as a basic bread, but possesses the richer aspect of a pastry because of its addition of eggs, butter, milk, and a little sugar. Brioche, along with pain au lait and pain aux raisins — which are usually devoured at breakfast or as a snack — form a leavened subgroup of Viennoiserie. Brioche pastry is often paired with fruit or chocolate and served as a pastry or as the basis of a dessert with many local variations in added ingredients, fillings or toppings.  Brioche can also be used in savory dishes, usually in meat dishes, usually stuffed with foie gras. 

Either way, it will surely make your mouth water...and transport you right back to the streets of Paris!  Leaving you wanting more and more....

J'Adore les croissants!

What is a croissant?  This infamous french pastry is a buttery flaky bread named for its distinctive crescent shape.  Croissants are made from a leavened puff pastry.  The yeast dough is layered with butter, and carefully folded several times creating the term "laminate."

But enough scientific talk!  As a pastry chef, educated at Le Cordon Bleu, I have trained with world renowned french chefs who turned my passion into a fun and exciting career!  Lately, I feel that the art of being a pastry chef has slowly begun to fade in the city, as it is being taken over by the cakeworld.  With television shows such as "Cupcake Wars" and "Cake Boss", the obsession of having sculpted cakes, and mechanically engineered cakes have taken over!  The pastry chef in me is revolted at the thought of how much that sculpted cake has been handled, and even less enticed to eat it.

I have made it my mission to bring back the love of old world pastries.  Decadent croissants, pain au chocolat, chaussons aux pommes, pain au raisins, pâte a choux, religieuses, éclairs...and the list goes on and on as my mouth begins to water!  The main ingredients: flour, eggs, sugar, milk and most importantly...BUTTER!

This week in the J'Adore Kitchen, we have made it our mission to perfect the art of the croissant.  After two batches, we finally achieved success!  Follow that warm buttery smell right to J'Adore's doorstep, and taste our delicious croissants : Almond croissants, hazelnut croissanst and the original butter croissant!

Lambeth Piping Skills Class!

Join me on sunday May 1st at the Bonnie Gordon College in Toronto  from 10:00am to 4:00pm as I teach the lambeth piping skills!  This course is for those who have basic piping skills and eager to improve their skills. Learn the elegant decorative methods of Joseph Lambeth piping that define this intricate, Old World style. Learn the following piping techniques designed by master pastry chef, Joseph Lambeth:


Students will learn

- Intricate, dimensional overpiping of borders on a fondant-covered cake
- Fine drop scroll & side scroll piping, border construction and lattice piping

For more information, please contact the school at 416-440-0333, and sign up for the class today!

2012 Wedding Cake Trends!

Here we are only 3 months into the 2011 wedding season and I am already getting excited about the upcoming 2012 wedding season.  At The Wedding Co. Show in January, a lot of newly engaged couples were planning their upcoming nuptials for 2012.  Here are some predictions on cake trends for the approaching season:

Couture Cakes:

Couture cakes have quickly become a crowd favorite.  These particular cakes are designed based on fashion and haute couture, playing with fabrics, colors, textures and layers upon layers of fondant. 

In the 2012 season, the couture cake trend will slowly begin to fade, being replaced by the minimalist movement.  What is the minimalist movement?  Well, to sum it up less will be more.  Cakes will become blank canvases where cake artists, paintbrush in hand, will let their imagination take over!

Most inspirations will be taken from the beautiful patterns of the invitations, from fabrics, from textured and designed papers. 

The cakes will mostly be white, as all artists’ canvases are and will be adored with vibrant colors.  Elegance will be introduced with a touch of black, giving the cake a sleeker look. Hand painted accents and details will embellish the cakes.

Flowers:

Hydrangeas, roses, and calla lilies will be left behind in 2011 and will be replaced with sleeker, more modern looking flowers such as magnolias, tulips, ranunculus and peonies.  Whites, soft pinks, and vibrant colored flowers will beautifully adorn your cakes.

Taller is better:

Taller cakes will start to make their appearance in the 2012 wedding season.  But not just any tall cakes!  We will be seeing a lot of double tiers, taller tiers creating a very elevated cake. 

Flavors:

Red velvet was a very popular flavor amongst brides and groom in the 2011 wedding season.  You will see this trend slowly fade, being replaced by fresher and more exotic flavors.  Bursts of flavors such as pomegranate, passion fruit, wild blueberry and fig will tickle your palettes in the 2012 wedding season!  My mouth is watering already!

Couture Cake

This was such a fun cake make!  First of all, the clients where the ideal clients!  What are ideal clients?  Those who basically say : DO WHAT YOU WANT!  That is music to my ears...The only thing they asked for were the colors.

I created this cake inspired by fashion and couture.  I hand painted the details, and used modeling chocolate and gumpaste for the decorations.  The filling is a lemon cake with a wild blueberry buttercream.  A perfect filling to match the color of the cake.