Already, while folding the dry ingredients into the whipped egg white mixture, I could tell there was a difference with this batter than the first time. So much smoother and lighter. And out of the 38 pieces that the recipe was able to yield, only 5 were (unfortunately) cracked. Those were the ones on the tray that sat out the longest before being baked.
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- macaron shell – baking
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- macaron shell – baked
Much to my dismay, when I bit into a cookie, it was hollow inside.
The list of things I suspect that botched this trial; (1) adding (too much) gel food coloring; (2) egg whites were not whipped enough; (3) oven temperature was too high and (4) they could have been slightly under-baked (even though the cookies came off the parchment paper quite easily).
But on a good note, they look (on the outside) and taste like a real macaron. Maybe the third time is a charm?!?
chocolate macarons with mocha buttercream
For those of you reading this that are not Facebook followers, I have taken on the macaron challenge. I have been baking for many years now and have never made this confection and never had any intention to do so. There are so many patisseries out there that are very dedicated in making these that they have devoted their store in producing just macarons in many different flavor combinations. Some traditional and some totally out of the box, so why compete? But with my family anticipating my return to Ottawa for Christmas vacation, they have requested that I add this to the holiday treats list. And so off I go…
Armed with Adriano Zumbo’s book and many internet articles/blogs/youtube videos, today marked the very first day I attempted making these. Quite frankly, I prefer my treats and dessert to contain full fat and/or chocolate so I decided to go with chocolate macarons. And I am not-so-happy to inform you that it was a fail. My “shells” did not produce any feet and they were quite dense. So what could have contributed to such failure? Well, quite a number of things I’m assuming…(1) only passing the dry ingredients through a sieve twice and not pulsing it in a food processor prior; (2) backing out of the original recipe direction when I saw that it’s the Italian meringue way (I only have one sauce pan, which currently contains sweet and sour meatballs cooked for dinner); and after more research on the internet (3) chocolate macarons are apparently the most difficult to get right, I think I put too much cocoa powder…
Anyhoo…onwards and upwards! Back to the test kitchen tomorrow! This time maybe I’ll just go for the very basic shell…I’m actually quite excited to get this right because I already have a list of flavor combinations that I’d like to try!
Wish me luck!
Whoa le! wt ef happened this month?!?!
Busy, busy, busy! getting organized for the Indulge n’ Dance event all the whilst getting challenged by the biz.
Quick Re-cap (in no particular order)…
- We had our first Indulge Yourself workshop with guest speaker Crystal from Yelp Canada, and Jenna, 1/2 of Make It!. Met the other 6 pastry makers that will be featured at the event. We wined and snacked while learning a lot about presentation/presence both online and in the community (not sure if that makes sense to you but the most important thing is I know what I’m talking about).
- made an edible Easter basket arrangement that was donated (scroll down for the pic)
- Added a new service – I now print my own edible images! It can be placed directly on cakes or on decorations for cakes/cupcakes as well as cookies! No more relying on other people to have it done for me…what a great feeling! Oh, the ordeal I had to go through to get my printer up and running! PHEW! Let’s just say so much running around, calling people and emailing my old boss at Isobel’s for advice and tips.
- I got my first edible image order from Cupcakes on Denman!
- Received an order for cookies with their edible image logo design – I won’t mention which company yet since it’s going in their annual Easter basket giveaway. I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise.
- Got my first mention on a foodie blog by FollowMeFoodie! Thanks so much xo
- Got my 2nd feature on an Etsy treasury list by Erin - also thank you!
- Opened a Yelp account (now you can post review(s) if you’ve had the pleasure of devouring some of my treats/cakes)
- Got some business cards professionally printed, now with a new design/layout – check it!
- oh! I had my first ever contest.
- and last but not least, I celebrated my birthday. Another year older and yes, another year wiser
Cheers!
-Kimberly
Edible Easter Basket Arrangement
Hi Vancouver!
I have a couple of tickets to giveaway for Indulge n’ Dance (go to http://www.socialbites.ca/pb/wp_f011e53b/wp_f011e53b.html for event details).
There’s 3 ways you can enter, each one will be considered as one entry.
1. “Like” my facebook page (www.facebook.com/kimberlySKOW) and post a comment;
2. Tweet: “I just entered a contest to win tix for #indulgendance via @kimberlySKOW”
3. Blog about why you want to go to the event and be sure to link back to my website blog
I will announce the winner Monday, April 2nd! Good luck 
I am obviously not great with keeping this online journal of mine so I figured I could at least give you a monthly highlights.
February…let’s see…what happened in February???
Well, I met up with Annika, the founder of Social Bites. She was kind enough to have invited me at a networking function with speakers from the Dragons’ Den show, Jim Treliving to be exact. It was truly inspirational and left me wishing that I could be capable of coming up with an innovative product! That night was also the beginning of my involvement with a new event that she’ll be hosting called Indulge n’ Dance (stay tuned). A few of us home bakers will be featured for the night where guests will be able to sample one dessert of our choosing and in return be provided with some constructive feedback. After the sweet sampling portion, everyone can then enjoy the rest of the evening dancing off the calories they will consume 
I also had an opportunity to sit down with a bride-to-be. She was quite enchanting with so much stories to tell about her travels for work in finance all the while keeping a long distance relationship. She then learned that making lots of money doesn’t define how successful a person is. She’s changed career and now works for a company that encourages her to work towards her goal of being a keeper of her own time.
With all these events keeping me inspired, I came up with Maple Bacon cupcake and cakepop! I will be featuring the cakepops at the Indulge n’ Dance event in April, so wish me luck that hopefully it gets some positive feedback and new customers as well.
Weddings are amazing. And while most girls dream about weddings before they even know what dating means, I am more of a sucker for proposal stories.
A couple of my greatest friends from back home in Ottawa, Nicole and Chad, just got engaged today! After 4 years and a beautiful baby girl later, he finally got down on his knee and presented her with her grandmother’s ring. They were visiting Montreal for the weekend to celebrate their anniversary. Awww, LOVE.
I told my bf the news and his response (joking, of course) was “maybe he slipped and fell on his knee”. Why such a comment you ask? Well he proposed in the shower! Talk about making yourself vulnerable. As if it’s not hard enough to get the courage to propose, he did it NAKED. Props to you my man! BRAVO! Forget the fact that she’s been waiting on him for this for a while now, how can she not say YES?! LOL
Although, no wedding date set yet, I can picture a fall wedding for them with me in attendance of course
Congratulations guys! I wish you more years of wonderful surprises.
What’s your proposal story???
I feel blessed.
This cake order came in at the exact same time I had switched my site to wordpress.org and disappeared from Google search. You would think that it was a miracle that Annar (the lovely lady who’s responsible for making this cake happen) even found me on the Internet.
But no, what’s a miracle is baby Mariyah, whom at this moment is probably getting ready for her very first birthday bash. I know we all have thought that it’s a waste of money, time and effort to celebrate a first birthday in such a huge way but Mariyah’s family have every reason to.
Mariyah was born at only 5 1/2 months. Her mom went into labour and was fully dilated when she arrived at the hospital. She was able to keep her in for a few more days but then Mariyah just had to come out. “She was the size of my palm”, Mariyah’s mom said. Mariyah spent the first half year of her life in the hospital. No one was even sure if she was going to make it. But days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. And now she turns one, what a miracle.
I was lucky enough that Shama had waited for me to deliver the cake before she put Mariyah down for a nap, so I was able to meet her. She’s so tiny! Probably the length of my forearm including my palm (I’m 5’5″). She was quite cheerful too, not at all shy with strangers. Other than a slow development (ie. she’s not the average size of a 1 year old baby, not crawling yet, etc) according to her mom, Mariyah is in great health.
Cheers to that!
Tinkerbell inspired cake
P.S. She absolutely loved the cake, I meant the mom. But I’m sure in due time, when Mariyah is able to recognize pictures, she will too
Also, big thank you to my man-partner, I couldn’t have delivered this all by myself. And also thank you for cancelling our plans for the weekend so that I can actually rest!
Cake Structure starting from the bottom up
12″ red velvet cake with cream cheese filling and vanilla frosting
9″ chocolate cake with raspberry swiss meringue buttercream filling/frosting, two stacks
6″ red velvet cake with cream cheese filling and vanilla frosting
4″ chocolate cake with raspberry swiss meringue buttercream filling/frosting, flower cake
fondant fairy topper with chocolate wings
Obstacles:
The fairy took longer than I had anticipated. I had to re-do it a third time before I was able to get her torso not looking pregnant or of a man’s. Could still look more proportionate, she looks like she could be a linebacker. Haha
The petal flower cake started of as a regular 4″ round cake but then I had a really difficult time attaching the petals because the cake itself lacked any shape. It looked like they were just ruffles on the top. So I had to peel off the fondant, re-shape it, dirty ice it again, cover it fondant again before re-attaching the petals.
Goodbye free flash website…hello WordPress blog site…My iPhone will thank you soon.
Still a working progress but it works. Right now, what I need is MAJOR Help on something else! Since moving my site, I now have dropped off from Google searches. *cries* SOOO not the right time to disappear!!!
Anyhoo, I’m not entirely sure how this whole thing works. I have re-submitted my site to Google and Bing. What else can I do???
We’re more than likely to have milk in our fridge than buttermilk. So if you’re too lazy to head out to the store to get just one item (I know I am) then don’t fret, here’s a quick and easy substitution!
1 tbsp vinegar and enough whole milk to make 1 cup
Let it sit for at least 5 minutes before using and voila!
True buttermilk though is the liquid that separates when you over whip your whipping cream and the solid mass is homemade BUTTER! Just make sure you knead the butter in running cold water to get the excess buttermilk out, otherwise it will spoil faster. Season with salt or with herbs and spices and use pronto!
How long will it keep? Who knows! If it’s made right and taste great, it’ll be gone in a few days IF used sparingly
shoulda, woulda, coulda…
I guess poor planning on my part left me unprepared for what could go wrong with this cake.
I shoulda/woulda/coulda made the ears dayS in advance and put more thought into how to insert it in the head without/minimal damage to either parts. Somehow I managed to get them in there but clumsy me KNOCKED an ear off :’( OMGWTFBBQ!!! How will I fix this???
I had no royal icing to “glue” it back on but I did have some chocolate melts! HOORAY! Melted chocolate can be a powerful and delicious edible glue and it dries faster than royal icing. I also did not leave myself any buttercream to write the message on the cake, so I also used melted chocolate!
oh chocolate, how do I love thee? let me count the ways…this is definitely going on the list!
Here’s a pic of the finished product. Cheers!
Heffalump