Miel Patisserie Reborn :D

I've mentioned before that I've been receiving macaron and cake orders since I got back from the U.S. I'm moving step by step towards my goal of having an online dessert shop called "Miel Patisserie". Well, the ultimate goal is to own a real shop, but for now online will do just fine :p I was still in the process of making samples, taking pictures, and planning out all the details, so I hadn't think about the packaging design for my macs. My dad, however, disagreed with me. Since I've been receiving orders, I should have a good packaging with my shop name on it so that other people can find my contact info and order from me as well. Talking about advertising before anything official is set up -__-" Despite my disagreement, he went ahead and ordered some boxes and labels with my shop name, as well as my contact info, on them. I have to say the boxes look good, not as fancy as Laduree or Pierre Herme, but at least they're much better than the plastic boxes I used to use :) Below are the pics (rose lychee, violet, and green tea red bean flavors).

Mom's Birthday

While everyone in the US is celebrating the Independence Day, we're celebrating my mom's birthday at home in Indonesia. I finally got the chance to bake a birthday cake for her :) I asked her whether she would like any particular flavor or cake type and she said "Up to you." As always -__-" I kind of hate it when people say up to you, because it makes designing the cake that much harder.. Anw, I decided to bake the fruit cream cake that my boyfriend loves so much, because the cake is not too sweet and I have all the ingredients on hand. The sponge cake rose beautifully, much much better than I've ever baked in the US. The crumb was soft and moist, I absolutely loved it. I used pastry cream lightened with whipped cream (creme chiboust) as the filling, no problem there since I've made that recipe for countless times. Then, I encountered my first problem: no long serrated knife to cut the cake. My mom only had a short serrated knife, so cutting the cake into 3 even layers was a struggle. Second problem: melting whipped cream. I have to say it again, I absolutely hate the heat and humidity in Indonesia! My whipped cream melted in no time, so I had to cover the cake as fast as I could. The end result didn't look as good as the other fruit cakes I've made, but I did think it tasted better, mostly due to the very successful sponge cake :D The cake was light and airy; the cream was fragrant, rich, but not overpowering; the fruits added a touch of sourness and freshness that complimented the cream very well. Overall, it was a delicious cake, too bad it didn't look as good as it tasted. Here are the pics as usual, til later!