Summer time Sweetness

 When I think of summer, I think of sweet treats, like snow cones, ice cream, fruit smoothies, and other fruit treats, but out of all these things what I look forward to the most are the many delicious treats made from the fresh fruits that we get from the fields or farmers markets.  There is nothing better to me then chocolate and fresh fruit.  Really any fruit will do.  Raspberries are my favorite so today we made a dark chocolate mousse with a fresh raspberry compote and sweetened whipped cream.  

  We also made some cupcakes, nothing better then a light and fluffy cake filled with a fruity filling and a light whipped frosting.  Here we made a French vanilla cake with a fresh raspberry filling and a white chocolate whipped Italian buttercream.  Yum, yum.  

  So here are these tasty recipes for your eating pleasure.  

Vanilla Cupcakes with raspberry filling and Italian buttercream 

Ingredients:

Batter:

1 1/4 c cake flour or sift regular flour well

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 c sugar

5 Tbs. butter at room temperature

1 egg at room temperature

1/2 c whole milk

2 cups raspberries

Filling:

6 oz cream cheese

3 Tbs. sour cream

1/3 c sugar

Buttercream:

3 eggs whites

3/4 c sugar

1 c unsalted butter at room temperature cut into small squares

5-8 oz of white chocolate melted and then cooled to room temperature

Directions:

1 Sift together cake flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.  In an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy.  Add egg to butter mixture until incorporated.  Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk in 2 additions .  Do not over-beat, mix on low speed, just until flour and milk are combined.

2 Line muffin tins and fill half way.  DO NOT OVERFILL! The cream cheese filling will make a big mess out of your cupcakes if there is too much batter in the cupcake tins.

3 Use a small spoon or teaspoon to dig a well in each cupcake.  Combine softened cream cheese, sour cream and sugar with an electric mixture.  Fill each well with a small spoonful of the cream cheese mixture.

4 Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.  Insert a toothpick in the center of a cupcakes to test for doneness.

Let cupcakes cool completely on wire rack.

5 While cupcakes are cooling, prepare buttercream in heatproof bowl (or double boiler like this one HERE).  Combine egg whites and sugar. Set the bowl over simmering water in a saucepan.  Use an electric beater to mix egg whites and sugar for 2 minutes or until mixture is warm to touch and sugar is dissolved. 

6 Remove bowl from saucepan and mix egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form (see picture).  Mix in unsalted butter AT ROOM TEMPERATURE until combined.    Add white chocolate until desired taste is reached. CHOCOLATE MUST BE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE.  Continue whipping buttercream until super airy and fluffy.

7 To assemble cupcake…

use a fork and lightly crush raspberries.  8 Place heaping spoonful of raspberries onto each cupcake.

9 Pile on buttercream using pastry bag and tip.

10 Top with white chocolate shavings by warming up a small piece of white chocolate in the microwave for 10 seconds and then using a vegetable peeler to shave thin slices of chocolate into curls.  Refrigerate curls for a few minutes to make firm.

Dark chocolate mousse with raspberry compote and sweetened whipped cream

Ingredients

• 5 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup very cold heavy cream
• 3 large egg whites (no traces of yolk), at room temperature
• Sweetened whipped cream, for serving (optional)
• 1Fill a medium saucepan with 2 inches of water and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
• 2Place chocolate and 1/4 cup of the heavy cream in a large heatproof bowl. (Place remaining cream back in the refrigerator until ready to use.) Nest the bowl over the saucepan, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Melt chocolate, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula, until smooth and combined with the cream. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and set aside to cool slightly.
• 3Place egg whites in a second large bowl and whisk vigorously until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes (make sure the bowl and whisk have no trace of oil or fat, or the whites will not whip properly); set aside. (Alternatively, you can use an electric mixer.)
• 4Clean and dry the whisk (or your beaters if you’re using an electric mixer). Place the remaining 3/4 cup heavy cream in a third large bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form. (Alternatively, you can use an electric mixer.)
• 5Using a rubber spatula, fold half of the whipped cream into the melted chocolate, then gently stir in the rest (try not to deflate the whipped cream). Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate-cream mixture just until there are no longer large blobs of whipped cream or egg white (do not overmix).
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  Spoon the mousse or pipe it from a pastry bag into serving cups and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve with additional sweetened or flavored whipped cream if desired.
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All You Need is Cake!

A Life Long Wedding

I was given the distinct opportunity to be a part of a wedding for some dear friends.  Many years ago I babysat this bride as a youngster. 

What a fabulous event it was, but more importantly I had the pleasure of collaborating with my wonderfully talented mother and sister. They are talented, beautiful and wonderful to work with.  

My sister Summer, designed the cake and did the cake tastings. My mother, SK on Elderberry, planned the entire event, plus created the expansive floral designs. And the florals on the cake. 

We started by baking, filling and crumb coating all five layers of the cakes. You can see more of this process at: SK on Elderberry

This cake was huge and just to give you an idea of the scope of this project, we made 76 cups of chocolate cake batter and 60 cups of French vanilla batter. That is a Hell of a lot of cake batter. After all was filled, stacked, and frosted, we began the decorations.

We used an edible silver spray for the largest and bottom tier.  The bride and groom love chocolate and wanted chocolate icing and of course we wanted them to love their cake. But we also needed to make the cake blend and fit the color scheme of gray and pinks.  The silver Degrees would not cover the chocolate color of the frosting. Thus the edible silver spray.

Summer was clearly better at this step.  It turned out amazing. These little balls of silver sugar will be bouncing around the kitchen for months.

We then continued with the other tiers. With textured white Buttercream frosting, a trickle, raining down of pink and silver Dragees, ribbon and pink lace covered tiers.

After this bit of backbreaking work, it was time to box it up and deliver this 130 lb. cake to the venue. We boxed the cakes into 3 separate boxes for safety and stacked it on location.  We were on a tight photographers schedule, so very little fussy was required. Mom needed at least an hour to finish the floral creations on the cake.

With hearts tapping double time, we finished the frosting, ribbon and lace. My mom, artist SK Sartell finished it off with her beautiful florals.  After all was said and done this mammoth of a cake weighed 135 lbs + and over 50" inches tall.  

Mom actually needed a ladder to reach the top. Battery powered fairy lights entangled the bottom tier and the florals giving it a last little sparkle.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to work with two of the most talented women I know. And no surprise here, this beautiful creation tasted a wonderful as she looked.

Being part of this magnificent event has been the biggest challenge so far in my career.  

Chef Darcy

Silver Spoon Cakes. 

https://www.facebook.com/chefdarcy.silverspooncatering

Chef Darcy & Google Plus

SK on Elderberry 

http://sksartell.blogspot.com/

Peachy Keen

Peaches

As most of us are aware it is peak peach season, there is not much better than a warm peach plucked from the tree at its height of freshness.  It's sweet, soft and oh, so juicy.  But I think I might like all the goodies you can create with these delicious summer gems.  Tarts, pies, ice cream, cupcakes, jam, and one of my favorites, Galettes,. You get the flakiness from pie crust and the sweet softness of the fresh peaches just picked.

Today I want to share one of my favorite recipes for this sweet juicy fruit.  

Peach Cayenne Galettes with Almond cream

24 individual Galettes 

           Or

1 large Galette

8 medium-large Fresh Peaches, 

2 1/2 cup.        Sliced Almonds 

1 cup.              Granulated Sugar

1 Qt.                Heavy Whipping Cream

1/2 tsp.            Cayenne Pepper

1  tsp.              Cinnamon

1/8. tsp.           Salt

2 tsp.               Vanilla extract 

1 cup.              Brown Sugar 

1/4 cup.           Cornstarch 

1/2 cup.           flour

- purée Almonds with 1/2 granulated sugar with 1/4-1/2 cup of cream until it is a smooth paste.  Set aside.

- prepare your favorite pie crust recipe and refrigerate until ready to fill.  

- slice peaches with skin on and bath in lemon water to keep from browning.  Drain then place in a large bowl with brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, cayenne and vanilla.  Mix together gently then add the cornstarch and flour. Toss and set aside.

- roll out dough and cut into about 4 inch rounds for individual pastries, I used a metal ring cutter, but you could use a cereal bowl or a plate as a guide. or all the dough into a 12 inch round shape for a family size pastry.  

- spread Almond cream on the bottom of the dough leaving about 1/2 inch on the small ones and 2 inches on the large pastry edge.  

- arrange peaches in a circular fashion until pastry is filled, then fold over the edge on top of the peaches.  

- egg wash the pastry, then sprinkle with a small amount of sugar.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 15-20 minutes, until edges are golden and the bottom of the crust is baked.  

-whip the Remaining heavy cream with sugar, vanilla and almond extract to taste and refrigerate until later.  

- cool the pastries then glaze with a mix of apricot jam and water with a pastry brush and garnish with whipped cream and a mint leaf!

Thanks for visiting. Darcy

Check out mom's newest and craziest painted life at: http://sksartell.blogspot.com/