A weekend trip to Boston, via cake

I received an email from my friend -- "I need a cake for my mom's bday. She likes lighthouses, and pretty much any flavor." 

What an ideal scenario, I got to make a cake I've been wanting to try out and play around with fun seaside themed decorations.

Ever since I tasted Tracy's cookies and cream cake, I've been craving another. I am completely obsessed with the Thomas Keller oreo, so I used his recipe to make the cookies, then crumbled them into an Italian buttercream. Combined with a devil's food cake, this was heaven on a plate for an oreo lover.

Fondant seaside themed decor

The top of the cake...I used flower candy molds to make some of the shells, and just twisted some fondant for the others. 

Front view

Side view

Back view

Inside shot -- YUM!

Cake carnage

A Bittersweet Day - Graduation

Quite cliche -- but-- have the past 6 months really gone by SO quickly? This year I've moved, left my job, traveled alone to France, adjusted to a life of unemployment...and through all of that, the one constant I've had is pastry school. And now it's over. The end of this chapter is bittersweet. While I am so happy to have fulfilled this longtime dream, I started missing school before it was even over. The entire experience has been amazing: making something new every day, having all the ingredients right there waiting for me, messing up and having it be ok, and of course, getting to know and work alongside each of my incredibly unique and creative classmates.

And now off into the world of pastry we go, hoping that school has prepared us for the fast-paced life of the kitchen. Going from night classes to early morning bakery hours has proven to be an interesting adjustment for me, as well as the crazy speed of the work. I never thought I was slow until I saw how quickly some of these people do things! The main shock for me has been the physical aspect of the work. Tante Marie is a small school, so we make things in small batches. Working in production, I've had to lift so crazy heavy things and my back is already letting me know how it feels about that. It's only been 2 weeks, and I'm nostalgic for my pastry school days... 

In the week leading up to our graduation, we each worked on a final project to display (and eat!) at the ceremony. 

My California wedding cake -- orange sponge cake with blood orange buttercream and meyer lemon buttercream

Becky's tart shop -- a variety of fresh fruit and chocolate tarts

Vikki's Napa Valley Cake -- hands down one of my absoulte favorites!

Liz's Tropical wedding cake -- white cake with a coconut pineapple filling and pineapple buttercream

Pei-Yee's flavors of the Pacific Rim

Sieba's rose cake -- 70 handmade fondant roses, she's insane!

Maureen's flavors of the Mediterranean

Vanessa's tea infused wedding cake

Sasha's croquembouche

Nancy's Nanette cake, inspired by her business card

Nicole's picnic in the Tart

Ray's tiramisu celebration cake

Deb's Bay Area harvest

My sampler plate...yes I ate it all!