Black & White Wedding Shower

The images are from my best friend's black and white wedding shower.  This is almost a  year overdue!  The event was so much fun!

The dessert table was a group effort between my pledge sisters and I loved how it turned out.

White cake pops with black ribbon made with candy mold

Macarons filled with Salted Caramel & Lee's Coffee filling

Ube Macarons

During a Christmas gift exchange, I was gifted Thomas Keller, Bouchon Bakery. I had this on my wish list for such a long time I squealed when I opened the gift. I LOVE the texture of macarons from Bouchon Bakery and was so excited to try his recipe.   The macarons are made using the Italian method, heating up the sugar and water to a certain temperature before adding it to the whipped egg whites.  As I was reading the instructions, I was thinking, crap, this is a lot of steps, can I do this?  Maybe..?  Yes?  Do it!

I decided if I was going to make macarons the Italian method, I would go full force and make ube macarons.

I went to a local Filipino store and bought my ingredients which included powdered ube. I wanted to take pictures show you step by step how I made these macarons, but ain’t nobody got time for that! Just kidding, there is a great tutorial by Annie’s Eats using the same recipe. Why reinvent the wheel? Annie’s tutorial is excellent! I only made one alteration by adding a tablespoon of ube powder to the powdered sugar and almond flour.

Some notes: Buy a good candy thermometer, the one I had sucked, the top went flying off and I guesstimated when the sugar water got to 248 degrees when the thermometer still read 200. That thermometer is now in the trash.

Once the batter was all mixed, the texture was very marshmallow-y. This may be because I did not heat the sugar water to the correct temperature, or maybe I should have mixed it longer?

I piped the batter and it looked okay, but I had a feeling that something was not right. I shrugged it off and piped some rounds and some hearts.

For the rounds I added heart sprinkles.

I placed the first batch, which were the piped hearts in the oven.

Broken.  Son of a *@&@)!

I lowered the temperature. I placed the second batch of round macarons in the oven.

Better.  I did not throw the broken cookies away, they were still really good! 

These are some of the pretty ones.  See the purple goodness poking out?  That's ube filling!  The filling consisted of frozen ube, conconut and condensed milk. 

OMGTHISISSOGOOD!!!

I used a recipe I found here. << How awesome is that Ube Ombre Cake?! 

The filling is heavy and will make the cookie soften if you keept it in the fridge for a long period of time.  If you are going to use this filling, I suggest you fill and serve the cookies within a day.

Happy Baking!

Pink Parisian Wedding Dessert Table

On June 1st my sorority sister Jackie married her best friend Samuel. They had a beautiful wedding in Newport Beach. Jackie is an event planner extraordinaire, so I knew her wedding was going to be nothing short of exceptional and impressive.

I was happy to contribute macarons and cake pops to her gorgeously styled dessert table.



The wedding theme was romantic, soft, ethereal  elegant and Parisian.  I think the table captured the theme beautifully.  The colors were pink, blush pink with touches of gold.  I love the petal table cloth, flowers, and of course the sweets!

I made three different types of cake pops to go with her theme. I made simple round cake pops with three different flavors using the mini bow candy mold, mini rose candy mold and and a soft pink cake pop with white non-pareil sprinkles to differentiate the flavors. Jackie purchased the cake pop stand to showcase the cake pops. 

I made three macaron flavors, pink with chocolate ganache, light pink with a Swiss Meringue Strawberry Buttercream, and Salted Caramel Macarons.  All the macarons were brushed with luster dust to make it look elegant.

Other mini desserts included fruit tarts, mini cupcakes, and candy purchased by Jackie.

All photos by Bret Cole Photography.

Blue & Yellow Macarons

Thick Lemon Curd Filling

I have a pet peeve. I hate biting into a macaron and the filling oozes out, and gets all over the place. Macarons are supposed to be fancy and delicate, not like a Carl’s Jr. Burger. 

Before I made the lemon curd for the superhero lemon macarons, I scoured the Internet for weeks to find the perfect thick lemon curd filling. I made three batches of lemon curd before finding the right one.

The first recipe I made tasted great, perfect amount of lemon but it was too thin. Here is my peeve in pictures. See how it oozes out of the cookies?  Blah!

Picture taken using my blackberry phone.  

These were still eaten! I took them to work for my co-workers to enjoy. They’re not too picky and I don’t let my cookies go to waste!

The second recipe was fine. I added a tablespoon of corn starch to it to thicken it up, so the consistency was perfect, but I wanted to make another batch because I didn't like the dry aftertaste it left in my mouth. I thought the dry aftertaste/starchy taste came from the corn starch.

I redid the second recipe without the cornstarch and the consistency was super thin and it still had a dry aftertaste. What?   Why?  The dry aftertaste/starchy taste actually came from the tartness of the lemon.  I’m glad I saved that second batch!  The curd stayed in place and didn't ooze!

The sweetness from the cookie and the combination of the curd was perfect.  No dry aftertaste.  Here is the recipe I used.  I found it on a blog comment during my search for thick lemon curd filling/lemon macarons but now I cannot find the link to it.  If this is your recipe, let me know so I can credit you.

Thick Lemon Curd
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
½ Cup of Sugar
½ Cup of Lemon Juice (I used Sunkist lemons, I’ll try Meyer Lemons next time)
As much zest as I can pull off the lemons that made of ½ cup of juice
5 T of cold butter
1 T of cornstarch* (I added this and it does make the curd thicker)

Putting together the lemon curd is similar to making a Swiss Meringue butter cream. Because I love video tutorials, here is a great one on how to make lemon curd from the Joy of Baking.

Mad about Macarons!

These last few weeks have flown by, remember those red and green macarons I was supposed to make for a cookie exchange?  I never got to them... 

But, I got some great gifts this year!  

I had my five year anniversary at work and was gifted a digital scale (yes, I picked this).

I also was gifted the Mad about Macarons book for Christmas.  This has been on my wishlist for months! 

http://madaboutmacarons.com/

I used Jill's recipe and technique and the macarons came out great!  I used the basic recipe, and added a little red food coloring.  It does not really show in the image but the macarons are a light pink.

For the filling I made a Strawberry Swiss Meringue Butter cream.  Here is the recipe I used, adapted from this site.

2 large egg whites, at room temperature for 30 minutes

1/2 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup of strawberry puree*

*I used a bit more because I wanted the filling to be more tart.

Make buttercream:
Vigorously whisk together whites, sugar, and salt in cleaned mixer bowl (I use my KitchenAid bowl) set over a 4-quart pot of barely simmering water until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm.

Using my KitchenAid mixer, put bowl in mixer and beat with cleaned whisk attachment at medium-high speed until whites hold stiff, glossy peaks. Continue to beat, scraping down side of bowl with a rubber spatula, until meringue is completely cool to the touch, about 5 minutes.

Switch to the paddle attachment, and with mixer at medium speed, gradually add butter 1 piece at a time, beating well after each addition until incorporated. (If buttercream looks soupy after some butter is added, meringue is still too warm. If so, briefly chill bottom of bowl in a large bowl filled with ice water for a few seconds before beating in remaining butter.)  Add the strawberry puree, and keep blending until smooth.  If it starts to separate and look like cottage cheese, keep beating!  It will smooth out.

Jill says to wait 24 hours before eating the macaron, so the filling can infuse into the shell, since I just made these, I can't wait to try them tomorrow!

A Wonderful Wedding Shower!

I went to Las Vegas two weeks ago to celebrate the wedding shower of Gee and Mike.  It was a wonderful event filled with great memories.

Thu and I worked together on the dessert table.  I love the tulle poms and how the dessert table came out, we had a huge variety of dessert!  I made the cake pops and macarons, Thu made the chocolate covered pretzels, brownies and cookies and Gee's mom made the filipino desserts, turron and banana pancakes.

Brownies, cookies, cake pops, French Macarons, turron, and filipino banana pancakes. 

 I could not stop eating the filipino banana pancakes, they were delicious!



Gee put the macarons together on the plate and I love how she arranged them, it reminds me of neopolitan ice cream. 

I cannot wait for their wedding!

One Stop Shop!

I'm excited to be part of a private event next weekend called One Stop Shop, if you found my blog through the event flier, thank you for stopping by!  My cake pops and macarons will be on sale at a discounted rate for those attending. 

The cake pop flavors will include:
Orange Spice Jack - O - Lantern Pops
Red Velvet Cupcake Pops
Oreo Cupcake Pops
*Subject to change
$1 each

My macaron flavors will include:
Pumpkin Macarons with Pumpkin Buttercream Filling
Cappucino Coffee Macaron with Coffee Chocolate Ganache
*Subject to change
$.75 each.

If you would like to place a custom order to pick up at the event, please email makeitpopsweets@gmail.com to place your order.  If you order the same flavors above, I will extend the special pricing to you.

Check out the websites of the talented vendors who will also be participating!

Bonjour Pierre by Kellie Huie
Handmade jewelry and clothes
http://www.etsy.com/shop/bonjourpierre

Karolynh's by Karolynh Tran
Vegan Cupcakes
http://karolynhs.wordpress.com/

Belle-ini by Joyce Toledo
Handmade headbands and sashes
http://www.belleini.etsy.com/

Scentsy by Scentsy
Scents for all your moods
http://scentsy.net/

I'm looking forward to this!

Macaron Obsession!

I am a wee bit obsessed with perfecting the macaron.  I think the first time I saw a French macaron was from a dessert table featured on Amy Atlas' blog or Hostess Blog.  So pretty!

They are very finicky, and it is difficult to make them right. 

I was shopping at Trader Joe's one day browsing the frozen section and spotted this:

$4.99 for a dozen macarons?  Sweet!  And they were so good! 

When I saw this from Bakerella, that's when I really grew interested in trying to bake these on my own.

I think that I have gotten pretty good at making macarons, I have to give thanks to these sites, they were great references. 

Martha Stewart's French Macarons Recipe - This is the only recipe I use since I do not own a scale yet.  It's a great basic recipe that you can make variations to. 

Giver's Log - I forgot how I found this blog, but she offered some great tips on making macarons, and she also uses Martha's recipe above.

Syrup & Tang - My go to favorite site when I have macaron fails.  Excellent tips with images and gives you the basic and advanced understanding in the art and architecture of macaron making.  This is the perfect place for first time macaron makers.

David Lebovitz - Professional baker. He has made beautiful macarons and also has great references.

Macaron Fetish - Love her blog!  She makes beautiful macarons with unique and exotic flavors. 

I hope these sites are as helpful to you as they were to me!