yummy birthday presents!

the great thing about being "the baker" in a group of friends, is that you already know what you have to bring to a birthday party. and it takes away the need to go shopping for a gift! my wonderful friend Kristyn turned 21 recently, so i decided to make her a fraisier cake to celebrate :) it turned out a lot larger than i had envisioned, and was big enough to feed 25 people with a huge chunk leftover.

A cross section of the cake- vanilla genoise, buttercream, strawberries and
creme mousseline, vanilla genoise and marzipan for decoration

i was also asked to make some French macarons as a gift from another friend. thanks a million to my classmate and friend marianne for the most awesome macaron recipe EVER! the recipe was so easy, and the shells came out perfectly baked :) i made apple-cinnamon macarons and caramel-fleur de sel macarons- drooollll.

Rear- caramel-fleur de sel macarons, front- apple-cinnamon macarons
Photocred: Kevin Fong

can't forget these babies!

as many a pastry student will tell you, mille-feuilles are probably one of the most challenging and time consuming things to make. tempering the fondant so that the chocolate sinks into the vanilla, drawing the lines quickly then rushing to run your knife through it to make the design (it makes you sweat... really). and sawing through sticky fondant and crispy flaky pastry without squishing the cream out- not easy. here is my second attempt at mille-feuilles, made at school. pretty proud of myself! let's hope i can redo these when it comes to the exam...

Fondant work- so stressful!

Final product :) YUMMYYY

best of...

since i've got a lot of catching up to do, i figured i'd post some of my previous cakes. very proud of these creations :) stay tuned for an epic strawberry cake that i will be making this weekend!

Fave cupcakes! Chocolate chip cupcakes with mint frosting and chocolate ganache

5 tier vanilla cake covered in fondant and decorated with royal
 icing and gum paste flowers for my cousin Genevieve's wedding

My signature "Berry White" cake- chocolate cake soaked in Fragoli syrup
and layered with white chocolate buttercream and fresh strawberries

Chocolate and vanilla graduation cake, decorations in fondant and chocolate

Chocolate cake layered with whipped cream and strawberries, decorations in
chocolate fondant, chocolate and brown sugar for the sand!

Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream

julie and justin's wedding cake

3 tier wedding cake- to feed 90

congrats to the happy couple! this was so fun to make.. although matching the fondant to the ribbon colour was quite the challenge. bottom and top tiers are vegan chocolate cake, middle tier is vanilla bean cake, with vanilla swiss buttercream and covered in rolled fondant. 

hello :)

welcome to my baking blog! here is where i will be posting pictures of my cake and pastry creations made at school and at home. i've been baking for the last 6 years and hope to be doing this for the rest of my life :) give me a shout if you're interested in something you see, i take orders (i'm montreal-based)! thanks for stopping by- bon appetit! 
emily