Happy Birthday Miwa!!!

This past weekend was a Miwa-Extravaganza! Her friends don't just throw one surprise party...but two (2)! Which only reveals what a great friend this girl is. This is exactly why we call her THE MIWA, not just Miwa, that would be for the common folks. On Saturday we took over the entire bar at Bodega De Cordova and Sunday we gathered for a more intimate dinner at Blair's in Silverlake, all thanks to her sneaky-sneaky friends Gracie and Robyn.

Since I just finished my cake decorating class I felt it was time to unleash my beginner skills and attempt Miwa's birthday cake. I decided to try all new recipes (probably not the smartest idea) and baked a yellow cake with a berry-custard filling and Italian buttercream frosting. All went well until the frosting, which took three tries to perfect. First the thermometer died on me, which burnt the first batch. The second batch crystallized, again thanks to the thermometer, and finally I got smart and went with the good 'ol eyeball test. Luckily I had made penguins and the cherry blossoms the night before so I had enough time to decorate. All in all, the cake turned out okay and it did make Miwa smile which is all that matters.

Back to the food (of course!) Blair's was the perfect place for dinner. We enjoyed truffle mac & cheese, short ribs, risotto, sea bass and a ton of other tasty concoctions. The wait staff was attentive and helped pull off the surprise flawlessly. Happy Birthday Miwa!

Blair's
2903 Rowena Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90039

Happy New Year!

I'm bringing SHEEPY BACK and am truly looking forward to 2007! But sadly, my cake decorating class is coming to an end. I was unsure of how I felt about the class at first (mostly because I struggled so much) but have come to enjoy this new hobby and am excited about challenging myself to see what else I can create. I think I've been watching too many episodes of Ace of Cakes (I love that show! Thanks for the tip Julie). As I got fired up, I decided to made a buttermilk cake, filled with chocolate custard and frosted with Italian Buttercream. I had enough cake for a big 6" and two 3" cakes (although i had no one to eat them). Throughout this course I've developed a whole new appreciation for cake but I struggle with the fact that pastry chefs spends hours, sometimes days working on a piece of art only to be destroyed and eaten. Hmmmm. I guess I just need to let go and enjoy both the beauty and taste. I absolutely love creating cakes, eating them too, but mostly I just enjoy creating them. In fact I'm staying up way past my bedtime tonight to not only write this post but was working on gumpaste adornments for my final cake tomorrow. Who knew gumpaste birds could be so cute? I think a sheep cake may be in the near future...