Jewelry Party Dessert Table

San Jose is cold, wet, and windy at the moment. Definitely the least favorite weather of mine, it makes me want to curl up in bed and not doing anything. The fact that I still have to get up in the morning and go to work is really not exciting. I am longing for the warm weather even more than ever maybe.

Remember when I said I made a few dessert table in the midst of all the chaos that's been happening? This one was made about three weeks after the previous one. It was a smaller dessert table with about 80 desserts total for a jewelry party, four different types for yet another event by Le Amour Events. The theme color for the party involves white, green, and brown, so I tried to come up with a menu that showcases these color scheme.

Dessert Table Menu:

1. Tropical fruit cheesecakepops
2. Tiramisu verrines
3. Salted caramel macarons
4. Green tea eclair with chocolate glaze

It seems like each dessert had its own challenges, I didn't know what happen, it just did. I've never made cheesecakepop before and let me tell you, it is so much harder to shape up compared to regular cakepops. It was expected really as the texture of cheesecake is soft, it helped a little after a quick trip to the freezer, but it was still difficult. I might go crazy if I was making hundreds of them.

I was also having trouble with the macarons, completely not expected. You see, I always make a schedule, detail plan as to when I need to make certain component, when to decorate, when to buy ingredients, etc. This is very important because my free time is very limited and so everything needs to be planned well, especially in this currently impossible schedule, and I really didn't account for failure at all!. It was raining non-stop here for days or maybe even weeks, I really forgot when was the last time we had sunshine (a bit exaggeration here). To my surprise and disappointment, the first batch of the macaron failed, all of them. The macarons on the first tray looked like an exploded volcano, the others had uneven feet, and all of them weren't as crispy as the ones I made in the past. I would blame it on the humidity from the rain.

I was shocked, alright. Didn't quite believe what had happened, it also happened in the morning before I went to work, which then left me thinking for the whole day what could have gone wrong and how I can find the time to make another batch. Somehow I managed to bake another batch, and the same thing happened! Although this time was slightly better, but I still couldn't help but thinking what have I done wrong. I only needed at least 18 pairs, or 36 individual shells and fortunately I did. I wasn't completely satisfied with the texture and all but I was so glad when I heard that everything turned out great, what a relief!

I made tiramisu hundreds of time before, I know the steps, the measurements and everything by heart so the chance of I messed it up is pretty small. What I didn't know is that I could be so tired that I miscounted the glasses. I needed 18 but I only had 16! I don't know what I was thinking but long story short, I had to make another batch to account for the other 2.

I definitely learned some lessons from this dessert table, one of them is that always take into account some failure in your schedule, very important, so note to self, don't do everything at the very last minute.

All in all, everything was done on time and that I did manage to take a few pictures, not that great but better than nothing. And what makes it all worth it is that everyone is pleased with it :)

I feel like this post has a lot of complaining, please don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the process of it, I guess I was just making a note to myself of what's not to do in the future :D. Ugghh... and I really hope this weather can change soon and then comes Spring, cannot wait!

Onto the giveaway winner now. The winner is ...... (drum roll please) Hengky in San Jose, according to random.org. Congratulations and enjoy! I will send you the detail of the gift card shortly.
Thank you to all who participated.

A Dessert Table for Bridal Trunk Show and A CSN Giveaway

It's been raining, more rain, and more rain here in San Jose, temperature dropped more than 20 degrees since my last post. It's sad that I can't enjoy the peak of cherry blossom season in warm sun and stroll around the park full of them. The weather site also predicted a chance of snow in the bay area! How cool is that!

I've also been working on 12-16hr/day of work schedule every single day for the last two months or so. It is not fun at all indeed, and I haven't had sleep deprivation in so long until these past few months. I was seriously thinking of just bringing comfy sleeping bag to keep in my cube. So, forgive me for lack of updates. What makes things worse is that my mom is here for the last 3 months and I feel so bad for not spending enough time with her. She's going back to Indonesia this Saturday, and I'm determined to take one day off tomorrow from work, hopefully everything goes well and I can do that with no problem. I let myself think that this timing for crazy work schedule is "perfect" for this bad weather, because if it's all sunny and nice outside, I would be really bummed having to spend the whole day inside the office. Sad, I know, but anything to make me feel better is certainly appreciated nowadays :)

With that, I haven't been able to bake for experiment at all, although I did manage making some desserts for a few dessert table and this is one of them. This dessert table, which fell on my birthday, was for a bridal-opening party for around 100 people, about 350 desserts total. In all craziness that's been happening, I was actually very happy that everything finished on time, even when that means only 3 hour of sleep that night. Special thanks to Randi from le Amour Events who organized this and BoLee Bridal Couture who hosted the event. It is surely an honor to be able to take part.

Sure there are a lot I wish I can do differently if I had more time but I couldn't be happier when I received the positive feedback, making all the sweat and the lack of sleep worth it. Many thanks to my mom and my brother who helped me out in the dawn of the night to make this happen. Wouldn't be able to do it without them.

Dessert Table Menu:

• Fromage Fraise Verrine
  vanilla sponge soaked in red berry coulis - red berry gelee (raspberry & strawberry), cheese mousse
• Red Velvet Cakepops
  with cream cheese frosting, dipped in white candy melts
• Silk Pudding with Passion Fruit Coulis
  
• White Chocolate Mango Cheesecake
  with jellied cream on top and almond crust
• Raspberry and Rose Marshmallow
  

This was also the first time I made homemade marshmallow. I chose raspberry and rose flavor because it suits the color theme (pink) and anything with rose is gotta be romantic. I love the texture of homemade marshmallow a lot better than store-bought, although I have to say that it was still too sweet for me, but now that I know, it should be perfect next time :). I'm already thinking passion fruit marshmallow, strawberry & orange water marshmallow, endless possibilities!

I didn't have the chance to take any pics, all pictures for the dessert table are courtesy of Daniel Lee.

I baked the leftover cheesecake batter into individual cake ring mold and topped it with mango gelee and decorated with raspberry coulis. And as you probably have guessed, I went to take 3-hr nap immediately after the desserts were picked up :), a very-much needed nap indeed before birthday dinner :).

Now, onto the giveaway post. I have had the privilege to host CSN giveaway for three times and this is gonna be the forth time for $40 CSN Gift Certificate. I can't stress enough how generous they are providing all this wonderful giveaways and with hundreds of sites, they definitely have E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G you would ever need. I especially love this adjustable bar stools to put around the kitchen island or bar area. Oh I cannot wait to have my own place, I've always had this dream of having a real modern yet warm house with lots of windows for natural light to get in. This bar stool definitely going to make a great addition to my dream house :)

How to enter:

• Must be US or Canada resident
• Leave a comment on this post between now until Sunday, March 6, 2011 at 12am (PST)
• Winner will be drawn randomly through random.org
• No anonymous comment please. Please also enter in your email address if you disable your profile view.
  
• One comment per person, multiple comments are welcome but only count as one entry

Have a blessed weekend!

White Chocolate and Mango Cheesecake

Crust:
95 g almond powder
55 g graham cracker crumbs
30 g sugar
3 Tbs. butter

Cheesecake Batter:
3 (8-oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
100 g sugar
1/2 vanilla bean seeds
3 eggs
5-oz white chocolate
150 g mango puree/pulp

• Prepare the almond crust: Mix all ingredients together and press it onto the bottom of 8" round springform pan. Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until slightly brown. Let cool while you prepared the cheesecake batter
  
• Prepare the cheesecake batter: With a paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese, vanilla bean seeds and sugar until smooth.
  
• Add the egg, one at a time. Mix well
• Melt the white chocolate and mix it into the batter
• Lastly, add the mango puree/pulp and mix well
• Pour onto the prepared crust
• Bake in waterbath at 300F for about 50-60minutes, or until the edges are set but the center is slightly jiggly when shake gently.
• Let cool and refrigerate overnight.
  

The Long-Awaited Baby Shower Party

This is what occupied my mind mostly for the last 2 months, and it's where all my energy and time went to for the last 2-3 weeks, it's this baby shower.

This time, it was for my own brother and sister-in-law, they've been trying for a while and they've finally been blessed with soon-to-be baby girl. It was only appropriate if I want to throw them the perfect baby shower for their first one. That is why the planning was happening for a whole 2 months from the decoration, food, facility, place, guest, theme, etc. to make everything perfect (or so I hope). My sister-in-law, J, has a very cheerful and bright personality, she likes all things colorful, so it was a no-brainer either that the theme is green-yellow-orange color and Spring, that includes butterflies, bees, flowers.

The party was at one of our friends, D's house. He has a wonderful house with pool area, which is nice so that people can also hang out in the backyard. I was trying to make everything perfect from the food to the decoration, and fortunately we're surrounded by talented friends to make an under-budget party looks like a really well-done one! Thanks to Irene for being in charge of the whole decoration, she's a gem. She knows how to take a party to another level. With hanging paper pom-poms, grass, flowers, she made the event completely gorgeous, beyond my expectations! Special thanks to Cika too for all the printing labels and tags, it's more than fabulous!! Thanks to Nana for helping me made the figurines for the cake :). For everybody who helped with the food, crafts, favors, they're super talented people.

After deciding on the food, and the other details, I can finally concentrate on the desserts. Since this blog is mainly about baking, I'll concentrate more on the dessert part :). Dessert table was a must at this party, it's not even an option as we know how much Joan loves desserts. Heck, I try to have dessert table at every party I'm organizing :). I'm no dessert table expert, I'm just starting and I can't say that the previous dessert tables I made were perfect because let's be honest, they weren't. I tried to pick desserts that fit the theme, which involves some yellow, green, and orange colors. Mango, pistachio, passion fruit are the main flavors for this, I was thinking about lemon but the mother-to-be is not really a fan of the sour stuff. The choice of the dessert changed daily, mostly because some of the ingredients I needed wasn't available at that time.

So here's the menu of the dessert table:
- Mini chocolate cupcakes with mango and pistachio buttercream
- Candy-coated marshmallow lollipops
- Mango cheesecake on a brownie base
- Passion fruit pudding in petite glasses
- Green tea cookies
- Mango macarons
- Pistachio macarons
- Passion fruit macarons
- 2-tiered cake (mascarpone cheesecake and raspberry jelly filling for the top tier, and mocha praline cake for the bottom tier)
- almond meringue cookies (by our friend, Sukma)

Favor:
- Spring chicken cakepops (inspired by this wonderful creation by bakerella, made with chocolate cake, buttercream, and rum flavoring)

Drinks:
- Water with mint and lime slices
- Mango punch

Entree (no pictures):
- Indonesian wedding salad
- Chicken satay
- Spicy tofu with lemongrass, jalapeno, and tomatillo
- Indonesian chicken curry
- Fried noodle
- Meatball Soup

It wasn't all smooth sailing making this happened, time is the enemy as predicted and this time, the hot weather added to the list. It was super hot that particular week and my AC wasn't working. All the frosting are soft and became a gooey mess, the macarons are not all perfect due to the humid weather, the candy coating on the marshmallow doesn't set, the cakepops kept falling off due to the frosting not set, everything that can go wrong, went wrong. It was frustrating especially since I had to make the wedding anniversary cake at the same time too. I took Friday off of work so that I can work in the kitchen. I basically stood in the kitchen from 10am-11pm non-stop for two straight days plus late nights here and there, and even that still wasn't enough time.

For the dessert table, I wanted to have some dimension, which is why I used some boxes and covered them with yellow tablecloth for the jars, the cake, and the marshmallow pops. Unfortunately, we didn't have three jars of the same size for the macarons so we had to make do with one smaller one. I did put the small one in the middle but it was completely covered by the cake in front of it, so I had to switch the position.

Despite all the problems that happened, I was actually surprised myself that everything came together nicely. It was nice having an outdoor and indoor party so that people doesn't have to cramped up in a room, which can be a problem when there are about 70 people (including kids) walking around. The breeze from the backyard was also nice and the kids are playing around the pool. Thanks to all the friends who helped making this party happened. The food were superb, the decor was super nice, and as far as the dessert, I think everybody enjoyed it. And the most important thing is that D and J (my brother and sis-in-law) were surely happy and we wish them the best for the upcoming bundle of joy. I hope this shower can send them off nicely to be a good parent-to-be.

After this party, I was determined not to bake for a month! But I guess I can't stay off the kitchen for too long. Regardless of every problem we encountered in making this happens, I totally enjoy it and can't wait for the next special occasion to make a better one.

Hello!

Planning A Baby Shower for A Friend

This is the last event in last week, which happened on Saturday. Part of the reason why I didn't have time to make a big cake for the baby shower at work (see previous post), is because I was busy planning this baby shower (other than the fact that it was on a weekday). It is indeed for the same mom-to-be (yes, we're both working in the same company and among the same group of friends :D).

We started the planning on and off for about a month maybe, from setting up a date where everybody can make it, the place, food, budget, gift, etc. It was a little challenging finding a place that could hold up 50 people, but fortunately, one of us has a club house in their house area that can be reserved with no charge. It is a big room with a kitchen (and a fridge) and bathroom, it also has two long tables, which is perfect for any of our party that almost always involves around 50 people :D. We don't have any particular theme for this party, which makes it easier somewhat so that my ideas are not limited to certain color or theme.

We had a complete meal for dinner, some selection of dessert, and also a small cake, on a tight budget, so we had to be wise planning everything out but still make everything looks nice and presentable. We had someone kindly offered to cook some of the meal which helped us to cut the budget.

Menu
Entree:
- Chinese-style fried noodle (home-made)
- Assorted stir-fried veggies and meatballs (home-made)
- Panda-Express Orange Chicken
- Panda-Express Beijing Beef

Dessert and Drinks:
- 6" fondant cake
- Indonesian cheese-cake squares
- Fruit platter
- Chocolate-dipped strawberries
- Guava and strawberry punch

Some of you might raise your eyebrow reading the Panda Express meal, well, there's a story to it. We were planning on ordering some food from our favorite restaurant like we normally do, but when we're calling ahead 1.5 hours before the party, no one picked up the phone and after a quick visit to the restaurant, it turned out that they're closed on vacation for a few weeks. I hit myself in the head for not confirming this and call way ahead of time. So we had to come up with plan B and the choice was Panda Express just because it's close to the party place and we can order trays of food in no time. It probably wasn't the best choice of party food but at that time, I'm just glad that there were food on the table.

I was able to use some of my newly-bought cake stands and dessert platters, I particularly love the cake stand with the ribbon, so cute and the best part is, I can change the ribbon to match the color theme of the party, superb! On a side note, I found that Michael's (art & craft store) are having their annual sale this week, I bought lots of ribbons with 60% discount the other day! Apparently, I am in love with all things polka-dots lately as almost all the ribbons I bought were all sorts of combination colors of polka-dots!

Congratulations to I and V for the upcoming baby girl, can't wait to see her :)