My plate has been (is) filled to the brim with activities and houseguests and birthdays and school-wide camping trips and volunteer work and preschool culmination and last minute end-of-the-school-year craziness and, oh, let's see, volunteering and doing outreach at the budding local elementary school hosting parent gatherings when we're not yet out of preschool, in addition to taking on the on-site event coordinating (w/ another mom and an administrator) of a rather sizeable (380-person) national Reggio Educator's Conference our preschool's hosting at the end of the month.
As if that weren't enough, I decided to raise money for the school by throwing a lavish, decadent desert buffet party called "Let Them Eat Cake" for $40 per head and baked all week for the party which was at our house last Saturday. Am I crazy?! Well....perhaps, but it's too late now.
In lieu of lengthy "postage," please accept a glimpse into my recent sugary world. Though I am exhausted from staying up nights baking, on top of everything else going on, it was a lot of fun. Thought you might like to see some of the photos. Grab a plate and take a virtual tour... And I promise, I'm coming back when this month's over! Got to. I'm facing my one-year Bloggery Anniversary on Independence Day!
Cheers!
My signature cake, one I've been making for at least 15 years, the Strawberry Amaretto Cream Cake....moist layers of genoise cake soaked with amaretto-marinated strawberries and enveloped in amaretto chantilly cream with a hidden thin layer of dark-chocolate ganache in the middle.
...and again, after the ladies had successfully hacked into the insides. (This was also the recipe used for our wedding cake 6 years ago. No, I did not make my own wedding cake. I'm not that crazy!)
The intrepid Dark Chocolate Raspberry Torte
chillin' with its friends...
The tart and sweet Coconut Meyer-Lemon Cloud Cake (lemons from my little tree)
Vanilla-bean Cheesecake Bites
The awesome little Papaya-Lime Brulée Tartlet (one of my favorite creations)
Double Chocolate and Cointreau Orange-Hazelnut Madeleines
...and more. What a bounty. Enjoy!
