RWood

Plum Pistachio Tart for dinner at my cousins house tonight. Plums could have been more ripe, but it’s a tasty combo.

Check Home Goods & TJ Max. I’ve found them on clearance for under $10 ea. Regular price is $12-16 depending on which pan. I have several of them.

I suppose this is Happy Mother’s Day brunch 🤷‍♀️. ”John’s” Special, roasted breakfast potatoes, sourdough toast, Prosecco and berries. John’s special is my mom’s husband’s take on Joe’s Special in SF. He used Italian sausage instead of hamburger. And it’s more frittata like instead of a scramble.

Fish tacos for Cinco de Mayo. Crispy cod, cabbage & pickled onions.

Maybe 1/2 hour this morning for the piping. Just a single layer, smooth iced it last night.

Happy Birthday to my Aunt Sibbie. White almond cake and vanilla buttercream.

I kinda followed @Rajala’s crunchy bottom he had with it. I used Callebaut gold chocolate, brown butter, spices and the nuts and coconut.

Thanks! I like cardamom too, but yeah, people are iffy here with that. I didn’t like the carrot bits in the bottom layer, seemed tough when you would find one. But the coconut and walnut comes through enough in it. I think the caramel has plenty of flavor, so didn’t need to add to it.

I layered mine with cream cheese ganache, and I tried a similar bottom, using dried multicolored carrots (which I think I’ll omit next time), but added coconut and toasted walnuts since that’s what I use in my cake. I changed up the spices a little and it really tasted like carrot cake. I still need to tweak the spices, but I really liked it.

Yeah I’m a caramel person, that’s my picks. Props to @Rajala for the carrot caramel inspiration. I tweaked to make it more like my carrot cake, but it’s tasty!

Finished Easter chocolates. Strawberry Rhubarb, leftover chocolate nougat (purple bunny egg), Pineapple Coconut Cashew, Milky Way-ish, Turtle, Carrot Cake, Strawberry, Peanut Caramel, leftover caramel (transfer sheet)

I make a buttercream that has the same texture as Swiss buttercream, but doesn’t use eggs. You could give it a try. I haven’t added a lot of liquid to it though. You could try reducing the juice some before maybe. AMERICAN BUTTERCREAM INGREDIENTS X1 X2 X3 UNSALTED BUTTER, ROOM TEMP 904 G WHOLE MILK 250 ML VANILLA BEAN PASTE 4 TSP SALT 1/2 TSP ICING SUGAR, SIFTED 660 G MERINGUE POWDER (OPTIONAL) 2 TBS BEAT BUTTER WITH PADDLE ON MED-HI SPEED FOR 5 MINS TILL LIGHT AND FLUFFY, SCRAPING BOWL. COMBINE MILK, VBP AND SALT IN A MEASURING CUP. MICROWAVE UNTIL HOT. SIFT ICING SUGAR INTO A BOWL. POUR HOT MILK OVER SUGAR AND MIX UNTIL SUGAR IS DISSOLVED. LET COOL TO ROOM TEMP. ONCE COOLED, ADD SLOWLY TO BUTTER WHILE MIXING ON MED SPEED. ONCE ADDED, SCRAPE BOWL, THEN BEAT ON MED FOR ABOUT 10 MINS. PADDLE ON LOWEST SPEED ABOUT 5 MINS TO REMOVE AIR BUBBLES.

Seared scallops with capers, lemon and browned butter, pilaf and roasted asparagus and more focaccia. And one of my favorite Chardonnay’s.

Homemade focaccia, mortadella, burrata, pesto and arugula.

Very simple, but so tasty. Made Chris Bianco’s Rosa pizza. We all loved it.