Sweet Mondays: Concorde Cake

I first came across this cake in the Philippines when I was younger and would go there to visit my family.  It was always a really special treat to have this for dessert.  It is made from layering chocolate mousse with chocolate meringues and then sticks of chocolate meringue are placed on the outside and on top. The meringue that is layered with the chocolate mousse on the inside of the cake becomes soft from being in contact with the chocolate mousse, but you have the crunch from the meringue on the outside,  and the result is a rich decadent chocolate dessert. You only need a little piece, but you may go back for seconds if you are a chocolate lover like me.

I recently went back to the Philippines to visit and we happened to stop by the bakery that had this cake.  I had to have my husband and kids try it.  They loved it too!  It is something really different than what they were used to in a cake.  No sponge, just mousse and meringue.

When I came across this picture from our vacation, I knew I had to try and recreate it. Well, not that cake exactly since it is huge, but I definitely had to try the recipe.  Once I searched for it, I found that the cake had a bit of history to it.  It was created by a French Patissier named Gaston Lenôtre in the 1970's.  Some say that it was created to celebrate the first flight of the Concorde airplane, and that is where it got it's name. Gaston Lenôtre also started the Lenôtre shops, which are beautiful upscale bakeries in Paris.  

It takes a bit of time to make it, but the process is relatively easy.  First you make the meringues, both in circle shapes and tube shapes, then you make the chocolate mousse. Once they are finished, you layer the mousse with the disc shaped meringues and stick the tube shapes on the outside. You can use any remaining meringues to crumble on top.  It was my first time making chocolate meringues and they were not as hard as I thought they would be. Granted, my tube shape meringues didn't turn out perfectly straight, but as the French would say, c'est la vie! It still tasted very good.

Looking at the inside of the cake, you can tell it's definitely for chocolate lovers!

If you are interested in trying to make this cake, here is the recipe that I used.  I followed it for the most part, but I made my meringue circles about 5 inches wide (instead of the 8 inches they recommend) and made four circles instead of two. That way there were more layers of mousse and meringue.  Yum.

I hope you get to try a Concorde cake sometime.  It's definitely worth it!

5 Easy Spring Party Decoration Ideas

Now that spring is here, it's time to bring flowers into your party decor! They are so festive and the colors you can find now will make any party look great!  Rather than just having flowers in vases, these ideas can show you how to use them in different ways to make your party a little more special.

Sources:

1. Floral straws from our online shop  2. Ladies' Home Journal 3. Floral Garland Balloons from Tikkido.com  4. (Edible Flowers in Ice Cubes from Pinterest user Reese), for a tutorial on how to make these, click here. 5. Cupcake Liner Flower Cupcake Toppers

A Spring Tea Party

Spring arrives tomorrow and to celebrate, I created a party printable collection perfect for your springtime celebrations. I styled it here as a tea party, but I think it's also perfect for a baby shower, a bridal shower or a birthday party. The collection includes an invitation, party circles, cake banner, straw flags, tent cards, happy birthday banner, small flowers you can use for your teabags, and cupcake wrappers.  You can buy everything together in a package or separately. If you would like to purchase it, please see the details below.

I've got lots of pictures to show you.  Scroll down to see more!

Hope you enjoyed it!

If you are interested in purchasing these tea party printables, please visit our shop.

Sweet Mondays: Rose Cake & Tutorial

Spring starts this week! Yay! I have some spring-themed blog posts planned for you this week. First up is this rose cake to get you ready for some spring sweetness.

I designed a spring party printable collection recently (can you tell I love spring?) and as part of the photo shoot for it, I made the rose cake that you see above. It's not that difficult to make and as far as frosting goes, it's one of the easier styles to pull off.  I am by no means a great baker, but I find this one easy to do.  

To show you just how easy it is, I made a video.   I am experimenting with video for the blog and this is my first try.  Please go easy on me ;-). Feedback is welcome.

Below are some notes on the video:

-If you would like the recipe for the cake that I used,  I will post that for you soon.  It is my go-to recipe and I use it for cupcakes too.

-If you are using fresh flowers on your cakes, please make sure to place a barrier between the flowers and your cake, especially if you are not using edible flowers.  Some flowers are toxic and you don't want them to come in contact with the frosting that you will eat. I recommend parchment paper as a barrier.

I hope you enjoy the video!

Baking Party Apron Invitations

These are some invitations I made a while ago for a baking party for a sweet 6 year old. They are in the shape of an apron and the invitation details are inside the pocket of the apron. I like how the invitation details also remind me of a cookie.

The giveaway for this party was a white apron.  To make them a bit more colorful, I printed out the same design as the invitation onto iron-on transfer paper and transferred it to the apron. I also made some party circles and glued them onto cupcake liners to make a small "flower" that could be pinned to the aprons. That way, once the party was over, the kids could just take off the pin and have a cute apron that they could use all the time.

I think this is a really sweet idea for a party.  And it is relatively easy to organize if you wanted to have it at home.  The party activities will involve baking and decorating cakes and cookies, so you don't have to do much baking yourself beforehand.  Once you have all of your sprinkles and chocolate out on the table for the kids to use, it will already look festive, so you don't need to have much in terms of decorations.  I think all you would need to have is a birthday banner and some cute tableware to match. This would also be a great idea for an Easter party, a playdate or an afternoon activity with your own kids. If you have a child that loves baking, this would be so much fun for them!

Sweet Mondays: Rainbow Piñata Cake

Photo from tablespoon.com

I thought I would start a new series on the blog called Sweet Mondays, where we can start off the week looking at sweet things like cakes, cupcakes and any other types of desserts.  I love pictures of pretty desserts and I hope you enjoy it too!

For this first time, I wanted to show you this great rainbow piñata cake.  It's perfect for your upcoming spring celebrations or even for St. Patrick's day. I love how pretty it is on the outside and that there is a candy surprise in the middle. The kids will go crazy for it!

Get more pictures and step-by-step instructions on how to make this cake here.