it’s a new year and i’ve resolved to practice healthier habits. i cashed in a gift certificate i received from my father-in-law for a class at the institute of culinary education and took a course on vegan chocolate desserts taught by fran costigan. i was quite pleased by the results and thought very little was sacrificed in terms of taste by using exclusively nondairy items.

pictured above is the recreation of the dessert my group created in class, the black bottom chocolate chestnut tart (made for my dad’s birthday). it was composed of an organic chocolate cookie crust, a layer of ganache, chocolate chestnut filling, and chestnut cream. alas, i have no photo of a slice or cross-section of the tart, but the light chestnut cream created a nice color contrast against the chocolate filling and dark cookie crust. whole chestnuts or marrons glaces would have been an ideal topper for the tart, but since i ran of chestnuts, but did have some ganache to spare, i made truffles with the latter, rolled them in cocoa powder or chopped nuts, and used that for decoration.

fran was a lively teacher and created her recipes after years of experimentation and tweaking. it was really interesting to learn how various ingredients could be substituted, i.e. agave for sugar, canola oil for butter, soy creamer for milk, etc. (of course, it’s not a matter of simply substituting canola oil whenever butter is called for, often other ingredients are also incorporated to create the right chemistry).

my health-conscious parents were quite pleased with this no cholesterol dessert. i was happy with the clean taste and happy to serve them a less guilt-ridden dessert. i’m looking forward to trying some other vegan recipes from fran’s class - “gianduja” cheezecakes in a chocolate hazelnut crust (using tofu), and triple chocolate black forest cake. yum…

The buche de noel is a Christmas cake in the shape of a tree log. I used Nick Malgieri’s recipe from his book, Perfect Cakes. I baked a layer of chocolate genoise sheet cake, then frosted it with mocha buttercream. The sheet cake was then rolled into a cylinder. One end was truncated, and the cut piece placed atop the cake formed a branch. I frosted the cake with the remaining buttercream and used an offset spatula and/or fork to create a bark-like texture. The mushrooms, holly leaves and berries and pine cones are all made of marzipan. As a final touch, the entire assembled cake is dusted with cocoa powder and confectioner’s sugar. Happy Holidays!!!

Last week, my husband and I vacationed in Paris; it was the perfect opportunity to sample all the delectable pastries the city has to offer. Our hotel was dangerously within walking distance of Dalloyau, one of Paris’ top patisseries, where we grabbed some baguettes and pistachio croissants for breakfast…

Here is a closer look at the window display, and the dessert we took home that night, ‘la religieuse’. It’s a classic French pastry with an eclair-like round topped with another.

Laduree receives high praise for their ‘macarons’, so this tea salon was an obligatory stop. ‘Macarons’ are not to be confused with the chewy, coconut ‘macaroons’ that we know in the US. Perhaps my experience with the latter tainted my expectations of how these would taste, and I was admittedly skeptical of the flavor of these deceptively simple looking cakes. However, one bite of these ethereal creations blew me away. We sampled mini versions in flavors such as bitter chocolate, coffee, pistachio, salted butter caramel, rose petal, hazelnut praline. Ah…sublime…

I have to admit, though, that my favorite pastries were from those of Sadahari Aoki, a patissier who developed his superb skills in both Japan and France.

The green zen-like cake pictured above was my absolute favorite, called ‘bamboo’ (then again, I am a huge fan of match green tea). It was composed of what appeared to be alternating layers of green tea cake, chocolate cream, and matcha green tea cream - simply heavenly. Below that was a passion fruit cake, light, and refreshingly citrus-y and also delicious. The aesthetics and presentation of both were gorgeous.

Looking at the photos makes me regret not sampling all the other creations, but alas, there is only so much sugar one can consume within a week, even if you ‘partager avec’ your sweetie…

And at last but not least, I leave you with a befitting shot of kitsch from the animated window displays of Les Galeries Lafayette (looks like Marie Antoinette meets Disney, non?):

I received a request to create a chocolate birthday cake with rose petal buttercream frosting. I was a bit surprised by the final product, as it has a more unusual look than the other cakes I’ve made (perhaps I’ve been influenced by all the vintage designs and patterns I’ve been researching for work lately). The rose, vine and leaves are all made of marzipan.

This cake was for a friend’s birthday. It was a chocolate cake (seemingly everyone’s favorite flavor!), frosted with whipped cream. There was a slight twist to the filling–I added chocolate shavings and ground almonds to the whipped cream, which gave the filling a crunchy texture. I continued the theme of placing a sliced almond atop a piped star. I was quite pleased with the rustic look of the cake, and the guests were quite pleased with the taste!

This is a chocolate cake frosted and filled with mocha buttercream, topped with large coconut flakes and drizzled melted chocolate. This was an ordered cake, and one I couldn’t taste! I’ll always have the picture…

This was a cake celebrating my mother’s birthday. My mother has always loved mocha, so I used a mocha flavored buttercream to frost and fill this chocolate cake. I decided to add a little zing to my usual chocolate cake by adding a bit of cinnamon to the batter. It really added a very subtle smoky touch. I piped a decorative border and topped each point with an almond sliver. A gumpaste rose painted with pink luster dust tops the cake (I had to add some pink to liven the brown). I was very happy with the way this one turned out and mom loved it, especially the border!

I made this cake for a co-worker’s bridal shower. It’s a three-layered chocolate cake with grand marnier buttercream frosting, filled with buttercream frosting and raspberry jam. I piped a curly, swirly decorative motif all over the cake with buttercream. I had several options for making the roses. My first attempt to create one out of homemade white chocolate modelling paste proved unsuccessful. Fortunately, I had a plan B and C and settled at plan B pictured above - roses made of gumpaste. (Plan C, incidentally, was to use marzipan, which I knew would be the safest route). The cake was another big hit!

When my husband and I traveled to Argentina for our honeymoon, we brought back a jar of dulce de leche. I sought a cake recipe that incorporated this caramel-like spread and struck gold when I found this decadent one that included all of my husband’s favorite flavors - peanut butter, coffee, bananas, dulce de leche and chocolate. I promised I would make this cake for his birthday, so Happy Birthday, Bob!

I made one 7 inch and one 9 inch chocolate cake and sliced each into three layers, On each layer, I spread dulce de leche, peanut butter mousse and sliced bananas. I used a chocolate ganache frosting, and then decorated the sides with sliced almonds and piped more ganache for the borders.

My husband loves robots, so I created a robot topper out of marzipan and then colored it gold; it also held the tall gold sparkler candles for a special effect! I heard some “Oh my God’s” across the room as guests ate the cake - they were gratifying remarks after all the work!