Sweet "little Earths"

Dear Readers,

There's a new trend in wedding cakes for 2016, with geode inclusions made from rock candy!

The word geode means "rounded stone with a hollow center lined with crystals" from the Greek geodes, meaning "earth like." So geodes are often affectionately called "little earths."

Geode Wedding Cake - Intricate Icings

People have been making these for a while, though putting them on wedding cakes is a fairly new (and gorgeous) trend.

I tend to make them around Easter and include them as part of the baskets I sell; I try and make my baskets almost non-denominational and more nature inspired in order to have a wider appeal.

There are a few different ways to make sugar geodes.

The first is extremely time consuming, though I'd argue makes the most authentic looking geodes. It involves growing rock candy crystals in a concentrated sugar solution.  The biggest problem with this method is that it can be unreliable and not grow as many crystals as you might need for a cake.

However, the crystals that do grow are both gorgeous and realistic.

White Chocolate and rock candy geodes - my own

A much easier way to make rock candy geodes is to simply break up hard candy (like lollipops) and glue them into a candy shell with a touch of royal icing.

In my opinion, geodes made this way don't look as realistic, but the advantage is it's much quicker and you never have to worry about running out of them in the middle of decorating a cake.

I like to keep a small amount of hard candy on hand, just in case my crystals don't form properly.

Whatever method of geode formation you choose, rest easy in the knowledge that people will love them.  Though don't allow people to get too precious with them, these geodes are meant to be eaten and enjoyed.

Here is a simple tutorial so you can make your own geodes at home.  Rock Candy Geodes

Remember that you can color and flavor your geodes in any way you like and there is no way you can possible mess it up or have something go wrong.  Geodes exist in nature, and nature isn't perfect, so be sure to embrace your perfect imperfections.  :)

Have fun with this project and good luck!

Stay Sweet!

xo
Lisa

Food trends and clicky links!

Dear Reader,

Today I ask that you join me on a tour of some fun food trends.

The first stop is Champagne Gummy Bears.  They're described as "the only candy with its own waiting list!" by Sugarfina, the gourmet confectionary distributor located in Beverly Hills, CA.

You read that correctly, these are the humble gummy bears we all know and love, but made with wine or real Champagne. These little bears are, without a doubt, genius.

Rosé Gummy Bears

One of the blogs I follow, Sprinkle Bakes, even did a DIY version on her blog.  You can find it here: DIY Rosé Gummy Bears

I love these gorgeous pink little bears and intend to play around with the recipe myself. I think they're brilliant and would make a fabulous addition to my popular 'adult' lollipop line or as event favors.

They're just so much fun, I want to squish their little cheeks. That is... before I visciously bite their little heads off.

The Cronut is another confection with its own waiting list.

Dominque Ansel's Cronut

Created by French pastry chef Dominique Ansel  in 2013, the lines to procure one of these little gems seemingly stretched into the horizon. Cronut frenzy ensued and the Cronut remains to this day, in extremely high demand.

People order them weeks in advance and hoarded them greedily.  It seemed that for a while, the Cronut replaced currency as people would barter them for what they needed and wave them around as a possible reward in much the same way that one might wave a carrot before a donkey.
It's not an exaggeration to suggest that Cronuts changed the pastry world.

The recipe used in Ansel's bakery is proprietary, though he did release an 'at home' version in his cookbook.

If you're passionate enough to consider giving it a try yourself, you can find the recipe HERE.

French Macarons - My own. :)

It was suggested that the mighty French macaron would eclipse the ubiquitous cupcake as the most popular pastry.

Though they are extremely popular, they are also deceptively tricky to make due to an important process call macronage.  

This process involves deflating the meringue to a somewhat elusive point described as "thick lava." If this perfect point is not reached, the coveted feet (the ruffled part of the cookie base) will not be achieved.

Other pitfalls resulting from poorly executed macronage include hollow shells, cracked tops and lack of lift.

There is a lot written about the macaron and macronage in general.  I suggest you give it a query and have a good laugh over the quasi-relious rituals people swear by in order to achieve the perfect state of macronage.

If you're up for the challenge, begin by checking out this post by Brave Tart I think she will help put some of your fears to rest.

Stay grounded, remember that they're only cookies and try not to curse the French too much for their exacting pastry rituals. :)

I promise it will all be worth the effort.

Stay Sweet!

Lisa