Fruit Tart

For a holiday dessert I thought it would be nice to have a colorful, beautiful dessert to eat. My family loves fruit tarts, because it is a light and a healthy dessert, and fruits are so tasty and good for you.

Fruit tarts are truly works of arts, and this brings out my artistic side. There are so many gorgeous designs you can create with fruit and it brings out the art in your baking. Many people don't want to cut into this gorgeous creation, but eventually you have to eat your artistic creation.

It tastes just as good as it looks, the shell is filled with chocolate then a thin layer of cake, topped with custard and finally fruit. Most people who have ate fruit tarts have not had it with a layer of cake in it. Adding the layer of cake in it really makes the taste and texture even more incredible tasting. Some of you have experienced this incredible taste and know what I mean, and for those who have not you just might want a bite.

I will be putting together all my recipes in a book for sale in the near future, for all of those who have been asking and like to bake. Also sometime soon I will begin teaching classes for those who have asked. Happy New Year to all, and best wishes for 2010!

Chocolate Covered Pecan Pie

Tonight we are invited to a study circle / dinner party at our good friend Pari's home. I didn't want to go empty handed, and since dinner was provided, I wanted to whip up some dessert. I had about three hours to come up with something different, mouth watering, and relatively quick. So I go through my fridge and see that I have a bowl of caramel and pecan filling and dough which I can use for a shell. I got it! I can make a chocolate covered Pecan Pie.

Chocalate covered pecan pie takes about several hours to make so I do have enough time. This is a unique pecan pie that has always been a hit. Everyone who tastes this extraordinary dessert falls in love with it because of its rich taste.

The caramel and pecan filling is enclosed in the mouth watery shell. Finally chocolate is poured over it to form a complete covering. Very rich in taste and so delicious with tea or coffee, it hits the spot! My husband Prabakar was very excited as this is one of his favorite desserts. As we drove to the party Prabakar was stating that he could smell the chocolate and it was killing him. He was so hungry that he wanted to have the dessert first because of the incredible chocolate smell. At the party, it was a hit. No one had taste a pecan pie like it!

kiwi strawberry rollet cake

Great news! I will be giving French baking classes soon. I have been putting together plans to start teaching french baking classes. It has been on my mind for a while and I have been talking to my friends and customers to get some feedback. Many of them have asked to come and learn, watch, be an assistant or to get recipes for my cakes and pastries. So look forward to more plans and details on that.

My friend Atousa had invited us over for dinner this past weekend. My husband and I decided to make a rollet cake to take as dessert. I figured I would experiment with teaching him how to make a rollet cake. Mind you, it was a little frustrating teaching him :) as he just doesn't listen sometimes, but he was a good student after all. It took us about 2 hours to get it all done and believe it or not, it came out great.

Here are the quick details of the cake we made. It was a white cake with whip cream and chocolate shavings with fruit on top. Kiwis and strawberries look great on chocolate shavings. It gives a holiday look, feel and taste. Everyone loved the taste and the design. They couldn't believe that my husband had made it and not me. Rollet cakes are easier to make than a standard round or square cake and I think they taste better too if you want something different. I add a lemon and orange Zest for additional flavoring and a unique taste. I think there was about 4 or 5 people at the party who wanted to take the class. Yeah!!

Holiday Yule Log Cake

Its the holidays! Whether you are celebrating Christmas, Hanuka, Kwanzaa, or holiday, its a great time to add the sweets as part of your celebration.

This year I am making Holiday Yule Log cakes. Several friends have already placed their orders and here is my first one for the season. What is a Yule Log cake you ask?

The term goes way back to the 12th century, when it was customary for families on Christmas eve to sit around a fireplace and light a log. Yes, it was actually a real fire log that had to be burned for 12 hours. Families and friends would watch it burn for hours while telling ghost stories . Then over time, tradition changed and the log was replaced by luscious desserts made to represent the log. Therefore the circular tree rings on the Yule log cake.

My Yule log cakes are made french style, no oil, no butter, just natural and healthy. It is a white cake with orange zest, fresh whip cream and chocolate shavings on top with holiday decorations. A lot of love went into it to make it as delicious and pretty as can be. It is a very festive and fun dessert to have during the holidays. I still have to do all my clean up and dishes, but it was worth the hard work.

Raspberry White cake with Chocolate Shavings

During our bakery days, our french style cakes were the most popular. We made french cakes for all kinds of occasions, from birthdays to anniversaries to weddings and just parties. Making french style cakes has always been my favorite part of the bakery days and I truly enjoy the experience and results.

Today was my friend Anthony's birthday party. I decided to make a white cake with raspberry whip cream filling for him. I always like to decorate with chocolate, so I'll top it off with some chocolate shavings. There is an art to making french style cakes. The difference is not only in the recipe but also the process. My father taught me one of his secrets to making cakes spungy and moist. We never use oil or butter in our cakes. Surprised??? Yes, for all the years that we have been making cakes, we never used oil or butter to make the cake soft and moist. It is a secret that has made our cakes so popular. It is healthly, all natural, and tastes so great! So have an extra slice without worrying too much about the fat :)

Here it is! A white cake with raspberry whip cream filling and chocolate shavings on top and on the sides and decorated with raspberries on top.

Rollet chocolate cake with chocolate shavings topped with raspberries

Today I had a French Chocolate Rollet birthday cake order. This is a birthday cake for a friend's mom and she loves chocolate and raspberries. It will be a chocolate cake with fresh whip cream in it and on top, then decorated with chocolate shavings and raspberries. For my cakes I never use frosting. I am totally against frosting - its high in sugar, cheap, and does not make for a delicious tasting cake.

Lets get started and see how it turns out............. I have finished! Check out my work of art - it looks fabulous.

It will taste delicious too. Recently most of my orders have been rollet cakes and I enjoy making them. I also decided to add mandarin oranges to it for a more diverse colorful look. This particluar cake will easily serve 20 people and it is something different than your usual round or rectangular birthday cakes. It has a different look which I think captures the eyes. It will be eaten on Thanksgiving day, so I will have to wait and hear the reviews. It is really fun making something too pretty to eat :)

OK, gotta get back to other thanksgiving day pastries. I will be making an apricot pie with almond and custard filling - a french style of making pies. It was a huge hit in the days of our bakery and I expect it will be a hit again this year. Of course there will be pumpkin pie as well, but thats nothing to rave about. I will post some pictures of the apricot pie though.

Happy thanksgiving to all!

Why blog about french baking?

Wow! I have finally started my blog. Been thinking and talking about this for some time now and decided to start blogging :) Why? Well, for quite some time now, friends and customers have been telling me how much they love my work, how great it tastes, whether I sell my recipes or books, give lessons, and to share with them my work. So here it is...

A little about me. My family and I ran a very successful french bakery in Santa Barbara, CA called Le Chateau French Bakery for about 12 years. Then I moved to San Diego and worked as a school teacher and real estate agent for a number of years. Recently my passion for baking was re-ignited by my husband (who kept asking me how come he doesn't get to taste those delicious desserts that he has heard so much about). After baking a few french cakes and pastries whenever family or friends came over for dinner, I realized how much I missed baking. Slowly I got the word out that I was baking again and orders started to come in from friends and referrals. The thing I enjoy most about baking is to see the expression on people's faces when they see my work of art and to hear their delight when they taste it. Yes, the art of gourmet desserts! It is such a rewarding experience for me.

What I hope to achieve is to share with my readers the experience of making french baked cakes and desserts! The process (yes, its hard and labor intensive), share some pictures, and eventually put my work together for a book (that might take some time). If you have any ideas, questions, comments, please share them with me.