Strawberry Matcha Éclairs

Well, since my Totoro puffs didn't turn out the way I imagined them to, I thought I would work on some éclairs instead. The good thing is, the choux dough recipe is the same (so refer back to the Totoro post), the only thing you do differently is how you pipe them out.

And you know what? You're supposed to use a star tip, but I couldn't find mine. It's probably at my parent's house - all my baking supplies are now split apart because my condo can't fit everything. But the éclairs turned out just fine with a round piping tip.

After the éclairs cool, cut them in half so that you have your elongated boats. If you made the choux dough correctly, the interiors should be semi-hollow.

It's strawberry season again (yay) so I chopped them up into tiny little cubes. Then sprinkled a teaspoon of sugar on it, gave it a toss, and had it macerate for a bit. It's sitting in a sieve so that any excess liquids can drain off.

Using tiny dessert spoons, I filled the with the strawberries I so painstakingly sliced.

Then came the fun part, decorating with matcha buttercream! I was originally going to make matcha pastry cream, but realized I finished using all the milk on the choux dough. Oops! Oh well, it worked out in the end as buttercream is so much easier to make and also pipes out beautifully.

Doesn't the smooth matcha buttercream look like avocado? In fact, these éclairs remind me of sub sandwiches or avocado toast. I know you're supposed to put the tops back on the éclairs . . . but they're so much prettier when they're like an open-faced sandwich!

You can also pipe the buttercream in first and then top it with strawberries. Don't forget to decorate! I had sprinkles and milk chocolate crispearls on hand. You can also switch out your piping tip for different designs.

Howard's colleagues are going to have a happy Monday eating these (I hope)! There's too many for Howard and I to finish. There's also a key lime pie in the freezer, but more about that later.

Wedding Cakes

Okay, finally! I'm sharing my favourite wedding project - the cakes! You might not believe this, but there was a time where I didn't think we needed a wedding cake, I figured there was a dessert course in the menu and that would be the sweet ending for the meal. But Howard pointed out that it would be weird for us to not have cake - especially with me being known as being a baker and all. So I thought about it and decided it would kind of be odd and I did like the idea of baking for our guests.

Then came the hard part, what type of cake would I make? What flavours? How would I decorate them? I looked in many cookbooks and my past blog posts. What did we like to eat? What would cause me the less amount of stress?

What I did know was that we wouldn't use fondant. Even though we started this blog showcasing fondant decorations and even though fondant looks really good, we personally don't enjoy eating it. I wanted the cakes to look natural to match the venue. This wasn't a sleek and polished event, it was small, intimate, and homey. I wanted the application of the frosting to look homemade. I wanted one to be naked with no frosting covering it. Then I wanted a cake that didn't look like much, but upon closer inspection, was something special.

So my next project was to figure out what types of cake toppers I wanted to make. Pinterest was extremely helpful in providing ideas and I eventually picked three: a "Mr and Mrs" bunting, a "LOVE" sign, and a "JUST MARRIED" banner. I used cardboard, paper, thread, and wooden skewers to make them. What I liked about these was the extra height it gave my six-inch cakes.

No one else would know this, but it bugs me that I made the mistake in pairing up the cakes with the cake stands. In my original plan and sketches, I had the naked cake on the white cake stand and the white cake on the glass cake stand. In my own nervousness, I accidentally set them up wrong on the day of. I could have also pushed down the skewers a bit more - like maybe an inch. This is just me over-thinking it and being critical. Since I was the one who set up the cakes, I have no one else to blame but myself! The staff did an outstanding job decorating the rest of the table with greenery and candles - seriously, best team ever!

Here we are, our first task as a married couple! Don't we look happy getting ready to cut the cake? (Another reason why I love my wedding dress, it almost looks like another dress when you don't see the bottom part of the gown. This could have been a knee-length cocktail dress since you can't tell with the table covering the bottom.)

We picked the easier cake to cut into. The restaurant provided the knife and cake lifter.

I'm over the moon here. If Howard fed me cake everyday, I'd be the plumpest and happiest wife on the planet.

I'm sure he doesn't feel the same.

When we were finished our photos, the staff took all three cakes back into the kitchen so they could divide them up and plate them. Then they were carried back out and placed on the table as a self-serve station. To my surprise - because a lot of my family members don't have a big sweet tooth - everyone went up for cake. At one point, I thought we didn't have enough (we did, there was like three slices left at the end of the night).

I made a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting - a classic and one of my favourite go-to cakes.

The next cake I made is one that is a bit more unique. Not a lot of people have tried a mille crêpes cake before and I feel that it's that something extra for special occasions. Plus, it's a favourite of ours ever since we tried it in New York where we got engaged.

The third cake I made was mainly for Howard. Even though the mille crêpes cake is his all-time favourite, he also loves citrus flavours. This was a lemon cake with lime buttercream.

Wedding Photography: Ikonica | Venue: Auberge du Pommier | Cake Knife: Auberge du Pommier | Cake Lifter: Auberge du Pommier | Cakes: A Baked Creation | Cake Toppers: A Baked Creation | Cake Label Signs: A Baked Creation | Glass Cake Stand: Crate and Barrel | White Cake Stand: Crate and Barrel | Wooden Cake Stand: Chapters Indigo | Six-inch cake boards: PME Sugarcraft | Wedding Dress: Mori Lee Blu 5108

Wedding Programs

We took the wedding programs into our own hands as another do-it-yourself project. This was required some timing and planning as we wanted our programs to be as fresh as possible. Odd? Yes, but our program included a sweet treat with it.

Do you remember our centerpieces from the previous post? Well, I couldn't make those until the programs were finished because I had to use the cookie cutters first.

Two days before, I made the batter for brownie roll-out cookies, chilled them overnight, and baked them the next day.

It would have been pretty difficult to do with the dowels on them!

I needed eight of each number to go with our seating chart. We found these clear 4 x 6 treat bags for the cookies to go in and stapled them to the program I printed.

I designed these double-sided programs and printed them on card stock so that the shape would hold while the treat bags were attached. The back of the programs informed each guest which table they would be seated at for dinner.

I know these programs don't match the save-the-dates or the invitations, but I wanted it to be simple and match the venue. So I stuck with a craft paper background, black, and white, and the cookies would be dark enough to stand out.

We piled it all into a wooden pine crate and put the groomsmen in charge of handing these out to guests when the ushers dropped them off at the terrace.

Of course, Howard and I didn't need one, we knew where we were sitting!

And there's the front of the program where we listed the key people participating in our wedding party, the officiant, and schedule of the evening.

A few guests commented on the fact that they saw the connection between the table numbers and the program cookies. =) And those brownie roll-out cookies are so good, I love how they stay soft and chewy. I think most people would have chosen to go with a sugar cookie, but I find those dry and hard to the point that they'll be too crumbly.

Wedding Photography: Ikonica | Venue: Auberge du Pommier | Table Numbers: Sylvia Chan |  Wedding Programs: Sylvia Chan | Cookies: Sylvia Chan | Cookie Cutters: Fox Run Craftsmen | Wooden Cake Dowels: Michaels | Clear Treat Bags: Michaels | Wooden Crate: KNAGGLIG from IKEA

Smiling

Sometimes other people know best.

This was one of those situations where I was pretty adamant that I did not want a bridal shower or bachelorette party. I was serious and stayed strong. But then finally gave in after they asked me for the fiftieth time. Fine! Do it, whatever you want! No one listens to the bride anyways!

I caved and agreed to a small bridal shower (still a big no to the bachelorette party) and to my maid of honour's delight, she got to plan a tea party for me.

You know what? My bridal party has got skills. And game. They completely blew me away. Prior to the party, the only thing I did was give them a list of all the ladies invited to the wedding. Threw in a few activity ideas. And that was that. They did everything else. So I went in not knowing what to expect . . .

But look at the spread! These were all homemade! Unbelievable as they look store bought, but my maid of honour made lots and lots of tea sandwiches. One of my bridesmaids made three different types of scones: lemon poppyseed, berry, and a chocolate chip one. The other bridesmaid made a cherry crumble and blueberry crumble.

My bridesmaids are busy people. Always on the go and taking care of their energetic kids. So I was so touched that they squeezed in some baking time for me. And they didn't just make one flavour, they had to go for the gold star and make a variety!

Then there was the decoration. Silver, white, and pink balloons to match what their bouquets will be on the wedding day. Black and white HOWIA sign to match our classic wedding theme - also homemade. At first glance, I thought they bought the letters from a craft store!

Throw in my favourite colour of teal, a pretty table runner, mason jar centerpieces, and a cheese platter, this tea party had me speechless. My mom and future mother-in-law also pitched in a brought lots of food and desserts. A few aunts and friends couldn't make it, but we still had a great time playing games and catching up.

There was even a designated seat for me. I was scolded many times to stay under the Bride-To-Be bunting (also homemade by my bridesmaid). Look at how cute those paper ribbons are! Seriously Pinterest worthy!

We were pretty full from lunch, but you can't have a bridal shower for a dessert lover without dessert! There were lots of cakes and cookies and squares to be eaten and shared. Look, even teapot shaped cookies!

We obviously don't believe in sugar overload.

Or portion control. We will just eat and eat and eat. I do feel that I'm eating a lot more desserts these days - it's what all brides do a month before their wedding, right?

Also, we had yellow watermelon. And coconut lime sparkling beverages. And I ate sugar snap peas (I absolutely hate peas, especially those in the frozen medley with carrots).

Doing what I do best, cutting into a delicious chocolate cake. (For those of you who haven't seen me in contacts, I am not cutting the cake blind. I do occasionally wear them! And also for those of you who haven't seen me with wavy hair, I did attempt to curl them, but my hair likes to go back to being pin straight after awhile.)

Why the heck am I even having my wedding at a restaurant? My bridal party could totally cater.

Oh and those cute milk carton party favours? Another amazing DIY project by one of my bridesmaids. The were all personalized boxes of tea so that guests could take home a memento of the tea party.

Yup, the tags and labels were all personalized "S"ylvia tea!!!

I think everyone left smiling and I couldn't thank my friends more. They did so much to make the afternoon special for me. Hugs and thank you to Megan, Diana, and Laura!!! I am so excited for the big day because they'll be there to support me. =)

Awesome Brownies

With a name like Awesome Brownies, the recipe has to deliver. And I think they do based on two accounts. 

1. I made these and tweeted about it - my coworkers expected brownies in the office the next day. 

2. I made these and packed them up for Howard to bring to work - his coworkers devoured them.

So now there's been a lot of grumbling on both sides. My colleagues are upset that I didn't bring them in and that they went to Howard's colleagues. Howard is now telling me that people are pestering him about when I'll be making more. 

I'm surprised, I thought they would be too rich and that the squares I cut were too big. This is moist, melty, gooey chocolate we're talking about. But the verdict was that the pecans helped lessen the sweetness and added a nice crunchy texture to each bite. 

Awesome Brownies

Recipe adapted from Good Food, Good Life

(Doesn't make enough brownies. Just kidding, makes about 20-24 brownies)

9 ounces of semisweet chocolate (or bittersweet, 61% cocoa or less)

1 stick and 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup of sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 9 x 9 baking pan with foil. Leave extra foil on the sides to provide as a handle to lift the brownies out when they're finished baking. 

Combine the chocolate a butter over a double boiler to melt. You're only supposed to use 6 ounces of the chocolate and save the rest to mix in after, but I dumped it all in! Let the mixture cool when the butter and chocolate are combined and smooth.

Whisk the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and salt. Whisk in the melted chocolate and butter mixture.

Fold in the flour and then half of the pecans (or 1 cup of pecans if you're following the recipe to a T).

Pour the batter into the lined baking pan (you should spray it with non-stick oil, I forgot) and sprinkle the remaining pecans (and 3 ounces of chocolate if you reserved some instead of melting all of it) on top. Bake the brownies for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Let the brownies cool in the pan.

Using the foil, carefully lift the brownie out from the pan. Use a sharp knife to divide it into squares. Store in an airtight container.

Yummm, just look at that top crust. I think that all brownies should have that shiny crinkle on top. Everything is awesome!

An update: I made them a second time. This time I brought them into my office. =)