Graduation Cake

Quick graduation cake update!

I've been quite busy with work, baking & summer social gatherings lately so sorry for the lack of updates. After last week's wedding cake, I took a few days off. This week was the order for a University of New hampshire graduation cake.

The picture above is of the cake chilling in the fridge before the party. The bottom sheet cake was layers of vanilla-spice cake with strawberry preserves and the top tiered section was pure & simple chocolate cake. The whole thing was topped off with vanilla cream cheese frosting and chocolate embellishments & decals.

The very top layer had the UNH seal on and the sides said various things such as "Congratulations", "Class of 2010" and "UNH!" with baby music notes and heart corner-borders.

All-in-all a fun cake to create, serve & eat (yes, I even got paid to eat some at the get-together!).

More detailed pictures soon.

I just need to upload them onto my mac.

Talk to you soon!

Always,

Lauren Elise

{Crumb} Petit Bakery

The Wedding Cake is Done!

Here's how the cake started out:

Naked layers of cake!
Vanilla-Spice and Deep Chocolate cake with French Vanilla and Dark Cocoa frostings.

Here's what happened next:

The crumb coat!
Swiss Meringue Buttercream spread on in a thin layer and set in the fridge to chill.

...And here's the finished product!

All done!
The finished cake with black royal icing pearls and a sunny gerbera daisy on top.

Side note- the humidity today was/is horrible, which caused a little problem. My royal icing pearls started to melt rather than harden! The little drops became all 'smooshed' together in pools and the buttercream became slightly more transparent with the heat as well. Once in the fridge at the wedding it will set back up. Good thing I armed Elaine, one of the girls who picked up the cake, with a pastry bag full of that good ol' goo to touch up the edging before dessert time. Making this cake was a challenge, it was fun and rewarding, but at the same time... I'm glad it's over! Without my own commercial-size refrigerator and freezer, cake frosting in summer time can be just a bit too complicated.

Love to all,

(After all that hard work, I'm beat for today!)

{Crumb}

Birthday Tea Cake!

Along with starting to bake for this wedding cake, I put a little something extra into the oven :) My Grandmother's 80th birthday is today & a family picnic is in order this evening. I decided to make a Pecan Vanilla-Spice cake with Chocolate Ganache drizzle. The picture is the cake cooling on the counter sans topping. And below, with the ganache and an extra dusting of spice! Mmmm.

Always,

{Crumb}

Celebration Bakes

My boyfriend's dad is dating this amazing lady named Rhea & Monday was her birthday! She said she 'didn't want anything' for her big day, as it 'wasn't a big deal'. So naturally, I forced baked goods upon her, saying it had to be done. After all, a birthday's a birthday! So strawberry shortcakes were just the ticket. I went to the market and bought a few quarts of fresh, sweet strawberries, made some baked biscuits with cinnamon and sugar topping and a fresh vanilla whipped cream. They were dynamite!

Also, yesterday was the first ever Beach Tea Party in Old Saybrook. A few friends and I made a spread for the sand of lemon iced tea, sliced apples, fresh berries & grapes, crackers & cheese and a bowl of homemade trail mix. For our dessert craving, we had chocolate brownies I put together that afternoon with peanut butter swirl on top and extra chocolate chips. Sinful. But so good!

In other news, I start the wedding cake tomorrow. I don't now whether to be excited or frightened! I'm sure it'll be perfectly sweet & work out just fine. Wish me luck! :)

Ta da!

Here's the first post of my brand new & shiny, baking blog! If you've heard of {Crumb} before, you've most likely added me on Facebook, seen my work, or tasted a morsel (or two!). I hope you've all been enjoying it so far :)

I thought I'd make the first post to show what's been happening since the start of this project in April 2010. I currently have a plethora of friends, 'likes' & weekly views on my Facebook fan page, which can be found here. Due to the rising amount of orders I have have been receiving, the positive feedback on my sweets and inquiries as to a more 'official' page, I've created this blog! I have also made a direct email for {Crumb}, which you can send orders to or ask questions about the bakery. Send your love notes this way >> crumbpetitbakery@gmail.com

I plan on updating as often as possible and posting pictures of the latest orders and projects! Here's an overview of the past few days and this upcoming week.

Friday afternoon, I completed an order of four dozen French Macarons for a customer's bridal shower. Neatly packaged in a sweet little cake box were lemon, red berry, french vanilla and nutella 'brownie' baby gateaux (pictured above). I admit, I had a couple myself & they were pretty darn good!

Coming up this week, I have an order for a wedding cake... a WEDDING CAKE! This will be my first & I am super excited :) I'm so flattered that a couple has trusted me with one of the most important aspects of their big day. The cake will be chocolate and vanilla layered cake with three tier design. The whole thing will be covered with with french vanilla whipped buttercream frosting and decorated with sweet & simple dots and swirls. A mini bride & groom will be placed atop this tower of sugar!

And for next week, I have a cake for a 60 person graduation party. A friend from UNH asked me to do her right with a memorable white and blue cake in celebration of the big day! For the party, I will be creating a four tiered, buttercream covered, dual flavored, school-logo piped work. I will update closer to the finishing date on this one.

So much to do! Hope you enjoyed the update on my business! See you all soon.

Always,

Lauren Elise

{Crumb} Petit Bakery