Sunday, July 16, 2006

Hot Hot Hot!!!

Am I speaking of the weather, me or today's food photographs? YES!

Friday was INSANE! 14.5 hours straight, in my pretty pink vegan Birkenstocks, minus a 45 minute break for some dinner. Sad thing is, I only have a few photos to show for it all. I was simply too tired to take them. D snapped a few of the most unique.

Tiny old fashioned cheesecakes, 1" in diameter, baked in a thin shortbread shell, topped with Swiss strawberry preserves & a white chocolate drizzle. These were a very small part of an order for bite-sized wedding desserts. They also had: Petit Fours, Blueberry topped Cheesecakes, Lemon Curd Cheesecakes, Key Lime Tarts, Turtle Triangles, Lemon Berry Dream Squares & Housegrown Rhubarb Dream Slices (for clarification purposes: the rhubarb is grown here, not the dream slices, but wouldn't that be COOL? Hey D, I'm going out in the garden to pick dessert, do you want something off the Creme Brulee Tree or the Eclair Bush? ;-)

This was a combo birthday cake for Daddy & daughter. I'm assuming the balloons & crayons were for the 7 year old girl & the racing tractor was for the Daddy. Maybe I shouldn't assume, though. One never knows.


Baby Shower Cake


The bottom was a 14" round cake nearly 6" tall. It was a white cake with white chocolate mousse & fresh sliced strawberries between the 4 layers. Each little 'block' was also mousse filled. The COOL ladies that ordered this cake simply told me the flavors & number of guests. The design was totally up to my creativity. I like that. A LOT! My best cakes start off with no instruction. My imagination is a vast chasm filled with sugar induced visions.

The aerial shot. Unfortunately I wasn't here to witness the customers reaction. I heard she was quite satisfied. Her I please, blogfans I tease! All in a days work.

18 Responses to “Hot Hot Hot!!!”

Hi Jin, rhubarb is my speciality (meaning I will eat it in anything.) So what's in a rhubarb dream slice?

For the record, and I realize I may be attacked for this statement, which is fine, but it is my firm belief that strawberry-rhubarb pie is for hacks. Anyone who can't take the rhubarb on its own without the wussy strawberries to tone it down has no business eating it.

Rhubarb is the nectar of the gods!

Of course if you put strawberries in the dream slices, I will still eat them. I may be a bigot, but I'm not completely intolerant. Especially when it comes to stuffing my face.

Pat said...

Rhubarb.....yum, yummmm! I remember as a child a neighbor lady had a patch of growing wild in her yard, and she'd allow us to pick it and chomp on it raw! Happy memories!

Anonymous said...

"Yes, nothing gets the taste of fear and humiliation out of your mouth like Beebopareebop Rhubarb Pie.

But one little thing can revive a guy,
And that is home-made rhubarb pie.
Serve it up, nice and hot.
Maybe things aren't as bad as you thought."

I appreciate the link to my blog, but it seems like a stretch for your readers to move from your delicious confections to my various complaints and lies. Maybe you can find a site about cupcakes with unhappy faces or "Fuck Off" written in frosting to make the transition between your and my pages a little smoother.

Cherry! said...

I'm loving the baby shower cake! Awesome!!

Fuff said...

Fantastic.

jin said...

cp: Rhubarb Dream Slice: (old family recipe) thin crispy shortbread crust topped with a sweet creamy eggy custard & LOTS of small chopped rhubarb baked until set then cut in squares with a rosette of whipped cream piped on top.
*jin reaches through the screen to wipe the drool that has trickled out of the corner of cp's mouth*

Out here we have to be careful how we say "strawberry rhubarb". There are actually 2 different types of rhubarb plants. You have traditional rhubarb (what we grow) & you have a red rhubarb plant called 'strawberry rhubarb'. So, around here, people call it rhubarb & strawberry bars so as not to confuse people. We do NOT...I repeat, we DO NOT add chopped strawberries to any of our lovely rhubarb desserts or muffins! You are right AGAIN Tom! You know how to appreciate food in its entirety!!!
(But thank you for trusting my pastry skills enough to be willing to taste something if I say it should be tasted that way!!!:-)

Funny story: I have a regular customer in her 70's. She is picky BEYOND belief but tips well enough to get extra special treatment. She is also 'old-fashioned prim & proper' (translation: never been married, probable virgin, inherited lots of $$$). We used to tell her about new items to see if she was interested in trying them. When I started making the rhubarb bars I asked if she'd like to try one. Her eyes got really big & she nearly shouted, "Certainly Not! I NEVER eat rhubarb!" I asked why not? She replied, "When I was young it grew wildly EVERYWHERE. The stray dogs always ran right for the rhubarb plants & 'watered' on them! I certainly wouldn't eat something that a dog 'waters' on."
I can't tell you what a hard time I had keeping a straight face!

curious: LOL nice memory! You might enjoy the story I wrote above about the 'wild rhubarb plants'! :-)

andy: LMAO! Is that really a song or did you make it up???? Hahaha!!! Excellent! :-)

As for the linky, I LOVE your sarcastic ramblings. I think you may be a bit deceived as to how 'saintly' some of my readers are! LOL. I think there are a few who will enjoy visiting your 'apartment' as much as I do! (Wow...that sounded pervy.) I also LOVE the idea of 'fuck off' scrawled on a cake...maybe YOU should do that & post a pic to ease your newly found readership into the groove!!!

cherry: Thanks! Will you be needing one anytime soon then?!!? ;-)

fuff: :-D Thank you!!! :-D

Anonymous said...

I am a rhubarb fan, but I didn't write the song. Beebopareebop Rhubarb Pie and Beebopareebop Rhubarb Frozen Pie Filling is a fictional sponsor for the weekly radio program "A Prairie Home Companion".

I have nothing but respect for your fine readers; I often forget that not everyone is afraid of change, the dark, loud noises, women, the elderly, mollusks, man-made satellites falling from space, or anything else I am personally afraid of.

Ace said...

Those blocks are fantabulous. I don't know whether to love your blog or hate it. So much good food, and I can't cook a thing. I'm so jealous!

Of course, if I could cook cake like you, I'd never leave the house on weekends and weight 350 pounds. Munkees like cake.

jin said...

andy: Shame on me...I DO listen to that show ALL the time (well, every other week). I like Guy Noir...lol.

Wow! You've got quite the list of phobias! Well, I'll have to agree with you on two: women & the elderly, very very scary.
So, if you came in contact with an elderly woman making loud noises in the dark would that just totally send you into a fit?!!? ;-)

ace: Um...I have a secret! Do you want to hear it? I feed my man tons of cake & sweets yet he never gains an ounce. The secret is he washes ALL my dishes & cleans up after me...*giggles*...trust me, he burns it off 'cuz I'm a damn messy cook!!! ;-)

Great babyshower cake!! The little girl was probably really happy about having to share a cake with the old man.

Hope you had a great weekend!!

Anonymous said...

Not really a fit - more of a shriek and then a faint. I imagine to qualify as a fit it should last longer. I am no authority on the subject.

I like to find other PHC listeners. Should I ever make it to your shop; I will declare anything I eat, "Tasty and Expeditious."

Cherry! said...

I was going to put a disclaimer in there saying that my comment in no way, shape or form could be taken to mean that I'm feeling ready to procreate. I'm off the idea of children yet again. I have never wanted them, then for about 2 years I did and now I'm off the idea. I'm too selfish (in case you hadn't noticed!)

jin said...

phos: Thanks!
Yeah...especially at 7 years old, right?!!? Most people order 2 smaller cakes. Ah, well...& so it goes...

andy: Hahaha!!! Ok...you're right. A fit would indeed last longer than your symptoms.

I've listened to that show for a LONG time. It was only within the past year that I first saw a picture of Garrison Keillor. I was so surprised. When I listen to someone I create a picture in my minds eye of how I think they look. Usually I am pretty right on. Not with him! I pictured very tall, with a barrel type chest straight graying hair...kind of handsome in an old dude sort of way! LOL! Yeah...needless to say I was a tad off!
Have you ever seen to show in person?

cherry: LMAO!!! It's ok, I completely understand. My inner Virgo requires me to NEVER have children. This is a good thing. :-) Yuck! Wrecks your body!!! Ewww...& it's just really yucky, fluids & gooey stuff & ewwwww!!!! Gross! Ok. 'Nuff said.

At least you wouldn't have the worry Australian mothers would have about dingoes eating their baby.

Dino said...

I love rhubarb cake. The german restaurant where I used to work would make the best ever (aside Jins I am sure)

Dino said...

Oh I forgot. I told Grumpy a bit about your pastries and happend to mention I took to goes. Oh man was I in trouble as I had not gotten any back to Virginia. So I had to promise under oath that once the season is colder, I will have you ship some of those peanut butter cookies with chocolate.

Anonymous said...

I have seen the show live. It was good to hang out with people 3x my age. And scare them as we were all at various stages of drunkeness. And wearing homemade Garrison Keillor shirts.

jin said...

phos: Haha!!! I bet all Australian mothers WISH that!!!

katy: I have never actually made rhubarb cake! I will have to try it now. Maybe small single serving ones. Hmmm....

We ship A LOT of those little p.b. cookies in the fall. We even do a variety box in December that has tiny cookies like that in 15 different flavours. We sell TONS of them!
1# box is 24.00 (aprox. 75 mini cookies)
2# box is 48.00 (aprox. 160 mini cokkies)
We wrap each flavour separately so they retain their unique tastes. They also ship EXCEPTIONALLY!!! :-)

andy: Haha!!! Yeah, I suppose that crowd would be the older generation! Post a pic of the shirts! :-D