Friday, April 18, 2014

Happy Easter!!


I don't know about you guys, but I love these holidays - and it's not just for the chocolate!

But for someone like me who enjoys preparing a little something for their dear ones, why not prepare them some homemade Easter eggs?

It's pretty great! You can customize it the way you and your family want!

Before my return to Aussie land I prepared to my family a few Dark Chocolate Truffle - with a little cherry magic - Easter Eggs, unfortunately I didn't get to take any pictures, but gladly I could find some examples for you all!

I'm here to give you some ideas on how to surprise your family and friends. Let's see some ideas of fillings for your chocolates!

"Beijinho"


Marshmallow

Brownie

Eat-with-a-spoon Easter Eggs
Isn't this great?! I love making chocolate like these!

What do you reckon? Have you ever tried a Easter Egg with a delicious filling?

Hope you have a great Easter!

Cheers,

Dee.

Pictures:
http://mdemulher.abril.com.br/blogs/anamaria-receitas/2012/04/03/especial-de-pascoa-receitas-de-ovos-recheados/
http://artesanato.culturamix.com/curiosidades/como-fazer-ovos-artesanais

Monday, April 7, 2014

The First Event - My Sister's Wedding

After a lot of work, our first event was a success! Everyone loved the Dessert Table and that made me very happy.

I've learnt a lot over these past few days, I had help from my beautiful family and friends and everyone shared their thoughts and advice.

Since this was my first time preparing sweets for a wedding and in a large quantity, I had to research a lot about it and test the recipes, over and over again.

I learned that, in the end, it is likely that you will end up changing your menu and your technique/recipe.

This happened to me. At first I had planned to make a little cake called "bem-casados" - which means "well wed" - usually given as a gift to the guests. I tested recipe after recipe, trying to get the right texture. I tried five times before getting it right. I then realised that we were giving the guests a different gift and considering the way I wanted to display them (not wrapped, just like little macarons), the weather (it was very hot), the decoration and the time required to finish all of them, I decided to go in a different direction.

Another thing I learned was that, if you are catering alongside another business, things do not always turn out the way you had expected. For example, I had asked the decorater and the catering people not to display mousse at the table, it was supposed to stay in the fridge and then be served with the cake.

They did not follow my instructions, which could have caused the mousse to melt and lose its flavour. This could easily have hurt my image. Since I was part of the bridal party, I couldn't supervise the serving of the mousse. They looked pretty at the table, however they could have been ruined.

Luckly my mousse was well chilled and very firm and so it was fine.

This is something we need to be aware of, because if you are not in charge of the whole process, others may not follow your instructions and this can hurt your business.

Thankfully everything worked out fine and everyone was very happy. I was very grateful to receive their feedback!

I still don't have the official photos, but here are few examples of my sweets:

- Passion fruit and Lime mousse


- Liqueur and Chocolate truffle bonbons, and
- Brazilian nut brigadeiros.



Thank you all for your support!

Here's to a great beginning!

Cheers,

Dee.