For Theresa and John...

...Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Anniversary to my dearest friends! And Happy Valentine's Day to Lovers everywhere...

(A double-decker heart-shaped Brownie cake filled and coated with bittersweet chocolate ganache. The fondant covered, heart-shaped cake and foamcore board, were decorated with scallop crimping, sugar lace pieces, embossed sugar bows and sugar pearls. The Heart is adorned with gumpaste flowers: Roses, Cornflowers and Chinese Jasmine. The lace, bows and pearls were formed with molds and embossers coated with antique silk luster dust then, with the cakeboard and cake top, over-dusted with pearl dust. The heart-shaped cakeboard was trimmed in two ivory lace ribbons.)

Maria

Goodbye, Christmas...Hello, Mardi Gras

I've been busy with a couple of major projects so have not had the time to come up with a sugar piece to celebrate this, the last day of the Christmas season. The Epiphany or Little Christmas or The Feast of the Three Kings is an important part of my Christmas traditions and I did not want it to pass without acknowledging it. To that end, I give you my first attempt at a decorated cake-a flourless chocolate torte with a ganache icing and chocolate roses dusted with cocoa powder. It was originally made for the 30th anniversary of my friends, Joanne and Ray. For today, I have resurrected it as the not-quite-traditional Galette des Rois or Kings' Cake. This one's a lot less fattening than the original so you can enjoy it without breaking your perennial New Year's resolution, which you, like myself, no doubt have made again. And, since today marks the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of the Mardi Gras season, I am eagerly anticipating that NOLA style King Cake along with all that purple, green and gold hoopla!

Maria