Sweet Pea Bakery: May 2012

Saturday, May 26, 2012

A Strawberry Celebration

Since the Strawberry Festival was in full swing this weekend in Arroyo Grande ,

we decided to have our own little mini Strawberry Festival at Rutiz Farms on Saturday. There

were special deals on full flats of Jerry's pesticide-free strawberries and I offered homemade

shortcakes topped with Jerry's Berries and real whipped cream. The berry patch is peaking in

production right now so it is a great time to honor this luscious fruit!

Some of my amazing customers digging into their shortcakes!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Today I had the priviledge of providing some teatime treats for a photo shoot that took place at the Dana Powers House. The theme for the tea was 'Let them eat cake" and the color of the day was most certainly pink. I made a small coconut cake, some macarons and some white chocolate strawberries.

Pink roses from Judi's beautiful garden

My mom went and picked some strawberries at Rutiz Farms and

I drizzled them with a little white chocolate and sprinkled a

few with some coconut. Jerry at Rutiz Farms has the best

strawberries in the world!

And here is where the adventure begins...

I like my cakes to taste good so I refuse to use fondant or

Crisco frosting . I frost my cake with cream cheese frosting

and then coat it liberally with coconut. Normally, not a

problem because I keep them refrigerated. Today, however

was a different story. Today I learned that warm days and

cakes with cream cheese frosting aren't the best match.

As the shoot was getting set-up the sides of the cake

started falling- coconut and all. We patched it up the

best we could but it was definitely not as pretty as

when it arrived. Lesson learned!

I had made edible white chocolate cameos which we didn't end

up using but I like how sweet and girly they look so I

am sure I will make them again for a future project.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Mama Loves Blue

Mama loves blue.........

blue hydrangeas........

blue canning jars.........

blue fuzzy robes.........

a blue egg in a nest.....

So, for Mother's Day I made mama blueberry pancakes!

What makes these pancakes special is the fact that even though they are whole

wheat, they are not heavy, they are super light and fluffy. I

used fresh blueberries from Rutiz Farms to make them extra amazing.

This recipe is from the Clinton St. Baking Company cookbook and

I hope you love it as much as mama does!

Light N Fluffy Whole Wheat Pancakes

1 7/8 cup whole wheat pastry flour

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

6 Tablespoons melted unsalted butter

6 extra large eggs, separated (the whites at room temp)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups whole milk

2 cups blueberries (optional)

Sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl.

Whisk together the egg yolks, milk, melted butter and vanilla in a medium bowl.

Whisk the wet mixture and the dry mixture together until incorporated but still lumpy.

In an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites until medium peaks.

Slowly fold the whites into the lumpy batter.

In a skillet over medium high heat, spray with nonstick oil, and scoop between 1/3 and 1/2 cup of batter into the pan. If you would like blueberries or other fillings, put them in at this point. Traditionally pancakes are ready to flip over when you see a lot of bubbles on the top, but with this batter it doesn’t make itself as apparent. Look at the rim of the pancake on the uncooked side. When it begins to have a matte finish, the pancake is ready to flip.

Serve with maple syrup and butter, and ENJOY!!!