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!

Let Them Eat Cake Photoshoot

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.

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!!!

Macarons for Mother's Day

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

In honor of Mother's Day Sweet Pea Bakery will be offering several 

pink items this week including raspberry champagne macarons,

pink lemonade macarons, pistachio rose cookies and pink 

lemonade cookies.

 RASPBERRY CHAMPAGNE MACARONS

PINK LEMONADE MACARON

Hope to see you at Rutiz Farms on Friday between 1 pm and 6 pm or

Saturday at the AG Farmer's Market between 12:00 and 2:30 pm.

Have a great weekend!

Lemon Meringue Tarts

Who doesn't love lemon? Growing up I have always had access to fresh lemons due to our Meyer lemon tree in our backyard, and then the Meyer lemon tree in our orchard at our new house. Needless to say, I developed a love of these yellow citrus. For Easter, my mother and I made some bite sized (or two bite sized) tartlettes featuring my beloved tangy fruit.

It features a crisp and crumbly pecan crust with Eureka lemon curd, topped with a Swiss meringue which was piped to look like roses. We finished it off with a torch to give it some lovely golden color.


A few of you might be asking what are the differences between lemons I mentioned.

Meyer lemons are not true lemons. They are a cross between a Eureka and an orange or a mandarin or a tangerine (depending upon which source you read). The result is that they are sweeter, and not as acidic as true lemons. They also take on a golden color, almost an orange, which visually separates them from their fellow yellow citrus.

Eureka lemons are the type of lemon typically found in the supermarket. They are one of the true lemons, and they are very acidic. The rind is a very bright yellow.

Both varieties are good for baking and cooking, but you'll have to use your taste buds to do some adjusting for sugar and salt.

Meringue Mushrooms!

I know! I know! It isn't winter anymore, but somehow with all the rain we've been having recently in this wet spring, it feels appropriate to be making these Coffee Meringue Mushrooms. They're so cute! I'm coming up with ideas for my Mad Hatter's Tea Party which I'm holding soon.

It is funny how real these mushrooms turn out! They are coffee flavored, and include a little bit of chocolate for gluing the stem and cap together. These melt in your mouth morsels will delight the senses.

Wednesday Experiments

Hi all!

Sorry I've not posted in a bit. I've been working on some new recipes, and doing a lot of research for cute ideas!

Coconut is a popular flavor at this time of year. Especially for Easter gatherings. In honor of this ingredient I am trying out a new biscotti; it has coconut and sliced almonds. So far the recipe I've found is yielding biscotti which are not quite as high as my usual biscotti tend to be. But they smell AMAZING! The second tray is in the oven for its second baking right now. I would like to drizzle dark chocolate over them, but I'm wondering if people would prefer milk chocolate more?

Yesterday was another experimental day. If you've ever heard of the flower called "Snowball," you'll know that it is like a small compact hydrangea which is pure white. My mother has a hearty obsession, you might say, about these particular flowers. On Monday is was informed that it is now Snowball season. The conversation stemming from this resulted in a brainstorm of what a baked good would be like if it were to be named a Snowball.

Yesterday, we put one of our ideas together. It is an angel food cake with luscious lemon curd center, topped with cream cheese and toasted coconut. I think it looks good, but it still needs some ratifications before epitomizing the ethereal Snowball.

Wish me luck!!! and I will be posting pictures soon!

(P.S. Further reading on my list of "To Try" would read: 4 recipes of Vegan brownies (some gluten free, some not), Vegan croissants, using a different flour for my croissants and seeing if that would result in a lighter "Costco" version as my mother would like, lemon meringue cakepops, strawberry and goat cheese scones, Rose Thyme and Raspberry Scones, Fruit Turnovers and .... Who knows what else?)