The week before Christmas!

The week before Christmas was very busy (as for almost all people) but a little bit different to my oven!
I was thinking about my latin friends, I decided to present them with a very popular Christmas Cake in Chile, the "Pan de Pascua". It's like a stollen (fruit cake), inside comes with a lot of dried fruit and nuts.
I made my Christmas Cakes  with dried cherries, raisins, dried apricots and toasted walnuts. I researched some recipes online and decided to make this Pan de Pascua recipe. The recipe is sooo good!!!
Here are some pictures before baking and after baking.

Also I made some Brazilian treats to make gifts to my daughter's teachers, I think that was a very good idea if you have a lot of people to present! On the boxes I put some brigadeiros and passion fruit brigadeiros! So yummy! :)

In the sequence we were planning our Christmas decorations, so my dear friend Bianca and I went to buy some decorations for the table, and the result was so great!!!

Now the table was planned and all the presents were bought, so I was asked to make some quindins and a little cake for a friend, easy task, I can do it! This little cake was very moist and filled with baba de moça (coconut milk cream) and vanilla whipped cream for the frosting.

And finishing my Christmas week, I decided to make a Black Forest Cake for Christmas Eve. We've been planning to be with more 4 families. Also, I have to thank my husband: he took a huge line at the party store (just because I needed the maraschino cherries with the stems)! 

So here's the cake:

To all, I wish you a great Christmas week! 

About this week

Oh, it's incredible how time flies! We're almost done for this year!
And I'm really done (or I think) for my year making cakes (or maybe decorated cakes)!

My cakes for this week (other pictures will be in the related pages):

- A cake for my dear friend Brenda:

- A cake for a huge fan of the Baltimore Ravens:

I also did a cake topper for a graduation party cake, it was a graduation cap and the university symbol, all made by gum paste. They resulted very nice! The only issue was the pastry chef  (who made the cake) that put the topper on the cake and then stored it in the refrigerator...Oh my, that's a crime...you never have to do that, unless you'll have a soft gum paste...so the flaps of the cap fell down...At first time, I thought it was ignorance...what do you think? Maybe a sabotage? I don't want to think that...
ok, lesson learned: put all guiding directions for decorate the cake. Here's a picture (not the best angle) of this lesson learned:

About my roots and cakes

Hi all! Yes, I know this is not a blog about me, but I realize that all of my cakes have a bit of my personality and all flavors bring me the taste of my childhood and my life in Latin America. My influences range from Chile, where I was born  and all my inherited family recipes and Brazil, where I grew up and enjoyed all the treats and baking goods in parties that Brazilians love. Oh yeah, Brazilians love to party! :)
That's part of the culture and happiness they carry with them!

Let's talk about Latin flavors: I think that given the Spanish/Portuguese influence in South America, have some similarities with these culinary tastes. So, talking about Spanish influence, I do a lot of fillings with milk ("dulce de leche" is one of my favorites), mixed with nuts; almonds and walnuts are very popular. In Brazil, a tropical country, we usually mix creamy fillings with fruit (like pineapple, peaches, coconut). Using coconut milk in some cases results in a very good combination! Another must in Brazil is "Brigadeiro", a  very Brazilian treat that is enjoyed for almost 100%. It's made from a mix of condensed milk and chocolate and results very yummy as a treat.

Talking about decorated cakes for parties, almost all of them are very fluffy and lightweight. Yes, I'm talking about sponge cakes! They're not too sweet because they have to emphasize the flavor of the filling and frosting, resulting in a very good combination. Cake moistness is the main thing that most people like.

I read something about not making sponge cakes when you use fondant, because fondant can be heavier to the delicate structure of sponge cakes, but you can do that if you use a thin layer of fondant and results are very nice (you can see in this blog).

That's all for today, thanks!