Since my camera is still in ICU, I am excited to be able to use someone else's gorgeous photos on my site. All photos are courtesy of Peter Doyle.
This past week, I was lucky enough to attend a baking a blogging event for Dede Wilson's newest book "Unforgettable Desserts" held by the good people at The Baddish Group. If you are not familiar with Dede Wilson, then it's time to familiarize yourself.
Dede is the author of Unforgettable Desserts, The Birthday Cake Book: 75 Recipes for Candle Worthy Creations, Truffles: 50 Deliciously Decadent Homemade Treats; A Baker's Field Guide to Cupcakes: Deliciously Decorated Crowd Pleasers for All Parties and Holidays; A Baker's Field Guide to Holiday and Candy Confections: Sweet Treats all Year Long; A Baker's Field Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookies; A Baker's Field Guide to Christmas Cookies; Entremeses, Pabocas/Quick Snacks, Appetizers for Dummies, Christmas Cookies for Dummies, Bake it to the Limit: Easy-to-Prepare Desserts with Showstopping Variations for Special Occasions; and the Wedding Cake Book... just to name a few. Click here for a full list of her books.
She also needs to write a Field Guide to Being Awesome, because she is. When I walked into the room, she immediately walked over to me, hand extended with a warm smile. She greeted each person who walked in the room this way, geniunely eager to meet each of her baking companions.
The event was sponsored by Driscoll's Berries, and we were going to make the perfect dessert to highlight some of their deliciously ripe blackberries: A Brown Sugar-Buttermilk Snack Cake with Blackberries and Caramel Walnut Drizzle.
Yes. Yes you did read that correctly. And yes, your mouth should be watering right about now.
My fellow bloggers who attended the event were my baking partner for the day Christo of Chez What?, Jordan of Non Society, Robert of Halogen Life, and Evie of Product Pasha. Some of us were experienced in the kitchen, some were not, but we all had two things in common: we wanted coffee and we wanted cake.
Dede was great at walking us through each of the steps, explaining why she used cake flour as opposed to AP flour in this particular recipe, or why she used dark brown sugar as opposed to light brown sugar and how beautifully it paired with fresh blackberries... I could go on and on, but I'm going to let the pictures do the talking.
Our mise en place.
Dede, breakin' it down.
We all look on in awe.
The only thing that is bad about baking in front of a group of people is that you can't eat the batter. Seriously. Don't do it. You will be judged.
Dede shows us the right way to make her glaze. Don't let it get too cool or else it will become too firm. Then you will have a pot o' glaze that you can't use and you'll be forced to eat the whole thing by yourself and then cry in a corner about your lack of willpower. It won't be pretty.
Interesting thing I learned. See the two cakes? The cake on the left is slightly domed and cracked. The cake on the right is flat and even. Same makers of the pans (Wilton), but the cake on the right is a higher quality cake pan. Looks like I have a new excuse to buy more cake pans.
The representatives from Driscoll's Berries inform us a little bit about how it is done on their farms. And you can even find out a bit about where the berries that you just bought were grown and who was growing them using their Online Berry Tracker. It's not called that, but that is what I just named it. I'll even trademark it... Online Berry Tracker(TM). Done.
Our first finished cake. Tell me you are not drooling right now. You're lying.
Laura from the Baddish Group looks like a proud mama!
It's not that the croissants were bad, but we had three of those amazing cakes sitting in front of us. The croissants didn't stand a chance.
Me and Dede! Note to self: get some more sleep or get some eye cream, and make the cover cake.
When I left the event, I couldn't wait to see what desserts awaited me in the pages of the book. Here are some that really stood out to me:
Almond Mounds of Joy Cake
Matcha Tea Leaf Shortbreads
Cacao Nib and Caramelized Almond Biscotti
Butterscotch-Pecan Brownies with Boozy Raisins
Almond-Apricot Brownies with Tart Cherry Ganache
Ginger Shortcakes with Caramelized Nectarines and Sour Cream
Mango, Banana, and Pineapple Chocolate Crisp
Thousand Leaves with Blackberry Pastry Cream
Banana-Walnut Baklava with Honey-Cinnamon Syrup
Six Fruit Gazpacho with Crystallized Mint
Clementine-Chocolate Almond Torte with Chocolate Lace, Candied Zest, and Caramelized Fruit (cover)
Chocolate Mousse Meringue Cake with Blueberries and Cream
Latticed Browned Butter Vanilla Bean Pear Pie
Deep Dish Sour Cream-Apple Pie with Lemon Cardamom Streusel
Frozen Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
Frozen Peanut Butter-Honey Cheesecake with Warm Chocolate Honey Sauce
OK I need to stop. I am getting weak in the knees... and stomach. And I swear, no one told me to shill for this book. I am shilling it all on my own. Because it is AMAZING. The recipes are creative with original flavor combinations, interesting back stories, and clear directions, which is vital in a baking book. Dede, like Dorie Greenspan, another favorite baking author of mine, often lets you know what the ingredients should look like at each step so you are not worried that you are doing something wrong. I just made her Bliss Bites - firm, ripe raspberries ensconced in dark chocolate, and have never had more success tempering chocolate in my life, thanks to her fantastic directions.
The book is fantastic, the breakfast cake was AMAZING (like, seriously. Who knew brown sugar glaze and blueberries went so well together?), and I have a lot of baking ahead of me.
Thanks to Laura and Chris of the Baddish Group, the people at Driscoll's Berries for providing us with some great inspiration, my fellow bloggers and bakers, and of course, Dede!
Click here for the book and click here for the recipe!
ARG - I'm kicking myself in the head right now because I got invited to this but couldn't take off work. Glad someone I (virtually) know was able to go and have such a good time.
Posted by: Eliana | October 05, 2009 at 11:27 AM
What a fun class and delicious-looking cake! That caramel drizzle over the berries looks amazing.
Posted by: lisaiscooking | October 05, 2009 at 01:17 PM
What a fun post! I had to laugh at your note to self. Reading about this cake via your tweets, I was really hoping you'd blog about it - look how beautiful your (Peter's?) cake is - like a clone of the book picture. This is the kind of cake we'd love around here.
Posted by: Nancy (n.o.e.) | October 05, 2009 at 01:59 PM
Wow..that class sounds amazing. The caramel drizzle looks great....I think I need new cake pans now.
Posted by: Mary | October 05, 2009 at 02:10 PM
Wow, sounds like an amazing experience!!!!!! What a delicious looking cake!
Posted by: Jennifer | October 05, 2009 at 02:12 PM
I remember seeing this over at Christo's blog. You guys are so lucky! That cake looks do delectable. I'd love to have a piece of that for my lunch.
Posted by: jenn | October 05, 2009 at 02:16 PM
Caramel on blackberries - oh my - what else is left in this world for me to try out. You Lucky FISH!
Posted by: Ann | October 05, 2009 at 04:05 PM
Okay, I love blackberries and caramel so why not together, right?!! Totally not going to lie to you...I really want a slice of that cake! YUM!
One question...does the cookbook have lots of yummy photos or are there scarcely any?
~ingrid
Posted by: ingrid | October 05, 2009 at 04:23 PM
HOW FUN! Thanks for sharing with us! And what a dessert!
Posted by: Maria | October 05, 2009 at 07:41 PM
What a fun event and the dessert looks totally decadent, I'm drooling over those luscious blackberries!
Posted by: Natasha - 5 Star Foodie | October 05, 2009 at 10:42 PM
Teanna, this is such a cool post. Thanks for sharing. Opportunities there are amazing. Beautiful photos as well. What a nice friend, huh? Yea, I'm putting that recipe in my google documents for sure. That's where I hide all my net treasures. he he Great job.
AmyRuth
Posted by: AmyRuth | October 05, 2009 at 11:22 PM
i am SOO jealous! not only did you meet an extremely talented woman, but you got to bake with her AND eat something involving a seemingly endless supply of tasty things. punk. :)
Posted by: grace | October 06, 2009 at 06:05 AM
Wow - sounds like an amazing event! The cake looks fantastic, too. Now I'm hungry!
Posted by: Jen @ My Kitchen Addiction | October 06, 2009 at 11:29 AM
Oh! You had so much fun! Love the pictures and sure I am drooling on my keyboard...the cake sure look so yummie :-)
Posted by: Juliana | October 06, 2009 at 03:40 PM
Oh my! Those gorgeous plump berries with the caramel drizzle - gorgeous!! Looks like you had a great time.
Posted by: Tracey | October 06, 2009 at 11:53 PM
Do you REALIZE how many cook/baking books I have on my WANT/NEED list? Now you've added another!
Fun to see pics of you in action.
I just had some berries with caramel drizzle while I was in SF and LOVED it. Why didn't I ever think of that before?
Posted by: Katrina | October 07, 2009 at 12:32 AM
What a wonderful event! The cake looks so delicious!
Posted by: Michele | October 07, 2009 at 03:12 AM
Completely jealous! That class sounded amazing!
Cake looks delish!
Posted by: Danielle | October 07, 2009 at 11:09 PM
How fun!! Interesting about the two different baking pans.
Posted by: Ashley | October 08, 2009 at 10:12 AM
looks like u guys had so much fun and yummy times! thx for the book reccommendation too.
Posted by: tia | October 10, 2009 at 01:18 AM