Limoncello Cheesecake Truffles

Debuting a light (ahem, -er) treat for you today inspired by the warmer weather and sunshine we are finally getting up here in New York (three months left!). Limoncello cheesecake truffles. Not that they need more description or convincing, but you're going to get a little bit anyway.

They're made from lemon chiffon cake that has been soaked with a healthy douse of limoncello and citrus cream cheese filling. After being formed into truffles they were dunked in a refreshing lemon glaze and dipped into toasted graham cracker crumbs. 

Irresistibly sized and flavored, cake truffles make the perfect addition to dessert bars, special occasions or snack times. [Click here to view bourbon caramel, and ice cream sundae versions]

pssst....the limoncello cake truffles in this picture are sitting a top one of my favorite cake plates that I rent for free with the purchase of a cake or gourmet dessert item- check out the entire collection here.

Petite Fours

Petite Fours means 'little oven' in French, and they are bite-sized desserts traditionally served with your check after dining in a restaurant as a thank you from the chef. Much like petite gateaux, petite fours come in all shapes and flavors, look spectacular on a dessert bar, and taste delicious. There are five main categories of petite fours: Sec (dry), Frais (fresh), Deguise (disguised), Glace (glazed) and Prestige (prestigious). What I love about petite fours is that there aren't many other rules besides size. They can be anything from cookies to fondant glazed cake layers - just as long as they're pretty and bite-sized!

A few traditional types of petite fours that you can see in this picture are bi-colored macaroons that we filled with mango milk chocolate ganache, canneles (little cakes with a crispy crust but custard-y inside), coconut macarons, financiers, florentines and mondiants (chocolate drops with dried fruit and nuts). Among other things in my Individual Production Pastry class where we made all of these goodies, I learned that it is literally impossible for me to pronounce anything in "french" without an over the top Pepe le Pew accent. Oui Chef.

I'm especially a huge fan of homemade marshmallows. To give you an idea of the difference between a homemade marshmallow and a store bought jet-puffed one...I will only touch the store bought ones if they are toasted, in-between two grahams and smothered in chocolate. Homemade marshmallows, on the other hand, I want to cuddle up with and take a soft, pillow-y delicious nap on (what's even better about making marshmallows homemade, is that alcohol doesn't affect the structure formation of gelatin so you can have boozy 'mallows too ;-). They make great wedding favors, centerpiece fillers, or s'mores bar additions.

Petite Fours are a fancy little way to impress your guests and make them feel immediately special for being invited, without having to break the bank or go over the top.

The Dessert Bar

The class I'm currently taking in pastry school is called Individual Production Pastries (IPP). We make fancy, little desserts- a LOT of fancy little desserts. And as much as I love a gigantic tiered wedding cake, working on a smaller canvas in this class has been inspiring and it totally renewed my affection for dessert bars. Dessert bars offer a wide variety for guests at a wedding to choose from plus the set-up looks really elegant with the right selection of cake plates and platters. It's the easiest and most cost effective way to please everyone and still have a major wow factor. To give you an example of what I'm talking about, here's a beauty of a dessert bar featured by Southern Wedding Magazine:

A dessert bar can be any number of sweets and treats like homemade marshmallows, mini cakes and pies, donuts, cookies, bars, tarts or cupcakes. The idea is that a guest can walk up to the table, pick up a dessert and eat it off a small plate or in their hand. Smaller desserts work best, but depending on the type of event you could really make anything work. What we made in IPP is definitely more suitable for an upscale affair. In class we worked on one dessert item as a team of four, and then combined it with  four other teams' desserts to create a display at the end of every class. These desserts are from the collective effort of my whole group:

These are layered classical cakes clockwise from left: apricot pistachio opera, milk chocolate hazelnut ganache, pistachio and strawberry frasier, chocolate praline roulade and the traditional opera.

Most of these items are made from a dough called pate a choux (what you make cream puffs out of). From the top down, here's a lot of frecnch: macaron, Paris brest, St. Honore cake, banan, religiuse, solambo, macronade biscuit and eclair.

Mille fuille (Napoleon), chibouste and plum tart, yuzu lemon curd tart, chocolate apple tart and citrus tart:

These are called verrines, and they're just layered desserts you eat with a spoon (super fancy pudding cups?). From the top down: Cherry compote and panna cotta, creamscicle, chocolate peanut butter, rum spice with peaches, and tiramisu.

 I'll be going into more detail about some of my favorites coming up. Stay tuned for more dessert bar ideas!