La Creme Patisserie Blog

Swansea Life Designer Jelly Recipes

Sian's designer Jelly recipes written for Swansea Life Magazine's July edition.

 "Possibly the most low fat and gorgeous desserts you can create are jellies and terrine's.  I don’t mean the super sweet brightly coloured children’s jelly, that are a party treat for every toddler’s birthday, but the elegant and sophisticated desserts created at the height of summer when fruit is at its most flavoursome.  You can easily create a show stopping wow dessert with very little skill.  Making jelly takes patience to create layers rather than technical knowledge and skills in baking.

Fresh jellies are made with gelatine.  Don’t be intimidated, buy sheets of gelatine from the supermarket, these are softened in cold water, then dissolved in warm water.  A simple guideline is 4 sheets will set 1 pint of liquid.  Adding alcohol to jellies alters the setting consistency so follow a recipe if you are an inexperienced jelly maker !"

 

Perry Jelly with Summer fruits

Strawberry & pink Champagne jelly

 Blackberry & Tea Jelly

Click on the following link to download in pdf Sian's Jelly recipes and if you have a go making them, please send us your pictures and thoughts.

Download Jellies by Sian Hindle 
 

4 weddings and a funeral, plus one

We all loved the film "4 Weddings and a Funeral" well last weekend we did "Five Weddings and a Funeral".

One of the weddings was held in a marquee overlooking Oxwich Bay, in Gower, Swansea. The weather wasn't great in the morning when we delivered but it did clear up later in the day. This is the view of the marquee looking out over the South Wales coastline.

Check out the link to the Oxwich Bay Hotel to find out about their wedding packages and the beautiful South Wales coastline around the Gower area.

The Wedding Cake Sian baked was a two tier ivory cake topped with drapes and ivory roses.

This is quite a contrast to one of the other wedding cakes Sian made last weekend which was a small two tier cake decorated with the couples initials.

Whatever Wedding Cake you have in mind for your special day, whatever the budget, whatever the size contact Sian to arrange a consultation on 01639 813166 or send her an email

[email protected].

We have limited availability for 2010 and the order books for 2011 will open on September 5th.

So don't delay, ring today  

Peggy Porschens Wedding Cake Design

It is lovely to do a wedding cake in an unusual colour. For last weekends Wedding Cake the bride asked us to bake a cake inspired by a classic Peggy Porschens design.

The cake was coloured with Hydrangea blue with white icing.

As well as the Wedding Cake we also supplied the desserts for the wedding breakfast which was held at the Towers Hotel in Swansea. The whole of the hotel was decorated with fresh flowers and hydrangea blue fabric.

For dessert we supplied a trio of Turkish Delight cups, raspberry tarts and chocolate cups filled with chocolate mousse and finished with a decorated chocolate spoon.

For serving with coffees we also supplied petit welsh cakes and handmade chocolate truffles.

 

 

 

Mini Patisserie for the Towers Hotel

Busy week at the Towers Hotel in Swansea last week. On monday we provided mini patisserie and dessert cups for a function for Sony who were having a 10 year celebration for one of there camera's.

Click on the following link if you would like to download a copy of our mini patisserie or dessert cup menus.

Download La Creme Mini Desserts Cup Menu

Download Mini Patisserie Price List
  
 

Wedding Cup Cakes

Wedding cup cakes continue to be popular and it is always nice to incorporate a personal twist to capture the bride and grooms personality.

One bride and groom asked for a tower of cup cakes decorated with black and white calla Lillie's and for the top tier they asked for models of the bride holding the groom's leg whilst he played on his X Box.

The wedding reception has held at Craig-y-nos Castle and the bride sent us a lovely letter to say how happy she was with the cake.

Another couple held their wedding reception at Oldwalls in the Gower and they choose glitzy and sparkly cup cakes with a large Cup Cake as the topper.

 

 

If you would like Sian to bake the cake of your dreams then contact us to arrange a wedding consultation. We have a few dates left for 2010 and the diary for 2011 will be opening from September 1st.

Future Patissier visits La Creme

We have been fortunate this week to have a girl on work placement from Ysgol Bryntawe School in Penlan, Swansea. Melissa has a keen interest in making cakes and has worked very hard throughout the week learning different techniques.

On Monday she help decorate fruit tarts for the Atlantic Hotel in Porthcawl.

For the rest of the week Melissa helped prepare cakes for other restaurants and she also worked on a Wedding Cake and she bake her own cake creation.

Melissa says that her ambition is to go to Neath Catering College and then apply for a position working with Sian.

Melissa has been an absolute pleasure this past week. She is very keen and interested to learn. She is hard working, chatty and has a lovely personality. She has been an absolute credit to her family and her school and we have really enjoyed her company.

We are all sure that she has the commitment to make her dreams a reality.

 

50th Birthday Cakes

Lots of fun this week with 50th Birthday Cakes.

Top of the shop goes to the 70's Disco Cake made for a gentleman in Swansea.

Next we have a 50th Birthday Cake for an Everton Fan

And finally a Doctor's 50th Birthday Cake which was delivered for a private function at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff last weekend.

 

Minnie Mouse Birthday Cake

Mel made a special birthday cake for Isabella's 2nd Birthday last week, a Minnie Mouse Cake.

 Here's a picture of Mel in action, following the picture supplied by Isabella's mum on a Minnie Mouse party plate.

We are getting lots of requests for bespoke birthday cakes from our unit in Port Talbot. If you have a design in mind why not come and visit our Centre of Excellence on the Baglan Energy Park and "talk cake."

 
 

Strawberry Recipes for Swansea Life

June's edition of Swansea Life  magazine is out now. Strawberries are coming into season in time for Wimbledon with Strawberries and cream, Pimms & High Tea all on the menu.

We use lots and lots of strawberries in our desserts and two of our favourites are Strawberry Cheesecake and Strawberry Scones.

Local gower strawberries are being advertised in the South Wales Evening Post by "Pick your own" growers such as Beynons. Take the children to do some strawberry picking and then come home, dig out the mixing bowl and get to work welcoming strawberry season.

Click on the following link to download Sian's recipes and if you do make a cake then send us a picture.

Download Strawberry Season by Sian Hindle
 
 

3 Tier Ivory Wedding Cake for Margam Orangery

It was a special wedding celebration this weekend at the Orangery in Margam, with the bride and groom flying in from New York to celebrate their wedding with family and friends before flying on to South Africa for the world cup and their honeymoon.

They asked Sian to bake an ivory 3 tier Wedding Cake split decorated with roses with elegant ivory piping. The cake looked fantastic.