La Creme Patisserie Blog

Wedding Cake for Fairyhill and desserts for The Village Hotel

We have just received the most delightful feedback on a Wedding cake we supplied for a bride and groom who got married at the Fairyhill Hotel in Gower on the 5th September and for Wedding desserts we supplied for their evening function held at The Village Hotel Swansea on 13th September.

  The Wedding cake was a two tier chocolate cake decorated with chocolate cigarello's and chocolate roses. 

The email we received read as follows :

"Thank you so much for the cakes you provided myself and Owen for our Wedding on the 5th and our Wedding party on the 13th september. As soon as I saw my cake I almost cried, it really exceeded my expectations, whereas Owen just licked his lips! As well as looking stunning our cake was also delicious and not one of my guests failed to tell me! You also kindly provided all my desserts for our party on Saturday which again, were absolutely gorgeous and went down a storm.

I can't tell you enough how happy I was with everything you provided for me and I look forward to using you in the future as will many of my friends and family."

Thanks again, Lucy Lock

For the evening function Lucy and Owen ordered 150 individual cheesecakes in three flavours :

  Raspberry Cheesecake

  Chocolate Cheesecake, and

  Banoffee Cheesecake

It is always very rewarding to get personal feedback and you feel honoured to have played a small part in creating the perfect day.

Sian's recipe for duck.

Spiced duck breast with red wine and blackberry sauce.

If a picture says a thousand words then this picture is a true testament to Sian's culinary skills.

This is the fourth recipe by Sian featured in the South Wales Evening Post and its tastes sensational.

Follow the link Download spiced_duck_breasts_with_red_wine.doc to download the full recipe.

And don't forget that Paul Cole's butchers in Neath market has the biggest breasts of them all.

They really are La Creme.

Wedding cake for Peterstone Court, Brecon

Sian's latest Wedding cake creation was a croquembouche for wedding reception at Peterstone Court in Brecon. The croquembouche was decorated with orange lillies and look fabulous as the centre piece decoration for the Wedding breakfast.

 

The croquembouche was not designed to be eaten but instead the bride ordered 60 mini profiteroles covered with caramel and decorated with orange chocolate pieces.

 

Take a look at our Wedding Cake gallery to see more of Sian's creations.

If you are considering ordering a cake then ring Sian on 01639 638574 to book an appointment.

Sian makes butternut squash soup

This week Sian was asked to write a full page article for the South Wales Evening Post entitled Eating on  a budget. To accompany the article, the editor sent along a videographer to film Sian preparing one of the recipes. For those who missed it, here's Sian talking through how to make butternut squash soup.

I know the title says "How to make pumpkin soup" but it really is butternut squash soup (honest).

If you have any questions with regard to video then send Sian an email and she will be only to happy to answer your questions.

La Creme Patisserie wins two Great Taste Awards

Great news !

We have just been notified that two of our products - our Frangipane Mince Pies and our Welsh Cake petit fours have been awarded Gold at the Great Taste Awards 2008.

The Great Taste Awards, which are organised by the Guild of Fine Food are referred to as the Oscars of the food industry. They are the authoritative and independent standard for Britian's fine food sector and the fine food logo is recognised as a mark of excellence that consumers can trust and rely on.

In order to win Gold, our products under went a rigorous judging process whereby our products were blind tasted by at least three different teams of experts over a two week period.

To read the press article in full about the awards and our products follow this link:

Download la_creme_wins_two_golds_at_the_2008_great_taste_awards.pdf   

Part of the prize for winning a gold is that our products will be exhibited at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair at Olympia from September 7th - 9th.

The products themselves are available for purchase in our patisserie and can also be bought over the internet though our website.

Both products are available in our presentation gift packs and they make perfect gifts for real food lovers. Both are priced at £5.00 & postage and packaging. We sell a large quantity of these gift packs to local businesses who find that they are a perfect present to reward staff or as a small gift for visiting customers, especially those companies entertaining customers from abroad.

Speak to Sian on 01639 638574 if you are interested in receiving some samples.

Look out for Sian on the new NPT Council Banners

NPT Council have commissioned new banners and posters to promote the work the council does in supporting local businesses.

Guess who's picture is on the banners promoting Neath's small traders.

Thats rights - Its Sian.

Picture one shows Sian decorating a Black Forrest Gateau whilst surrounding by her famous Cup Cakes.

Picture two shows Sian with a blow torch finishing off a creme brulee.

Follow this link Download npt_banners.pdf to see the finished banners in PDF format.

The Economic Development department at NPT council have been really supportive to our business, by helping us get grant assistance for our new van and supporting us in securing our new industrial premises on the Baglan Moors (more details later).

Sian always wanted a two seater

Sian always wanted a two seater. Something nippy around town. Something individual.

Well we have managed to kill two birds with one stone.

Welcome to the new La Creme Patisserie Refrigerated Vehicle.

Not a Merc but a Fiat Doblo.

We had the van sign written by Signs Express in Llansamlet who have come up with a fantastic design. They have even managed to find a nice looking model to feature with one of our Wedding Cakes on the back on the van.

Watch out for the van being driven around the area and if you see us, then give us a toot.

Evening Post debut for Sian

Sian has been asked to become a recipe writer for the South Wales Evening Post, joining their top team of chefs to share her favorite recipes with readers.

Her first recipe published today Saturday 5th July is for Roasted Red Peppers.

This is one of my all time favourites and is very popular as a starter for our Saturday Night Takeaways.

Follow this link to see the article in the Evening Post.

Alternativley follow the link to download the recipe from our files Download roast_red_peppers.doc .

I have to say that I am really proud of my wife and everything she is doing. She is working so hard and its fantastic to see her starting to reap the rewards of all her efforts.

Maybe not this Christmas but watch out Christmas 2009 for Sian's first recipe book. Like everything she sets her mind to, I am sure she will fulfill the dream to write a food book in the not to distance future.

La Parrilla on SA1 start selling La Creme Desserts

La Parilla is a stylish, waterside restaurant located in a former grade II listed warehouse called J shed in Swansea'a up and coming SA1 district. The restaurant is owned by the same people who own La Braseria in wine street - probably Swansea's most famous restaurant. The decor at La Parrilla is amazing designed by Thomas Parry Design. The food and the wine are first class and now starting from Saturday 28th June, La Creme Patisserie will exclusively be supplying the desserts as the perfect finalle for the meal.

We have been asked to develop a desserts menu specifically for La Parrilla and Sian has come up with the following:

La Creme chocolate and amaretto truffle torte.

This is a dense chocolate truffle cake with a crunchy amaretti base, flavoured with Amaretto and decorated with a painted chocolate piece.

This is an extremley rich dessert for serious Chocoholics.

Creme Catalan.

This is the Spanish equilvalent of the French Classic Creme Brulee. 

The difference being that Creme Brulle is Vanilla flavoured and Creme Catalan is Lemon and Cinnamon flavoured.

Blackcurrant Bavarois

This is a vanilla sponge base, with Blackcurrant flavour mousse and a vanilla sponge top.

This is finished with a blackcurrant licquer gel, cream and fresh raspberries.

Vanilla & Raspberry Cheesecake

Digestive biscuit base, topped with vanilla cheesecake, rippled with raspberry gel and decorated with fresh raspberries and raspberry coulis.

Pear Frangipane Tart

Sweet pastry, filled with poached pears and frangipane filling.

Glazed with apricot jam, flaked almonds and drizzled with chocolate.

The perfect served warm with cream.

So remember the next time you dine at La Parrilla to leave some room for the dessert.

Croquembouche La Creme Style

Sian was asked to produce a croquembouche as a Birthday and retirement cake for a gentleman who was retiring from the royal engineers. A croquembouche is a traditional French patisserie dessert made up of choux buns filled with creme patisserie. Traditionally it is held together by caramel but in this case the request was for white chocolate. Sian decorated the cake with toy soldiers and barbed wired to give the cake the look of "no mans land".

If you watch the following video you can see how Sian made the croquembouche.

With over 400 choux buns individually filled, this dessert popular with Weddings is very time consuming to make but makes a spectular centre piece. It also tastes fantastic.

More examples of Sian's award winning cakes and Wedding cakes can be seen on our website.