When my friend Neil (aka
Chef Diesel) wrote and told me about
Brooklyn Brewery's cake competition, I knew I had robe a part of it. No rules, just bake the best cake you can and go out for some fun. I love fun! And cake ;)
The competition was this past Sunday, and it was a blast. My sous chef (husband, haha) and I went for a "cake tasting" theme and brought wine cake bites; Chocolate Pinot Noir and White Riesling. Each had wine flavored buttercream to match. It took a full week of recipe testing and tweaking to get them right but in the end the testing paid off and I brought some pretty tasty little cakes if I do say so myself. Lots of the folks that stopped by the table seemed to love them and came back for seconds and thirds, and I got asked quite a few times if I have a bakery and if I take orders. (No storefront yet, but yes I do take orders!)
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White Riesling Cake Bites |
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Chocolate Pinot Noir Cake Bites |
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We were Team #1! (sadly didn't win #1, hah!) |
Sadly my little cake bites weren't deemed a winner, and neither were the prize-worthy Kahlua Cakes of Neil or the Chocolate Stout Cake Cookies with a Kick by my friend Jamie. Next year we really need to get the masses out to vote for us. The people who recruited tons of friends to show up won the fan-voted prizes by a landslide, but we're over it.. ;) Seriously though, it was a great and I'm so glad I participated.
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Chef Diesel |
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Jamie & Jon |
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Sous Chef! |
I wasn't being a good blogger and didn't even check out all the tables because I was having fun chatting with everyone that came to mine, but some of the other cakes I saw at the event were:
- Goat cheese cheesecakes with cherry port savory topping (these won the grand prize. I really liked it!)
- Cheesecake with ritz crackers? (another winner.. Didn't taste these)
- Some sort of spam pineapple cake (no way would I ever eat spam...J tried one and thought it was bacon. I think he liked it)
- Sangria cake (didn't try)
- Tequila Sunrise cake (wasn't a fan)
- Banana Cake (didn't try)
The Food Experiment Tour goes nationwide with different themes in each city. If you're not in Boston, checkout their site because the tour could be heading your way!
I heard that next years theme for Boston will be something savory, so my thinking cap is on. How can BostonSweetie go savory... I will find a way! I was being selfish and only took pictures of my own table, so those are here. Sorry for the poor quality, it was insanely dark in there! If youre dying for more, check out more at the Food Experiment's Flickr site, they came out great.
Last thing- if anyone is interested in the recipe for the wine cakes, let me know in the comments below and I'll be happy to post. BostonSweetie, over and out.