It Shoooore Was Good!

There are so many reasons why I need a real bakery - and this week the list has grown...a lot.

I have so much baking to do, I'm up soaking bread at midnight and turning the oven on before my coffee is done in the morning.  It's a good thing - my oven might tell you differently.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I saw it glaring at me when I put the fourth batch of sourdough in the other night.  But I digress. 

My oven's growing resentment is none of our concern!  Today, I have another review to share with you - from my friend who now has her MBA...and the student loans to go with it!  (The cake she ordered and the ensuing sugar high is definitely helping her cope though, I'm sure of it.)

Here's what she had to say about her cake:

Amy made a lemon cake with buttercream icing to help us celebrate me completing grad school.  I told her to decorate it however she wanted, and she came up with a design she knew I'd love and in my favorite colors (pink).  My husband and I couldn't decide which part of the cake we liked best.  He preferred the buttercream icing, whereas I loved the rich lemon flavor in the cake.  Amy did a great job with this cake order, and I'm so glad she was able to play a role in our celebration.

And she also ordered a loaf of my whole wheat bread!  Here's what she had to say about that:

My husband and I aren't huge bread people.  A loaf of bread goes bad well before we can start to make a dent in it, actually.  But, after hearing Amy talk about her bread and baking methods, I was curious enough to buy.  It was wonderful.  I think I liked it more than the cake Amy made for me...which, who likes bread more than cake?!  What I appreciated most was that the bread was moist, even after it had been toasted.  Our loaf is actually almost gone -- after just a few days -- so I'll definitely be needing more again soon.

Top: Whole Wheat (soaked of course!)
Middle: Whole Wheat Sourdough Loaf
Bottom: Whole Wheat Sourdough Baguettes

Wish you could have smelled it!!!

BEST Review EVER

I just got an AMAZING review from the lovely couple who received the colossus of cake I made a few weeks ago.  I was very touched by the groom's praise, and I wanted to share! 

Here's what Mr. G. had to say:

It's hard to separate my review from the friendship I have with the baker and her husband, but please believe me when I say that this was the absolute best cake I've ever eaten.

The human brain is meant to react favorably to certain flavor profiles and certain devious and hack bakers would simply appeal to your base instincts with a brain blasting dose of sugar, fat and chocolate; all good things and certainly tasty but rather mundane and cloying. Yet, it is a true craftsman who can take the same ingredients and spin together a cake that is on one hand rich in flavor and texture and on the other delicate and artful...so it is with the wondrous creation that Amy Lore baked for us on our wedding day.

After trying a few different samples about 6 weeks before the wedding, Krista and I decided on the light scrumptious lemon cake that Amy had prepared for our tasting. Also, after giving her a few guidelines and ideas for what we wanted for... decoration, Amy giggled and scurried away into her lab of cakey goodness began forging our sweet masterpiece.

 

 

On the day of our wedding it was revealed that not only had she done what we asked, but she had far surpassed our expectations. The cake was a "simple" layer stack but with an offset tiered positioning with every color of the rainbow presented in a fun and beautiful arrangement of gum paste flowers. Forgoing a usual cake topper she sculpted us a letter "G" for Gant out of the gumpaste as well. The look was clean, colorful, beautiful and amazing.

 

 

Now a cake can look beautiful but the superficial can hide something unspectacular underneath. This was quite the opposite. The smooth white butter cream exterior and the ROYGBIV flower arrangement gave the eye a glimpse of what was to co...me.

 

 

The cake, as I say, was the best I've ever eaten. The butter cream was thick with a hint of being decadent but shied away from it by blending with the cake expertly. The cake itself was textured and thick (packed full of flavor) and stood up strongly to the frosting. It was everything you'd want from a cake; fork tender with a bit of chew, firm without being dry or crumbly, and almost juicy with the lemon flavor and OH MY the lemon flavor.

 

 

It was again, not harsh like a lemon drop or lemonade, but smooth,light and dare I say refreshing, which truly cut through the butter cream combining to create a truly GREAT cake experience. I hope Krista and I can order another one for our anniversaries and other special events. It was......marvelous.