Hello World...

First Ever Post and Highlights from Last Weekend!

Welcome to Patisserie Luce! Wherever you may be, I welcome you to my little world of cakes, pastries, food in general and loads of positivity! You might have stumbled upon my page while looking for a cake for your loved ones. For that, allow me to say "thank you" for your interest! For someone who is just starting out, knowing that someone out there enjoys looking at your cakes is really encouraging :)

Business aside, I want Patisserie Luce to be a place where you can draw positivity and inspirations from. I will be sharing my culinary adventures (or just any adventure!) and tell you all things that inspired/encouraged me that day. I envision this blog to be my gratitude journal and hopefully it will be as therapeutic to you as it is to me.

My next agenda is to go back in time and write about the stories behind all the cakes that I've created on this website. Each of these cakes have their own stories. They were created for a specific reason and represented a moment in life where I was in. I want to put them in context so you could hop on my creative wagon and share the journey that I took to bring these ideas to life :)

Without further ado, let me introduce to you the cake I created last weekend - Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Buttercream and Chocolate Genache :)

Wait wait wait, I am not finished yet...LOOK! There is a surprise candy fountain inside!

I have created this cake because 1) I need practice for an upcoming order (its for a 4 years old boy's birthday) and 2) I need a cake for a Sunday brunch gathering at our home with some friends.

So I knew I am baking a chocolate cake but what kind of chocolate cake? This brings me to one of the closest couple friends (well, we only have a handful lol) we met in Singapore. I met Mama J online in the first few months I arrived in Singapore. I found her when I had almost given up the idea that I would make meaningful friendships in the Lion City.

I often joke that making friends in a new city as a new mom can sometimes feel like speed dating. I met SOOOOOO many people online after I joined the local expat FB groups. Having a kid definitely helps, as its a great conversation starter. Instead of asking "What do you do for a living?" or "What is your favourite past time?". I will be asked, "So how old is your child?", "Where do you live?", "What is his/her nap schedule", basically to gauge whether we could be good playdate match...

So on one hand, I meet tons of people and sometimes that turn into an actual (play)date. On the other hand, not many of these friendships take off. Sometimes you just don't "click". For an introvert like me, it is extremely tiring going through this process of meeting new people and trying to small talk (omg kill me now).

As my last attempt, I responded to a post that Mama J posted on FB asking for playdates. We met up and the rest is history :) I am forever grateful that I have met her here. Like me, she is Chinese and has married a "gwei low" (foreigner). Do you know that in order for a mommy friendship to work, the husbands and kids have to like each other too??!!! Luckily, our husbands click and our sons are best buddies :)

So back to the cake. Mama J's husband is a big fan of peanut butter which made it super easy for me to determine what to go with my chocolate cake. Both my husband and Mama J's hubby love burgers, so I decided to make our own beef burgers and crispy smashed potatoes to go along with the cake :P

Helloooooooooo drooling yet? Haha.

I have used Gordan Ramsay's recipe for the burger. The patty itself was a mix of 3 different cuts of beef - short rib, brisket and chuck, which gave a pack of beefy flavour. The patties were gently handled and quickly seared to ensure that its tender to bite.

Another highlight was the brioche burger buns! Staying true to my baker origin, I HAVE to bake my own buns (its non negotiable). I used the King Arthur recipe and they turned out SOOOOOOO soft and buttery. Yes, its fatty but who cares! You are having a burger for god's sake!

I made some super easy oven-baked smashed potatoes to go along with the burger which were to die for. They were SO crispy thanks to the fact that we par-boiled the potatoes the night before and let it dry completely in room temperature (more like we forgot to put them in the fridge lol) before escorting them to the oven.

So here you go...this is my first ever post and updates for the last weekend. Thank you for reading, until next time, may you have a wonderful day ahead....

Giana xo