Penguin Party

It was my mom's birthday last week and she decided to have a themed party. There were lots of penguins (plush, decorations, etc.) and people dressed like penguins...I can't believe she actually got so many people to dress up! :)

I baked the cake and wanted to share how it turned out. I haven't done that many carved cakes and I wanted to stay away from using fondant on this one. It got good reviews, though and I am glad everyone liked it.

French Riviera Bakery

I just had to go get one again! So far it's the best one I have found, so it was worth getting another. They had SO many other pastries to choose from, but I only got the one....and yum!
We did have lunch there, it was nice, however, we were met with the typical European style sandwich....NOT ENOUGH MEAT!

Petit Fours

In my search for Napoleons I've come across quite a few places that also sold what they called Petit Fours. For me the definition that I grew up with is that a Petit Four is a small cube of layered cake covered with a fondant or poured icing. I didn't try one each time I saw it, but was enticed at Moeller's Bakery after driving all the way there and NOT finding a Napoleon, so I bought one....bit into it, and it was nothing more than a cube of sponge cake with icing poured over it. My 2 year old niece could have done that! I gave HEB Central Market a chance too...and what do you know? The same thing!!!! Why is it SO difficult to get a well made, true to your expectations pastry around here....the 4th largest city in the USA?

I will give Moeller's some credit....they had awesome cookies!

HEB Central Market

I am finally writing again, and it's long overdue. I picked up a Napoleon at the HEB Central Market in Houston. It was pretty good, good pastry cream consistency and the pastry itself was still pretty flaky. It did have the required icing on top, though it could have been thinner.