Paris Cupcakes

The heat wave has finally passed and it is now acceptable to cook in my kitchen again! If you follow along The Boss’s “Paris Blog”, you will see here (the Notre Dame house) that the kitchen is about the size of my pinky finger. Without A/C in this joint and the temps hanging out around 98 degrees last week, I had been banned from turning on anything that could possibly create more heat in our house.

But alas, I give you, Paris Cupcakes! The toppers are hand piped using royal icing. What do you think?

I can’t tell you how popular cute little dogs are here in Paris! They are so well behaved too. In fact we have noticed that restaurants are a lot more welcoming to customers with little doggies than they are small children!

Sadly, I have not seen a pink French Poodle in person yet… only in sugar!

I especially love having the little Eiffel Towers in the background of these pictures. It’s fitting because I feel like where ever I am in the city, the tower is lurking somewhere behind!

Some of you have emailed and asked how the transition is going. I can tell you that we are in love with it over here, and hopefully you can see that in my cupcakes!

And lastly, I leave you with my Instagram photo of all of the poodles! Are you on Instagram? follow me for sneak peeks of what’s happening in real time in my little kitchen!

So far I have covered the French Poodle and Nutella! Are there any other iconic Paris symbols or flavors you want to see me tackle?

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Nutella Banana Cupcakes

You have read correctly! I have been in Paris for a mere month and I have already been absorbed by one of their most used and abused ingredients! Nutella. If you have ever walked past a crepe shop then you must have seen the number of combinations these guys can pair with this chocolately hazelnut treat.

For anyone who is not completely up to speed on what a crepe is, I’ll give you a little crash course. Basically on every street in Paris you can find signs like this:

Crepes come in both forms of “Sucrees” and “Savory”, otherwise known as dessert or dinner crepes. They are basically very thin, large pancakes that they make right in front of you. Once both sides have hit the heat, they spread the ingredients of choice on top and then fold it together into a triangle shape for easy eating while on the go.

So far my obsession has fallen squarely on the Nutella Banana option, and I don’t see that changing any time soon! But I had to ask myself, if I am going to make a go of it with a cupcake shop here in Paris, could I do justice to converting a Parisian staple into an American cupcake? I think so!

It began in the way that all of my new recipes do. With pencil and paper.

I broke out all of the main characters, and then made adjustments as I went along.

I will note that it is a significantly different experience baking in my new “galley style” kitchen than it was when I could bask in the open space of the kitchen back back in Virginia. Though it’s not a bad thing working in this kitchen, as it forces me to be a lot more organized going in to it and makes me clean up as I go!

After a short bit of time finding all the right tools scattered about our kitchen, the first batch of cupcakes for Bertie’s Bakery in Paris were ready to take the oven!

You will noticed that I ultimately decided against using the Nutella in the cupcake batter itself since I think it would have made the cake quite thick. This is not to say in the future, I would not go for a thicker, solo themed Nutella cupcake, but for now I wanted a lighter cake. So for this reason, I went with a banana cake and focused the Nutella aspect on the buttercream.

This was a good idea!

Believe me, the Nutella supply in Paris might just be in danger of a shortage. This might just be the best buttercream produced in  my kitchen! I might have to have a show down between my Mexican Chocolate buttercream and this new Nutella buttercream!

Thanks for everyone’s patience while I have settled in over the summer. It has been a crazy schedule to say the least, but I am finally feeling like I have found my place in my new home. There is soon to be a stream of baked goods back on the Bertie’s Bakery horizon!

And as an FYI to any Paris locals, I am looking for taste testers so if your interested let me know!

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La patisserie de Bertie???

WOW, it has been a long time since I have been able to put up a post! Truth is, I’ve been a busy lady. But I haven’t been baking. In fact I have not touched my beloved KitchenAid since my last batch of baby shower cookies. So what have I been doing?

I have news that I have been withholding from you.

I have BIG news that I have been withholding!

My husband and I are moving to Paris!! Yep! I can’t believe I just said it out loud, but it’s finally happening!…Tomorrow!

This will soon be my new stomping ground!

Now, what does this mean for Bertie’s Bakery? Quite honestly I have no idea. I have had to turn down cake and catering jobs for every weekend of this summer and the early fall, and I am so bummed. I finally felt like I was planting my feet with the business and I had made some really great connections with people within the Northern Virginia area. Now, I am packing up shop (quite literally) and crossing the pond where nobody knows my name. Nervous would be a good descriptor word for me about now!

At this point I would like to clarify that “me having no idea” what is going to happen to Bertie’s while abroad by no means means that I am giving up on my bakery dreams and aspirations, or on this blog! In fact, where else in the world could a young pastry artist go that could open up more doors of opportunity than Paris?? The art of French pastries is something that I am very eager to master. My biggest challenge will be harnessing all of my Bertie’s Bakery ideas!

Here are a few ideas:

* Beg for an internship at a high class pastry shop

* Spend all of my $$$ on enrolling in a full time pastry school

* Try to make fondant cakes the new “must have” for French parties

* Teach at home workshops to those interested in the “American” style of cake, cupcake, and cookie decorating

* Introduce the “Cupcake Truck” to the Paris population (The Boss and I have researched this and there is a surprisingly low number of food trucks in Paris)

* Start a new “Paris Bakery’s” Blog, whereby I visit a new bakery within the Paris limits everyday and give an “In-Depth Review” on the shop (DCR readers will find that funny).

* Have my own stand and sell Bertie’s Bakery's custom cookies and cupcakes at the local food market.

Above: These were my latest, yet not posted cookies!

That’s just a few that have crossed my mind.

If there is anyone reading this who is in Paris or has connections in Paris to anyone within the pastry/desserts/chocolate world please get in touch. I would love to hear from you!

I would really like to say thanks to all of my North American readers and supporters! I hope that you do not think that I am abandoning you. We will come back someday, and when that happens, I promise to bring with me some seriously good recipes!

Be sure to tune in through out the next few days for updates on the move, and especially for the VIEW from our new home!

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Bertie Travels Through Paris!

I have to say, I am a lucky gal! The Boss had work this past weekend in Paris and I was beyond excited to be able to travel along with him! Having never been to Paris before, I had many “to-do’s” on my list! And since I am still pretty excited about my trip and I tend to talk a lot when excited, I’ll try to keep the post to pictures and quick comments about what was happening in each picture!

There are lots of photos, so enjoy! (Oh, all of my pictures were taken using Instagram)

1) First there was the whole airplane thing! “All Aboard!”

2) We flew through the night and arrived just in time for breakfast!

(Yes, you read correctly… this was breakfast!)

3) The next day we took the “Velib” (an absolutely amazing bike system through out Paris) to explore town! Needless to say, we had a blast!

4) I don’t think it takes a whole lot of creative thinking to figure out the first stop on my list would have been!

5) Soon after the excitement of the Eiffel Tower, we both found ourselves thinking of the other French delicacies. Macaroons were not hard to find!

Chocolates were also a popular accompaniment!

6) It was at this point, our “Tour de Paris” would have to take recess as The Boss had work to do!

7) The next morning started out with some exercise! We knew we had some eating to do, and we figured would should start the day with a calorie deficit!

8) Soon after, we found THE MOST AMAZING crepes I have ever eaten! Breakfast for day 2 was a massive success! 

9) With breakfast under our belts it was back on the bikes for further exploration!

 

10) Look what we found:

Notre Dame

Street Performers

My New Favorite Bike

The best apron I have ever seen!

An impromptu concert on the lawn of the Eiffel Tower

And my new favorite gelato!

Finally it was time to get back on the bikes and find dinner. It was getting cooler out and the sun was finally starting to set. Which by the way, the sun doesn’t set here until 9:00- 9:30! This meant we had been out and about all day and according the Boss’s pedometer thing we had walked over 9 miles!! Who knows how far we biked!

Hopefully you enjoyed my tale of travels through Paris. I have more than enjoyed my stay!

Au revoir!

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