I have been away for a long time; and the longer one is away, the more difficult it becomes to come back. As some of you might know, I also have a Turkish blog, and for a while I managed to keep both blogs in parallel. But that didn't last long, and I painfully realized that I have to make a choice. Since I did not want to let go of Our Patisserie, I attempted to convert it to a no-recipe, just-pictures account of my kitchen activities. That scenario didn't really work because I kept telling myself that I could make time and manage to squeeze in recipes as well, if not as frequently as before. I procrastinated and felt guilty about it ... And here we are with a lapse of almost 3 months with no posts. Being a person of extremes (I am a Scorpio), I even considered deleting this blog entirely. As I write this, I am back to my senses and back to plan number 1.

Here are some pictures of my baking that did not make it to posts:

This is the chocolate version of Alice Medrich's Celebration Cake from Cocolat. I made it for my birthday. The outside was covered with plastic chocolate, and the inside had layers of chocolate souffle pastry and hot milk sponge cake, with chocolate ganache and coffee buttercream in between the layers. Delicious!

I was inspired by the contrasting layers of Alice Medrich's Celebration Cake to make this chocolate and chestnut cake. The frosting and filling was a chocolate and chestnut ganache made by creme fraiche. Creme fraiche complemented the chestnut flavor beautifully.

Here is a childhood favorite: Beesting Cake. I found the recipe in Nick Malgieri's Perfect Cakes. The best part was the crunchy honey and almond topping.

Chancing upon summer fruits in the dead of winter is enough reason to celebrate with a cake. This simple roll was made with very reasonably priced blackberries from Mexico. The filling was blackberry jam, lightly sweetened whipped cream and fresh blackberries.

I had lots of sour cream nearing its expiration date, so I made this chocolate cake from Alice Medrich's A Season in Chocolate. Both the cake and the chocolate ganache were made with sour cream. It was dense and rich; I have to say that this is not my favorite kind of cake, but many of my friends loved it.



















To be continued...