I did it!
I finally finished that massive 440 macaron order! I’m so proud of myself!
It took me nearly 2 weeks to finish it, but I did it!
The absolute best part about it is that I feel SO SEEN after I finished. (Background: this order went to all of my colleagues for Teacher Appreciation Week - TAW.) We had an end of TAW happy hour at a nearby bar (which I organized because that is my job), and I had several colleagues approach me to tell me how much they liked the macarons I made for them, and that they were so impressed that I had the time to create such an order. One of them went so far as to tell me that they were speaking to another colleague about me and they were asking themselves, “how does she have this 40+ hour per week job and maintain her small business on the side. What are we even doing with our lives!?”
That order definitely took over every waking hour of my life and then some. So it was nice that my colleagues not only appreciated the macarons themselves, but also the sheer dedication it took to pull off an order of that size in my “spare time”.
On top of all of that macaron baking, I had to pause to make another order that I had scheduled more than a month before I took the macaron order. One of my lovely coworkers is expecting, and my colleagues and I threw her a small sprinkle to welcome her 3rd baby. I had agreed to make a delicious treat to top off the celebration, but our lovely mom-to-be isn’t really supposed to have sweets right now, so I talked with her about what the best approach would be for me to make her something enjoyable. I suggested making a cake so that she could enjoy a small slice at the party, then take the rest home to her family and/or freeze it to enjoy later. She gave me a knowing look and said that she would not be able to enjoy just a small slice if there’s a whole cake in her presence.
I told her not to worry, that I would figure something out. I will spare you the details of my back and forth between all of the options I considered, but eventually I decided to go with an idea that I’ve been toying with for a little while now - individual cake slices.
I decided to make my trusty vanilla cake since it's so wonderful - springy, moist, not too sweet, and pairs well with any flavors I can think of. And since I was smack dab in the middle of churning out 440 macarons, I had quite a few leftover egg yolks taking up valuable real estate in my refrigerator, so I made a silky smooth batch of French buttercream (I dyed it pink because she's having a girl!) for my frosting. This cake paired with French buttercream is incredible, but can be a bit rich, so to add some brightness to the flavor compilation, I sliced up fresh strawberries an easy filling.
These were the perfect solution to our potential overindulgence problem and a great way for me to do a test run on an item I would love to add to my menu soon.
So instead of me sharing a tip with you this week, I’d love for you to share something with me - what are your thoughts on these cake slices? Would you like to see several flavors of cake slice options join my menu soon? My preliminary thoughts include slices of this delicious white cake with fresh strawberries and French buttercream, chocolate mousse cake slice, pistachio cake slices, and lemon cake slices.
Thoughts? Share them in the comments below! And thank you!
Happy eating, y’all!
If you tried this dessert, or any other desserts in my blog, please share my Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram posts about them and let people know what you think! Mahalo!
I LOVE this idea. Your cakes are incredible so the option to have a slice would make my day, week, month, or even my year.