You cannot wait for an untroubled world to have an untroubled moment. The terrible phone call, the rainstorm, the sinister knock on the door—they will all come.
Soon enough arrive the treacherous villain and the unfair trial and the smoke and the flames of the suspicious fires to burn everything away.
In the meantime, it is best to grab what wonderful moments you find lying around.
—Lemony Snicket
Happy fourteenth birthday to La Pêche Fraîche!
This blog has always represented a project in mild insanity and was born of a desperate need for a creative outlet. Here I am 14 years later, still pouring a whole lot of time I don’t have into this space. I’m sheepishly proud and fiercely devoted to it, and I’m very grateful for all of the moments I get to spend in my imagination.
Many thanks to my readers who spend time with me here. Love to all of you!
This cake is not only a celebration for my blog birthday, but is an achievement in and of itself, because I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE CREAM CHEESE ITALIAN MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM.
Those of you who have ever dabbled in meringue buttercreams may be aware that the addition of cream cheese usually leads to a soupy, unsalvageable, curdled mess; this is because cream cheese has a surprisingly high water content. I hadn’t attempted it in a while, but decided now was as bad a time as any.
The trick is to dry your cream cheese copiously by spreading it thinly on paper towels and letting it drain; it should have a very strange, spackle-like consistency when it’s ready. All of this must also take place at absolute room temperature (like, leave the cream cheese out overnight), because the emulsion is finicky even without the extra water.
If this sounds unappealingly difficult to you, you’re spot on the money. The end result, however, is a lovely, fluffy, not too sweet buttercream with a mild tang.
In this cake, I used it to dress up a tonka bean cake, redolent with cinnamon, almond, and vanilla notes that I marbled with chocolate cake. The layers are soaked in mildly flavored, fruity cassis syrup, then filled with a tart blackcurrant and lime curd.
Unfortunately, I have never found a cream cheese buttercream that is suitable for piping. Instead, I piped the orchids out of a Korean glossy buttercream, which is my go-to for floral work.
Thirteen years / raspberry mocha cake
Twelve years / tomato and olive oil cake
Eleven years / banana and maple caramel cake
Ten years / choco-Kewpie ichigo daifuku cake
Nine years / raspberry cloud cake
Eight years / white chocolate, mascarpone, and lemon cake
Seven years / yellow cake with cherry buttercream
Six years / vegan coconut and chocolate cake
Five years / simple chocolate cake
Four years / eclectic chocolate cake
Three years / vanilla almond cake
Two years / malted milk birthday cake
One year / eek
