Lupe Herrera is passionate about pastries and flowers. Daughter of a family of merchants, she always played as a cook when she grew up surrounded by ovens, kneaders and kitchens, as her father was the founder of the company in the appliances sector. Today she has continued the family tradition, and it is she who now runs this business, without having forgotten her two great passions: baking and botany. Two fields that, for her, are complementary and together form a perfect tandem.

With the arrival of the pandemic in 2020, she got down to earth -never better- and began to share her creations on social networks under the name of Maca&Julieta sweets and flowers, the name of her two daughters and invaluable assistants.

In her snapshots she has always tried to reflect what cooking means to her: a place where she can show her creativity and find peace. Through it she embodies traditional scenarios in which her dishes are much more than mere food and become memories, laughter and unforgettable moments. This is achieved by combining sweets with decoration, using different environments, utensils and flowers -a characteristic feature of her cuisine- with seasonal products and freshly picked fruit.

Although her training has been mainly entrepreneurial, little by little, she has been improving her skills both self-taught and through various courses and training in cooking schools. She does not rule out dedicating herself in a more professional way in the future, since her concern for baking is increasing every day.

You can find her sweets and flowers on Maca&Julieta, on her social media profile and soon, on her new website.

If you want to explore the world of pastries, Lupe Herrera has kindly shared three delicious recipes exclusively with us, here at Ofelia Kitchen. Try these delicious cakes and desserts and impress your friends and family with your cooking skills.

figs with chocolate and chamomile

Ingredients:

  • Seasonal figs
  • 500 ml water
  • 100 ml Muscatel wine
  • 100g panela or brown sugar
  • Half sprig of vanilla
  • 2 sprigs of cinnamon
  • 3 cloves
  • 1 sprig of rosemary
  • 1 black chocolate chip to melt (the purer the better)
  • Chamomile flowers (decoration)

Elaboration:

Firstly, put in a saucepan water, wine and spices together with the panela and bring to a boil. When this happens, we will lower the intensity and let it infuse for about 15 minutes on a very low heat.

When we have the infusion, we will macerate the figs in it for 24 hours, covered with film in the fridge.

On the other hand, we will heat the chocolate in a fondue until it is completely melted, if you do not have it, you can also do the same work in a water bath. Once we have the chocolate ready, we will prick with a long stick the figs (we recommend doing it by the tail) and we will submerge them to cover them. We will reserve in oven paper and decorate to taste.

Presentation:

In this case, the presentation is very simple, the protagonist is in the quality of the ingredients and fondue that you can combine with a wooden table* to protect your surface, along with tableware to serve figs and present them once bathed in chocolate.

Our Karma tableware, in addition to having a ceramic fondue, has a variety of plates and ceramic pieces that will help you enjoy the recipe.

* The table in the picture is our Crebi medium acacia cutting table ø25 cm.

pumpkin pie with toffee and spicy chocolate ganache

Ingredients:

For the cake

  • 300 g flour
  • 4 large eggs
  • 15 g baking powder
  • 250 g sugarr
  • 125 g sunflower oil
  • 300 g roasted pumkin

  

For the ganache

  • 500 g chocolate 65% cocoa
  • 500 g cream 35% fat
  • Cardamom
  • Juniper

 

For toffee

  • 50 g sugar
  • 200 cream
  • Water

We will start with the biscuits; we will mix with sticks the pumpkin with the sugar (it can be done with both electric and manual rods). Then we will incorporate the eggs one by one. When we have them, we will incorporate the oil.

On the other hand, we will mix the flour and yeast until they are fully integrated, and we will incorporate it into our mixture with a sieve, gathering it without leaving lumps. It is important to carry out this process with care, because if we beat it too much our cake will be lumped.

We will place our mixture in an approx. 20cm diameter mould and let bake at 180ºC for 60 minutes with heat up and down.

Next, we will make two biscuits, which we will cut in half horizontally. For our recipe we will use only three of the four halves, although we can put all four if we want to give it more height.

For ganache we will infuse spices with cream without boiling for a few minutes. Then, strain the infusion and incorporate the chocolate until it is well melted and is a homogeneous mixture. Let cool in the refrigerator in a bowl covered with film paper. When the mixture is cold, we will assemble it and when it is ready, we will put it in a pastry bag and reserve.

Toffee is a very simple preparation; it consists of dissolving the sugar over medium heat with a few drops of water. Once we have the sugar turned into caramel, we will incorporate the cream gradually until the mixture is fully integrated. We will try not to reduce it too much, as we are looking for a light toffee that moistens our cake.

When the biscuits are cold, we will cut them in half and proceed to fill them. Firstly, we will moisten the cake with toffee and when it has been absorbed well put the chocolate ganache with the pastry bag making a spiral from inside out. This ensures that the cake has the same filling ratio in all its layers. We will do the same with the next layer and, finally, we will add the ganache in the outline from bottom to top and smooth with a spatula.

We will decorate to taste. Lupe Herrera has used many ingredients among which we would highlight, little roses, chestnuts, dehydrated apple, French macarons, raspberries, etc... And to present, our Evora crockery and our Crebi acacia cutting board. To taste, our Rodin cutlery and our Calm cotton napkins.

mango viennetta cake

Ingredients:

  • 500 ml whipped cream
  • 1 mango and ½ (the more mature the better)
  • 150 g black chocolate (we recommend 85%)
  • 100 g icing sugar

In the picture Sensei acacia cutting board, Yaya enamel tableware and Rodin knife.

Elaboration:

Put the chocolate in the water bath and when it is melted, with the help of a tongue, form fine rectangles of chocolate on kitchen paper. Notice the shape of your mould, it will mark the size of them. Once finished, put it in the fridge to harden.

Peel a ripe mango and mash until pureed.

We will assemble the cream together with the sugar and add the puree.

Line your mould with kitchen paper or film and go interspersed layers of cream and chocolate, until filled, we will put it in the freezer for 4h approximately.

Presentation:

Finally, just decorate with the rest of mango and chocolate. In the presentation of Lupe Herrera small flowers have been incorporated, but, as you know, this is always optional, and you can do it to your liking. It is recommended to eat this dessert cold.

As an expert pastry maker, Lupe understands the importance of table decoration to enhance the presentation of her wonderful desserts. For this reason, she shares with us her appetizing mango viennetta accompanied by a beautiful table service. Drinking glasses, enamel plates, enamel trays... With this setting, she ensures that your recipes not only have an exceptional flavour, but also an absolutely dazzling look.

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