Wedding Cake!

My first wedding cake- hooray!!

I was excited and a little nervous because I haven't made such a big one, or one of such importance!

But it was fun and the Bride loved it!

They chose a cinnamon cake with cream cheese frosting.

See that cinnamon-y swirl?? 

Remember my other post about the flower nails? 

Well, I'm just loving using them! 

I also learned that instead of dowels, straws are a great option!

They displace less cake, and I'm not worried about leaving a splinter in the cake!

I was also excited because I read that milkshake straws work better because they're so much bigger, and I found some in the ice cream section at Winn Dixie.

So, the cake wasn't very intricate, but still just lovely!

I used a 'diamond' banding around the bottom of the cake that was 5 rows tall, and then added the big diamonds on the corners.

After talking to the bride and her friends, there was a discussion about freezing the top layer for the anniversary. The bride wasn't too keen on adding another layer to the cake, but the friends were insistent to the tradition. 

I remembered that my mom found these great little mini cake pans for me. I told her I could make one for both the bride and groom, and in their favorite flavors: Lemon and Red Velvet. 

I used the recipes from Ming Makes Cupcakes, since I didn't need a large batch, and the pans were closer to cupcake size. 

But, I didn't tell her the surprise. After speaking with her friends, we decided to make the cakes a little special for each of them. 

A loves Chanel and purple, so it was no contest to make a purse-themed bag!

I started with the classic quilted look from the purses:

Next, I added a golden chain and made the logo out of gumpaste.

Then, for D's Red Velvet, his sister found out his favorite shoe:

The Air Jordan XXIII

I decided to take the swirly design and add it to the bottom tier. 

Looking back, I probably should have made the second tier have some little laces loop around, but hindsight is 20/20!

I did make the crazy jumpman and the number 23 out of gumpaste, and I think they turned out just fine. 

They even got added to the special table for the bride and groom, instead of the big cake display. 

I call that a success!

No kids and rum? Yes, please!

So, a couple weekends ago I drove up to Atlanta for a 'mommy weekend' with some great gals from one of my online boards. We all have kids born in the same month and year so we started a little forum to chat about our kids. Well, we became even closer than imagined and started planning annual 'retreats' to take a break from the kids and enjoy some grown up time!

Since I was driving and because we were staying at a home instead of a hotel (seriously, C has the most amazing home- way better than a hotel!) I decided the weekend needed a little baking.

I wanted to try a cake ball recipe with rum in it, and a few Internet pages later I found recipes for rum balls. Mmmmmmmm!

Here's the first recipe I found:

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I pkg Nilla wafers
1 cup pecans
1 cup confectioner sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp cocoa
3 Tbsp lite corn syrup
1/4 cup bourbon or rum

Crush wafers and nuts in food processsor. Add sugar, cocoa, corn syrup and bourbon. Mix well.
Measure out teaspoonful of mix and roll into ball. Roll ball in something else like nuts or chocolate if you want. They stay good for weeks and weeks.
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Sounds great, right? Well, not if you dont really like nuts (me) :-P

I thought I could just use some Heath baking bits (crunchy and delicious) but the store was out! Boo! So, I'm looking in the candy aisle and decided upon Worthers. Double yum.

I pounded them with a ladle (didn't want to burn out my little food processor)and subbed for the pecans directly. They busted quite nicely with the ladle but my husband said he could hear me outside the apartment- oops!! I also used 2 tbsp of cocoa instead of 1 1/2.

But they were strong!! Like, not so good strong! So, I added a tablespoon of cinnamon. I figured if it was gonna burn, it might as well have a spicy burn. That did the trick! Fantastic!

I made a quick cinnamon sugar mix and rolled each ball in it. Glistening deliciousness!


Then there was the second recipe- yes, two... 11 moms together with no kids for three days? We need two batches!!

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Midnight Rum Balls


1 small package (8.5 oz.) Oreo cookies
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1 cup finely chopped nuts, although they can be omitted
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 Tbsp corn syrup
1/3 cup rum
granulated sugar

Put whole cookies in food processor and whiz until finely crushed. In medium bowl, combine crumbs, powdered sugar, nuts, and cocoa. Blend in corn syrup and rum. Wet hands and shape mixture into one-inch balls; roll in granulated sugar. Store covered, in a cool place. (Rum balls are better after they have "mellowed" for a day or two.)
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So, I don't eat oreos. They leave a fatty film on the roof of my mouth like balogna and I can't stand it. (I'm sure you didn't want that association in you mind! Sorry!)

I figured that everyone else in the world does, so I just wouldn't eat them.

But once I put them in the mixer, it just turned to a ever so slightly moist dark chocolate crumbs. No sign of the nasty filling. Hooray!

I intended to follow the recipe, omitting the nuts and subbing a few more oreos for dry ingredient ratios, but with a little change to the rum.

I had some butterscotch schnapps that I wanted to use (um, buttery chocolate? Yum!) but not quite enough. Then, while digging around my baking box, I found some orange emulsion. Dark chocolate and orange? You know they go together! So, I used the rest of the butterscotch, a teaspoon of emulsion, and topped off my 1/3 cup with rum.

So as I'm mixing it altogether, I noticed that it's way too wet. Not sure why, but it is not going to roll like the first batch.

So, I added a little more cocoa powder/oreos until it looked right. I don't know how much though, so sorry :(

I wanted these to have a little different look than the first ones so I rolled them in powdered sugar. They were fluffy white little balls! They looked great. Fast forward through the overnight packing and the 10 hour drive and they looked...well...like the moisture had taken over:

Ok, so I know this isn't the best pic and obviously it was after some (most) were gone. But, it's still a pic so thanks to my friend Y for taking pics of everything that weekend!! I can't believe I forgot completely!

But even if they looked odd, they tasted marvelously! Dark chocolate orange was definitely a great choice!

Pink Overload!

K's second birthday. 

She's barely two.

It's not like she understands or cares about a theme. 

She doesn't even have a favorite color.

But, I had a brilliant idea for how to make a crown cake. 

So I went with the princess theme.

(This may or may not have influenced a 2.5 year obsession with pink. So much so that for a while she said her name was K Pink!)

So...a princess theme...

With the invitation and door decoration....

and the pepto table!

But, I really enjoyed making this cake!

The jewels on the front were actually scrapbook decorations b/c they were easy :)

I also experimented with silver dusting powder. I mixed it with lemon extract and painted it on. For the first time, not too bad.

and of course, K absolutely loved it all!

But I doubt our next kids parties will ever have that much pink! Blech! ;)