One Sweet Bite at a Time: 2015

Monday, October 12, 2015

My Best Friend's Wedding

We had been planning this day for a year! And on 9/12/2015, I finally got to watch my best friend marry the love of her life!

This was the first time I was ever a bridesmaid, which was super special and exciting! Not only was I a bridesmaid, but I did the entire dessert table and wedding cake too! It was a bit stressful being IN the wedding and catering for it, but it was completely worth it in the end, despite my exhaustion.

Getting ready was a blast! We drank mimosas, listened to Mariah Carey and got our make up and hair done! Can you say permasmiles!??? We were so excited!

I wanted Maureen and Caleb's cake to be simple and rustic. They got married in a lodge in the woods, and vintage rustic was her theme with fresh flowers , burlap and lace! I had never done the rustic buttercream look before but I went for it and I was so happy with how it came out! Basically, the buttercream needs to be soft enough to really be able to manipulate with an off set spatula to create waves.

I added fresh flowers on top! This was a vanilla bean cake with honey vanilla buttercream. I used my delicious honey from Greece!

We decided on a gourmet cupcake bar as opposed to my usual fave--cake pops, just because it was warm and I didn't want everything to melt! They came out fabulous!

Lemon Almond Raspberry -- almond cake, raspberry preserves filling, lemon buttercream

Hot Fudge Sundae -- chocolate cake, chocolate fudge filling, vanilla buttercream, chocolate drizzle, jimmies & a cherry on top

Peanut Butter Lover -- peanut butter cake, chocolate fudge filling, peanut butter butter cream, chocolate drizzle & crushed reese's pieces

Coffee Toffee Crunch -- coffee infused cake, caramel filling, coffee buttercream, caramel drizzle, topped with toffee bits

Strawberry Fields -- vanilla cake, strawberry preserves filling, pink vanilla butter cream and a strawberry on top

Yum yum yum!!

My handsome fiancee and I!

Dancing the night away with the most beautiful bride I've ever seen! So so so happy to have been a part of her and Caleb's special day!!

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Mangini Wedding - Saltwater Vineyard

The thing about desserts that breaks my heart is that most people don't care about them.

"What flavors would you like?" I will ask the client. "Oh, I don't care" is usually the response. Then I go ahead and make them the usual vanilla/chocolate/red velvet cake pops after telling them all the delicious flavor combinations, but people are afraid of desserts. They get a bad wrap now because of calories and sugar... and generally people just have them because you have to offer them! It is hard to find people who share a true love for something sweet...

But then there was Brittany and Will...

Brittany and Will came to their tasting HUNGRY. I gave them a box to bring home their samples and they didn't even need it. They ate everything. They raved and ranted about the flavors, and ended up picking the one flavor EVERYONE wrinkles their nose at when I suggest -- lemon rosemary. It was their favorite! And I was SO EXCITED they chose it as a cake pop flavor AND their wedding cake flavor! They were very concerned over having something that was delicious and different to offer their guests, and I promised them they wouldn't be disappointed! I've known Brittany since high school, and after some mutual friends had me cater their wedding, she asked me to design something great for their modern vineyard wedding.

And oh my gosh, was this a beautiful wedding!

Located in Southern Connecticut, Saltwater Farm Vineyard is a picturesque venue with a dark wooded tap room and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the vineyard. It was breath taking!

I made sure the display was classy and elegant. The grape lights from my Aunt's company, GKI Bethlehem Lighting just added perfectly to the vineyard theme. This display included 150 cupcakes and 150 cake pops in four flavors -- Chocolate, Red Velvet, Lemon Rosemary and of course Pumpkin Spice for fall!

Brittany loved my romantic buttercream rose cake so she requested that and order the most adorable lettered cake topper from Etsy! I love the look of this romantic cake on top of the rustic wine barrel.

Pure romance!

This couple's deep love for each other is evident the moment you get them together. I wish them a lifetime of happiness!! So honored to be a part of their special day!

-Elena

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Vineyard Engagement

The excitement of this summer continued when the day I have been admittedly waiting for for a very very very long time!

Louis asked me to marry him!

Louis and I had been talking about getting married for a while. We had looked at rings, we had picked one out... but the busy summer really had gotten in the way, and it had started to look like the summer was going to pass before Louis decided to make this thing official!

So on August 22nd, the sun was shining and he asked me what I wanted to do for the day. I think I was so exhausted with everything going on I said something to the point of "do nothing and drink wine"... How typical!

So we headed up to Cassidy Hill Vineyard, which is about 10 minutes up the road from where we live. We packed some snacks and beach chairs and decided to do nothing except RELAX!

Now it seems like it was the set up to be "the day" but truthfully, Louis had lots of days that seemed like it was going to be "the day" but turned out they weren't! Trips to the beach, a trip to Mystic... so at this point I was not expecting it.

Louis did a good job keeping me guessing! We had spent three hours at the vineyard and enjoyed two bottles of wine when he asked if I was getting ready to leave. I said sure, and we packed up and headed back to the car. Before we were about to get in the car, he asked if I wanted to get a bottle to bring home for another time, and I said that sounded like a good idea! So we proceeded back to the cabin and instead of ordering a bottle, he ordered to glasses. He said he wanted to take a walk around the vineyard, since we'd been there so many times and never had walked the place. It was there, among the vines in a row of grape leaves where he had me in tears as he got down on one knee!

It was truly a magical day, and we had permanent smiles for days!

We are now (quickly) planning our February wedding at the Publick House Historic Inn, and we can't wait!

Celebrating with my best friend was amazing, since it happened so close to her big day!!!

Monday, October 5, 2015

Bachelorette "Stripper Cake"

Just when I thought life couldn't get any crazier.... life went and got crazier!

I haven't blogged much, mostly because my weekends have been go go go GO at 100MPH constantly and it has been quite overwhelming! So in order to catch up a bit, I am going to post a series of catch up posts to share what's been going on in my life and the yummy goodies I've been creating lately!

First off, August started off with a bang when we took my best friend Maureen out for her Bachelorette party! A group of us girls too Maureen to a hotel where we had pre-party snacks and drinks, then went out for a yummy Italian dinner then headed out to a bar where we danced and drank the night away! Of course, the night had to be accompanied by a cake! Maureen had said no way to strippers but I felt we needed to slip something hilariously "inappropriate" in there somewhere... and the stripper cake was born!

Let me tell you, being a 26 year old in Toys R' Us in search for a Ken doll was an experience. I luckily found a cute little doll on sale (I was gonna rip his legs off anyways!) and when I proceeded to the check out line, I think the cashier was a bit confused. She looked at me, with no children in tow (obviously) and was clearly curious as to why I had a barbie doll in my hands.

"Do you need a gift reciept for this barbie doll?"

-- No..

"Do you need it gift wrapped?"

--No..

"Will you be putting this on your Toys R' Us credit card today?"

--No..

"Do you want to open up a Toys R' Us credit card today?"

--No.. I don't have kids, I don't shop here.

"Uhh.... Does your friend need a man?"

LOL we will just leave it at that! I definitely do not enjoy that store!!

So we ate cake and named the sexy Ken doll Calvin Harris... And it turned out really great!!!!

What fun memories with my best friend!

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Quadruple Layer Cookie Dough Cake

A few weekends ago I attended a family reunion and tried some delicious cupcakes my cousin Jaclyn made for the occasion... among the flavors were cookie dough.. and I died..and went to heaven.

She sent me the link for the cupcakes which were from The Cake Blog. After trying these, I knew I had to make this for Father's Day, and I knew I wanted to go bigger.

I adapted the recipe but used my own chocolate cake recipe that is trusted and always comes out moist and delicious. I decided on two 6" rounds, cut those in half to make four layers.. yes.. FOUR.

For the filling, I followed the recipe perfectly and ended up with delicious cookie dough, which I then filled each layer with. Stacked up high, the cake was about 10 inches tall! I then threw it back into the fridge so the cookie dough set.

After about a half hour, I removed to ice it. The icing is SO SWEET and I even cut back on the amount of sugar, omitting white sugar completely and cutting the brown sugar in half. Still very sweet but very tasty, and surprisingly smooth.

Iced to perfection.

This cake was so sinful. I mean, dreadfully sinful but I don't care.

So delicious. Everyone loved it! Total win!

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Tiger Pride

On Sunday we celebrated my cousin Eric's graduation from high school! Eric is a gifted artist who plans to attend Rochester Institute of Technology, where he will study a very prestigious program for Medical Illustration.

It was a great time for all and so nice to see my entire family together!

My aunt is the ultimate party planner, and she put together a great "tiger themed" celebration in honor of the soon to be "RIT Tiger!"

My cousin Renee used her talents to do some cake pops!

And I provided the Tiger cake!

I have to admit, this was one of the most moist and delicious chocolate fudge cakes I have ever done. I even added dark chocolate morsels to the batter to add texture to the cake, and it was so good! Frosting was a true buttercream with french vanilla Bailey's creamer... my secret weapon for the most delicious buttercream :)

A big congratulations to my cousin, we are all so proud of him and he is destined to do (and draw!) great things!

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Love is Sweet [Maureen's Bridal Shower]

Saturday was Maureen's bridal shower, and what a beautiful day it was!

It was cool and dewy, the sun popped out, the house was decorated, food was delicious, and the desserts were of course, sweet!

We went with a vintage country theme because that is "so Maureen" :) I love the additions of the burlap, chalkboards and doilys... Country but elegant!