Fling into Spring Watercolor Cake

Christos Anesti! Today was Greek Easter (I like to call it Greekster), and oh my god was it good to stuff my face and then sit in the sun! Everyone was just basking in it.... We literally haven't seen it in six months.. so glorious!!

I love Greek Easter because I love food.  Our table consisted of juicy lamb with garlic cloves, grilled chicken, spinach rice, corn, pastitiso (cheesy Greek lasagna), lemon oregano potatoes, Greek-style green beans, Greek sweet bread, salad with kalamata olives and feta, and wine of course!

We cracked eggs and laughed, as usual.. I love seeing my cousins who are like my siblings and reminiscing of our childhoods.. so much fun!

Then, we ate cake! 

Recently I found a blog post that showed how to watercolor fondant to use for cake stripes!  I thought it was really neat looking and so spring-like so I wanted to give it a try! I used gel-based food colors mixed with vodka as paints and just haphazardly painted all over rolled out fondant!  Then it took some measuring and cutting to make the strips which I then attached to the cake with a bit more vodka as glue.  You don't taste the vodka.. it dries odorless and tasteless!

I also created some of my own fondant flowers to add something special to the finished product! A ribbon around the bottom edges tied in all the colors.   This was a strawberry vanilla swirl cake with bourbon vanilla butter cream.

I really love the delicacy of this cake. The watercolor look is so different, and looks complicated even though this cake wasn't too hard to complete.  It definitely took some time though!

Cutting it is always the hardest part!!!! So happy everyone enjoyed it though!

I hope everyone enjoyed this beautiful weekend!! Tomorrow is going to be 70 degrees -- time for skirts and dresses at work! So excited! 

-Elena

Basket of Flowers Cake

The sun was finally out this weekend! It's a pretty big deal... It was also around 45 degrees.. Also a pretty big deal these days..

I had Friday off so it was a nice, relaxing three-day-weekend spent with the windows open, airing out the apartment from it's winter slumber.  It's amazing how having the heat on makes so much more dust accumulate... Spring cleaning felt good! 

Lou and I also took a drive to the NY border on Friday and enjoyed a delicious meal at The White Horse Tavern in New Preston.  I love the New England charm that Western CT has.. Even in the rain, the day was beautiful and the tavern was nice and cozy with a fire roaring and a mix of Jeff Buckley and the Beatles softly playing in the background. I ordered a Shepherds Pie... Yes it was Good Friday... Yes I ate a meat dish.... Yes the waitress gave me a slight look when I ordered it... It was so delicious I am not the least bit concerned ;)

Easter Sunday was an enjoyable day spent with family.  Louis and I always split Easter up, early afternoon with my family and late afternoon with his family.  Which means I ate double dessert.. obviously.. which means I'll be kicking my own butt in the gym today.. OH well, it was worth it!  I ate snickerdoodle cookies, a mini strawberry shortcake tart, heath bar truffle, couple bits of apple pie, a scoop of butter pecan ice cream, and a piece of my "Basket of Flowers" cake. 

No this wasn't the most original cake design, I've seen it done many times.. But I wanted to take my own stab at it! Plus I haven't piped a basket weave in a while so I figured this would be a good time to brush up on that skill! 

This was a gluten free, chocolate and vanilla marble cake, since my Grandmother's friend was joining us for Easter and often can't indulge in any of the sweets due to her gluten sensitivity, but no one could even tell the difference.  I topped the cake with a bourbon vanilla buttercream.. It was quite decadent! 

I did a variety of piped flowers, including romantic roses, standard roses, hydrangeas and leaves.  I just haphazardly placed them all over.. no rhyme or reason.. was just sort of jamming out to HAIM in the kitchen and doing my thing! 

I'm happy with the results! And the cake was devoured :)

This week I am working on a 21st birthday cake which is very exciting! I'll also be doing another cake for Orthodox Easter which is next Sunday with my Greek side of the fam... So basically my week will be work, gym, cakes every single day, but I'm not complaining :)

-Elena