Take Me to the Beach

Ummm... It's cold! I walked the dog this morning and my hands were frozen. I had to start my car to melt the frost off of it.  Instead of wearing the cute sandals I have pulled out in anticipation of warmer weather, I am back in casual, closed toe flats and pants and a jersey type shirt and a jacket over that because I am literally freezing.  I don't know where the warm weather is, but it certainly isn't in Connecticut! 

The weekend was nice though, and I spent some time organizing and relaxing and baking cakes before my week of go go go! Catering weddings is so fun, but juggling it with my full time job and everything else is super hard if I don't organize and plan the entire project perfectly.  I can't wait to someday only worry about catering and planning... Some.. Day... 

On Saturday I did a beach themed cake pop display for a bridal shower and I am so in love with how they turned out.  I do the beach theme a lot... but each time I do, I try and incorporate something new and make them a little different than the last. 

With this go around, I decided on the square plates with a lip on the edge so I could add graham cracker sand, then placed the cakes on the sand!  (Let me tell you, making graham cracker/choco goldfish sand is so much easier now with a food processor! By far my favorite wedding shower gift! I highly recommend one to everyone).

I knew this shower was very elegant and intimate and I wanted the cakes to be the same, so I kept the colors muted and the designs super simple.  Flavors included carrot, vanilla raspberry, red velvet and lemon rosemary.

Can we also talk about this room?  Andrea is a girl I know from high school and this is her boyfriend's mom's house.  Such a dreamy room for entertaining. I can only hope to have such a room some day... down South.. where I can use it all year long!  

Those floors though..... literally drooling.

And now on to the Pierce wedding!  300 cake pops.. ready, set, GO! 

Oh, and if you're reading this, focus some happy thoughts on nicer, warmer weather, alright!?

-Elena

Love Anchors All

A month or so ago, I posted the beach themed wedding sampler for Kathy and Paul, two people I have known for a very long time.  It was an exciting event and I was insanely flattered that they asked me to contribute cake pops to their special day in place of a traditional wedding cake. After careful planning and color coordination, yesterday was the day, and I spent all week prepping for this one.  It meant a lot to me to do these, and I think they are my most favorite so far!

To be successful in this display, I needed to create something "beachy" but classy, keeping in mind the very elegant venue which was the Branford House on UConn's Avery Point campus.  The colors needed to be eye catching but muted, and the designs had to be intricate but not gaudy.

I wanted them to stand on their own without any distraction from ribbons or "cake topper" focal points. I wanted it to be 100% edible, because it's to easy to get beach themed stuff at the craft store to put on the top. I needed sugar starfish...just HAD to have them.

This display required a lot of detailed fondant work.  The bride told me she was incorporating anchors into her centerpieces so I wanted to add them to my display as well.  They were gorgeous with a pretty gold rope.  The anchor is such a beautiful symbol of love and marriage, and I love how it was used in the decor. The fondant work was tedious but totally worth it!

Now my favorite design ended up being the ones I decided to create on a total whim.  As I molded the flip flops, I couldn't help but think sticking them on would be cute but not enough, I needed something more.  I once had seen cookies that looked like a wave washing onto shore with sand and flip flops, so I decided to create this on a cake pop not knowing what I was getting myself into! These were tough!! But I think they came out beautiful!

The pictures of the Branford House do not do it justice. I was literally floored when I walked in and saw the fireplace.  The detail in the woodwork was exquisite and the ceilings were so beautiful.  

I could not have been happier with the finished product!

The woodwork was the perfect backdrop for these bright cakes.  I took a million pictures, completely obsessed with the dark designs against the white plates.

Such a beautiful venue for a beautiful wedding. Could not be happier for the couple and they had a perfect day for the occasion!  I absolutely love catering weddings.

The Beach Themed Wedding Sampler

This mini project is one of many firsts for me!  

This is my first sampler, where I've put together my best and favorite flavors for a couple to try.  Going to taste wedding cakes is an exciting milestone for a couple during the wedding planning process, one I can't wait to do someday, and I have been thinking a lot about how I want to replicate the same process on a smaller scale when I am asked to bake for friend's wedding.  After trying different plates and numbers of flavors, I came up with this long tray of 2 pops per flavor using what would be the theme of the entire display..

Which leads me to another first -- beach theme!  I got close to a beach theme with the Little Mermaid Cake Pop Display, incorporating sea shells and coral, but I have been dreaming about a gorgeous beach wedding display with pearly blues and pops of coral pink, with sand dollars and edible sand..

The colors had to be just right.. I didn't want blue like a baby shower, the colors needed to be muted by distinguished. A lot of chocolate was mixed in all sorts of combinations in order to find the perfect shades. 

I am on a total fondant kick lately and have been doing a lot of research on how to texture it and use it in different ways,which leads me to my third "first" in this display-- the ruffle pop. 

A little cake pop dipped in chocolate and adorned in pretty ruffles.  For me, this pop evokes the feeling of sitting on the beach and watching calm sea waves float by.  

I used my variety of ball tools to achieve the ripple effect, and plan to do a lot more ruffling in the near future.

The finished product looked like this..

Finished off with a little card adorning the flavors of cake inside each little creation. 

We decided on a few color tweaks and are adding a few other beachy items and I have a feeling this display is going to be my most favorite yet!

-Elena