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

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!!

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!

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! 

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! 

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!

These napkins from Wedding Paper Divas are just to die for! 

"H" for Hartmann!

For favors, Megan and I made chocolate lollipops, because who doesn't want to leave with something sweet and delicious!?

A stunning tablescape done by Maureen's Mom. The china is just beautiful!

The bride with her MOH and bridesmaid!

I just love her and couldn't be happier for her!

It was truly a stunning day filled with so much laughter and love!

I can't wait for 9.12.15!