Monte Carlo Sweet 16

When Molly asked me to make cake pops for her sweet 16 party, I died!  First off, I can't really believe she is 16.  I used to push her on the swing set and take her for ice cream when she was a mere 5 years old... I watched her and her three sisters grow up while I spent many days and nights babysitting them through middle school, high school and even college.  I was so thrilled to do these for her big event! 

There is nothing I love more than a good theme party.  Molly gave me her colors of black and gold and said they'd be playing card games in her dance studio that they turned into a mini casino! I was loving it.. and instantly dice cake pops came to mind!

I had a lot of fun executing the display, Simple black and gold ribbon with card suit stickers helped incorporate otherwise bland white plates into the fun theme, and I stuck with the strict color pallet of white, black, gold and red. 

These were a mix of mint chocolate and vanilla.  I really like the little card suits, I've been wanting to buy this little tin of mini cookie cutter symbols and this order pushed me to finally order them!  My cookie cutter obsession continues.... 

Thanks for letting me add something special to your big day, Molly!

-Elena

Ok, I'm Back with Some Yummy Things...

I got married. It is the only excuse I have for not blogging in 6 months!

I took some time off from baking and blogging while we planned and successfully executed our wedding!  It was the best day ever and we are still floating on cloud nine from it even two months later!  The planning was easy but still exhausting and so we took a nice, long two week honeymoon to Iceland and the Netherlands! I didn't want to come home... 

Now we are settled back into every day life and I am back baking like a feign.  

My first project back from my little hiatus was a 2nd birthday for my coworker's daughter.  He said "give me something girly with pink" -- easily done!! I decided on butterflies of different sorts with a pink and purple theme.  I individually wrapped them and they handed them out to their family and friends as a party favor!  

Next up were my favorite little baby heads for my friend Liz's gender reveal party! Every time I make these little things I can't help but smile.  Each one comes out with it's own personality...and I always add a few criers in there--gotta give the soon-to-be parents a taste of what they're in for, right!? 

Next was a delicious lumberjack cake for my cousin Nick's 29th birthday!  What I thought would be a major challenge ended up being pretty easy.  This was vanilla bean cake with brown butter vanilla butter cream (say that five times fast!). When I googled for inspiration for this cake, I saw a lot them had been done with fondant and I wanted to stay away from it.. but I ended up texturing the buttercream into bark with a butter knife and I was super happy with the results! I also ordered a super cute ax lollipop mold and used chocolate to make the ax for the top! The entire cake was devoured in about five minutes! 

Also thrown into the mix this month was a simple and pretty blue wedding sampler for a couple who I have the pleasure of catering for in two weeks!

Lastly, some delicious cupcakes for my friend Becky. I had fun with these and discovered that pulverizing Oreo cookies in the food processor and then folding them into fresh vanilla buttercream makes for the most delicious butter cream in the entire world!  These were ice cream sundae, cookie dough, cookies and cream, and peanut butter crunch.  YUM! 

Working on two orders this week that I am excited for and can't wait to share! 

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!!