D.I.Y. Wedding Wednesday: Summer Wedding Decor

While I'm still at work on our D.I.Y. wedding creations, I wanted to share some awesome design from some friends' recent nuptials. Above is a photo I stole from Facebook from my friend Valerie's backyard wedding. How cute are her "I'm a Fan of Valerie & Matt" fans?



Last month we escaped upstate for our friends' Hillary & Dan's Catskills wedding. Everything from the Save the Dates to the signature cocktails were perfectly coordinated hues of pink with brown and green accents. Hillary and our friends made dozens of tissue paper flowers which adored every corner of the venue (a Dirty Dancing-esque Ukrainian summer camp!), they glued fortunes on old timey soda straws plus many other creative touches that made for a very beautiful, personalized celebration.







Our talented friend Melissa, aka Cake Hero, outdid herself with a delicious collection of flower-topped wedding cakes.



Less than three months to our wedding, my decor planning -- and better yet, my SHOPPING -- is is full swing. I ordered a shipment of feathers and vases from Save-On-Crafts, an online wonderland of wedding D.I.Y. Of course I somehow shattered one of three 20" vases as I was unpacking it, but the fine people at Save-On-Crafts graciously agreed to send a replacement. I've also been making trips to the wholesale floral district for arm loads of willow branches (which I carried on my head back to my office where they are currently making my cubicle a willowy jungle) and taking lunch breaks at Paper Presentation to hem and haw over thank you cards and decorative paper from the scrapbooking section. Oh how Martha Stewart I could get on this wedding if I only had a little more time, budget and patience with pinking shears and glue sticks.

I got bridal-showered by friends and family in Chicago, which was a truly lovely event. I received about two suitcases worth of bath towels, steak knives, an iron skillet and a stone mortar and pestle, amongst other things. Needless to say, getting back on the plane was a challenge. I'm also the idiot who thought to put an ironing board on our registry, not considering how someone would manage to gift wrap it, let alone tote it to or from a shower or wedding. Nevertheless, I'm psyched to finally have a proper surface on which to iron. I might actually have to start ironing (crap!).

Next D.I.Y. wedding project? Invites designed my Mr. Homewrecker! Lots of gluing and envelope licking in our near future...

Wedding Cake Toppers That Should Not Be

Oh hell no.







The 'Bride "In Charge" Wearing Pants and Groom "Not In Charge" Without Cake Topper' is so not okay:



And then these ones I have no problem with, except that instead of calling it what it is, it's the "Fashionable Bride And Groom Mix & Match Cake Toppers."



I guess "mix and match" is a cute euphemism for gay marriage.

These and many more wedding accessories -- some stupid, some perfectly adorable -- can be found at Wedding Star.

Laziest Chocolate Cake EVER

I may need to try this.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

In my last post I was prepping for Thanksgiving, hosting for the first time! Everything went great, the parents were pleased and delighted to meet one another, though we barely made it through cheesecake and boardgames before passing out from exhaustion.

I can't take too much credit though. While my main man did most of the cooking, I merely handled the clementine cranberry sauce and the pumpkin cheesecake. Thank you to my friend Nancy who suggested an alternate recipe from Smitten Kitchen which I actually ended up making for the big feast. I tried Martha's the weekend before as practice, but it never quite solidified in the middle. It did however make a delicious dip for ginger cookies!

That said, next time I think I will combine both recipes and make Martha Stewart's cake (baked somewhat longer) with the pecan crust from Smitten Kitchen and the sour cream frosting. It will be the ultimate pumpkin cheesecake!!!



So I know Thanksgiving was about a month ago, but do you think it's ok for me to eat the last 3 slices of cheesecake still hanging out in the fridge?

Thanksgiving Dress Rehearsal

With two sets of parents coming to our tiny Brooklyn apartment for Thanksgiving, we set up the table tonight to make sure we could wedge it between the coffee table and the entertainment center. We're also stock piling the traditional provisions, as you can see above.

I'm going to try my hand at my first ever cheesecake with this Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe from Martha. Got the springform pan and everything. Wish me luck! If it fails I'm gonna feel like our rotting Halloween pumpkin here.

Blueberries, Blueberries, Blueberries!

After a bountiful harvest of blueberries last weekend in the Berkshires -- FIVE pounds of hand-picked berries in fact -- I had to figure out what to do with it all.

Maybe eating pie and cake all week isn't the best way to keep my girlish figure in shape, but since blueberries are a miraculous wonderfruit antioxidant, that makes it ok, right?

Right!

BLUEBERRY STREUSEL PIE

I turned to EatingWell.com for a less-guilty pie recipe that uses extra lemon zest for sweetness and instant tapioca vs cornstarch. The results were citrusy and delicious, albeit a little soupy.



What I am most proud of, however, is my first ever homemade pie crust!


BOYFRIEND'S MOM'S BLUEBERRY CAKE

How do I win over my boyfriend's heart just a little more? By baking a kick-ass version of his mom's own cake recipe. Of course this could go badly should I not quite stack up to Mom...



Phew! Thankfully I passed with flying colors. Here's this family recipe so you too can impress your boyfriends. I also amazed my intern Pete, who after two months in NYC away from home was probably really thrilled to have something home baked.

• 1/2 Cup (1 stick) butter at room temperature
• 2 Cups sifted sugar
• 2 eggs beaten w 1tsp real vanilla extract
• 3 Cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 Cup milk
• 1 quart (4 Cups) blueberries (preferably fresh) dredged in 1/4 Cup flour
• cinnamon sugar to taste (I go heavy with it)

In a large mixing bowl cream butter well, add sifted sugar & cream again. Add eggs & vanilla, blend well and set aside. In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder and add alternately with the milk to the batter mixing well after each addition. Fold in the dredged berries. Pour into a 9"X13" greased & floured baking pan ( I use Crisco shortening) and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. If using a glass or very dark coated pan bake at 325 degrees. Cool on rack before cutting. Yum.

Boone's Farm Cake

Don't ask me what I was doing on the Boone's Farm Fan Club site, but I came across this enticing recipe. Cake mix, instant pudding AND crappy strawberry wine? I just might have to try this out:

Boone's Farm Wine Cake
Special thanks to Boone's Farmer Kendra from Roseville, California for submitting her soon-to-be world famous Boone's Farm Wine Cake recipe:

Mix together:
1 box Yellow Cake Mix
1 box Butterscotch Instant Pudding Mix
4 Eggs
1 Cup oil
Once all mixed together add
1 Cup Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill Wine
dash of Nutmeg

Pour into Bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 - 55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let set for 10 minutes to cool before inverting onto plate.

Thanks to Sarah N for the photo of Dan B

iPhone Birthday Cake with Cupcake App

I've frequently shown off the edible work of my baking buddy Melissa, but this one really, um, takes the cake.



iPhone birthday cake complete with cupcake app. Sweet.

Cake Porn vs. the Diet

I had just eased into day-three of my half-hearted New Year's diet, the first day where I'm not totally starving or madly craving cake (even though on a normal diet I don't eat cake for weeks at a time without noticing). So of course I stumble across this. A recap of some of the most delicious, gorgeous, drool-worthy confections from across the country. It's enough to make me want to go on a cake-eating road trip.

Included in Cake Spy's confections of the year recap is the pumpkin whoopie pies from Brooklyn's Baked, where I just the other day gave in to the Brewers Blondie and a strong cup of coffee that gave me a toothache and the shakes, respectively, and ignited the desire to go on a diet in the first place. Oh sweets, harsh mistress, it's a vicious cycle!

Yes We Cake!

Amid the presidential election fervor, there arises the occasional effort that is just as adorable as it is inspiring. One such example is the new blog Yes We Cake which covers baked goods devoted to Obama. Delicious democracy!

Rock and Roll Recipe Radio - Episode 4

For my 28th birthday I decided to celebrate not only my birth, but also to lament that I simply didn’t rock out hard enough to burn out at 27 like so many rock stars (Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, etc).

Staying with this theme, and perhaps taking it to a whole new level, I enlisted cake-decorating friend Melissa to decorate for me a rock and roll suicide themed cake for the occasion. Tune in to this special birthday cake episode of Rock and Roll Recipe Radio to hear all about it.

Rock and Roll Recipe Radio - Red Velvet Rock and Roll Suicide Cake





Red Velvet Cake Recipe

Playlist:
The B-52’s – Cake
The Afghan Whigs – Be Sweet
Radiohead – House of Cards
Ben Lee – Birthday Song
Nirvana – Come As You Are
Cake – Short Skirt / Long Jacket
Cowboy Junkies – Sweet Jane
Cracker – Happy Birthday to Me

Turning Japanese (or Thai, or whatever, isn't it all the same?)

Okay, that was not actually my attitude when I decided to make a Vietnamese-style Thanksgiving side dish for my cousin's Chinese exchange student. I was just thinking Asian fusion, people. Does anyone really believe that this nice college girl from Shanghai would really be offended by my contribution of David Chang's beloved Momofuku roasted brussels sprouts to our otherwise pretty traditional Thanksgiving dinner? My mom told me Li Ting was a vegetarian, so I simply thought I'd make a veggie side dish with a little spicy kick that might appeal to the visiting exchange student. It's not like I was going to make a speech after the grace explaining how I welcome her to our country and please accept this gift of roasted brussels sprouts in the style of your people. I just love Momofuku's sprouts and wanted very much to eat them myself.

Leading up to Thanksgiving dinner at my folks' house in Chicago I was also starting to imagine the dinner scene from Sixteen Candles where Chinese exchange student Long Duk Dong is perplexed by the quiche and grandpa says, "You don't spell it, you eat it!" Only grandpa would be my dad saying something vaguely, though unintentionally, offensive about Asian people (like calling them "oriental"), and Molly Ringwald would be played by my best friend whose family was joining us for dinner and who was celebrating her birthday that same day.

As it turned out, Li Ting couldn't join us after all, and my friend's birthday was impossible to forget thanks to a massive Mayflower cake she baked for the dual occasion. And I'm not too sure the members of my meat and potatoes eating family cared much for my fish-sauce soaked sprouts, but dammit I liked them!


(Yes, those are little pilgrims made out of Teddy Grahams)

In other Asian cooking news, last night I cooked up a dish of ginger soy salmon with coconut chili spinach. It did a miracle on clearing out my stuffy nose and throat, but word to the wise-- after working with Thai chili paste and cutting up chili peppers, be careful what sensitive body parts you touch with your spicy fingers. Yeeouch!

Bald Britney Cake

I just got this message from our cake baking & decorating friend Melissa, and well, I'm speechless:

Hey all!

Just thought I'd forward my newest around, I had a feeling people would be into this one. It is, of course, our girl britney mid head shave. I made it for my sister's birthday.

And just in case you fools forgot, melissacakeytime.blogspot.com. Go there and leave me funny comments please, cause I like to feel loved.

-m

ps--around the sides of the cake it says "Bald Britney Says Happy Birthday!".
pps--i got the image from a cookie, so i cheated a little (ie didnt draw britney freehand or anything) http://www.imnotobsessed.com/2007/02/21/britney-spears-the-cookie/

Bed Bug Cake

We have a friend who is a self-taught cake baker/decorator. For another friend's recent birthday, she created this adorable (and delicious-- red velvet covered in fondant!!) bed-bug-themed cake, poking fun at the birthday girl's recent apartment infestation. Something so gross never tasted so good.

C'mon You Wanna Lei Me, Pass the Cake, Mahalo

My cousin got married over the weekend in a very low-key, very lovely wedding in Charleston, SC. Between the flowers, the music, the open bar, I think my favorite part was their choice of cake(s). That's right, two cakes that appeared completely uncoordinated. Not so! What they had in common was they were both pretty much the most delicious cake ever in their respective categories-- chocolate and vanilla.

You got the impression that someone asked them "What is your favorite kind of cake?" and one of them said "Chocolate!" and one said "Vanilla covered in strawberries!" In some marriages-to-be, this would be a deal breaker. How could two people so in love want such very different cakes? Undeterred, my cousin and his fiancé apparently just decided that there was no cutting corners in the realm of cake (unless we're talking about cutting the corner piece for yourself, because everyone knows that's the best piece). They got two very delicious, very mismatched cakes. And then in a further eff you to tradition, they topped them with a very unconventional "bride and groom".

And ok, I lied, the cake was awesome but the open bar was pretty much my favorite part.