2/28/10

Let them eat CAKE!

Four different kinds of Cake, while we're at it.

This cake tasting has so far been my favorite vendor meeting. My mom and I met Olivia and Aunt Sandy at Adelaide's Bakery in Glendora, NJ.


We met with Stefanie the shop owner and head pastry chef and sugar artist. She's maybe only a little older then me. She's owned the shop for a little over 3 years, and my aunt drilled her with questions and advice for Olivia about schools and experience. She sat us down at a little table and brought out 2 huge trays one was all different cake options and the other had little cups of fillings and frostings.
This is what we tasted:
  • Plain Pound Cake, Lemon Pound Cake, Raspberry Pound Cake, Raspberry/Lemon Pound cake, Chocolate chip pound cake, Chocolate chiffon Cake, Vanilla Chiffon Cake, Italian Rum Cake, Pound Cake drenched in Bailey's Irish Cream, Stawberry Shortcake, Red Velvet Cake, Coconut Creme with Pineapple, Peach/Mango Hazelnut pound cake.
  • Standard Butter Cream, Italian Butter Cream, Lemon Curd, Passion Fruit Preserves, Raspberry Preserves, Coffee Butter Cream, Hazelnut butter cream, Chocolate ganache, whipped chocolate cream, Peanut butter cream, 2 different versions of Bailey's Irish butter cream.
I think I got them all. the plates looked like this when she came out. Plus another tray full of fillings.



We ate to our hearts content. All of us really liked the Italian butter cream over the standard. Her plain poundcake was amazing and I felt it was a good base to go crazy with the flavors. Before we met, Stefanie and I had been emailing back and forth and I had asked if she could make cake or filling flavored with Bailey's Irish Cream. I thought it would be something special for Jon since he's Irish and we just went to Ireland. She went above and beyond and 2 different fillings and cake for us to try. The one version of the Irish Cream was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G everyone liked it a lot.

We started talking designs and my absolute favorite cake that I've seen is this.



I want to do flowers on top and maybe one large flower resting on the middle tier. She showed us books of these amazing sugar flowers and mentioned that they last forever and since we aren't saving our first tier for our anniversary, my mom thought maybe she makes them instead of using fresh flowers.I'm thinking 2 big pink hibiscus or peonies.





What we ultimately decided on was a 3 tier round cake 12" diameter x 5" high, 9" diameter x 5" high, 6" diameter x 5" high. This will serve 100 people then we'll have a separate sheet cake in the back that serves 50. We are doing different flavors for each tier of the cake. She can do the butter cream real smooth and most of the pearls will be piped and painted with a lustre, the larger ones will be made of fondant.

I made a diagram to show our flavors....



The top Tier was the very summery combination of pound cake coconut cream and pineapple chunks.
The 2nd Tier consists of the classic pound cake, raspberry preserves and Italian creme.
The 3rd Tier for my Irish Fiance, pound cake and bailey's irish cream.
For the sheet cake we decided to change it up and go with chololate chiffon cake and peanut butter cream filling with a chocolate ganache frosting.

Soooo excited! I was shocked that it didn't break the bank.

After we put the deposit down on the cake we headed to a little cafe for lunch. Olivia was so excited about going to the tasting and was brainstorming about what bakeries near her house she could be intern at.

    2/27/10

    They Better Come Hungry



    Even though I wasn't feeling super awesome, I had three may-jah appointments to keep for this weekend that were long overdue considering they were originally scheduled a month ago when the first big snowstorm hit.

    My parents and I met at the Boathouse to speak with Kevin McFadden (our caterer) to go over all the foodie details of the reception. In April, we will go to a tasting at his place to eat all the yummy things we picked.

    Hors D'oeuvres
    • Cold - Fresh Fruit, Assorted Cheeses and Crackers, Veggies and Dip, Bruchetta, Antipasta, Roasted Peppers, Marinated Mozzerella
    • 10 Hot, Passed - Scallops wrapped in bacon, Crabmeat stuffed mushrooms, Sesame chicken, Cho cho beef, Mini crab cakes, Pigs in a blanket, Tortellini on a stick, Quiche Lorraine, Seafood Kabobs, Coconut Shrimp
    Appetizer
    • We decided to nix the pasta course so we could have more time for dancing
    Salad
    • Romaine and endives with candied nuts, strawberries, and fresh mozzerella with a sweet vinegarette dressing
    Entrees
    • Fish - Crabmeat stuffed flounder, rice and broccoli with tricolor peppers
    • Beef - Beef bourgeois topped with onions and mushrooms, garlic mashed potatoes, and broccoli with tricolor peppers
    • Chicken - Chicken Saltimbucca, garlic mashed potatoes, and broccoli with tricolor peppers
    Sweet Table
    • Mini cannoli, chocolate covered strawberries, cream puffs, mini eclairs, etc
    • Slices of our cake
    • Coffee bar
    Also included in our contract is the champagne toast, all our linens and table setting, votives, and bartenders. We will be purchasing our own liquor, beer and wine and he handles the delivery for that as well as buys back the unopened bottles. He's throwing in so many little extras for us its unbelieveable.

    Sound Yummy?

    2/6/10

    DIY: Beachy Table Numbers

    I really wanted to do something cool for our table numbers. The last wedding we attended named her tables all different tables (ie. Pool Table, Periodic Table, Table of Contents, etc). After buying "The DIY Bride" at Barnes & Noble I saw a project for a save the date that I thought could be adapted for table numbers.





    Its pretty much a shadowbox frame with information inside and sand and starfish inside
    I made mine a little simpler. Especially since I had to make 20 of them for my tables.




    Supplies
    • 20 - 5" x 7" Acrylic Box Frames from Michael's - $1.99 each
    • 2 pads of 12" x 12" Scrapbooking Paper 48 sheets in each pad - $19.99 each
      • I only used about 12 sheets total
    • 2 Foam Core Boards
    • Sand
    • Assorted Shells and Starfish
    • Pearls, Beads, Sequins, Glitter
    Steps to a Beachy Table Number

    1. Cut down the foam core so that it fits the outside of the frame it ended up being 5 1/8" x 7 1/8"



    I was able to get 12 foam core backing pieces on each sheet



    I used a L ruler and a utility knife to get clean cuts

    2. Figure out how to work printer.... I needed a different driver in my case.
    3. Pick a font. This took me almost an hour. I love fonts. I used fancypens which I downloaded from www.dafonts.com.
    4. Cut 10 - 12 pieces of 12" x 12" scrap booking paper in half.


    5. Set up a document in Word for a 5" x 7" paper reset your margins, font size and paper type. Make many test prints on plain paper, then make test prints on good paper.
    6. Once you are happy with your prints, use spray adhesive to attach them to the foam core. Trim away any paper that hangs over the edges.


    7. Fill the Acrylic box frame with decorations - sand, sequins, beads, shells etc.

     

    8. Using hot glue go all around the edge of the frame and glue number on. Go around the edges once more to be sure nothing will leak out.


    9. Pat your self on the back and repeat 19 more times.




    I am considering adding a pre-cut mat frame around the box frame and I will be displaying them on plate stands that my mom found in the dollar store.

    2/2/10

    DIY: Sophia's Pomander

    Seriously... How cute are little girls carrying giant balls of flowers?




    In our little rule book from the church it says we pretty much aren't allowed to throw anything - no flowers, no petals, no seeds, no rice. I gave this some thought and decided Sophia would be carrying a pomander or a ball of flowers. I priced this out with a florist and she came back with a price tag of $40... whoa hold the phone $40 are you kidding me for a styrofoam ball and some roses with a ribbon.

    I knew what I had to do... DIY. Where I work we have hundreds of fabric flowers that we use on the dance costumes in every color of the rainbow. We also have tons of satin ribbon. I placed an order with one of our customer service people for about 40 flowers ranging in price from $0.20 - $0.78 each. I spent about $20. Then I went to Michael's and picked up a 7" styrofoam ball.


    The look I'm going for

     

    My Supplies
    • Hot glue gun and plenty of sticks
    • 7" styrofoam ball
    • 40 ish fabric flowers
    • 18" floral wire
    • Pearl Corsage Pins
    • Plyers/wire cutters
    • Not Shown: Ivory satin ribbon 1" wide
    Step one: Fold 1 piece of floral wire in half leaving a loop at one end. Tape the 2 loose ends together



    Step 2: Jam the wire through the middle of the ball straight through to the other side. Keeping the loop visable 

     

    Step 3: Untape the other ends and bend them so they form a "T" Then hot glue to the ball.



    Step 4: Start gluing flowers on to the ball I started at the top working my way around and down. I used a variety of different color and size flowers. Tip: if you are using a High Heat glue gun blow on the glue for a few seconds before attaching the flower to the styrofoam so it doesn't melt as much. Also hold in place 30-60 seconds until the glue cools a bit.

     

     

    Step 5: When you have used all your flowers go into work and buy more..... then finish covering the ball with flowers

     

    At this point the back of the ball was still a little naked
    Step 6: Make a Bow and glue it on. Tie ribbon to the loop that was made with the floral wire. Add in pearl corsage pins where necessary for decoration or if any flowers are loose.

    The finished product.


    Plus it will last a lot longer then real flowers and I think it will be able to take the abuse of a 5 year old.

    Total Time: 1 Hour
    Total Cost: $30