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At the end of the year, I like to share a few of my favorite elements from the year’s inspiration boards. Here are some of my favorite cakes pulled from 2009 inspiration boards…

Favorite cake with flowers, originally posted in Board #392: Old-Fashioned Garden, 5/28.

Favorite cake in white, originally posted in Board #381: Low Country Love, 4/29.

Favorite cake with fruit, originally posted in Board #403: Apples and Horseshoes, 7/9.

Favorite cake topper, originally posted in Board #445: Baby It’s Cold Outside, 12/7.

Favorite cake in color, originally posted in Board #375: Chocolate and Tiffany, 4/20.

Favorite cake with chocolate, originally posted in Board #447: Fantaisie de Noël, 12/9.

Favorites 2008: Cake
Favorites 2007: Cake

This article was originally posted onSnippet & Ink.

Many brides may be excited to order their wedding cake and have an extravagant tiered dessert sitting on a table at the reception waiting to be cut.

However, one website suggests that instead of opting for the traditional dessert, couples may want to do something a little different and have a tower of cupcakes instead.

Wishpot states that miniature treats assembled on a specially designed stand still bring "elegance and sophistication" to the wedding venue.

They are also easier to divide among friends and family and may work out cheaper than a traditional cake.

"And don't worry bride-to-be, cupcake towers have that extra top layer of cake that you can traditionally cut into with your future hubby," the website adds.

Speaking to the Arizona Daily Star recently, Shane McMurray, from statistics website The Wedding Report, said that one of the biggest trends of the year has been DIY weddings.

To get your taste buds tingling, click through to see a range of beautiful and unusual wedding cakes.

This article was originally posted onHitched.

This holiday project is so gorgeous, it’s hard to believe that someone DIY-ed it. Crafted by Genevieve Nisly, these cranberry flavored liqueur gifts are so pretty, so yummy, so perfect for friends and family. Plus, crack ‘em open and they’ll definitely spice up any holiday get together. A little bit involved, but the end result is SO worth the effort.

Materials

large stock pot
spatula
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1 whole bag fresh cranberries cleaned
4 cups reasonable vodka
food processor or blender
strainer and/or cheesecloth
funnel
large very clean glass bottle or steeping jar with lid
4-6 or more small decorative bottles with lids to hold the finished liqueur

Instructions

1. Pour water and sugar in large stock pot over medium heat. Stir constantly until sugar dissolves and water looks clear. Let cool.

2. Place cranberries in food processor and pulse until cranberries are finely chopped. Add to the cooled sugar water and then add vodka. Stir.

3. Pour into large steeping jar or bottle. Seal and store in cool dark place. Steep for 2 to 3 weeks, shaking every other day.

4. Pour mix through strainer to separate solids. Using cheesecloth will remove more impurities.

5. Use funnel to pour into small individual bottles, tie ribbon around the fun red liqueur and voila! Makes 4-8 gifts depending on bottle sizes. Cost is about $5 to $10 dollars per gift depending on vodka and individual bottle cost.

Other fruit options include but are not limited to: vanilla bean, simply slice in half and place in storing. I recommend steeping this a month. Orange or lemon peel (avoid rind). The bottles store for one year.

Make SURE to check out Genevieve Nisly’s blog for tons of wedding eye candy and inspiration!

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. |
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Post tags: Do-It-Yourself Inspired, Genevieve Nisly, holiday
Post categories: DIY Projects

This article was originally posted onStyle Me Pretty.

It may be traditional for the bride and groom to cut a wedding cake when they have tied the knot, but their guests might also want to enjoy another dessert as well.

If this is the case, then couples in Pittsburgh in the US may have the perfect solution.

According to the New York Times, it is traditional for mothers, grandmothers and aunts of the happy couple to bake hundreds of biscuits for the big day.

Ranging from Italian wedding cookies and peanut butter blossoms to biscotti, these delicious treats are all placed on a large table and guests tuck in, no matter where the reception is being held.

The news provider says that "on the big day, hungry guests ravage the buffet, piling plates high and packing more in takeout containers so they can have them for breakfast the next day".

Savvy Scoop recently suggested that mini boxes of chocolates can make great wedding favours, so couples could also use cookies as a parting gift for their friends and family.

To get your taste buds tingling, click through to see a range of beautiful and unusual wedding cakes.

This article was originally posted onHitched.

As someone who loves to bake and eat as many baked goods as possible (I have a tolerance for sugar that some people might call disturbing), one of my favorite parts of wedding planning so far has been the cake tastings! We made sure to do most of these before Mr. Guinea Pig left for California so he would get to try the cake samples, and I think I can safely say it’s been his favorite part of the planning, too! Before we get to the insides of the cake though, let’s talk about how we want the cake to look.

Mr. Guinea Pig and I both love buttercream frosting and I strongly dislike fondant, even though I love the smoothness it gives to a cake. Mr. GP thinks fondant makes cakes look fake. So that was easy decision #1: buttercream frosting. Easy decision #2 was the shape – we both like the more traditional round, centered tiers with no crazy angles. We’re also both more inclined to do a simple cake with real flowers decorating it instead of anything too busy. Here are a couple of the photos in my inspiration gallery that we’ll be taking elements from (there are soooo many cake designs I love, it was hard to narrow it down)!

(I LOVE this cake – image found at Project Wedding)

The cake above is the perfect foundation for what we want: round, centered tiers with a blue ribbon at the base and a dot pattern! To add oomph to the design though, we are considering a slightly more intricate dot pattern, and we want to add real flowers to it like on this cake:

(cropped from this photo)

We haven’t decided yet if we want a cake topper (since there are so many cute options!), or if we will just use fresh flowers to top it off. I would love love love to have a cake almost exactly like this:

(How cute are those birds?! Photo found at PW again)

The flowery vines working their way up the sides of the cake! The perfect colors! Not to mention, the adorable birds on top. However, Mr. Guinea Pig much prefers real flowers to fondant/icing flowers, and I’m happy to have a lovely burst of color on our cake! The one thing I was sad to discover we could not do after choosing buttercream frosting for the outside of the cake is a quilting pattern.

(Mrs. Cupcake’s cake!)

See the pattern on the bottom and top tiers? It’s an indentation in the fondant, and buttercream can’t really pull that off so I had to let go of my dream pattern. At first I thought maybe we could recreate the pattern on top of the buttercream with piping but that looked more like netting than a quilted pattern. I also considered an awesome piped pattern like this:

(also, Project Wedding)

However this was a busier look than what Mr. Guinea Pig was hoping for, and I don’t like the design as much as the look of a more simple dot pattern. If we weren’t going to have a ribbon at the bottom of each tier, I would totally go for this look:

(again Project Wedding!)

It looks like champagne bubbles bubbling up the cake! But I think it looks weird if you have a ribbon at the bottom of the tier, and we really wanted to pull in some color that way. So, our cake will look like a combination of images 1 and 2, with a yet-to-be-determined cake topper! I’m so excited. Where we’re getting our cake and what it will taste like will come in a later post, but here are some of the other cake photos I loved so much that I couldn’t resist posting:

(Style Me Pretty – I seriously have 15 saved images of cakes with cute flowers like these)

(from Style Me Pretty – the perfect yellow color, and what a great design!)

(The black color reminds me of bats, but I think it would be gorgeous in blue and yellow! source)

Okay, this could go on forever! What are your favorite places to look for cake inspiration? Do you want your cake to be simple, or bold?

This article was originally posted onWeddingbee.

Since we got our guest list down to a trim three-oh, I have officially decided to take the plunge and make French macarons as favors. I’m thinking that three per person is sufficient, so I’ll be making about 90. I think I can handle it.

I’ve come to the conclusion that they are the perfect wedding favor, in my humble opinion. Not only are they delicious (and if by chance one of our guests doesn’t fancy them, I’ll happily gobble theirs up), but they’re also adorable! Just look at them:

source

A little aww and a big nom, nom, nom, right? Well, yes, those, my friends, are what macarons are supposed to look like. My first few attempts however, did not fare so well (don’t laugh too hard):

*personal photo*

Notice how #1 looks like something left behind from one of my precious little puppies, #2 is just a mess, and by #3 I was getting a little closer to the goal, but I wasn’t quite there.

Now, first and foremost, I want you to know that this shows how much I love the hive: I consider myself a pretty good cook/baker, and I’ve never actually experienced a cooking or baking related fail, so this kind of hurts my little heart, but I’m going to go out on a limb, and share my big fat FAIL, just for you.

I got my macaron recipe from our very own Mrs. Perfume. The recipe makes a pretty large batch, so I was able to get my first three attempts out of just one batch. I have found that after round three I’m just too exhausted to go on any longer. Needless to say, some things worked for me, and some things didn’t. Here, I’ll show you what didn’t work.

*personal photo*

1. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup aged egg whites. Combined with all the other ingredients, using a half cup of egg whites left my batter less like “molten lava” and more like “old, over-cooked oatmeal”

2. The recipe states “In a food processor, blend the confectioner’s sugar and almond flour.” I (stupidly) skipped this step and just blended it by hand. Yeah, don’t do that. You don’t get the same results, trust me.

3. “Add 6 drops of food coloring” I don’t know what kind of magic food coloring Perfume was using, but I needed about 20 drops. Care to share the name of your magical food coloring, Perfume? (pleeeease)

4. “Bake with the door slightly ajar at 325 degrees for about 12 minutes” Did you see attempt #1? Yeah, that was after about 9 minutes. At 12 I think I would have had little charcoal macarons.

*personal photo*

But don’t worry, hive, my macaron making misadventures have a happy ending! You’ll just have to wait ’til another post

Have you had any massive baking fails? Are you making your own edible favors? If so, what are you making?

This article was originally posted onWeddingbee.

I heart the holiday season in a big, BIG way. The pretty lights, the trees, the gifts, the hot cocoa and marshmallows. So to celebrate, we’ve asked some of our favorite Little Black Book members to craft some holiday inspired DIY projects. Little crafts that are chic, elegant and would make anyone who received them grin from ear to ear. But the best part, all of the projects can easily be interpreted into wedding favors. It’s a win, win for all!

Our first project was designed by a bakery that we are SO proud to call a Little Black Book member, Vanilla Bakeshop. Their designs always blow me away and I am not the only one. The adorable little shop has become quite a blogging celebrity, with their cakes and desserts popping up in so many real weddings around the web. Well today, they are all ours and they’ve designed a little gift that will definitely make you swoon…

DIY Tips for Holiday Macarons

The French Macaron is a grown up almond cookie that is delicate and perfect as a wedding favor or stocking stuffer this holiday season. Each almond sandwich cookie is filled with creamy buttercreams, preserves or rich chocolate ganache. Here are some helpful tips on making your own! –from Vanilla Bakeshop

Color & Flavor Coordinate: Presentation is key! You eat with your eyes first. Take that into consideration when you are making your French Macarons. Choose three flavor and color combinations that compliment each other and taste delicious.

Personalize: Adding a personalized custom label to your favor is a sweet touch that is simple and inexpensive. A helpful online source is www.MyOwnLabels.com. Chose from a variety of label templates and colors. Cost: approximately .75 per label.

Packaging: Choosing recycled eco-friendly cardboard or clear favor box is a creative way to show off your colorful French macarons. A cost effective online packaging source is www.papermart.com Cost: approximately .50 per box

Ingredients

3 ½ cups Powdered sugar

½ tsp. Vanilla extract

3 cupsAlmond meal

6 Egg whites

Pinch Salt

½ cupGranulated Sugar

Helpful tips before you get started:

*Oven temperatures vary. Test this recipe first, before you begin production to ensure the cookies bake perfectly. If the cookies crack on top, your oven might be too hot. Turn your oven down by 5-10 degree’s. The cookie should have a smooth shell top.

*Chose three different food colors for your cookies and decide what flavor will correspond with the color. Example: A pale green macaron filled with mint chocolate ganache.

*Gel based food-coloring works the best. Divide your batter mixture into three separate bowls, and add a different color per bowl. This will allow you to have three different colors and flavors.

*Use a toothpick when adding the food coloring. A little goes a long way.

Instructions

Pre-heat Oven 240 degree’s

1. Whip egg whites in a mixer with whisk attachment until frothy. Rain in granulated sugar slowly. Whip until the egg white is a soft peak. Add salt, vanilla extract and food coloring.

2. Continue to whip until a medium peak forms. Do not over whip.

3. Sift powder sugar and almond meal together.

4. Fold powder sugar and almond meal into egg white mixture.

5. Fold together until mixture is the consistency of slow moving lava. (About 20-30 seconds of folding.) Be careful not to over mix.

6. Fill pastry bag fitted with #828 tip with macaron mixture.

7. Pipe into small silver dollar size rounds on parchment covered sheet pans.

8. Once all rounds have been piped, allow it to sit out for 30 minutes to dry and create a shell.

9. Bake at 240 degree’s for 9-11 minutes. Rotate halfway through baking process so cookies are evenly baked. Cookie tops will pop up creating a macaron “foot” below the shell top.

10. Allow to cool before piping filling.

11. Fill with your favorite butter cream, preserve, or chocolate ganache filling.< br/> 12. This recipe yields 40 French macaron sandwiches.

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Post tags: Do-It-Yourself Inspired, holiday, Macaroons, Vanilla Bakeshop
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This article was originally posted onStyle Me Pretty.

So, I told you about all the cake toppers I was lusting for at Etsy here. Needless to say, I couldn’t justify spending so much money on a cake topper. Sure, they’re adorable, but I know myself. I know that after the wedding they’d get stuck in a cabinet somewhere only to eventually a. break, or b. add to the clutter and annoy me. That’s an expensive annoyance. So, what’s a Rainbow to do? DIY, duh.

I don’t know if I told you this already, but we’re incorporating some birdies into our centerpieces, similar to the birdie here. They play well into the Marie Antoinette aspect of the wedding, without having gigantic ostrich feathers sticking out everywhere. In case you’re wondering, the ostrich feathers have been reserved for myself (more on that later).

Anyway, I knew I wanted a bird cake topper, but I was having trouble finding just the right pair. I scoured Michaels at least once a week looking for the perfect Mr. and Mrs. Rainbow peeps. Little did I know, all I had to do was wait until it got closer to the holidays. Apparently, that’s when all of the fancy decorative birds come out of hiding, so if you’re in need of some birdies, now’s the time!

After a few too many hours in Michaels for the second time that week, I found them. My two perfect birdies, in our wedding colors, just waiting for me to take them home and jazz them up!

For half a second I thought about doing a tutorial, but I promise you, it was just a few craft supplies and a whole heap of hot glue. It’s basically idiot proof, minus a couple of finger burns.

So… you wanna see it?

*personal photo*

Tee-hee, isn’t it cute? If you look closely, you can see that my bird has fake eyelashes—the inner one is covered by the veil, but you can see the outer one. I just couldn’t help myself. Here’s the total cost (everything from Michaels):

• 2 birds: $8 ($4 each)
• Tulle Rounds: $2
• Nest: $2
• Bag of Moss: $3
• Felt (on bottom, so no one ingests twig): $1

Total Cost: $16

Not too shabby, eh? I already had the individual eyelashes, and I fashioned the tie with hot glue and a bit of black ribbon that I also had on hand.

What do you think, hive? Anyone else out there DIYing their own cake topper?

This article was originally posted onWeddingbee.