Alex & Brie's Wedding

Simple and Elegant Buttercream Wedding Cake 

The beautiful thing about weddings is that even though the core elements are the same, they are all so unique. Upon arriving to the venue to deliver the cake for A+B's wedding, I was instantly taken back by the beauty of the property, and shocked to find the bride outside helping set up "what are you doing out here?!"

This wedding was all about the beautiful details and hand made with love. The strings of cafe lights, the little wooden signs to the gorgeous fern wall (you'll see it behind the cake) all contributed to the beauty of the day. And while these things are not required to have a wedding, it definitely adds romance if you ask me. I feel like Pinterest is a blessing and a curse these days...same with Etsy.

The Bride is a sister of a friend who I grew up playing soccer with, so I was honored that they chose me to make their wedding cake. We had a tasting consultation back in the spring to play around with flavors. We decided to go with a vanilla cake with chocolate mousse filling and vanilla buttercream for the cutting cake, but they also loved the chocolate frosting so we did the same thing with chocolate frosting in a sheet cake.

As a little take home favor from the tasting, I also gave them one of my signature sugar cookies. I was delighted to get an email from Brie that not only did they love them, but they wanted to incorporate some cookies for dessert as well. 

Let them eat cake!

Now I mentioned something about a fern wall... do you see it in the background?! Absolutely stunning. Brie saw it at a wedding show and she said she just had to do it too. It was a gorgeous background for a simple and elegant wedding cake. 

 

The cake! And that Fern Wall - Stunning

Signature Sugar Cookies

The hardest thing about being a baker for weddings, is you don't always get to see the end result or have an opportunity to take photos. So I am extremely grateful to photographers Events by Heather and Ryan for taking some gorgeous photos.

Congratulations Alex and Brie! We hope your day was everything you wished it to be and more! May your marriage be blessed.

Happy 30th Birthday

When I was 21, 30 just sounded so old, now that I am only a few years away, it doesn't sound so bad. Still no crow's feet wrinkles or gray hairs! 

These cookies are for the 30 years young ladies out there. The party theme was "vintage" pink and white, and very girlie. 

Flower Petal Cookies

I just ordered a new fluted circle cookie cutter which I thought would add a nice "girlie tea party" type touch to the cookies when I typically use just a plain circle cookie cutter.

Rose Cookies

For some reason the white buttercream frosting was a little thinner than the pink, but that is probably just me being a perfectionist? They still taste yummy. So note to self - don't use TOO much milk when making frosting. Its hard to go back.

Flower cookies

Also, higher quality vanilla makes a HUGE difference in the taste of your frosting. I am not saying there is anything wrong with Wilton's clear vanilla (what I use in frosting so it doesn't tint the frosting and distort your colors) but I recently discovered a higher quality baking clear vanilla and I think the buttercream tastes a lot more flavorful!

30th Birthday Cookies

My number cookie set are one of my favorites and I think this was the first time I have used the number 3...

The Big 3-0

Medieval Themed Cookies

I had a couple big cookie projects this weekend. I actually made cookies for a corporate gathering this past friday. My uncle is the General Manager for Mass Mutual Financial (click the link to check him out hehe). Anyways, they were having their annual picnic outing and I was asked if I was interested in making themed cookies for them. Naturally I was.

I have to say that these cookies took some thought and creativity to them. Usually if I don't have a particular cutter, I can go to Etsy.com and buy some from my favorite shop - the cookie cutter guy, check him out great products!!  However, in this case it was a little bit shorter notice so I couldn't order some of the shapes that I wanted.

For example, a shield cookie cutter or a sword cookie cutter would have been really cool to frost. But I had to get a little creative which means PINTEREST to the rescue. I also found on Pinterest how to turn a gingerbread man into a knight. I also ended up using a plain circle to make a shield.

Shield Cookie with Piped Butter Cream Frosting

I was at my local craft store and I lucked out when I saw the Fleur De Lis cookie cutter! I thought to myself, thats kind of medieval right? I think this one turned out to be my favorite and would be really cute for future parties like Mardi Gras!

Fleur De Lis Cookie Cutter

The party really lucked out weather wise. The night before we were having TERRIBLE thunder and lightning storms which is so uncommon. The sun did come out and shine for the party though and the cookies received good feedback to me. Check them out!

Shield Cookies 

The whole time I was frosting the shield cookies I couldn't help but think about one of my favorite shows....GAME OF THRONES. Each shield is a different pattern and it made me think of all the different clans and townships they would represent. I know it is silly but sometimes you have to exercise your imagination!

Game of Thrones Anyone?

The diamond shapes were meant to match the table clothes which were the blue and white Oktoberfest pattern you see in the background. The below are the finished product cookie platters. 

Medieval Cookies

Medieval Cookie Platter

Of all the cookies I have made thus far, I would say this project challenged me the most and I was a little nervous for the finished product.

Grandma's 90th Birthday Celebration!

This year my boyfriend's grandma, Phyllis, turned 90 years old. To celebrate, the family threw a surprise birthday party. She was surprised to say the least and it was a beautiful day for a party! All the kids, grandkids and great-grandkids made it out for the party and it was really special for her and everyone.

The Birthday Girl Arrives!

Naturally I had to make some cookies. The only problem was the drive. From our house it is about 2-2.5 hours east and over the mountains to the little town of Wenatchee. I knew there was no way I could get the cookies over there in one piece. The other difficulty is the fact that his parents live in his grandma's house (long story) and because it was a surprise, I didn't want her to see them! I decided that I had to frost the cookies over in Wenatchee... but where?

Don't Mess With the BDAY Girl

Thankfully our friend's Kyle and Becky came to the rescue and let me use their kitchen to frost the cookies and let them set over night! Big shout out to Becky for letting me do that on such short notice. It worked out perfectly! I made the cookies the night before we left and then frosted them the night before the party. Here are some pictures of the treats and the birthday girl!

The Cookie Platter

The Big 9-0

Dragonfly Cookies

 I love this little dragonfly cookie cutter. The only difficulty with this cookie cutter is the tail. It is VERY fragile. I made extra's just in case and I ended up breaking about half of them.

90th Birthday Crown Cookies

 I almost didn't do the crown but I am glad I did because the birthday girl was wearing her tiara and it was too perfect!

Daisy Flowers and Dragon Fly Cookies

The daisy sugar cookies were one of my new cutters and I was so excited to use this one. I loved the bright colors and the cookie is about 1-2" which is the perfect "cookie" size in my opinion!

Cupcake Sugar Cookies (My First Cutter)

The cupcake was the first cookie cutter from a class I took back in the spring, and what started my passion and hobby of baking and frosting cookies. Without that class, I would not be where I was today! 

The Other Cookie Platter

 Happy birthday to Grandma!

Just Keep Swimming - Kolton's 4th Birthday

Just keep swimming...swimming... swimming... I love Finding Nemo the movie!!  And this year my little brother Kolton wanted a Nemo themed birthday party. Of course I was inspired by the endless possibilities for an "under the sea" type party fueled by Pinterest. BUT - we let the birthday boy pick and he decided on Nemo, the Turtle and a Starfish shaped cookie cutter as well as swirly, sparkly cake pops - chocolate flavored - DUH big sis.

Here are some pictures from the little man's treats and the party.

Mr. Birthday Boy! 

Nemo, Turtle and Starfish Cookies

More Starfish and Turtle Cookies

Sparkly Swirl Cake Pops

Just Keep Swimming

Chocolate with Vanilla Buttercream Cupcakes 

These cupcake toppers I was able to print directly off the internet. I then cut them out and took a toothpick and some tape and VOILA! Super easy to make and they were FREE. No need to go hunting store to store looking for them now or looking on Etsy and paying for shipping. Don't stress yourself out. GOOGLE IT and ye'shall find.

Nemo Cupcake Toppers

Kolton's had a lot of fun at his birthday and all the kids loved the treats.... even the adults! Thanks for stopping by!

Wine Themed Cookies

In my last post I talked about how to throw a Blind Wine Tasting party for my birthday! We had lots of really yummy food! See below! But of course you know I love to bake. I decided to try out my new wine cookie cutters as well as make some of my favorite cupcakes and cake pops!

All of the delicious food! NOM NOM NOM

For the cupcakes I made my signature cupcakes - chocolate chip cookie dough! The have real balls of raw cookie dough in them. They are super sweet so I don't put a lot of frosting on them since they don't need it. I actually cheated a little bit on the frosting. I just used the leftover I had from the cookies and swirled them together. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes! 

I made the cupcakes in chocolate and vanilla flavor since I had some friends who strongly like one or the other but I didn't want to make 200 mini cupcakes. I decided to just make 16 of each and then I made the rest into....CAKE POPS! 

Up until a month ago I couldn't make cake pops. And up until about 2-3 months ago I could make sugar cookies either. I had to take a class. So I took a class and the first time I tried to make them for my party last week I had a little crisis and had to call the shop and ask what I was doing wrong. LOL So this week, I took my training wheels off and did it all by myself. I still want to know how some people can get them so perfectly round. The perfectionist in me wants to know!! The secret to my cake pop though is NO FROSTING. SO MUCH BETTER! They are moist without being overly sweet. 

Just took them out of the fridge since it was so warm out! 

And now for my raison d'etre - for those who don't speak french, my reason to be, my sugar cookies! I really loved doing these ones because they were simple and yet so cute. They really didn't take that long. Although I will say I like how the green grapes turned out better than the purple grapes but now I know for next time! 

Wine Bottles

Green Grapes and Wine Glasses

It's All Wine to Me!

My Favorite Ones - The Green Grapes!

Wine Bottles

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoyed all the treats! Stay tuned for the next post!