Groom's Cake - Sarah's Cake Shop

Here's a wedding throwback in honor of Ryan's 30th birthday today!

 

I wanted to surprise Ryan at our Rehearsal Dinner with a customized Grooms Cake.  Maybe I watch too much Cake Boss on TLC, but I wanted to go all out with fondant figurines depicting Ryan playing beer pong (his favorite sport) with the KU Jayhawk (his favorite team) with our two dogs (our babies) as the spectators.  I sketched out my idea and then sought out someone to execute it.  Sarah's Cake Shop had created my sister's wedding cake the year before and, granted, her cake was a traditional three tiered cake...nothing out of the ordinary, I have been obsessed with their cakes and cupcakes every since.  I met with the cake designer there and showed her my sketches and she said, "No problem!"  The day of they delivered to the restaurant ahead of time and it was there waiting for us after rehearsal at the church.  Easy as that!  Check out how it turned out below (It's red velvet, by the way).

 

Ryan's Groom's Cake

I was also lucky enough to have my sister/Maid of Honor order specialized mini red velvet cupcakes and red, white and pink funfetti cake truffles from Sarah's Cake Shop for my bridal shower a few months before.  Let's just say Jessie over estimated the head count and ordered a bit too many... leftover cake truffles for breakfast, lunch and dinner!  YAY!

Funfetti Cake Truffle and Mini Red Velvet Cupcake

Make sure you check out Sarah's daily cupcake menu here!  Their blueberry pancake cupcake available on Tuesdays was yummy!  My next proposed conquest...salted caramel available on Fridays!

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Bridal Shower

Jessie and Joe are getting married tomorrow!!!  To celebrate, here is a review of the bridal shower that Kelly, Dad and I threw for Jessie out at in the St. Albans Villa in June.  The theme was purple floral and Kelley, Dad and I created a feast!

Menu:

• Prosecco with fresh raspberries in the glass
• Chicken, Beans and Cheese Wraps
• Cheese Stuffed Peppers
• Chips and Salsa and Guacamole
• Chocolate and Red Velvet Cupcake Flowers (see instructions below)
• Confetti Cake Pops (see instructions below)
• Blue Bunny Wedding Cake Ice Cream

Dining Room Table

Pretty Purple Flowers

Basil Plant Party Favors

Making Cake Pops

Cake Pops in M&M filled vase

Cupcake Flowers

Cupcake Flowers

Cupcake Flowers

The Feast

Buffet Line

Diggin' In

Yum!

Party Girls

It was a fun party!!!  The Cupcake Flowers and the Cake Pops were a big hit!  Here are the instructions on how I made them.

Cupcake Flowers:

1. Bake mini cupcakes (any flavor you prefer)
2. Put together green foam ball (found at craft store) in a flower pot, fastened by a glue gun
3. Starting at the bottom, fasten cupcakes in a row around the foam, keep moving up rows until entire foam ball is covered.  Fasten cupcakes by breaking a toothpick in half and use two halves of the toothpick per cupcake.  Make sure on the bottomost rows to angle the cupcakes facing upwards on the toothpicks so they don't slide off.
4. Once the entire foam ball is covered by cupcakes, put icing in an icing bag (I used a ziploc back with a small cut on the edge to squeeze the icing out).  If you want colors, I added purple food dye to the vanilla icing.
5. Voila!  You have cupcake flowers!

Icing Pops:

1. Bake cake in a pan (I used confetti cake mix)
2. Once cake cools, crumble it with your hands so the entire cake is crumbs (this is the fun part!)
3. Mix in can of icing with cake crumbles
4. Roll icing/cake mixture into small inch-round balls and put in freezer over night
5. Dip lollipop sticks (found at craft store) in icing and then poke into froze cake balls, let settle in
6. Melt white chocolate morsels (or any other meltable candy coding) in a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water and dip cake pops in melted mixture
7. Sprinkle right away and then set on parchment paper for coding to harden
8. Keep cold in freezer or fridge until ready to serve
9. Serve in vase filled with colorful M&Ms so lollipop sticks stay in place
10. Enjoy!  Careful, they are rich from all the icing!

Looking forward to the wedding tomorrow!!!

Wedding Pig Roast

This past weekend Joe and I attended a wedding of Joe's old college roommate, Bennett to his new wife Jo-Lin. The wedding reception was held on a point that jutted out into a lake in Minocqua, Wisconsin. The reception fit the couple's personality perfectly and was very laid back and fun. The dance floor and dinner tables were under a large lit tent filled with colorful decorations. Two kegs of beer from New Glarus were served as well featuring the Spotted Cow (similar to a summer ale) and the Moon Man (full of hops). About 30 yards from the tent was the smoker belonging to the caterer. They smoked two whole pigs and multiple tri tip sirloins. Here is what the pigs looked like ready to be served on the buffet line:

Two Smoked Pigs Ready to Eat!

In addition to the smoked meats we were served delicious potatoes, green beans, rolls, and grilled pineapple. It was a delicious meal and was perfect to be eaten outside at this wedding. The night continued with a lot of dancing, catching up with friends, drinking, and more dancing! Congratulations to the happy couple!

Had to have one more photo!