Wedding Cake, revisited

June 29, 2012 2 Comments
crownbutton

You might remember our wedding cake:

and how we painstakingly picked out the flavors (vanilla pound cake with blackberries, lime yellow cake with strawberries, and chocolate/chocolate/chocolate/raspberry for the top tier).   The ruling was, serve all the cake! Let them have their cake (and open bar) and eat it too, duh.  Why save anything when our guests want to stuff their faces with yummy cake?  I also promised to eat the heck outta that cake, and oh yeah I didn’t do much eating that night.

But anyways, you can imagine our surprise the next day when we returned to the venue to collect intentionally left items, and our venue rep told us not to forget the cake in the freezer.  Cake in the freezer? But why?  The caterer told us not to save the cake, that they would happily whip up another “top tier” for us a year later.   So whatever, we had cake! We took home the top tier (chocolate! YES!) and stashed it in our freezer for a year.

Fast forward to June 21, 2012 (we were at the beach for our actually anni, 6/19).

Hello seemingly giant refrigerator with PITA (pain in the arse) pull out freezer basket drawer thingy that everything falls behind and I curse, daily.

 

Hello overstuffed freezer basket drawer (probably the reason things fall behind).

And yes I love Trader Joes.

 

But what’s that?!  No, not the froyo. Look for the UFO shaped object covered with aluminum foil and taking up precious space in our stupid freezer.  I see it!

We figured after saving it for an entire year, we might as well defrost and eat it,

or try to eat it!As I shared on Instagram, it didn’t look very good, but….

it honestly tasted great!

And now there’s none left!

So the moral of the story? Go ahead and freeze your wedding cake for your first anniversary. There’s no harm in trying, and then stuffing your face!

Did you save your wedding cake (or try), or do you think you will?

first awesome picture by Studio Juno, all other “normal” pics by me

Filed Under: cake, caterer, eat your heart out, newlyweds, wedding

National Chocolate Cake Day

January 27, 2012 2 Comments

According to this post, today is a very special day.

TODAY IS NATIONAL CHOCOLATE CAKE DAY!!!!!!!!

Some smart woman somewhere did a very good thing by making today happen.

If you ever find yourself at a bar with me, about an hour or so after we arrive, you will hear some version of these words: “I could really go for some chocolate cake right now.” (and after years of saying this, I do know which DC bars serve beer and cake)

I love chocolate cake.

  • I love chocolate so much that the top tier of our wedding cake (currently in our freezer – talk about self control) is a death by chocolate, chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream icing.
  • I love chocolate cake so much that I rushed to write this post minutes after my friend notified me of today’s significance.

 

I apologize for not getting the word out sooner.  With proper notice I might stuff my face with chocolate cupcakes for breakfast.  A good ol’ fashioned chocolate cake might have graced our teacher’s lounge.  But of course, some chocolate truffle cake will on the plate for after dinner.

 

I always need a good excuse to have me some chocolate cake for dessert.

So what are you waiting for?

Go now. Stuff thy faces.

For today? Is National Chocolate Cake Day!*

Changing the world, one slice of chocolate cake at a time.

(Please leave links to any awesome chocolate cake recipes in the comments, to celebrate!)

*feel free to do the same on 1/28 if you missed the cake festivities on 1/27. and the same for 1/29. ah heck we all need more chocolate cake in our lives.

 

 

Filed Under: awesomeness, baking, cake, eat your heart out

(Wedding Recap) Details, Details

October 7, 2011 2 Comments

There are a couple things I need to point out, to validate my/our hard work and document the end results.

For the ceremony, my mom purchased a kit from Michael’s craft stores and then made the layout with her fine Microsoft Office skills.  My dad then helped her print, arrange, and tie the bows. (Thanks Mom & Dad!)  We placed them on chairs for guests, prior to the ceremony.

I found some reserved seating cards on TheKnot.com. (Which reminds me, I need to sell them… anyone want them?)  These were perfect for the ceremony!

The kepot were passed out at the door, thanks to our dear friend, Eric.  We decided to go with a contrasting color to the bridesmaids dresses to change things up a bit.

Post ceremony, the guests were lead to the Board Room where one bar was located, or to the Portico, outside, where there were cabaret (high-top) tables and another bar.  And I have no picture of this. But it existed.

Before entering the cocktail hour area you came across a table with escort cards, decorated with floating candles, similar to some of the table arrangements.  I stupidly printed out all the cards myself, a few days before the wedding (with the help from amazing Lara!).  Turns out, when you do this task after midnight and when your husband is already away on his bachelor party, you will make mistakes… like forgetting a whole table.  whoops!

I found this gift box at Target, days prior to the wedding. I used the same ribbon as I did for my niece’s flower girl basket and the escort card (to differentiate entree choices), for flair.

Each escort card led guests to their assigned table, named after a different zoo animals (a nod to Mike’s proposal!)

At each seat lay menu cards and benchers (Jewish prayer books – which we forgot to use!) flanked each table. Sidenote: I also printed these menu cards out in the wee-hours of the morning.  Not advised.

As mentioned before, I made the cake topper (with that same ribbon).

The bridesmaid’s flowers surrounded the cake table. 

And my bouquet graced our sweetheart table, along with my special clutch from Etsy!

These little elements all came together so nicely!

{all photos by the awesome Studio Juno}

Filed Under: cake, Carnegie Institute, details, flowers, Judaism, Mike, proposal, venues, wedding

Peacock Cake Topper Tutorial

July 5, 2011 4 Comments

My crafty side is really showing lately.  I love putting personal touches on special moments.  That being said, I tried something, full-well knowing it could fail.
I looked around for months for a cake topper. I wanted something with peacock feathers, obvi. The only thingsI found that I liked were on Etsy and upwards of $200.  Then I found something more reasonably priced, but the first thought that came to mind was, “I can totally make that.”

So I set out to do just that.

I started with a square base of Styrofoam.

I traced a circular shape onto the surface and cut it into a circle.  This was somewhat of a challenge.

I then picked out peacock feathers of various heights.  You can easily trim down the feathers’ stalks with scissors.
I love that this one has a heart in the center!

I poked/jammed the feathers into the Styrofoam base.  Sometimes I needed to create holes for the feathers’ stalks to slide more easily into the base.  I used a pencil to create holes in the foam.  Be careful not to put the feathers out too often, because it loosens the integrity of the Styrofoam.
Once I was happy with where the feathers were situated, I hot glued ribbon together to cover the base.  (This is the same ribbon I used for my niece’s flower girl basket)

Once the ribbons were aligned I then hot glued that onto the Styrofoam base.

As you can see I added feathers (which I promise in real life they show up purple, not red) to prevent the white Styrofoam from showing.

And voila! Cake topper at the wedding!

And in these professional pictures you can tell the feathers are purple!

{all images personal, aside from the last one from Studio Juno}

Filed Under: awesomeness, cake, crafty, details, wedding

Final Catering Tasting!

March 4, 2011 5 Comments

It’s hard to believe we’re only 3.5 months out.  My personal trainer asked me how many weeks that was, and I shocked myself with the number 14.  She asked if I knew how many days that was – and I respectfully declined to do the math.

Regardless, we must taste the food we want to put in front of everyone! Our hors d’oeuvres, vegetarian entree, and cake were chosen!

After 4 catering tastings with separate companies, we decided on Windows. But after tasting so many hors d’oeuvres once we decided on Windows we wanted to go back and revamp a few details.

First up: tasting the Vanilla Salmon & the Salmon and Coconut Skewer (in order of appearance):

 
I  know they look oh so similar, but trust me, the flavor difference is there.  We chose the Salmon and Coconut Skewer because of the flavor brilliance.  The coconut jelly on the bottom is made from gelatin and coconut milk.  The Sirasha sauce on top is amazing. Together with the salmon = flavor brilliance. yeeeum!
We settled on our vegetarian entree choice:  Giant Spring Roll.  
And yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like: a huge, vegetarian egg roll. 
Or as they put it “wok fired Napa cabbage, tofu, firecracker peppers and snow pea shoots with a chili-lime vinaigrette.”
In short. amazing yumminess:
nom nom nom.

And the cake! YES! The cake!

Chocolate Raspberry:  Chocolate cake with Old-Fashioned Dark Chocolate Mouse and Fresh Raspberries with Chocolate Buttercream. (yes, please)

Vanilla Blackberry: Almond Sponge Cake filled with Vanilla Cream and Fresh Blackberries with Light Amaretto Whipped Cream.
(no need to ask twice)

Strawberry and Lime Shortcake:  Lime-flavored sponge cake, Strawberry Syrup, Vanilla Mousseline and Fresh Strawberries with Vanilla Buttercream
(HELLOsummerwedding yes!)

Carrot Spiced Cake: classic Carrot Cake filled and frosted with Cream Cheese Frosting
(can’t go wrong)

Deliciously amazing & fantastically scrumptious.
Then we took two of the rounds home and my wedding dress diet was blown to pieces, as was the cake.

So we’re ordering them all.  Seriously.
The bottom tier of the cake will have the Strawberry-Lime, followed by the Vanilla Blackberry, topped with the chocolate (my all time favorite cake evah).  And the Carrot Cake? Mike gets a special groom’s cake, since he loves it and I do not share the same sentiment. perfection.

Oh that?
Our point of contact at Windows set that aside for us to see.  She knows our colors and decoration scheme and shared it with us, leftover from their holiday party! I love me some good customer service (and cake)!

Happy Weekend! Giveaway winners will be posted tomorrow!

Filed Under: BlogBook, cake, caterer

© Crowning Victoria · One Woman’s Journey to Live Like a Queen · Disclaimer