We had three different cake flavors that started out as a box cake mix! That's right, from a box, and then "enhanced." One chocolate, one strawberry, and one vanilla. I think next time instead of using a vanilla cake mix, I'd just stick with a white cake since the emulsion flavors added are what really give it the wonderful flavor. In addition to adding vanilla extract, our sister Marina who did the actually baking, added LorAnn Princess Cake And Cookie Bakery Emulsion. It is so yummy! She found it at Orson Gygi, but you can probably find a similar item at any specialty baking store. Marina made the cakes a few days ahead of time and kept them in the freezer wrapped in saran. This also helps keep the moisture in. Here's Marina's directions for baking the cake instead of following the ones on the box. This makes your cake more dense and very moist. For the fillings, we used real fruit, raspberries and strawberries, with a chocolate mouse or whip cream. Our cakes had three layers of cake with two layers of filling.
1 box white cake mix (or whatever flavor you like!)
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
4 egg whites
1 1/3 cup water
2 Tbs. oil
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. clear vanilla
1 tsp. almond extract (or emulsion extract)
Mix together and bake according to pkg. directions.
Now, for the frosting; my favorite part of a cake! We used this delicious Sturdy Buttercream Frosting found on Pinterest of course. This frosting was delicious and had the best texture to make the rosette design on the cake. Some butter cream frostings are too soft and won't hold the shape as well. My mom and I both frosted the cakes, and it was a lot of work! But once we got the hang of it, it actually went pretty fast. I recommend putting a thin layer of frosting on the cake before adding your rosettes. This will help keep crumbs to a minimum, as well as cover any holes between the rosettes. Use a large open star tip and work your way from the base of the cake to to top. The rosettes look best if you start from the center and swirl towards the outside. This will also help you be able to frost over any edges of the previous rosette if needed. It took about one batch of frosting per cake.
Sturdy Buttercream Frosting
1 cup white Crisco shortening
1 cup butter (room temperature)
6-6 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almont extract (I only put this in the frosting for the chocolate cake)
In a large bowl, ship shortening and butter together on high for 3 minutes. Add powdered sugar, extracts, adn whipping cream and whip on high for about 8-10 minutes until smooth. Once cake is frosted, set in fridge or cool place to "set." Remove about an hour prior to serving.
A lot of people also asked me where we found Libby's beautiful blessing dress. Well folks, my mother-in-law made it. And she made it in just a few days! That's right, she's amazing. We already had the beautiful ivory peau de soie from back when I tried to match fabric for the wedding dress I almost bought. I ended up going with a different dress, but still had a few yards of ivory satins and other fabrics just waiting to be made into this dress! I began my search for the lace month before Libby was born, but didn't find the right one until just a few weeks before the blessing! We had a pattern, but the sleeves on it were so poofy! I didn't want my little one to fly away, so we patterned them after a little onesie I had that had a layer of lace over the fabric. We just copied the idea. I just love the cathedral length, and the delicate pattern of the lace was perfect. There are beautiful jeweled buttons on the back too!
The night before the blessing, I stayed up pretty late to finish a few things for the luncheon and to make the floral belt and matching head band for the dress. I love the trend of the floral belts for wedding gowns, so I wanted a similar look for Libby's dress. You'll soon be able to purchase similar belts on my Etsy shop!
While in between making the pineapple cheese cake desserts and before getting out the glue gun, I was trying to reorganize the refrigerator to make room. This was around 3 am. Well, we have a broken shelf in the door so I can only put a few sturdy items on it. Sadly, an unopened container of tomato basil soup, you know the kind you get at Costco? fell off the shelf, hit another, and cracked open spewing red creamy soup everywhere! It was on every other shelf in the fridge, the bottom rubber seal, inside the vegetable crisper drawers, on my socks and even my cropped yoga pants, the dishwasher and oven doors, simply every where! How do you begin to even clean that up? I couldn't let the fridge door shut because it would just push the soup on the bottom ledge farther back, and it was seeping underneath the fridge as well. I was near tears as I started scooping it up with paper towels into my already full garbage can. Remember, I had already been baking most of the night. I just prayed and prayed that our baby, who was surprisingly still soundly asleep after her regular 3 hour max, would stay asleep. I think if I had to tend to a hungry crying baby while tomato soup oozed across my floor, I would have just cried! I nearly did anyway, but 1 and 1/2 rolls of paper towels later, a few dish rags, and a change of clothes later, everything was cleaned up as if it had never happened and I was onto my crafty belt project.
I used double sided satin ribbon and four ivory chiffon flowers, each with pearls and crystals in the center. I was going to make a larger belt with a variety of floral accents, but I think the more simple look was the perfect fit for Libby's dress. I also made a matching headband for Libby. It was perfect and just the right amount of bling!
No comments:
Post a Comment