I've Fallen into the Internet and I Can't Get Out!

So you know how you can totally get lost in the blog-o-sphere? I do it all the time and it's a total time-sucker. I read about something cool and click on a link. Then I see something else on that site and then click on another link. Suddenly, I feel like I'm in the 70's Fabrege Shampoo commercial (and so on and so on and so on). Blogs are the worst. I mean, come on! They really are. I follow 80 bazillion blogs and want to read each and every post on every single one but I simply do not have the time. Especially now that I am in wedding crunch time, coupled with the fact that I'm working double-time to help keep my company afloat so that I can pay for said wedding! I just need a "pause" button for about a day. Maybe two.

I'm totally off track here. My point is that I got lost on the Internet the other day and found the cutest Etsy shop. It's called Natalie As Is. She doesn't have many item, but what she does have rocks. Hard.

look at the gorgeous handmade sketch books! I think these would be perfect for a registration book - or simply a wedding gift. Maybe for a bridesmaid? The paper is acid free, so could be used as a photo album too. Lovely. Just lovely.


The other really interesting this she has for sale are Cupcake Pamphlets. Uh, come again? What the hell is a cupcake pamphlet? This is:

She has 2 volumes of 3 eight-page pamphlets contains the illustrated recipes. The first volume has:

~ Marbled Lemon-Berry Cupcakes with lemon Chantilly cream

~ Earl Grey Cupcakes on pâte sucrée with dark chocolate filling, earl grey Italian meringue butter cream

~ Walnut Browned Butter Cupcakes with browned butter & Scotch pastry cream filling, white chocolate walnut glaze

These are handwritten recipes that are accompanied by watercolor and graphite illustrations. Ingredients are given in both weight and measure. The pamphlets are ink jet printed on 28 lb acid free paper and hand bound in a vellum jacket. So cool! I headed over to her Flickr page and found these examples of her mad baking skills!


Who else gets lost in the Internet? Do you find as many interesting things as I do?

Covered with Icing!

A quickie post to mention the lovely Miss Heather over at Covered with Icing here in Nashville. I am so happy she followed through with me! I had stopped in her booth as soon as I walked into the bridal show on Sunday. She had a prime position right by the entrance and she was swamped with tasters! I'm pretty good at weaseling my way through crowds and was able to get a cake sample fairly quickly. Super-yum is what I say to the cake sample!

She also had what looked like truffles presented on platters. Now, I'm not a huge fan of your every-day truffles, but I'm not going to turn down free chocolate either. I mean seriously, do I seem foolish to anyone out there? Little did I know that these were cake truffles.

Holy sweet mother of Christmas, were these good. I mean, "slap your momma" good! Right about the time I was digging into the first cake truffle I ate that day, Heather approached me to give me the down-low on her goodies and we got to chatting.

I just spent some time on her website this morning and have found her offering for wedding cakes to be spectacular.

Here's the skinny direct from her website:

Wedding and Groom's cake prices begin at $3.00 per serving for butter cream and $3.50 per serving for fondant. A serving is based on a 2" x 1" x 4" slice. I have worked hard to come up with a fondant recipe that I think is very good. It tastes like icing and will have a layer of butter cream underneath. Please ask for a taste during your consultation. Wedding cake tiers consist of 4 layers of cake and 3 layers of filling or frosting. I require a non-refundable $50 deposit to reserve your wedding date. This deposit will be applied to your order, but is not refundable if the order is canceled, as I book months in advance for weddings.

Your wedding cake pricing includes a special 6" heart-shaped "honeymoon" cake for you to take along after the wedding. Sometimes a bride and groom only get a tiny slice of cake (and maybe frosting up their nose) just for the pictures, but miss out on the culinary masterpiece they helped create. I will assure you that will not happen if you order from Covered with Icing. Pricing also includes a special certificate for your 1st anniversary "tier". This day and age; most people prefer not to freeze their top tier for their anniversary, but to enjoy a beautifully decorated fresh cake instead.

OK, I think the extra little touches here are totally fabulous and all for $3.00 a serving? Not bad in the world wedding cakes. Her little cake truffles are $10/dozen, with a minimum of 3 or 4 dozen, I can't remember. That's like $.83 a truffle! I snagged these photos from her website and blog.

Mini-Cupcake Topiary!

Cake Truffle Topiary

She also has chocolate covered mini-Oreos! I swear, I almost went into a diabetic coma after eating one! It was that good. After wandering around the show for a few hours, we were headed out and I thought that I might ask Heather a few more questions as I was still dreaming about the cake truffles. I thought that I might be changing my favor strategy and using the cake truffles instead of the cookies. She let me take four of them home to see if they fit in the favor box and to see if The Candyman approved. While he liked them a lot, he wants to stick with the cookies. Fair enough. However, I'm now thinking they might be a nice end-of-evening snack, or even an addition to the OOT bags. Still in thinking mode. They were just so good! I have to wait and see how the budget goes. They aren't that expensive.

So all total, I think I ate 4 cake truffles, a chocolate covered Oreo and 2 cake samples just from her booth. That does NOT include the multiple cake samples nor the catering samples I had. And I'm wondering why the scale is 2 pounds heavier this week. Um, duh.

Dia De Los Muertos

Otherwise known as Day of the Dead.

From Wikipedia:

"The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration occurs on the 2nd of November in connection with the Catholic holiday of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day which take place on those days. Traditions include building private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts."

The Candyman's mother died of cancer when he was only 11 years old. I keep trying to get him to honor her at our wedding in some way. He doesn't seem really excited about any of my ideas. I can understand that.

I went shopping for a birthday present for him last week at a great shop in Nashville called Pangea. While I didn't find anything for him, I did find our awesome new cake toppers!


They were only $5 each and I just KNEW The Candyman would love them. He did! I didn't really know much about Dia De Los Muertos until after I bought these and looked it up online. Perhaps this is the quiet way to honor The Candyman's mom without announcing her absence in a program or prayer.

I think they make a cute couple, albeit slightly morbid. Just like us. :)

We Need More Than a Velvet Elvis!

Source

So I mentioned a few posts back that we had finally chosen our wedding cake vendor! Hooray! We decided to go with a Cake Buffet versus a traditional wedding cake. I just couldn't stomach the idea of paying a ton of money for something that may, or may not taste good. I don't care if the cake is stacked. I do care if it's expensive.

As you readers already know, I tried my hand at baking my own. While I don't doubt that I could physically accomplish this task, I decided that I should not emotionally attempt it. I'm already baking cookies for my favors. I just don't want to totally freak myself out if things go awry in the kitchen. My goal is to avoid any further WPM (Wedding Planning Meltdowns). I think my family will be happy to hear that I've abandoned a DIY Cake Buffet.

So, after reviewing and tasting countless bakeries and cakes, we opted to go with a small, husband/wife own bakery called Sweet 16th, A Bakery. The Candyman and I met with Ellen, the baker and wife and just loved her.

The bakery is located in East Nashville. East Nashville is home to lots of things: hipsters, crystal meth addicts, musicians, families, great restaurants, crack houses. It's got a great historic feel to it, but it's not all that safe. Now, I'm going to bet serious money that no East Nashvillian would ever stoop to read my bridal blog. However, if I were to say that there's crime in East Nashville (meaning more so than in other neighborhoods) I'd be verbally attacked with a litany of crime statistics from East Nashville dwellers. There seems to be a bit of a fight between east and west Nashville. Hip versus Hop. Cash versus Cashola. Cable versus Digital. iPhone versus Blackberry. Happily, I live in SOUTH Nashville. Nobody lives there and we stay out of directional fights. It's nice.

Back to the cakes. We saw some gorgeous pictures of Ellen's cakes and I'm so excited to have 4 simple, beautifully decorated cakes. The problem is I can't decide which flavors to get. The have 15 cakes to choose from. However, if i want them all to look alike (all with white cream cheese frosting), and I do, then I have to narrow it down to 9 or 10. We know for certain that we're going with the Velvet Elvis Cake (2 layers red velvet cake plus 1 layer of chocolate cake with peanut butter cream between the layers, frosted with white cream cheese frosting). The remaining options are:
Chocolate
Carrot
Banana
Vanilla
Abstract Crunch - chocolate cake with toffee bits between the layers, drizzled with chocolate and frosted with cream cheese frosting.
Lemon Vanilla Cake
Chocolate Raspberry - Chocolate cake infused with raspberry syrup
Chocolate Amaretto - Chocolate cake infused with amaretto

What other 3 flavors should we go with? I feel like I need to decide and tell Ellen before I leave for Asia. I leave June 9th! Ack!

Cake, Shoes and JCP

Wow. What a weekend. The Candyman and I had an amazingly full schedule of to-do's all weekend long. We are both exhausted, suffering from allergies, but giddy and happy too.

On Saturday, we had a noon appointment with Sweet 16th - A Bakery and met with husband/wife team Ellen and Dan. While Dan handled the steady stream of customers (all of whom they greeted by name), The Candyman and I sat and discussed cake options with Ellen. While they do not typically do the standard stacked wedding cake, the do offer several varieties of cakes that sounded pretty darn good!

We tasted the chocolate with cream cheese frosting, the vanilla with cream cheese frosting and the red velvet with cream cheese frosting. The Candyman is not a fan of red velvet, but he really liked this one. When I had set the appointment up with Dan, I had mentioned "no banana flavored anything" because, well, banana flavoring tastes like poo. Ellen inquired to my "no banana" request and was determined to prove me wrong. She grabbed a banana muffin for The Candyman and he immediately scarfed and gave a nod of approval. Sweet 16th doesn't use the artificial flavoring that produces the metallic taste I hate. Nice. Ellen's presentation of her single wedding cakes is gorgeous. I wish I had a photo to share. As we have done with out other vendors, we have chosen based on how we feel about the people in addition to the services offered. Maybe that's why it took so long to find a cake vendor - no one quite fit. We think Ellen and Dan do. The cakes vary in cost from $25 (chocolate cake with cream cheese icing) to $45 (The Velvet Elvis: 2 layers red velvet cake, one layer chocolate with peanut butter cream filling and cream cheese icing!). We estimate we'll need about 4 cakes, so this fits into the budget nicely! I need to call them and book for certain, we just need to crunch a few more numbers. Keep your fingers crossed for the cake buffet!

After we were done with the cake tasting, we headed over to Off-Broadway Shoes to see if I could find a pair of cuties for our engagement shoot. I did and they are fabulous and hopefully, you'll see them when I get my engagement shots! TEASE!

However, I did come across these as potential wedding shoes. The blue (and optional cream) ones are lovely, but too high. The ones with the rhinestones were kinda cute, but they didn't have my size and The Candyman was not as interested as I.


The engagement shoot was a blast. Jonathon and Sharon really just are the best people. We had such an amazing time! We met them on Sunday in Franklin, hopped in their van and headed south to Leipers Fork, Tennessee. After several days of rain, the sky had cleared up beautifully, although it was a tad windy. We stopped at a few random places along the way: a discolored cement wall with a barbed wire fence, an old marquis sign and a lonely country road. The owner of the marquis offered it to Sharon and we (OK, it was me) seriously considered hooking it up to the van! I snapped a shot of the marquis and The Candyman along the way:


We arrived in Leipers Fork around 4:30pm or so and cruised around one of the antique stores and snapped a few shots there while we were still in our "casual" clothes of jeans and nice shirts. We changed into our fancier duds and really got down to business. The Candyman did not wear the hat, just so you know.


We took photos outside of store fronts, on an old truck, on benches, on a hill in front of a stream, under this giant gazebo/outside porch thing, in front of cool, old walls and in front of a replica of the General Lee (for those twenty-something brides, that would be the car from The Dukes of Hazard, one of the best 70's TV shows ever). Sa-weet! By the time we got back to our car, it was almost 8pm! I don't know why, but we were completely exhausted when we got home. I mean, basically all we had to do was stand there and make out a little. How awesome is that? OK, we didn't necessarily make out, but there was some smoochin' goin' on! :) I have a slightly higher regard for models now, but not much.

I know that Sharon did a ton of leg-work to scope out the locations and she did an incredible job. All these great photo op spots were within 600 yards or so of each other. It was the first time The Candyman and I had been to Leipers Fork and we will for sure be back! I can't wait to see the photos. I'm not sure when they will be "ready" but I'll be sure to share when they are! So excited to see the outcome of much anticipation and tons of fun yesterday! Thanks you guys! We had a blast!

Cake Ambition

OK, so I mentioned a few posts back that I attempted cake number two last weekend! I'm telling you, I can whip me up some butter cream frosting in no time flat these days!

My old friend Andy, who is an amazing designer, has been baking cakes (unbeknownst to moi) for a while now. He's incredible at it! In all honesty, anything Andy does in regards to design is going to be pretty damn cool. Here's one of his cakes:

Strawberry cake with Italian Meringue Butter Cream and gum paste Gerber daisies. Photo courtesy AW!

He saw my foray into the world of baking and had some great tips to share. Some sound a little ambitious for The The Thirty-Something Bride, but they all sound amazing!

A few of those tips:

• Use cake flour instead of regular flour.
  
• Try an Italian Meringue Butter Cream versus regular Butter Cream.
  
• Use oils versus extracts for flavor.

I followed one of those tips and switched over to cake flour. Cake flour is a lot finer than all-purpose flour and can give the cake a better texture.

I also tried another recipe this time, one that called for egg-whites to be beaten and folded into the batter. I thought this sounded like a good idea, so chose to go with that recipe. Other than the egg-whites, the recipe was virtually the same.

Check out those "stiff peaks" baby!

I watched this cake like a hawk while it cooked and I am now certain (was unsure before) that my oven does not cook evenly. One layer was done about 3 minutes before the other. I checked once every minute (after about 30) to determine it's doneness factor. It was a pain in the booty, but that thing was cooked perfectly! See:

Once the cakes had cooled, I frosted them with a crumb layer. I did this last time too. It's a first layer of icing that goes on to "catch" all the crumbs from the cake. Once you get a thin layer of icing on it, you chill it for about an hour or so. Here's my crumb layer:

Yes, we drink cheap Diet Twist Up from Wal-Mart. Damn Wedding Budget won't even let me get my Sprite Zero on.

Oh, before the crumb layer, I did mix up the center part a little bit. I had read somewhere over on Martha's site that you could use any number of custards, creams, jams and preserves in the middle layer. So, I piped an edge around the outside of the bottom layer to keep to gooey center filing from spilling out the sides. I just happen to have a jar of The Loveless Cafe Strawberry Preserves that I scooped into the center of the cake. I was nervous about how this would taste, so didn't use a lot. I definitely should have used more!

After the crumb layer, I gave it another layer of frosting. I made the same frosting as last time, but on this go-around, I sifted the powdered sugar. I do believe it gave it a nicer texture. Andy had suggested I use warm water on my icing spatula to get a smoother texture, but that just isn't a skill I've mastered yet. I went for swoopy icing instead. You know, swoopy:


Here's my attempt at piping along the base of the cake. I was getting kind of tired of the cake at this point, so was getting sloppy.


So I have to say that this cake tasted pretty good in regards to texture. It was light, it wasn't dry and it was cooked perfectly. However, this cake wasn't as flavorful as the first and I think it's the egg whites. Perhaps because the egg whites lightened up the batter, it also lightened (or diluted?) the flavor. I think this is where I needed to follow more of Andy's advice and use some essential cooking oils versus extracts. At any rate, it was still yummy!


I am still thinking that I might be biting of more than I can chew here and it's making me nervous. I think it might also be making my MOH nervous that she might be helping me bake upon arrival in Nashville! :)

I haven't given up the notion of baking my own, but The Candyman and I do have an appointment weekend after this one with Sweet 16th, A Bakery just in case! Their most expensive cake ($45) is the Red Velvet Elvis Cake: two layers of red velvet cake plus one layer of chocolate cake with peanut butter cream between the layers enrobed in white cream cheese frosting. Is there anyway that cake could suck? I think not.

How to Bake a Wedding Cake or Am I Freakin' Nuts?

The test cake. I couldn't get The Candyman to do a test cake-cutting. He was all about the taste-testing though!

OK, my tutorial here is mostly for self-examination of my own cooking skills. Follow at your own risk! If you have helpful hints, by all means, SHARE! :)

A premise – I am a pretty good cook. I’m not a fantastic cook, but I’m good. I know my strengths (all things veggie related, pork tenderloin, grits, Thanksgiving turkey, my special chocolate chip cookies, casseroles) and my weaknesses (beef related items, grilling, deep frying anything). I am a so-so baker. It really depends on what it is.

So I started this foray into baking my own wedding cake because I think $4.50 a slice is ridiculous. I really do. Getting a really nice cake is probably worth that kind of money, however we just don’t have that in the budget. I spent the cake fund on my dress!

I began by reading several recipes on-line and researching wedding cake preparation. I needed just a few tools, so headed over to Joann’s, armed with 40% and 50% off coupons. I purchased items that I knew I would use again or that were really inexpensive:

I got the smallest decorating tip, one reusable parchment bag, a cake leveler (WHY have I not invested in one of these before?), an icing spatula and Meringue Powder (the butter cream recipe called for it). With my coupons and tax, I spent $16.48. Not too bad since I’ll use most things again.

First note to self: you need a stand mixer. Thank goodness we registered for one. If I actually go through with this plan, I’ll have to borrow one, for sure. I made the icing first using a recipe I found on What’s Cooking America. I didn’t use the Wilton recipe as it uses only shortening and I wanted this to have butter in it. I did not use the butter flavoring here, instead I used butter flavored Crisco. It worked fabulously.

Butter Cream Icing

• 2 sticks butter, room temperature

• 2 cups Crisco shortening

• 1 teaspoon butter flavoring (Wilton's makes this and is available at Joann's)
  

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (some recipes said to use clear, I didn't)
  

• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

• 2 pounds powdered (confectioners) cane sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon meringue powder (optional but the texture will be smoother)*

• Water as necessary (the recipe calls for 2 tablespoons but you may need more or less depending on the humidity in your neighborhood. I didn't use any.)

*You can purchase meringue powder at your local grocery store under the brand name of Just Whites or at Joann’s.

In the mixer, mix butter, Crisco shortening, and salt together to incorporate, about 5 minutes on low.

Add almond, butter and vanilla extracts. Mix together well. Add about 1 pound of powdered sugar and the meringue powder and mix.

Add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar at a time and mix until you get the consistency you want.

Add a little milk, a teaspoon at a time, if necessary to thin the frosting. Blend well on low for several minutes.

Just so you know, this makes a hella lot of icing. I stuck this in the fridge to chill and went to Lowe’s with The Candyman. When we got back from our expedition in patio tiles, I got to work on the cake batter. It was relatively simple, as was the icing, just time consuming because I only have a hand mixer.

Mmmmmm....butter cream!

For the cake, I followed the Wilton recipe and guidelines.

Butter Cake

• 1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 5 eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  
• 3/4 teaspoon clear almond extract
  
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk

Makes about 7 1/2 cups cake batter.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray pans with vegetable pan spray, or use Cake Release.

In mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla and almond flavor. Mix flour with baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, starting with the flour; mix well. Pour into prepared pans.

Refer to baking chart, for baking times and temperatures for specific pans.

I made a 2-layer 8" round cake and used 3 1/2 cups of batter in each pan. I had left overs so made some cupcakes too.

So, not all that pretty, but they tasted okay!

The issues I had:

• The instructions said 30-35 minutes to bake. At 30 minutes, the center was still liquid. I set the time for eight more minutes, meaning to check at four, got side tracked and over-baked slightly.
  
• I used 2% milk and I think it needs whole milk.
  
• I whipped my icing on high instead of low (ooops) and it had LOTS of air, making it difficult to get smooth (see top picture!).
  
• I took too much air out of the cake layers by banging the pans on the counter too many times.
  

Results:

• Excellent tasting icing, but not smooth. I think if I don't try to get it smooth (embrace texture) and top with flowers it will be nice.
  
• Cupcakes weren't over cooked and were light and airy, but a little dry.
  
• Cake was over-cooked therefore too dense and a little dry.

Tips:

• Use fresh ingredients. I always update my baking soda and powder when I'm baking something I want to be good.
• Use quality ingredients, especially with flour and sugar.
  
• Be consistent in the products you use. I learned from watching Baking with Julia Child that using the same kinds of eggs (I use cage-free and organic) every time you bake bread teaches you how to adjust your kneading. Sounds weird, but would YOU question Julia?
  

I think the whole milk might help the dry factor. Does any one know anything about this? Does anyone have any fabulous cake recipes they would like to share? Do people think I'm a nut-job for even thinking about attempting this? Based on Wilton's serving guidelines, I'd need four cakes. Will I have time to do this? I need some feedback!

Cake Hell

The Candyman and I are actually contemplating baking our own wedding cakes. We don't want anything fancy, just something that tastes good and is LESS than $350 (including tax and delivery). To be honest, we can't find one reliable resource that tastes good in all of Nashville who charges less than $3.50 a slice. I think that's sad. I think it's sad that regardless of the amount of work put into a cake (and I know that it's a tough gig), the power-bakers still charge the same amount per slice. I am just looking for a two-tiered cake (bottom to slice, top to keep for our anniversary) and I don't care how big it is. I don't want any decorations, just a butter cream frosting with piping at the base seams. Simple. We are totally cool with serving from sheet cakes in the kitchen. No one will know and no one will care, as long as it's yummy!
Even though I love Martha, this is the kind of cake I do not want: a highly decorated, gum pasted, fondant tower of hell.

Photo courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings.

I want something simple and pretty, like this:

Photo courtesy Martha Stewart Weddings.

Or this:

Photo courtesy Martha Stewart Weddings.

The best price I got was around $275, but it took that bakery a week to get me a quote that was incorrect. I fixed it and sent it back and then they took another week to reply. I don't think that's the kind of vendor I want. I need a little more attention to detail from the get-go. Sadly, her cakes were awesome tasting.

I had some email discussion with another, affordable and reccommended baker. I sent her an inquiry email, which she replied to after several days. Her tasting appointments are limited, so I asked her where she was located and what her last appoinment could be (her tasting times are Monday and Tuesday 10-6pm, not the most convenient for working peeps, right?). A week went by with no reply. I resent the email and I got the same, cut and paste email I received the first time, most of which outlined her costs, cake stand rental fee, late fees, depostits, etc. This was annoying, at best. She failed to answer my original questions so I have let her fall off the radar.

We got another very affordable quote from a lisenced home-baker, but her cakes weren't that good. :(

All the other quotes have been through the roof. I spoke to one well-known, highly publicized baker who, when I mentioned other smaller bakers, started slamming them. He claimed one was operating illegally (I checked it out, the claim is false) and that all home-bakers aren't serious about their craft and most don't have health inspections. The one home-baker we spoke to is legal and licensed and insured. I guess my point is that this fancy-schmancy baker was a little rude and unnecessarily competitve.

I read last night on That Bride's blog that she and her groom had a "Cake Buffet." I think that might be a great idea, whether we bake ourselves or not. I think a couple single cakes, decorated with flowers would be quite pretty. We have one or two more independent, small bakers that we need to talk to before we figure out what the hell we're doing. I am not opposed to the cupcake idea either. We have some great cupcake people in Franklin, TN, that I did some preliminary tastings with (meaning, I went in and bought a bunch of cupcakes to try). One was The Curious Gourmet Cupcake Cafe and the other was Ivey Cake. Both had yummy cupcakes and were about the same in price. I think I need to go back to them to chat about cakes. There's also a new-ish bakery in East Nashville called Sweet 16th (it's on 16th Street) and there are some options there too. We need to schedule a tasting at all these places and get some quotes. One of the issues I'm having with cupcakes is that the stands are: a) expensive to buy or rent b) ugly c) don't hold a whole lot of cupcakes. What's a Cakeless Thirty-Something Bride to do? Any tips?

The funny thing is, I don't really enjoy eating a lot of cake. I mean, I LOVE cake. I LOVE icing even more. I just can't eat a lot of it. I was oogy feeling all night after our first cake tasting. I ate much less at the second tasting and still felt a little gross.

Help.