Very rarely does a wedding come along that stops me in my tracks. Usually they're too over-the-top, too stuffy and not personal enough, more for show.
The unforgettable wedding of my friend Josie to her now-husband, Adam, gave me hope again. It took place at the 21c Hotel and Museum in downtown Louisville. The ceremony was short and to the point, but a tearjerker for sure.
And the food -- oh the food! I can still taste it. After the completion of the ceremony, bags of popcorn and peanuts were up for grabs, along with refreshing Izze sodas in red hues with gray-striped straws to match the decor.
Read on for the complete menu along with jaw-dropping photographs.
Being captured in Key West, at the whim of an Atlanta snowstorm, it's taking all my effort not to go rum crazy. Yes, key lime goodies are the usual sweet treat here, but rum is just as tasty, and rum cakes are an easy way to go tropical without special ingredients -- a really delicious way to go!
Set to a myriad of funky tunes, the above video outlines the magic of rum cake -- prepping the rum-laced dough (they add raisins into the mix), cooking, and rum-syruping the hell out of it. It's open to many interpretations, so go nuts with it. During these snowy days, it's nice to have some sunny reminders.
Tate's Bake Shop is a Hamptons-based company who makes cookies, brownies, cakes, and squares.
That's right. Squares. That's how quaint they are.
Inside Kathleen King's adorable yellow and turquoise Victorian-style shop in Southampton, sweet smells, smiling faces, and flowers abound. King grew up on a farm near Southampton and sold cookies from the age of 11 at her family's farm stand.
Tate's Bake Shop has a loyal following across the country. Their secret is in their simplicity. Quality products, nicely packaged, and as my friend Lora says: "By rich people, for rich people."
You can order the delicious cookies and other baked goods online here, for a wonderfully classy host gift or party favor for the holiday season.
I try to catch Sugar whenever I find myself in front of a television with cable, if only to drool at the insanely tasty looking concoctions that Anna Olson whips up. For some reason, however, I never tried one of her recipes until this weekend, and now I'm hooked. cakes
The above picture is a slice of her Chocolate Mint Truffle Cake, which I made last week. This cake perfectly combines the rich and heavy flavor of chocolate with the sinfully delicious bite of mint. Wet, this the most divine batter that I've ever licked -- the sort that makes you want to slurp it with a spoon rather than sent it to the hot confines of a 300 degree oven. The same goes for the truffle glaze -- I dare you to not take at least one melted chocolate taste.
As the resident cake baker in my circle of friends, I'm always trying to find something new and funky to make. I've been in a groove of no-cook fondant and marzipan figures, but this summer I got a challenge -- chocolate. Not being the biggest fan of chocolate cakes, I mostly stick to the many other flavors. However, my friend, she loves the dark and sinful treat. If she wanted chocolate, she was really going to get chocolate. Since she's also a skier, it would be served in a smooth, snowy package.
Death by Chocolate Cake, straight out of The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Chocolate, with white fondant, a marzipan skier, and some candles for wishing. Check out the gallery, peruse the recipe after the jump, and stay tuned for more information on the fondant and marzipan.
Petit fours have been becoming increasingly popular over the last few years. They're perfect for those of us concerned about portion control. You can satiate your sweet tooth without overindulging with the bite sized sweets.
There's a certain conception that most people have of petit fours. Most of us think the treats have to be small square or round cakes with a poured fondant icing and a piped decoration on top. There's much more to it than that. Petit four translates from French as 'small oven,' which refers to the ovens after the large items had been baked. The heat in the oven was a lot lower after the bread or large cakes (in the case of the nobility) came out, so things like smaller cakes and cookies that needed lower temperatures could then be baked.
In a strict sense, a petit four can be any small cookie, cake, creme puffs or tartlettes. Even sugar coated nuts and fruits could be considered petit four, technically speaking. According to Larousse Gastronomique, petit fours became popular during the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King himself.
When we work on the small desserts for teas or buffets in my pastry kitchen, we use almond cake to make the petit four glacés. It's a very dense almond cake that we then layer with different flavors of marmalade, top with marzipan (only on the top layer), and then pour fondant over in a very thin layer (after cutting the cake into small squares of course). They're so rich it's a good thing we cut them in such bite-sized pieces.
I love making cakes, and after I made a few for friends, I became the resident birthday cake baker -- not with a box mix and a quick lather of frosting, but rather a myriad of flavors, frostings, and marzipan decorations on top. And now it might be time to take the whole practice to the next level.
Disney's FamilyFun.com is having a best cake face-off and they have some super funky cakes on display, one of which won their "Great Cake Contest." These definitely aren't those simple, old-school cakes. There's a cake-filled dear head mount for hunters, elaborate castles, Pooh in the honey, and some really, really great food-themed cakes -- spaghetti, a bucket of KFC with a whole slew of chicken, and the awesome cheeseburger above. What's even better about this whole thing -- there are recipes for each so you can try them on your own.
Check out the cakes and weigh in below: Do you think the best cake won?
Cake Wrecks features cakes that people have actually paid for that have turned out less than stellar. I am glad of the blog's stance to not mock home bakers as I've certainly made some regrettable looking creations, but if I'm going to pay for something, I would expect it to look good.
As for the cake in this picture, the blog offers no explanation. However, the commenters came though. One commenter, Jen, pointed out that the characters say "Happy Birthday" in traditional Chinese and another commenter, Tom, said, "A little pile of poo is a good luck symbol in Japan." It seems that there is an explanation for everything.
Check out Cake Wrecks for more cake disasters that you can't help but stare at.
I've never been a cake for breakfast person unless you count pancakes as cakes. In a recent post by Cakespy (who I can't help but adore due to my love of cupcakes), she makes a strong case for eating cake in the morning. By writing about this, I am not advocating cake as a daily breakfast treat, but rather as an extra special morning indulgence.
Cakespy gives many slices of information on why cake for breakfast can be good. Here is one of my favorites: "You can't deprive yourself all of the time. If you wake up craving cake and instead eat something virtuous like oatmeal, it's likely that you'll still be craving the cake all day. This will undoubtedly lead to idly munching various non-cake items throughout the day in an effort to fill the void. Really, you should have just had the cake. So have it!"
I am such a sucker for this kind of thing. As I was browsing my favorite baking blogs, I came across a cool new cupcake transport on Baking Bites. It's called the Cupcake Courier, made by Jennifer Gunn Designs.
The carrier is really sleek. It's three stackable tiers that hold a dozen cupcakes each. The tiers then fit neatly into a carrying case. There are four colors you can choose from: sky blue, pink, yellow, and peach. One of the things I think is great about the Cupcake Courier is that it can double as a cake carrier by taking out the cupcake-holding inserts.
I don't make nearly enough cupcakes, or cakes for that matter, to justify having one of these things, but I can still drool over it. If you do have to transport a good number of baked goods, this might be a good investment for you.
Well, Easter is almost here. Sure it's a little early this year, but everyone seems to be getting into the spirit of things. If you're into cakes and decorating you may be planning on doing an Easter themed cake. Well you can put that cake to good use and enter it into a blog event this month for just such confections.
A Slice of Cherry pie is collecting entries for Easter cakes. Just make your cake, post about it, and send the info to the host by March 31 at 9AM. You can get all the details here.
They'll do a nice Easter-y round up and choose a winner. So make up your most creative Easter cakes and share!
Titled Rosie's Bakery, the subtitle of this book is the far more descriptive All-Butter, Fresh Cream, Sugar-Packed, No-Holds-Barred, Baking Book. First published in the early nineties, I can see how the recipes might have been a bit outrageous in response to the low-fat trend that had the nation in its thrall back then. But in view of the outrageous, mile-high cupcakes and butter-saturated treats (thanks mostly to Paula Deen) that we now find ourselves baking and eating, it just doesn't seem that brazen.
However, it is filled to bursting with terrific, tasty-sounding recipes that seem to deserve a try. I'm especially enamored with the cookie section (called Smart Cookies) of the book and hope to bake up a batch of the Oatmeal Lace Cookies sometime soon. Other sections include Piece of Cake, Harvard Squares, Cutie Pies and Old Smoothies.
Valentine's Day is this Thursday and here at Slashfood, we're using it as a reason to write about chocolate, treats and other holiday-appropriate desserts this week. I went digging around in our Flickr pool (come and join us!) to find something that went with the Valentine-theme and came up with these gorgeous Chocolate Almond Cakes created by Anita at Dessert First. The recipe comes from John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg's cookbook, Essence of Chocolate and you can find it on her blog here.
Tate's Bake Shop
I love making cakes, and after I made a few for friends, I became the resident birthday cake baker -- not with a box mix and a quick lather of frosting, but rather a myriad of flavors, frostings, and marzipan decorations on top. And now it might be time to take the whole practice to the next level.
I am such a sucker for this kind of thing. As I was browsing my favorite baking blogs, I came across a cool new cupcake transport on 
Well, Easter is almost here. Sure it's a little early this year, but everyone seems to be getting into the spirit of things. If you're into cakes and decorating you may be planning on doing an Easter themed cake. Well you can put that cake to good use and enter it into a blog event this month for just such confections. 
and you can find it 
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