Tuxedo and matching wedding dress strawberries are always an elegant touch at a wedding. They are also pricey. I never really considered what it would take to make them at home until I came across a post on the subject at My Sweet and Saucy.

It turns out that they are fairly easy to make. My Sweet and Saucy has a step-by-step guide with pictures to walk you through the process. If you are hosting a wedding, you may want to check it out. Better yet, get a friend to check it out and make them for you!

She puts them in little bags and gives them away as favors. I've also seen them on a dessert table and served at the reception.

Millions of women love cream puffs and a good number of them wouldn't mind having a croquembouche - tower of cream puffs - at their wedding. Very few would actually want to be a croquembouche. Ukrainian pastry chef Valentyn Shtefano made his wife's wedding dress entirely out of cream puffs and caramelized sugar. It took over 2 months to make and used 1,500 puffs. Despite the fact that it appears to be heavy, the dress weighed only 20 pounds. Shtefano is a well-know figure in his town due to the elaborate desserts that he makes "in a place where cake is often layers of heavy cream, wafers and nuts or poppy seeds - more something to eat than to look at." His creations, like the dress, are both.

This is an interesting alternative to a regular punch bowl for parties. The Cocktail Fountain has a pump in the bottom bowl that forces the liquid - alcoholic or nonalcoholic - up to the top in a continuous stream. Thanks to some holes in the bottom of each upper level, the liquid streams down in a waterfall effect, allowing guests to fill their cups from a spout without fussing with a soup ladle in a standard punch bowl. On top of its serving abilities, the base of the fountain is illuminated, so the unit could actually turn into a beautiful centerpiece if you are serving clear drinks (an illuminated White Russian probably wouldn't have the same effect).

The fountain holds 4.7L of liquid and comes with eight cups, all of which hook conveniently over the edge of the lowest bowl.

Combine it with a chocolate fountain and I suspect that your party will turn into an event that people will be talking about for the months, if not longer.

[via shiny shiny]

I don't recall the 2nd amendment being written into the standard set of wedding vows, but then again, I'm also not from Texas, where this cake was prominently featured at a real wedding this past weekend. The gun was carved from a chocolate cake layer and stacked on top of the chocolate cake base, then decorated with rich frosting. The base is actually the shape of a target from the IPSC, a group that supports sport shooting and marksmanship.

Perhaps it's a less-than-common choice for a wedding cake, but all things considered, it's great that people are taking these celebratory cakes in new and unusual directions. After all, there is no reason why you have to have a plain white cake with flowers when you can have wedding cupcakes, snack food towers or anything that you (and your new spouse) really enjoy.

[via boing boing]

Wedding cakes are always some of the most elaborate creations in the cake world, the perfect compliments to some of the most celebrated days. Wedding cakes can run into the hundreds and thousands of dollars, but few are as impressive as the cakes of celebrities. Used to being in the spotlight, what better way to highlight their wedding day than with a stunning cake? The Wedding Sutra has a photo gallery of many celebrity wedding cakes, and while the designs cover both the unique and the traditional, all are stunning. Above, you can see Mariska Hargitay's seven-foot-tall six-tiered chocolate and vanilla cake (left) and Leann Rimes' Chocolate Strawberry Cake, decorated with 35 dozen red roses (right). Getting inspired? If so, hopefully it's with ideas for your own cake and not for ways to gate-crash one of these weddings.

[via grow a brain]

The classic wedge shape of a pie server and its rectangular counterpart, the cake server, rarely change much in appearance from model to model and brand to brand. Like many kitchen tools, they are designed for function and not to have a stylish edge. For anyone interested in fashion, this fact makes servers boring because the designs of almost every other piece of cookware and tableware, including plates, measuring cups and appliances, change from year to year, if not season to season like designer apparel does. Those fashion-conscious individuals, who want to serve their cake and eat it too, will love the Shoe/Handbag Server Set. The sliver plated pieces are shaped like a high-heeled shoe and a handbag, giving a version fashionable look to a functional tool.

Sure, the easiest thing to do is write a check. The second easiest thing to do is place your order online with the happy couple's registry at Macy's/Bloomingdale's/Dillard's/Crate & Barrel/Williams-Sonoma. It's probably easy on the couple, too, since they can *ahem* return all that stuff for cash to pay for the wedding.

However, the Chicago Tribune has an excellent idea for a memorable wedding gift - a case of wine for the happy couple that is entirely hand picked by you, or perhaps with the help of a wine expert. A mixed case will allow the couple to learn together what they like while enjoying it. If the newlyweds are also new to wine, you could include some helpful information along with each bottle. Each time they crack open a bottle, they'll remember you. The article has some suggestions for wines, and I may use this very idea for the many weddings I will be attending this summer.

I love/hate the pastel candy-coated Jordan almonds as much as the next wedding guest (is there anyone else out there who thinks those almonds are somehow preserved and can last 20 years?), but I'm always impressed when a bride and groom can come up with something a little more creative and whimsical.

Instead of individual wedding favors at each guest's place at the table, a recent wedding had set up a "candy bar" with 5-gallon jars of different candies like caramels and saltwater taffy in the wedding colors (pink and brown). Guests were given empty bags with the couples' names on it and were given freedom to take as much or as little as they wanted.

If you're getting married this summer, then you should already have a bakery lined up to do your wedding cake. Do you have any idea how long those things take to make?!

However, if you're planning your wedding for a little bit later, Flour Girl bakery in New York City has cakes that go beyond the white fondant, lace and pearls with fresh flower decorations. The cake decorations are cute and kitchsy, like theblack and white cake pictured at right.

Heck, even if you're not getting married, you can order a cake for any occassion, and who wouldn't want a birthday cake called "Think Pink," made of red velvet cake and pink-tinted raspberry buttercream? 

This was the first challenge in Bravo's Top Chef competition where everyone truly had to work together. The task was certainly the largest to date, though last week's restaurant design challenge was not at all easy. The quickfire and main challenges were combined, for this episode, though the chefs did not know that when they started out. If they had, things would have gone a little differently.

Upon arriving at the quickfire challenge, the chefs were introduced to Scott and Scott, a gay couple that would be having their commitment ceremony very soon. They were asked to create a wedding menu for 100 people with 5 courses, including an hors d'oeuvre that used prawns and a wedding cake, all on a $3,000 budget.  "The Scotts" asked for something with an Asian flair. Everyone had imaginative ideas, though the other chefs criticized Dave's menu for being too simplistic. Dave, on the other hand, was the only one who had substantial catering experience and he had purposely designed his menu to be relatively simple and full of dishes that almost anyone would enjoy. In the end, the Scotts choose LeeAnne's menu (after her joke about being the only actual Asian competitor), which was as follows: