Ladybug Invasion!



Recently I made goodies for my daughter-in-law's baby shower with a ladybug theme.  It was so delightful creating these wonderful little bugs!  Making the fondant ladybugs for our cupcakes was a great way for the two of us to hangout and have fun being creative.





The ladybug sugar cookies consisted of a circle base with a smaller circle

for the head, attached with royal icing.



These are the cupcakes with our fondant ladybugs!



Aah the wonderful body of the ladybug cupcake cake, consisting of

french vanilla, red velvet, and chocolate fudge cupcakes.



The ladybug is ready for her guests!



For The Love of the Cake!

I was driving home from work last evening when my sweet daughter-in-law returned my phone call. During the course of our conversation she stated she needed my icing recipe again, as she and J were going for their second attempt to create another 3 tier cake, this time for J's niece's 1st birthday.  I was reminded of the cake  in these photographs   (transported in an ice chest from Kansas to Dallas) M & J made as a surprise for my wedding.  Intially M called my best friend S for some direction for this creation, explaining to her it was kind of a "hoax."  S warned her it would not be a hoax and most likely show up at the wedding reception.  It did!  When I saw what these two sweet girls had done to honor my wedding - well, the tears began to flow... I made both of their wedding cakes!  Love, love sharing the gift, passion, and art with the next generation.  




The cake was delicious!

 

Loving Fall

 My favorite season of the year has arrived and a couple of Saturday's ago my sister and I decorated 200 cookies for a golf tournament to raise funds for the "Project Red Light Rescue" - we so enjoyed letting our creativity flow to rescue victims of human trafficking!


The leaves are my favorite, I love the simplicity



The recipe we used is my FAMOUS sugar cookie recipe. Family members and loved ones have actually hidden these cookies from other members of the household once they arrive.



A minature pumpkin patch





Just harvested



This One Takes the Cake!

Shabby Chic Wedding Cake

Chocolate Mosaic Wedding Cake in Texas

Chocolate Fudge cake, Chocolate Buttercream frosting, and fresh fruit consisting of strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, rasphberries, and kiwi, enough to serve 100 guests.

Recently The Marrying Cake had the honor of creating it's first wedding cake in Texas.  This is a photograph of the cakes for the dinner wedding recepton.  Who can resist chocolate and fruit? A delicious dessert to close out a beautiful wedding day!  I'm really pleased with the end result of how the chocolate mosaic tiles looked. 

Inspiration! As I turned and walked away from the setup, an inspiration transpired -  I envisioned a 5 tier square stacked cake frosted with white buttercream and white chocolate mosaic tiles on each tier.  The tone on tone of white and creamy white chocolate tiles would look very chic and modern. I can't wait to work with the bride who is in search of such a design!  Perhaps I'll sketch the design and post a bit later...

reminisce remember recollect muse

John Mayer

Ok, those who know me well understand my fondness of John Mayer and his music... it speaks to my heart.  This year I decided to enter John's Second Annual Interfaith Baking Contest.  His new musical creation is entitled Battle Studies, hence the name for the studio. 

                                                  

The line "this is my heart" is included in the Continuum CD booklet displaying a copy of John's studio, a full expression of his heart.  As I was creating this piece and posted the banner "this is my heart"... I realized baking and creating is the whole of my heart.  Enjoy -

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Run For Clean Water

The mission of Water is Basic is to empower the local leadership of Southern Sudan to bring the gift of clean water to their own people. Decades of war, poor land management and the current drought have left the people of Sudan facing a desperate water shortage. Over 70 percent of the population has no access to safe water, and only 18 percent have a toilet.

I'll be there - if your in Dallas or will be in the area on October 10, 2009, plan to participate in some fashion... make a difference in Sudan from Dallas, Texas! If your not able to join the fun on October 10, you can contribute directly to the cause. Every dollar given goes to purchasing the equipment needed for the Sudanese to drill wells that supply clean drinking water.


WHAT: Basic 5k+10k race, plus a 1 mile fun run for kids/families
WHEN: 8:00 am on Saturday, October 10, 2009
WHERE: T.W Richardson Grove Park, along the Campion Trail in Las Colinas

Registration
Registration Closing Date Monday, October 05, 2009 @ 10:00 PM

Fee Structure
$25.00 Until October 5, 2009
$30.00 During packet pick up at Luke’s Locker
$35.00 on Race day
$10.00 For Children (Under 12)
Dri-Fit shirts for the first 800 participants at packet pickup.


Volunteer to Help
An event of this nature requires the willingness of others to contribute their time as volunteers. If you are willing to help prior to the event or on the day of the event, please contact Steven at 972-443-3311 or email info@waterisbasic.org

Sponsor Information
Want to become a sponsor for the Basic 5k/10k?
All proceeds go to benefit Water is Basic.

Contributing Partner/Sponsor ($500)
Website listing
Goody Bag Availability
Selective Media Exposure
Event Sponsor ($1,000)
All inclusions as Contributing Sponsor, plus:

Event Poster Listing
Outerwear Listing
Selected Booth Location at Event
Prime Media Exposure
Title Sponsor ($15,000)
All inclusions as Event Sponsor, plus:

Exclusive Naming Rights of Event
Premier Media Listing and Exposure
Premier Booth Location at Event
Signage at Post Race Event

"Go Green" Wedding Cake

This is the wedding cake I made for D and M's big day. Enough for 200 guests. Tiers of white wedding cake and spice cake were alternated for this wonderful creation. Wedding cake photograph credits go to J. Todd Photography in the Kansas City area.

While loading the cake for transportation to the reception site to two tiers were bumped... but never fear a wise wedding cake artist always has her tool kit packed. So on the way to the reception site my friend S and I were stopped by a train. On your son's wedding day a mother should always make good use of time...S popped the hatch and the repair was under way!

Wedding Cakes and Gingerbread

Happy New Year! I hope your 2009 is off to a wonderful beginning - Last week I was in KC for D's best friend's wedding. Below is the wedding cake and groom's cake I created for the big day! I must admit I have never been to a wedding where my cake was served and completely devoured... it was an amazing sight. The wedding cake consisted of three tiers of fun-fetti and two tiers of chocolate with rasphberry filling.

My favorite carrot cake recipe (with currants and walnuts) was baked for the groom's cake...

Gingerbread making with the M family has become a tradition in our family. Here is the this year's village. The M kids came up with the idea that our village this year was going to have a house and treehouse for the M family, D and M's house, and Ms. A's bakery - The Marrying Cake... this day of baking and creating was truly the highlight of our holidays!

This is the inside of the bakery... we came up with the wonderful desserts ourselves!

Coming Back

Daily I receive a devotional in my email from Ransomed Heart Ministries. Tonite I was perusing through devotionals past. Though this writing came earlier in the year, I am reminded in this season of the "Great Shopping Conspiracy" to connect with God - it's vital for my life! Ransomed Heart is a great ministry - my dear friend S and I attended two of the Captivating women's retreats in Colorado. Both of the retreats impacted me in very specific ways. The book Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge is wonderful. To date - I've given all my copies away! May you be encouraged and reminded...
Do Whatever Brings You Back to Your Heart and the Heart of God
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Against the flesh, the traitor within, a warrior uses discipline. We have a two-dimensional version of this now, which we call a “quiet time.” But most men have a hard time sustaining any sort of devotional life because it has no vital connection to recovering and protecting their strength; it feels about as important as flossing. But if you saw your life as a great battle and you knew you needed time with God for your very survival, you would do it. Maybe not perfectly—nobody ever does and that’s not the point anyway—but you would have a reason to seek him. We give a halfhearted attempt at the spiritual disciplines when the only reason we have is that we “ought” to. But we’ll find a way to make it work when we are convinced we’re history if we don’t.

Time with God each day is not about academic study or getting through a certain amount of Scripture or any of that. It’s about connecting with God. We’ve got to keep those lines of communication open, so use whatever helps. Sometimes I’ll listen to music; other times I’ll read Scripture or a passage from a book; often I will journal; maybe I’ll go for a run; then there are days when all I need is silence and solitude and the rising sun. The point is simply to do whatever brings me back to my heart and the heart of God.

The discipline, by the way, is never the point. The whole point of a “devotional life” is connecting with God. This is our primary antidote to the counterfeits the world holds out to us.
(Wild at Heart , 171–72)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To subscribe to this devotional, create a profile at http://www.ransomedheart.com/
See also the Ransomed Heart Podcast at www.ransomedheart.com/podcast

A's notes: Some of the ways I enjoy connecting with God are through creating, baking, listening to music, running, an outing at the park swinging as high as I can in the air, and enjoying the company of those dearest to my heart. On occassion HE will surprise me by showing up in unexpected places - I love surprises! What are some of the ways you connect with God?

Catching Up!

My apologies - it's been a while since a post to The Marrying Cake blog. For those of you who don't know I'm working on completing my undergraduate degree. This semester I will have finished an additional 16 hours toward my degree in Business while working full-time and doing life.

Thanksgiving was spent in Kansas City with D, D, and M. We had a joyous time! On Thanksgiving morning we ran a 5K in Lawrence, Kansas. It was so much fun to run the race as a family. Maybe it will be a yearly tradition? This was also the first Thanksgiving with D and M married, in the photograph below the newlyweds are folding napkins for T-day dinner!

At dusk we headed down to the Country Club Plaza for the yearly lighting ceremony.

Sharing "GOOP"

Recently I ran across a blog/newsletter entitled GOOP authored by Gwyneth Paltrow. Sharing with you as you may enjoy the recipes offered through GOOP. The recipes are very healthy! I've also enjoyed the fashion writings and agree that fashion can be the fun frivolity that can really cheer a girl up (when used in moderation with her budget)! Previously posted was a Turkey Ragu recipe and it was simply delicious! Some of GOOP's postings contain a spiritual element and I feel it necessary to preface that my spiritual beliefs are Christian. My next creative dish may just be...

CARAMELIZED BLACK PEPPER CHICKEN

I'll post at a later date how the dish turned out!

I (Gwyneth) recently found this recipe in Food & Wine magazine. It’s from Charles Phan, who runs the great Vietnamese restaurant, Slanted Door, in San Francisco. When I make it, I use a little less sugar, a lot more cilantro and organic chicken breasts (I prefer the texture of white meat in this preparation). This literally takes minutes, is so easy and tastes like what you always imagine take-out will taste like (but sadly never does). Serve this with jasmine or brown rice and stir-fried or steamed vegetables.
SERVES: 4 generously TIME: 10 minutes
2/3 cup dark brown sugar (unrefined)
1/3 cup fish sauce
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons finely grated garlic
2 teaspoons finely grated ginger
2 teaspoons coarsely ground pepper
1 or 2 fresh Thai chilis (to your taste!), halved
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 shallots, thinly sliced
2 pounds organic boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces (1/2”)
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro
In a small bowl, combine the sugar, fish sauce, vinegar, water, garlic, ginger, pepper and chili and reserve.In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat and cook the shallots until softened and a bit brown, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken and stir-fry, browning it all over, about a minute. Add the sugar mixture and simmer over high heat until the chicken is totally cooked through, about 6 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and serve.

Sweet Times... Sweet Treats

This past weekend I visited my son and his new bride in Kansas City. I confess Kansas is my FAVORITE place to be in the fall. Crisp air, beautiful colors, nature adorned in her most glorious foilage! Most of all I enjoyed the smiling faces this mother was able to gaze upon. Should you travel to the Kansas City area, I highly recommend SPIN Neaoplitan Pizza the kids favorite!! The only request D had from Mama was popcorn balls. I shared the recipe with my precious sweet daughter in law! Though M has been in our family and lives for a few years, I've been praying for her many years. Papa heard my prayers and answered.
Enjoy the recipe for Popcorn Balls ... to date my last batch was the best I've ever made!
8 cups popped pop corn
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Keep popped popcorn warm in 200F oven while preparing syrup. In 2-quart saucepan, stir together sugar, corn syrup, water, butter and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Continue cooking without stirring until temperature reaches 270F on a candy thermometer or until a small amount of syrup dropped into very cold water separates into threads, which are hard but not brittle. Remove from heat. Add vanilla; stir just enough to mix through hot syrup. Slowly pour over popcorn, stirring to coat every kernel. Cool just enough to handle. Shape into balls, using buttered hands. Cool on foil or buttered wax paper. Wrap in plastic wrap; tie with a ribbon. Yield: 12 medium popcorn balls

We're all in this together!

One sweet thing I have discovered in life is that my spirit soars when I bake. Perhaps there is something in your world that causes you to "jump for joy" when engaging in a particular activity or love! You are able to define it by being in the moment and saying or thinking to yourself, "this is what I was created to do!" For me that is baking. With that said, I introduce my fellow bakers out there to King Arthur Flour. When I worked at Dean and Deluca in the pastry shoppe we used only King Arthur Flour. Their products are outstanding and recipes reliable. Today, I received my weekly email from King Arthur entitled "We're all in this together" in spite of the recent economic crisis! Take a peak and find your footing in the simple and certain things in the world around us. I'm always in search of the resting place in the storm, no matter what! Below I have shared my recipe for Pumpkin Butterscotch Muffins to savor the fall season upon us....

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 16 ounce can of pumpkin
1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 12 ounce bag of butterscotch chips/morsels

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, pumpkin, oil and yogurt. Beat until smooth. Set aside. In another large bowl sift flour, baking soda, bakin powder, cinnamon, and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to your pumpkin mixture, stirring well! Fold in butterscotch chips/morsels. Fill muffin cups to 3/4 full in muffin tins. Bake 16 to 20 minutes.

Do send pictures to share! Happy Baking...

SWEET Rockchalk Jayhawk Victory!

Today the Kansas Jayhawks defeated Iowa State 35-33 in Ames, Iowa in their first Big 12 Conference play of the season. Kansas was held scoreless in the first half and the come-from-behind victory tied the third-biggest comeback for victory in Kansas history. It could be said this was Sweet sixteen in football because the win was also the biggest comeback win in sixteen years for the Jayhawks! Quarterback Todd Reesing was 10-of-12 for 260 yards and three touchdowns in the second half. Meir had 125 receiving yards and Sharp with 107, the fourth straight game Kansas has had two players with over 100 receiving yards. Recap the game! Thank you sharing in the sweetness of today - I hope you enjoyed the beautiful fall sun this Saturday...

Inspired

Well, Hopsy has not only brought joy to my world, but inspired me to walk through the door of blogging! So will you come along with me for the journey? I hope so! Never in my wildest dreams did I think one day I would add another "to do" to my daily list. Perhaps it is one's perspective in how they view a task? My wish is the tidbits and morsels of this woman's world will bring more joy to yours... doesn't it lift your spirits when you share with others not expecting anything in return? So please, if you will - allow me to share my favorite things in life with you.

My most very favorite thing in the world to do is bake. When I was a young girl and couldn't sleep at night I would peruse through cookbooks and create wonderful sweet things during the night. My family would awake in the morning to countertops of baked goodies. "Hmmm, guess who couldn't sleep last night?" Here is one of my favorite creations... enjoy!

Oh, by the way read, no I suggest subscribe to Hopsy's blog at http://kappaprep.blogspot.com!