Wedding cakes

Hello dear friends! We’re back from our honeymoon which means back to blogging for me. I hope you all enjoyed the guest posts while I was away.

With everything that happened in the past few weeks, I’ve got lots to share. There were many adventures on our honeymoon. There were many fun times with our visiting family and friends. And of course, there was the wedding. So I’ll have lots of details and treats in the next few weeks for us all to nibble on while we wait for the official photos from the wonderful Liesl at Photo Pink (I’ve seen just one photo so far, and it’s stunning and I can’t wait for the rest).

I want to tell you all about everything, the food, the music, the rain, the craziness and all the fun, but it just won’t be the same without photos I think, so I’m going to string you along a little bit longer. Not to worry though, the road to the finish will be highly entertaining and delicious.

Let’s start with cake, shall we?

i am a messy baker sometimes Perhaps you recall, I chose to make our wedding cakes. Yes cakes, plural. There were eight of them.  I took over my mom’s kitchen for 2 days and made a huge mess. We spent one day baking and one frosting more or less.

lots of chocolate cake When I say that I made eight cakes, I really mean I made about 24 (or 30, I lost count), since each cake was several layers. We made 10 chocolate cakes, in 3 different sizes alone.

cake crew Luckily, I had lots of help in the kitchen to get everything done. Robin, Agatha & Shiri, some of my oldest friends, came in from out of town for the wedding and spent their extra time preparing frosting and measuring ingredients for me. I would not have been able to do it without them. I put Robin to work as soon as she got off the plane. Shiri and Agatha were also kind enough to actually drive all the cakes across town to the wedding.

frostingMany cakes were made, and even more frosting. Vanilla frosting, chocolate frosting, espresso frosting, peanut butter frosting. More than I needed it turned out.

raspberry sauceI made a raspberry sauce for one of the cakes. It’s one of my favorites, as it’s sweet and tart, with only a few ingredients. I also made a chocolate ganache to top a few of the cakes, but something went terribly wrong along the way. This is the sort of thing that happens when you are making a ton of cakes at once, and also trying to organize the final details of a wedding. So there was no chocolate covered cake, though I wish there had been.

layer cakeHere are the beginnings of a little coconut cake. With these cakes being a bit taller than usual, I reinforced them with some wooden dowels. A few were still a little wiggly though.

the ugly cakeDespite everything being rushed, I was happy with all the cakes except for one. If only that chocolate ganache hadn’t turned to chocolate fudge, it would have been lovely. Instead this cake was a chocolate raspberry mess. I couldn’t leave it alone even with the reassurances of my friends. Alas, despite my best efforts, it remained a mess. It tasted awesome though.

wedding cakes

So for the record, I have no regrets making the cakes. Even with all the time it took, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Nearly everyone told me that they tried a few flavors and loved all of them. Every single cake was completely eaten by the end of the night. I would say that’s a wedding cake success.

chocolate chip banana muffins

This next post is from Nicole, a friend and vegan blogger who I was able to meet last year when she was visiting Los Angeles. She’s a great girl and not only does she cook  up some tasty vegan food, she also takes amazing photos. Luckily she’s kind enough to share a recipe with us. It looks delicious. (more…)

Saturday waffles

Today, I bring you a post from the most wonderful Tamera of Verhext. I absolutely adore her blog and insist that you go visit. She is a an inspiring writer with wonderful taste. As I’ve mentioned before, her recent wedding was by far the most beautiful I’ve seen. Verhext is a magical place of fanciful things and authentic thoughts. I’m so happy to have her share a little bit of her life here. (more…)

Chocolate Ricemellow Creme Panini

Next up in our set of guest posts for the week is brought to you from Kim Garr of C’est la Vegan. She is the talented baker behind C’est la V Bakeshop, here in Los Angeles. She comes up with some really great recipes, especially some of her treats for entertaining. My mother enlisted her to do make scones and biscuits for my bridal tea. Kim is sweet woman and I’m so pleased to be able to share one of her recipes here.

I’m such a huge fan of Cute and Delicious, and I’m so excited to be doing a guest post while Alix and Shawn enjoy their honeymoon!

I actually used the idea of a honeymoon as my inspiration for this dish, hoping to come up with something that would make for a really decadent breakfast in bed.  I think this Chocolate Ricemellow Creme Panini with Raspberry Dipping Sauce fits the bill nicely, though I would gladly eat this any time of day – honeymoon or not!

This is actually very simple to make, and if you don’t have access to vegan ricemellow or marshmallows, you could substitute peanut butter instead, or just do a plain chocolate panini sandwich, which would still be really delicious.  The Raspberry Dipping Sauce is easy to make, and the tartness of the raspberries really helps to cut the sweetness of the sandwich.

This ooey, gooey treat is so incredible, and I’ll definitely make it again.  It kinds of feels like a special occasion sandwich to me, but let’s be honest, I could easily count a movie night as a special occasion!  I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Chocolate Ricemellow Creme Panini with Raspberry Dipping Sauce

serves 2

Wash the raspberries and place them in a small saucepan over medium heat with the agave nectar (you can start with less agave and add more, depending on the sweetness of your berries).  Once you start to hear sizzling, stir the berries and start to break them up with a fork.  Turn the heat down, and simmer the mixture for a few minutes.  Remove the pan from the heat.

Heat your panini press or a large skillet.  Spread the margarine on the outsides of the slices of bread, or melt it in the pan if you don’t have a panini press.  Turn the bread over, and on the inside of each slice, spread 1-2 tablespoons of the ricemellow creme evenly over the bread.  Spread the chocolate chips over the ricemellow creme, and press the two sides together with the Earth Balance on the outside.  Place the sandwich in the panini press, and cook until the chocolate is melted.

Serve with the warm raspberry dipping sauce.  Enjoy!

Moments in Ireland

As our first guest post, I bring some photos, writing and even a recipe from Sara Lynn Paige of Simply Stardust. She is an amazingly talented photographer who herself just got hitched last October. Not to mention, she just recently went vegan. Make sure to pop over to her blog to see some lovely photos and get a glimpse of her life in Toronto.  So without further ado, here’s Sara! (more…)