my first wedding dessert table!

I'm so excited to finally reveal (in full) the wedding dessert table that I worked so hard on a couple of months ago!  Cherish, the bride, was such a joy to work with, and is seriously one of the sweetest and thoughtful people I have ever met!  She had envisioned a classic rustic wedding, and handmade many of the wedding details, down to the paper doily flower chandelier that hung above the dessert table.  Her wedding color scheme was greens and blues, so when I arrived the dessert table was laid out with a bright blue tablecloth, ready for me to decorate with goodies!

First up were my Hello Kitty macarons.  I decided to display these in gallon-sized giant glass jars so that we could see all the cute Hello Kitty faces peeking out, and also so that they would also stay fresh in the contained jars.

Next up were the potted plant chocolate puddings.  I had decided to display them on either side of the dessert table - one one side of the table they would be stacked on a two-tiered ruffled cake stand, and on the other side of the table I used a single tier white milk glass cake stand.

Next came football-shaped and tooth-shaped cookies, which I displayed on four long white rectangular platters, side by side.

And finally the mini s'mores cupcakes, which I served on a white square three-tiered pedestal cake stand, right in the center of the table.

To sum it all up, here is my initial sketch of what the dessert table setup would look like:

And this is how the dessert table ended up!

This was seriously one of the funnest and coolest things that I have ever taken part in, and I'm so glad that Cherish asked me to do it!  Thank you, Cherish!

And now, a few images from Cherish's classic rustic dream wedding!

Congratulations, Cherish and Steven!

mini s'mores cupcakes

This is last dessert in my series of posts on the goodies that I made for Cherish's wedding dessert table.  (In case you missed them, I also made Hello Kitty macarons, football and tooth cookies, and potted plant chocolate puddings).  Cherish had wanted some kind of cupcake on the dessert table, and since s'mores were one of the things in her "list of likes", we decided on mini s'mores cupcakes.

I ended up using an adaptation of a recipe that I had previously used, except I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe, and a different frosting recipe.  And since I was making mini cupcakes, I didn't think the graham cracker crust on the bottom would fit, so I just sprinkled crushed graham crackers on top of the batter before baking.

Once the mini cupcakes were baked and cooled, I made a marshmallow frosting (this time, a Swiss meringue frosting).  I used a large open star tip to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes, and then used a creme brulee torch to lightly brown the frosting.

While I thought the cupcakes were was delicious and marshmallowy the night they made, by the next day (the day of the wedding) I bit into one and felt as if the frosting had become light as air.  That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but I had wanted the frosting to retrain it's gooey marshmallow texture.  So next time I think I'll try an Italian meringue frosting, as I've read it tends to be more stable than a Swiss meringue frosting.

And finally, a sneak peek into how I displayed these minis - on a beautiful three-tiered square pedestal cake stand!

Stay tuned for my summary post on the wedding dessert table!

*** Update: You can see a summary of the wedding dessert table here!

s'mores cupcakes

This post is long overdue!  Way back in June, we went on a family camping trip with my friend Reggie and her friend Showshan.  I wanted to make something for dessert, and since s'mores are the ultimate camping dessert, I made s'mores cupcakes!  I've actually wanted to make these cupcakes for some time now, after seeing these s'mores cupcakes from Xiaolu at 6 Bittersweets.  But I never had an occasion until now.

Since Reggie's daughter is allergic to dairy, I changed the recipe slightly.  At the bottom of the cupcake was a graham cracker crust, which I made with oil instead of butter.  Then came a moist chocolate cake, with which I substituted soymilk instead of milk.

Then it was all topped with a marshmallow frosting.  The original recipe called for a frosting made with whipped uncooked egg whites, but since I knew we'd be camping and didn't want to have to worry about keeping the cupcakes cool, I made this homemade marshmallow frosting instead.  All it contained was water, gelatin, and sugar - and it tasted exactly like marshmallows!

Once the marshmallow frosting was whipped to the right consistency, I piped it on as fast as I could before it cooled and set.  By the time I piped the last few cupcakes, the marshmallow frosting had become so difficult to pipe, it was like squeezing a giant solid marshmallow through the piping tip!

The final touch was toasting the marshmallow frosting with my creme brulee torch.  I wanted the frosting to be like freshly toasted marshmallows while we were camping, so I even brought my torch along to the campsite! Hope everyone enjoyed them!