1979 Wedding Cake Re-Mix

For my parent's 30th wedding anniversary I decided to attempt a mini recreation of their 1979 wedding cake. I loved going through the old picture and seeing everyone looking so young and gorgeous.....and super 70's!

True to the 70's, they had peach and baby yellow wedding colors and I loved it!

This is my very first wedding cake creation! WOW! So much work....and even more anxiety. I was so nervous and finally so relieved when I pulled it off better than I thought I could!

I made a 6 inch top layer and a 10 inch lower layer using the Classic White Cake Recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Cook Book. You cannot go wrong with the recipes from this book. Everything from the chicken to the cookies and cakes are so delicious....not to mention the drink recipes, of course! ;)

You can view the recipe at http://losangeleschronicle.blogspot.com/2007/09/classic-white-cake-recipe-from-americas.html

The cakes were golden brown out of the oven...a very good sign!

What my kitchen looked like mid-process. Many dishes mean many glasses of Pinot Grigio to keep this Tipsy Baker afloat!

Trimming the layers for an even cake...wedding cakes have to look perfect or it just won't be a wedding cake!

I cheated on the filling by whipping up some Pastry Pride. It is super yummy and so easy to make. I was looking for a quick and yummy filling fix to simplify the process and this did the trick!



Adding a ring of Butter cream to keep the filling inside the cake-SO KEY!

FILL-ER-UP!

Getting the crumb coat on and then back into the fridge before the smooth layer of frosting is added...

Adding the smooth top layer of frosting..

I made about two dozen roses planning to use only the best ones...I like making funkier roses and these needed to be traditional, so it took me some extra tries! I froze them so that I could easily add them to the cake without damaging the delicate petals.

So, here is the photo of my parents and their cake that I had to work with. I just love that my mom is wearing a bonnet! Oh, the 70's!





I decorated the top layer first....

Next, the bottom layer with the roses and then leaves wherever they would fit in the bunch.

I assembled the cake at my parents house where my mom had saved her original cake topper. So cute! She even added new flowers to freshen it up.

A close up of the two tier cake, fully assembled. Whew! What a relief.

Congratulations Mom & Dad!

Cheers to crazy anniversary celebrations!

xoxo,

Tipsy...and tired!

Happy 4th of July!

I just love the 4th of July! What better reason to celebrate then the ability to enjoy our freedom every day of the year.

I had to come up with a patriotic and delicious bevy for the big day. I picked up some blue raspberry martini mix from BevMo and went to work. This was super simple and sure to be a new 4th tradition for us.

I added the blue raspberry martini mix, vodka, shook and served. YUMM!

A patriotic drink for the hubs...a classic Bloody Mary, his fave. Clamato, fresh lemon juice, voddy, Cholula hot sauce, and Worcester sauce on the rocks.

After a day at the pool we were so ready for the amazing fireworks show at the Indian Wells Golf Resort.

So much fun and so beautiful!

I hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July!

Cheers to the land that I love!

xoxo,

Tipsy

Abigail is here!

My sweet cousin, Theresa, just had a BEAUTIFUL baby girl, Abigail! So sweet!

I know this post is a long time comin', but I have just completed a four week cake decorating course, just in time for the shower. I seriously have been workin' on the flowers for three weeks and put it all together the week of the shower! I need a martini already! :)

I also tried out a lil' Paula Deen Butter Meltaways recipe for the tea time...so yummy! I hope I am as JOLLY and butter-licious as you one day, Paula Deen! :)

CONGRATS TEA & KEVIN! Abigail is beautiful!

XOXO,

Tipsy

Something Summereee and Fun

When my sweet friends only request it to make something sweet and summereeee for our weekend in SD, the first thing that comes to my mind is COCONUT!!



I didn't have as much time as I wish I did, so I did a funfetti mix (c'mon, you know it reminds you of carefree childhood), added some extra vanilla and made my own butter cream frosting.



I was so glad to take it to my cake decorating class where we made roses, which I love! These are made with Buttercream, not fondant-much more delicious!



I added LOTS of toasted coconut between the layers:

The crumb coat, then into the fridge:

Something about lime green is so refreshing and reminiscent of summer:

Making it smooth:

Adding the details of red roses, blue leaves and yellow accents! I love mixing up the colors!!!

Had to have a piece for the hubs before I left with the girrrrrls:

Cheers to coconut and a weekend with the ladies!
MUAH!

xoxo,

Tipsy

Friki Tiki

After a seven day work week, Tipsy is ready to relax in all the right ways!

My dear co-worker, on Friday of Memorial Day weekend, saw all the boats in a row on her way to work. They were, of course, ready for the river and full of laughter. The most memorable boat, just had to be, "The Friki Tiki" and though she had to curse as she passed them because, like me, she was on her way to work while everyone else on the 10 freeway was on the way to the river, I just had to invent a drink to erase my memory of work on Monday, my long awaited day off work!!!

Here is that gem, and boy did it work!

Muddling some raspberries, then I ran them through a strainer to get those seeds out of the equation!





I started with Ice, Vodka ( I know, I love vodka-honestly,to anyone else White Rum would taste better, so feel free to substitute) and then added GUAVA PINEAPPLE juice...my new obsession!

Then I added the fresh raspberry juice that I made, stirred and topped with whipped cream and some coconut that I toasted in the oven. It tastes like Hawaii; just what I needed to forget about a long work week and put the friki in the tiki!


So delish!!

A hibiscus from my front yard completed the look! Thanks to the hubs with the green thumb!

Ahhhh! So refreshing! Ready for some pool action!





Cheers to a happy Memorial Day! Hope you all had a great one!

xoxo, Tipsy

Playing With Color

I am always looking to try new things and have been looking for some cake decorating tips. I gave in and signed up for my local Michael's Cake Decorating class with a bunch of kids and house wives. It has been fun, but I like to put my own spin on things and the class is pretty focused on making things look just like the book. PLEASE! We were supposed to bring in a frosted cake....no surprise to me that I was the only one who brought in a neon orange cake!

The crumb coat...the refrigerated before adding the colored layer.

~

~

Smoothing out the frosting. Too bad the cake looks like a block of cheddar cheese!

~

~

Mixing up some colors for the piping bags...

~

Playing withe the different textures...

So, here is the finished cake with after my class. I used flower shaped fondant cutters to layout the flowers and then filled them in with the frosting.

Cheers to new experiences and making things your own!

xoxo,

Tipsy

Red Velvet Gone Bonkers!

For my dear friend's birthday I decided to make some red velvet petit fours! Even though he asked for the same cake as last year I thought I could give it a little re-mix. I just can't make the same thing the same way twice, I love trying new things!

I started with the red velvet cake recipe (just like I made for Alyssa- same frosting and all from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Red-Velvet-Cake-IV/Detail.aspx

Once the cake was baked I popped it out of the pan and chilled it in the fridge.

P.S. You will have to drink all the White Wine in your fridge to make room for all this madness!

I cut the cake in half and filled with a generous layer of the white chocolate cream cheese frosting.

I could eat it just like this... but there are many steps ahead to make it look even better.

It went back into the fridge with a crumb coat to keep it together and for extra flavor!

In the mean time, what to do with this mess that didn't come out of the pan so nicely!

I crumb it up and mix in some frosting so that I can roll it into balls for some cake truffles.

Once they are chilled I dip them in some white chocolate (8 oz.) and (2 tbsp.) shortening to make it easier for dipping.

Then back into the fridge with them~

I cut the cold cake into small petit four size/shape mini cakes and then, you guessed, back into the fridge.

I mix up some easy glaze to seal in all the yummyness! http://www.ehow.com/how_4489842_make-petit-fours.html

Then I started pouring the glaze over each one. The rack is over a pan so that I can use the glaze that runs off each one to glaze the next.

Back into the fridge of course.

Then I melt some chocolate to fancify the petit fours. They need a little something and the cake truffles came out so funky they needed a cover up!

Before:

After:

The Final Petit Fours-so yummy I can't resist.

Finally, everything comes together for the birthday boy!

I don't know when I will ever try this again! But, it was fun and ended deliciously. I just have to say that you need almost a whole day to make these petit fours happen. Let me know what you think!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID!!!!!

xoxo,

Tipsy...and Bonkers