The Details

Yesterday I posted the menu that we decided on for our dessert bar at Jenny's wedding.  Henceforth, this bar will be referred to as "The Sweet Bean," as that is what we finally chose to name it!

Today I will go down the list of items served at The Sweet Bean, and provide recipes for each dessert, as well as pictures to go along with them!

Whippersnaps

(This recipe yields between 40 and 50 cookies, depending on how big you make them.)

• 1 box of cake mix (the flavor of your choosing; we used strawberry, lemon, and chocolate.)
• About 2 cups of frozen whipped topping, thawed (I saw "about" because I eye-balled it.)
• 1 egg
• Powdered sugar for dipping
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, the whipped topping, and the egg.  It will take a while for the dough to form, so be prepared for your stirring arm to get tired!
• Form tablespoons of dough into balls, and roll them in the powdered sugar. (I used less than a full tablespoon of dough for each cookie, because they are prettier and sturdier the smaller they are.)
• Place the cookies on a greased cookie sheet about an inch apart.
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and let cool. 

Mini Banana Nut Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

(We made 445 of these.  I used the original recipe I found here, with some small modifications.  This recipe makes about 12 regular sized muffins, or 24 mini muffins.)

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose four
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• handful of walnuts
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease a muffin, or mini muffin pan.  Or line with cupcake papers (which is what we did).
• Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nuts.  Set aside.
• Combine bananas, applesauce, sugar, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl.
• Fold in the flour mixture, and mix until smooth.  Then scoop the batter into the muffin pans.
• Since our muffins were mini, I baked them for 12 minutes.  If you make regular sized muffins, you will probably bake them for 25 to 30 minutes.  

For the cream cheese frosting, I used this recipe.  It turned out great, and held up wonderfully at room temperature.  The icing actually sat on the muffins at room temp for a few days before the wedding, and it was still fine!   Because we had some many muffins to dollop, I made six batches of this stuff, and had the perfect amount for the job.  So, a word to the wise:  if you are planning on making large quantities of frosting, begin the process in advance!!!

Cake Pops

(We made somewhere in the ballpark of 300 of these puppies.  People LOVED them.  You can fine a basic recipe for bake balls here, and then you can mix and match cake and icing flavors, as well as the chocolate coatings and toppings.)

An important note about cake balls:  After baking the cakes, and mixing them with icing, it is best to let them sit in the fridge for, well, as long as you like, before trying to form them into balls.  Some of our mixes sat in the fridge for hours before we formed them into balls. 

After forming the mixture into balls, you will want to let the balls set in the fridge for a while, or in the freezer for a few minutes, before attempting to dip them.  Otherwise, they will fall apart during the process.

I am NOT an expert on cake balls.  If you had watched Jenny and me make them, you would probably have laughed at the mess we made, and at how many cake balls we lost! Angie (aka: Bakerella); however, IS the expert.  And you can watch her step-by-step cake pop instructions here.   Warning:  She makes these little buggers look much easier and less time consuming that they actually are!

 We got the idea for the Neapolitan cakes here, but ended up using the recipe from Annie's Eats.  We had A LOT of cakes to make, so we doubled everything... three or four times!!!  Eventually, we had enough batter to make three, 12" layers, three, 9" layers, and three, 6" layers.  We also used the recipe for the strawberry layer of this cake to make Jenny and Matt's small cake that they used to cut and feed to one another.   

 

For the filling for the Neapolitan cakes, we used raspberry preserves and the same buttercream icing that we used for the outside of the cakes.  We also did this to fill Jenny and Matt's small cake.  

Buttercream Icing 

Let me warn you, TONS of shortening was used in the making of this icing.  For practical, aesthetic, and taste reasons, I chose not to use butter at all.  So the name "Buttercream" is a bit misleading...

• 2 cups white, all-vegetable shortening
• 2 tsp CLEAR vanilla extract (if you use regular, it will give your icing a strange tint.)
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 lbs. (one bag/about 8 cups) of confectioners' sugar, 10x's sifted
• 2 tbsp Meringue Powder (I used Wilton)
• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, cream shortening, flavoring, and water.  Add dry ingredients and mix on medium speed until all ingredients have been thoroughly mixed together.  This takes a while.  You may want to turn your mixer on, and then walk away for a few minutes while it does its thing!  
• After the icing is mixed well, you may find that it is too thick.  If so, add a tsp of water for each cup of powdered you used, and then turn the mixer back on until the water is incorporated into the icing.  
• You can store this icing for several days at room temp.  If you choose to do this, make sure you store the icing in ROUND, AIR-TIGHT containers.  

(We used somewhere between 6 and 10 batches of this for the wedding... I lost count eventually...) 

To decorate the Neapolitan cakes, I wanted something easy, but also knew that Jenny would want something fun, kinda classy, and simple too.  I got the idea for the Rosette design here,  and am SO happy with the way it turned out in all-white! It is just Jenny's style!

 Moving right along...

We used the same recipe for the Mint Oreo cake that we used for the chocolate layer of the Neapolitan cake.   We made four, 10" layers, and then turned the layers into two, 2-layer cakes.  

 For the Mint Chocolate Ovaltine frosting, we chose this recipe, with some minor changes.  Since we wanted the cake to have a minty hint to it, we used 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract, and 1/2 tsp of mint, rather than just 1 tsp of vanilla.  I think we ended up using about six batches of this stuff, but don't quote me on that.  

We coated the tops and sides of these cakes with off-brand Oreos.  To give the cookies a minty taste, after we put them in the food processor, we dumped them into a bowl, threw a healthy amount of mint extract in there with them, and stirred it around a little.  Then we put our make-shift Mint Oreos all over the cake. 

 

Without question, the best smelling dessert at the reception was the pumpkin cake on the groom's table.  These things were Jenny's babies.  I made the frosting, but Jenny made each of the four, 9" pumpkin cakes.  They smelled like fall, and were absolutely beautiful!  You can find the original recipe here.  The only things Jenny did differently were to omit the nuts, and use regular flour rather than wheat, because we did not have any wheat flour on hand.  

To ice the pumpkin cake, Jenny said she wanted something "simple and rustic."  So, I went with this Brown Sugar Icing.  I followed the recipe exactly, but quadrupled it.  I definitely could have gotten away with tripling it instead.  Now I know for next time...

The Sweet Bean was only one of many sweet touches in the Elliot Wedding. 

 

Matt and Jenny's love story, and their lives, are centered around Christ.  Knowing that about them, and seeing that acted out in their relationship and in their lives, made every moment of their wedding day sweet.  

It was such an honor to be a part of their wedding day, and of the planning process in some small way!

Beautiful Day

I may have mentioned this, and I may have not, but for the past several months a friend and I have been planning the dessert bar for her wedding.  She has a passion for baking, and wanted to incorporate that into her special day somehow. Together, I think we pulled it off exceptionally well.

We began planning the menu ages ago.  Jenny decided that she wanted to have a dessert bar, a coffee bar, and a smoothie bar at her reception rather than I full course meal.  If you knew Jenny, that would not surprise you!  Although I had nothing to do with the coffee or smoothie bars, I had a BLAST helping with the dessert bar.

After much planning and deliberation, here is the menu we finally settled on:

• Whippersnaps (strawberry, lemon, and chocolate)
• Mini banana nut muffins with cream cheese frosting (over 400 of them!)
• Cake balls in the following flavors (all of which were a HUGE hit)
• Red velvet with vanilla coating, some dipped in sprinkles,  and some in coconut
• Chocolate dipped in chocolate and covered with mint Oreo, and chocolate dipped in chocolate with vanilla, chocolate dipped in chocolate with coconut... the list goes on.
• Vanilla coated in vanilla and dipped in graham cracker, and coconut, and some with sprinkles.... WE MADE SO MANY!!!
• Three Neapolitan cakes, all filled with buttercream and raspberry preserves:
• a 12"
• a 9"
• a 6"  
• A two layer, 6" vanilla cake, with lemon curd filling.  This cake did not get used at the actual dessert bar, because it fell apart.  But we had a backup strawberry cake on stand-by that turned out wonderfully!  No harm done!!!
• Two 10" chocolate cakes with mint chocolate frosting, and covered in mint Oreo.  Yum.
• Four Bohemian wedding cakes, all 9", with brown butter frosting.  These went on the groom's table.  

It felt like there were more cakes at the reception than people.  Definitely more cake slices...

Recipes and methods to follow... Along with more pictures... After I get a good night's rest!  (: 

But here is a sneak preview:

We all have Stefanie, a dear friend of the bride's, to thank for the lovely table-scape. Stefanie helped Jenny get ready the morning of her wedding, and played the piano during the ceremony.  She also sang one of the prettiest arrangements of Blessed Assurance that I ever remember hearing.  And on top of all that, she made the dessert bar look prettier and run more smoothly than I imagined it could!
 
None of the pictures I post will do the day justice.  The entire wedding was absolutely beautiful.   Because Matthew and Jenny are absolutely beautiful!

The Post That will Probably Never be Posted: Inspiration Page #1

I found this post saved as a draft.  I put the original post together almost a year ago in an effort to consolidate all the wedding ideas I found that I liked.  I never published the post, but as I was going through some old posts, I came across this and thought I would share it with you!  

It is really funny to look at these pictures and compare what I liked to what I actually ended up incorporating into my own wedding day!  There are some major differences, and ideas that I let go, but there are a lot of things that I did end up using from this post!  Here, and here, are some pictures of my wedding. 

The purpose of this photo (from Style me Pretty) is to get a good look at Norm's suit.

I like the idea of something that is a cross between that one, and the one below, which I got from one of my all-time favorite blogs.

I am in love with her necklace, and with the idea of the chalkboard.

And, of course, the bright yellow cardigan.

And it goes without saying that I adore the banner. What a great idea.

I like the video camera concept, but I also think it would be really neat to have a scrapbook/memory book kind of thing and have each person/family/couple take a picture of themselves with one of those little cameras that spits out the sticker photo things (I had one when I was in about the forth grade... Not even sure if they still make those anymore!)Then, everyone could write some words of wisdom, encouragement, whatever, on the page next to their picture...



This bride had this card (about the size of a standard notecard) on top of each napkin during the reception. The picture is hard to read, but it says, "Two lives united in friendship, Two friends united in love, One love united in Christ."

Loving the idea of using this tree idea, from Hostess with the Mostess, as a money tree at the wedding.

And this sweet buffet table from her too!

Maybe something in between that and these next two images, also from Hostess with the Mostess

I am torn though. Although I love the whimsical, sweet feel of the candy bar, I am totally in love with the sweetness and simplicity of this wedding. The following pictures are from oncewed.com.... a great wedding blog!

Or here is another spin on the same kind of idea, from Ruffled... another one of my favorites.

For the reception, from 100 Layer Cake...

Nothing says "southern" like strawberry shortcake...

And moonpies, from here, as guest favors :)

There is a whole tutorial on them at Oncewed!

The next series of pictures were taken by a friend of mine, Will Knowles, at a friend of mine's wedding:

And lastly, I absolutely ADORE this Canadian wedding, posted on Ruffled.

It's the Little Things

Realizing that nearly five months have passed since these photos were taken, here are a few shots of some details from the wedding. My mom and I did all of the decorating, baking, etc. ourselves, and I am thrilled with the way everything turned out. The whole day was such a reflection of Andrew and myself (well, of myself mostly, but I figured that was only fair, since I did most of the work!)

I made this cake, but we also had another larger one there that the ladies at Hermitage Bakery made.  They did a wonderful job!

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a sweet tooth.  Actually, I think all my teeth are sweet teeth!  :)

We bought small brown paper bags from the craft store and stamped each of them so that guests could fill them with the goodies of their choosing. 

I made the cookies and the cupcakes.  The cupcakes were actually a fiasco!  My mom and I had to make several attempts before we had even one batch of cupcakes that was acceptable for human consumption and viewing pleasure.  Go figure! 

One of my bridesmaids made the banners for me.  I love the way they turned out. 

I must admit, I LOVED the flair that this table added to our reception area.  My mom and I made the money tree together.  We used large batteries (random) to weigh the tin pail down.  We put Styrofoam inside of it, and stuck the tree branches into the Styrofoam so that they would stand up the way we wanted them to.  Then we covered the Styrofoam with moss.  We attached the tissue flowers with the pipe cleaners we used to make them.  Simple as that!  

My sister decoupaged the "L" and the "A".  I could not have been happier with the way they turned out.  Andrew and I even recycled them!  They are now hanging over our bed in lieu of a headboard.  

My mom made the flowers, both the large ones on the wall and the small ones on the money tree.  We used tissue paper.  It is really easy.  There are several tutorials and videos floating around the web that will give you the step by step process, or you can just use good, old fashioned trial and error!  If you do prefer specific instructions, here is how Martha Stewart does it. 

I saved the best for last.  The boutonnieres that the guys wore were my absolute favorite element in our wedding.  My mom crocheted the flowers.  We glued a button in the center of each one, embellished with a little spray of yellow flowers, and glued a magnet to the back.  Voila!  Perfecto!  I love it!!!

And I love him!