Checking In

If I have been reminded of anything this summer, it is that life is short. Too short. The life you've grown accustomed to, your sense of comfort and control, and even the ones you love can be snapped away in a mere second. The months fly by without you noticing, or having the time to stop and realize what you are missing.

I found that I sort of checked out of life this summer. I checked out of social activities, checked out of taking care of myself, checked out of a lot of things. I threw myself into work and grief, and neglected most of everything else.

Now I find the weather beginning to cool off, there are pumpkins for sale at the garden store down the street, and I am wondering where the season went. I am also wondering what the hell was wrong with me?

My wake up call came in the form of a much needed celebration to close the summer. I have been home so many times these past few months, a few times to say goodbye to lives cut too short, but most recently a visit home for a wedding was the giant breath of fresh air that many in my family needed to come together and celebrate love and new beginnings.

Weddings have a way of doing that I think. It reminds you of how much love there is in this world. You can look around, and see all eyes and hearts focused on the two people in the front of the room, supporting them and wishing them a life full of happiness. In this case, the wedding was my sister's (which will have it's own post altogether) and there were just so many faces that I had a chance to catch up with and reconnect with. I also was scolded by more than a handful of family friends and relatives that I had not updated this space in a long time, so friends, this is for you.

I feel honored every time I am trusted to make a wedding cake. It is a big job, and often it is the first thing guests see when they walk into the reception space. It is a constant reminder of why I do what I do. I am in the business of making people happy, and to see the joy on someone's face when they catch the first glimpse of their wedding cake, or when dessert is placed in front of them at the end of their meal, is my motivation to keep creating.

When life hands us a little more than we can handle, it's easy to check out. The better path though, is to check back in, keep getting better at your job, strengthen your relationships, tighten up your family ties. Life may keep you busy and overwhelmed but at the end of the day, what is left is family, love, and passion, things that should never be taken for granted.

Duo of Fabric Inspired Cakes

The first wedding cake of the season is complete. It was a great warm up, simple, small, and bold, it got my piping hands geared up for the rest of the summer, that's for sure. I also completed my first ever baby shower cake, which was a total departure for me, tons of color and polka dots, buttons and flowers. While these two cakes are so, so different from each other, they have one thing in common. They are both derived, more or less, from fabric.

The wedding cake was a very specific request. The bride wanted something very simple, no flowers or hearts or any of that mushy stuff, but still wanted the cake to stand out and be bold and modern. She loved a paisley print cake she had seen online and had some fun colors to incorporate. Paisley can be totally overwhelming and busy, (think colorful 70's polyester shirts) but it can also be a striking motif when you restrain it a bit. 

I remember saying that I had been wanting to do a gray and yellow cake for a while, and now it seems like grey is the wedding color of the year. Each wedding cake I have slated for this summer has gray on the palette, and I couldn't be happier. I hadn't piped anything in a while, so it was off to a shaky start, but by the end I was a dot-piping machine. 

The second cake was for a friend of a friend's baby shower. The design for this cake was a cinch after seeing their baby registry. All of the baby blankets, quilts, and pillows have this multicolored pattern of fabrics around the edges and it was something they wanted to incorporate into the cake and cupcakes.

Having already picked out a name, the initials of the baby were placed front and center. This was such a fun project, though I always forget how difficult horizontal fondant bands are to get straight and even. I will never learn.

Between the color palette, and the patterns, not to mention the yummy lemon cake with raspberry buttercream, I hope this cake made the shower day a little extra special. 

Lemon Cupcakes & Raspberry Italian Meringue Buttercream

cake adapted from Bon Apetit Magazine

(This batter would probably be enough for 18-24 cupcakes, I only made 12 and baked the rest of the batter in a cake pan) 

Cake:

1 3/4 cup cake flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (8 oz) butter, softened

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

juice of 1/2 lemon

zest of 1 lemon

3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. 

In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In your stand mixer cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition, and mix each one in until completely incorporated. Add the vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest, mix well, and scrape bowl. 

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, scrape, then 1/2 of the buttermilk, scrape, and repeat ending with the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated after each addition. Using a ice cream scoop, fill your muffin tins about 2/3 the way full and bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick entered into the middle comes out clean and the cake is just turning a light golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes, then remove from pan and let them cool completely on a wire rack. 

Raspberry Italian Meringue Buttercream

4 oz egg whites

2 oz water

8 oz sugar

12 oz butter

3 tablespoons raspberry jam

pink food coloring (if desired)

Place egg whites in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and begin whipping the whites on medium-high speed. Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan and using a candy thermometer, heat the sugar to soft ball stage, or 240 F. The eggs at this point should  be voluminous and frothy. Slowly pour the sugar into the egg whites in a steady stream, while the mixer is on high. 

Let the mixer run on high (I usually set it to one number below the very highest setting) until the mixture has cooled completely. Switch to the paddle attachment, and add the butter one tablespoon at a time, mixing on a medium-low speed. Once all the butter has been added, turn your mixer to high and whip for 3-5 minutes until frosting is light and smooth. Add the raspberry jam and food coloring and mix to incorporate.