Bridal Shower Dessert Table

My first dessert table attempt was for my sister's bridal shower this weekend.  The previous two blogs about the fondant frills cake and the petit fours were all part of my master plan for the dessert table.   In addition to the petit fours, I made some fun whimical cookies that included ben franklin, the libery bell, the LOVE statue and my sister's two cat's- Penny and Otto.  My mom and my sister's future mother in law helped me decorate the cookies as well.  I added some blue and brown candies to the table for interest, as well as some bite sized brownies made by Anita.  I finished the table with a fun candy bar that included lollipops from Dylan's Candy Bar.  The kids and adults found something to enjoy!

Happy Customers!!!

Petit Fours

With the help of Melissa at www.mycakeschool.com, I attempt to make petit fours for the first time... My Mom and my sister's future mother in law helped me with the adventure. The petit fours were for my sisters bridal shower.  The biggest challenge was getting the icing the right consistency so it would coat the petit four without being too think.  I used Melissa's pound cake recipe and followed her directions to the "T".  We created a "dripping" station to allow the glaze to set and created a tremendous mess in my mom's kitchen.  Overall it was fun to experiment with something new and also fun to have my Mom and Anita try their hand at decorating.  They did a great job! and I know my sister will appreciate their efforts.

The finished pound cake... Three sticks of butter later...

Scoring the cake to cut 1" x 1" cubes

Created a double broiler to mix the 9 cups of powdered sugar!  That was a lot of powdered sugar!

The dipping action...

We set up a "dripping station" using boxes from my mom's pantry and a drying rack

What a mess!!!

The finished products...

Fondant Frills

I've been admiring Maggie Austin's Fondant Frill cake for quite some time and was SUPER excited when she created a Craftsy class to explain her technique.  I must have watched this video  10 times- Certain sections, many more... I had a few stumbles along the way, but I didn't give up and I'm so happy with the end result....

My fondant color gradient

 The first layer...  My fondant kept tearing, I had too much water on my finger when I applied it.  I started using a paint brush which worked much better for me...

Here's one thing you should NEVER do... Stick a knife in the pasta roller to try to unlodge a paper towel that is stuck... unfortunetly  I ruined this pasta roller... This happened after only the second row of fondant was applied... After a few trips to some department stores, I obtained a new pasta roller, learned my lesson and never placed a sharp object near the thing and I was able to finish the cake the next night... Crisis overted...

The "cake" before I turned it over.  I was too nervous to do this on actual cake and also didn't have the time to bake a cake so I used a stryofoam cake base

Post Flip.

My Cabbage roses prior to dusting...

After dusting...  So happy with the way they turned out...

The completed cake