Cake for the Bride {& Groom}

Oh wow! I can't tell you all how happy I am that it's Saturday afternoon and I'm sitting on my couch, typing this post! This has been such a long week!! I got back from GA on Monday and immediately started working on wedding cakes for a friend of mine.  Before I get to the details of the cakes, let me just tell you that working a full-time job, training a new puppy, and working on weddings in the evening is not easy! Ha! Who am I kidding? That may be the understatement of the year! Don't let the pictures of my puppy, Jax, fool you..he's a little monster! :) I forgot what this stage is like....

....now back to the cakes....

The bride's cake was a Raspberry-filled Almond Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream and the groom's cake was a Sour Cream Pound Cake with Mocha Cream Cheese Buttercream in the shape of Mickey Mouse's head. Yummo!

I love the colors she picked and the topper? Just beautiful!

Cute, right? I love this topper too!

Ok, the bride's cake first cuz, let's face it...that's what everyone looks at first! The couple tasted several different flavor combos (thanks to all the cupcakes I've done for this blog) and decided on my Almond Cake with a raspberry filling and my, by now, famous White Chocolate Buttercream. Seriously, if you haven't tried this icing by now, I just don't know if we can be friends anymore. Ok, just kidding...but you really do need to try it...and, yes, I mean need. I'm a huge fan of the "messy iced" look so this was right up my ally.

Now, the groom's cake. For those of you who've been around awhile, you probably think this flavor combo seems familiar. Well, you're right. Remember my insane Coffee and a Donut Cupcakes? Bingo! The groom loved those flavors together and actually added one extra element - cream cheese. After tasting this icing I've decided that this guy is brilliant and I may go to him for future ideas! It's that good. Hello! Coffee + Chocolate + Cream Cheese = Genius! To make this I just used Wilton's Mocha Buttercream and added some of my own Cream Cheese Icing until I thought the taste was just right!

I love me some beautiful fake flowers for wedding cakes!

Had to get a close-up of that awesome topper...they're life together will be stronger because of their faith in the One who gave them each other!!

Well, that's what I've been up to all week. What have you been doing? Stay tuned to read about some awesome new kitchen gadgets I'll be reviewing next week and the chance to win a set of your own!! Plus, I hope to be getting back to the cupcakes so you should have some fun new treats to try soon! Until then, happy reading and, more importantly, happy cupcake-ing!

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"Spring"ing Forward With Almond Cupcakes

The pretty little cupcakes :)

Hey friends. It's back to the sweet stuff from the land of meat and potatoes for this post. This is where I'm comfortable. It's home. The fluffy deliciousness of these white almond cupcakes is one of the many reasons why I have a love affair with cupcakes. I made this cake for the first time for my sister's wedding last year. It was such a huge hit and my cousin, Elizabeth (or "Licka" as we call her), fell in love immediately. Yes, she may kill me for putting her nickname out there in cyber space for all to see but it's how I think of her. She turned 18 last month but I still remember her as a little 2 yr old squirt with blond hair who used to look up at me from her playpen, waiting to be picked up. She has grown into quite the young lady with a personality bigger than life. She makes me laugh constantly and we love when she comes down to visit! So, Lick, this one's for you! ;)

Licka - isn't she adorable? Love this girl!

First things first. The cupcake. I came across this recipe last year when I needed a fluffy almond cake for one of the tiers of my sister's Mad Hatter Tea Party wedding cake. I needed something that would be light and moist but also somewhat sturdy as it was to be formed into a topsy-turvy Mad Hatter's top hat. Cool, right?

Mad Hatter Tea Party wedding cake that I made for my sister's wedding. Photo credit goes to Lauren Mason from  Piccadilly Pictures.

Anyway, I found this as a result of a google search and will never make any other almond cake again! I love it. Now, when you read the ingredients, do not freak out! Are you ready for this? It starts with a....gulp....box mix! I know! So not like me!! However, I went with it because it is so doctored that by the time you're finished you don't even remember that Betty Crocker or Pillsbury helped. (Don't get me wrong...they have a time and a place...I just don't usually use them.) I also used this recipe for the groom's cake (my BIL asked for a vanilla/white chocolate concoction) and just left out the almond extract - also gave a great result! Another key ingredient in this cake is sour cream. I've decided that I just love sour cream in my cakes. If I'm looking for a new cake recipe and one of the options has sour cream in it, chances are I'm gonna pick that one.

White Almond Sour Cream Wedding Cake: (adapted from here)


2 18 oz boxes white cake mix
2 cups AP flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 t salt
2 2/3 cups water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 t vanilla extract
2 t almond extract
2 cups sour cream
8 egg whites

1. Whisk together all dry ingredients in a large* mixing bowl. *If you're using the full recipe, then I mean LARGE. This recipe makes a ton of batter. The full recipe made about 4 doz standard size cupcakes. And, when you're using your countertop convection oven because your regular oven is broken, and can only bake six at a time....well, you can guess how long that took!


2. Add remaining ingredients and beat on medium speed for two minutes. 

3. Pour into prepared liners, tapping to let out air bubbles. Bake at 375 for about 12 minutes or until toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean.