Karli's baby shower!

Hot Cookie Karli is so prego! Karli and Travis's first little one will be arriving in late August. To celebrate this momentous occasion, Handicrafter Aubrey of Backwoods Belle, and I threw a vibrant baby shower. Here's what was served and gobbled up:

Electric cupcakes! It's Martha's Devil's Food Cupcake with this no fail icing. I found that the icing needed more cream. I just kept adding - slowly - until I found the desired consistency and taste.

Aubrey rocked out the decorations. I'm sad that I didn't get a photo of her banner. :(

The Spread:

Caprese style marinated mozzarella and tomatoes adapted from this recipe. I used whole cherry tomatoes and a lot of chopped basil. Tossed all of the ingredients into a zip-top bag and let the flavors muddle for a day.

Turkey tea-sandwiches with a special cream cheese spread adapted from Ina Garten. I just combined 8oz. of cream cheese, 1/4 cup of fresh basil, 1/4 cup of caramelized onions, 1/4 cup of dried cranberries, and salt and pepper to taste - whipped together in a food processor and spread on artisan bread.

Chocolate covered strawberries and buttermilk biscuits with jam and honey butter. Be sure to use unsalted butter or cut the salt down by half for the biscuits. They were a touch too salty, but I heard no complaints.

Sea salt chocolate chip cookies from the chocolate genius, Jacques Torres.

And I pulled a super sweet mocktail out of the blue. It was a blueberry limenade made with 50 fl. oz. of sparkling, unsweetened blueberry juice (found at Trader Joe's), 1 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice, 1 cup of sugar (I used turbenado sugar), a handful of fresh mint, and a load of ice. This one got rave reviews.

The party was super fun to plan. Congrats, Karli and Travis!!!

Dad's Birthday Present - Chocolate Stout Cake

I think I made Dad a beer-infused cake last year, but it wasn't as fantastic as this one. Holy crap, this cake. It contains three of Dad's favorite vices: chocolate, beer, and coffee. A somewhat unusual combination, especially when some pumpkin spice is tossed in. (That one's mine. You get that tip for free. You're welcome.)
The yolks get tossed in after the beer. Three quarters of a cup of beer! Two thirds a cup of coffee! What intense flavors! The stout I used was Old Rasputin. It was purely a packaging impulse buy. I know absolutely nothing about beer, never touch the stuff. I do love the label on this bottle, so it came home with me.

Whipping up egg whites is always an adventure for me - a guessing game. Am I whipping to the correct "peak"? This recipe called for the whites to be beaten to stiff peaks, but not whipped too dry. (I didn't know that you could whip them dry. I'll have to do it sometime to see - on purpose. I would never over whip eggs. Pfft!)

And now to fold the eggs into the batter. This requires patience. Don't get too antsy or you will crush the precious whites that you spent the time to fluff up.

The beauties just out of the oven. Cool off time begins.

This ugly mess turned into the absolutely delectable icing. Ingredients: chocolate, heavy cream, a pinch or two of instant coffee. Heat. Stir. Chill. Done. Easy.

First layer down. Notice the slips of wax paper below the cake. A trick I picked up from my Food Network watching days. No other channel existed. It's pretty much the same now, too.

Second layer down, mounded with icing. Be generous so that the icing flows and clings to the sides. My icing turned out a bit lumpy because I was impatient. I was supposed to heat the cream in a sauce pan then pour the hot cream over the chocolate, but I just dumped the two in a microwave safe bowl and went with it. Not the best visual results.

Finished lumpily-iced cake.

Ahhh. Look at it. It doesn't look as good as Bon Appetit's photo, but I'm not a food stylist. I'm a food maker and eater. To the left of this fancy cake is some fancy gelato. An exotic gelato found on another wonderful blog: The Traveler's Lunchbox - Strawberry Balsamic Gelato. If you ever think about making your own frozen confection, make this. You will NOT be disappointed. The recipe gives you the option of using 2 or 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Use three. Trust me on this. Three. The next time I make it, I think I will toss in some fresh basil. Interesting, intriguing. We shall see!