Congratulations Crystal and Joel!

Before I get into the oh so anticipated pictures and details of this past weekend's wedding adventure I want to announce that today my doctor officially announced that I will NOT need bone grafting and that my bones are finally beginning to heal! Whoo!

Now back to the serious stuff....

This past weekend my good friend Crystal married the loudest, most talkative, amazing man, Joel Armstrong! I was excited when Crystal asked me to be a bridesmaid, but I was thrilled when she asked me to make their cakes! Now, I knew that this combination of responsibilities would be a bit tricky, but I was ready for the challenge.

Sine the wedding was taking place about 150 miles from where I live (and bake) I knew that I was going to have to make the cakes a few days prior to the wedding, and compromise freshness for mere attendance. Kind of important I guess.

Crystal and Joel are not about tradition (which I love), so she opted for 3 small wedding cakes (all strawberry) on stands, and 2 varieties of cupcakes (carrot and mint chocolate) for the groom's cake. I happen to love all of these flavors, and had a marvelous time "testing" them. :)

Let me just tell you something: transporting cakes is one of the most stressful jobs EVER!!! The combination of sugar overload, sleep deprivation, and driving 3 cakes and 200 cupcakes 150 miles does not do good things for your complexion. This is why God allowed man to invent concealer! Anyhow... there I am attempting to convert the car into a refrigerator by blasting the AC on 60F, bundled in a sweatshirt while the outside world melts under the 110F Texas sun. I am happy to report that there were no pastry casualties other than a bit of shifting between layers....enough to make the cakes less than perfectly even, but not enough for me to stress over.

The wedding was beautiful, and I was pretty happy with how everything turned out. This was my first real wedding, and I must admit that I was proud of myself. Everyone was very complimentary of the moistness and flavor, and there was even enough left over for me to take a few cupcakes home to share. And, I only had to ice my arms down for 2 days after this...not so bad. :)

Now, only if all brides were as laid back and carefree as Crystal....

Mint Chocolate goodness

Tori was a great assistant!

Why yes, I do get this dressed up for all of my catering jobs

Uuuh... Sure, that looks great...



Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong!!

**Monday Muffin Stops**

Obviously I haven't been back since last Monday, but at least I'm consistent right?! Actually I have been very busy catering my first real wedding! It was amazing, but I will tell you more in a later post. Until then.....

let's talk gluten free! Now, take those yucky faces back because this blog has the most amazingly delicious gluten free recipes around the blogosphere! I had the pleasure of working with Sophie at Key Ingredient, and she is actually the one who introduced me to the blogging world. She is one of the most creative foodies around, and always has beautiful pictures.... too pretty to eat?? NEVER!

Sophie's blog, Flour Arrangements (isn't that a cute name?!), is now exclusively gluten free, but you would never have guessed from the recipes that she posts! Pizzas, pies, cookies, cakes, brownies, pancakes, cinnamon rolls, and a host of other delicious dishes! Who would have thought such a restricting diet could taste so amazing?! The culinary market has really begun to cater to gluten free diets, and Sophie has taken full advantage!

If you are or know someone who is on a gluten free diet Flour Arrangements is your go-to recipe source! Even if you aren't gluten free be sure to dig through Sophie's archives to find some other amazing non-gluten free recipes....or try some of her newer one's out. Who knows....maybe this whole gluten free thing isn't so bad!

Thanks Sophie!! Happy baking everyone!

**Monday Muffin Stops**

Alright....I'm introducing a brand new weekly feature!! MONDAY MUFFIN STOPS! These posts will be dedicated to featuring the blogs I love and have been inspired by. I'm really hoping not to let you down since I am not too religious about posting. We'll just take this one week at a time and see what happens.....





Our first Muffin Stop will be a one of the most creative wedding blogs I have come across yet: Snippet & Ink: Daily Wedding Inspiration. I began reading S&I after my friend Emilie told me to check it out. She knows how much I love looking for new ideas for wedding cakes and displays, and this blog is a wealth of creativity and innovation! I have spent so much time combing Snippet & Ink since my youngest sister became engaged, looking for ideas to make her wedding original and unique. I must admit that I was a bit hesitant to share this blog with you. It is one of those jewels that you want to hold closely and keep to yourself, but it is simply too amazing to not share! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger.... Or At Least More Creative!

Hello All! I want you to be the first to know that the kitchen is officially back open! The Muffin Top is back in business!!

I took on my first few jobs 2 weekends ago (I didn't want to post about it until I had pictures). I cannot tell you how good it felt to be working in the kitchen again. I have fallen slightly out of my groove, but I know I'll have it back soon enough. I have been collecting kitchen supplies and equipment for a while, and was so excited to put everything together in one room! I'll have to post later about my new kitchen/baking room.

Anyhow... I wasn't really planning on taking on jobs right now considering my arms are still broken and not healing very quickly, but a good friend asked me to do cupcakes for a baby shower she was hosting. I was a bit hesitant, but couldn't say no. A few days later a friend from church asked me to do a simple cake for a wedding shower she was hosting. Very soon after my mother announced that she was hosting a bridal shower as well, and needed me to do the desserts. Not only did I agree to take on all 3 jobs, but they all happened to be on the same weekend! Start slow, take it easy??? Not me!

I will confess that these 3 seemingly easy jobs were a lot harder to take on than I thought. Maybe they would have been easy 3 months ago, but with broken arms it was a bit of a challenge. I had to call Paige over a few times to help me lift things and scrape out the large (20qt.) mixing bowl. I felt bad pulling her away from what she was doing, so I had to get a little creative with moving things around and working with the heavy things. Let's just say I am glad I was working alone because anyone else there would have laughed at me trying to carry a mixing bowl with my legs or pushing the table with my hips. Who knew baking could be such a aerobic experience! By the time I was finished with all 3 projects my arms were pretty sore and swollen; I had to ice them for a few days afterward :( .

I am absolutely my toughest critic (although Nathan is pretty critical as well), but considering the circumstances I was pretty pleased with how everything turned out! Everyone was very complimentary. I can't wait to start taking on more work and getting back into a routine!




For the first bridal shower I made a yellow butter cake with vanilla bean custard filling and an American buttercream frosting. The bride's colors are yellow and silver, and she loves sunflowers, so I did a basic white frosting with fondant sunflowers cascading down the side set on top of a silver base.






The baby shower cupcakes were my favorite! My friends Missy and Lynsey are extremely creative, so I knew they would go all out for this shower, especially since it was for the "oh so creative" Holly Mathis! It was the cutest baby shower I have ever been to! Go check out their blogs to see more pics of the shower decor!! The theme was "Nesting" and the colors were baby blue and brown. I made lemon and blueberry marbled cupcakes with a blueberry ginger filling and a Swiss lemon buttercream. The cupcakes were decorated with blue and brown frosting with white chocolate birds, pearls, and little "H"s made from gum paste. Of course I had to play up the nesting theme, so I displayed several of the cupcakes in little nests and set the others on cake stands. If really turned out pretty cute! These pictures are compliments of the talented Lysney Kramer!






I really enjoyed doing the desserts for the bridal shower my mom hosted. Instead of the traditional cake, she opted for tangy lemon tartlettes and strawberry French macaroons...yum! I wasn't able to attend the shower, but my mom said everyone loved the desserts and were very impressed. Nice!

The only project I have coming up is a wedding and groom's cake for my friend Crystal on July 25th. I am a bridesmaid as well, so I will be posting updates on the progress soon since I will have to work on quite a bit of it ahead of time. Until then.....Happy Baking!

Happy 4th of July Ya'll!!!

I usually don't do anything for the 4th (*gasp!*...so unpatriotic I know!). The past few years I think I had to work and was honestly too tired to do much afterward. The city of Brenham is pretty much dead on the 4th, but the surrounding little towns are bursting with activity! There were several parades to choose from, but we settled on going to the one in Round Top. I think this was the first parade I've actually ever enjoyed! Lots of crazy cars, floats, costumes, and tons of mardi gras beads! (no flashing required) It was quirky, odd, country, some slightly inappropriate.... I loved it! We will definitely be going back next year.... we may have started a new tradition!













Later tonight we are going to check out the fireworks at Washington on the Brazos. I haven't been since I was a kid, but I hear it is amazing! I can't wait!

Happy 4th of July Ya'll!!

Etsy!!

I am slowly becoming more and more obsessed with Etsy. At first I just liked to poke around on the site, flip through various vendor listings, and become increasingly more envious of their amazing talent and creativity! Now, I find myself spending waaaaay too much time bookmarking and adding sellers to my favorites! I can't help myself, this stuff is just too cool!!

Here are a few of my favorite vendors:

**Post Road Vintage**

**Parsimony**

**sfgirlbybay**

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