DIRECT YOUR ATTENTION TO THE SHOES

I cannot tell you how unbelievably cute this little girl was at my most recent wedding. She is the daughter of the Matron of Honor/Niece of the Bride. Since all the ladies had on red, I suppose Maris wanted to be a part of the Girls Club. It takes a real lady to pull off sequined, red shoes! And she was a sweetheart, too. Ah! You could just kiss her cheeks off!

To see more of Stacy and Michael's wedding, stay tuned for the announcement of the launch of our new website within the next week or so.

Photo Credit: Angela Ammons Photography

MEMPHIS WEDDING: STACY AND MICHAEL ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS

I am really excited and and yet really sad about this week's wedding. Stacy and I have been working together since February and now it is time to hand her over to Michael. I am really looking forward to working with Angela Ammons of Ammons Photography tomorrow. Angela was so gracious as to send me a couple of shots from Stacy and Michael's engagement session. Stay tuned for the wedding recap coming soon!

WHOSE WEDDING CAKE IS IT, ANYWAY II?

Hi! It's me, again. Brooke The Intern. I am continuing my series on wedding cakes. Stay tuned for a few more morsels of information!

While the traditional wedding cake is still the most popular choice, there is a new dessert trying to take its place. Introducing… (drum roll please) the cupcake cake.

It is a great alternative to having a traditional style cake at your wedding. It also makes handing out individual portions to the guests much easier. Do not be scared that this will ruin tradition either. The bride and groom can still slice open a choice cupcake, and shove it in each other’s mouths. The highest cupcake on the stand can still be saved, and eaten on the couple’s first anniversary. Also, it makes the single person’s pillow tradition much easier.

There are many different ways to have a great cupcake cake. You can go the usual route, and use the traditional cupcake, putting them in concentric circles on a cupcake stand.

Or you can go the unique route. You don’t necessarily have to choose the everyday cupcake as your own. There are many different styles of cupcakes in today’s world. They do not even have to have giant amounts of frosting on the top (but who would want that?). To add a nice touch, you can put a single flower on top of each cupcake, or a nice garnish that ties your theme to the cake. There are so many different things you can do with cupcakes. The possibilities are endless!

To get you started, I'm leaving you with a cupcake recipe from Cupcake Fun that is a bit involved, but sounds oh so yummy! Happy Baking!

Do you have a favorite cupcake recipe? If so, share with us!

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted
• 3/4 teaspoon Clear Vanilla Extract
• 1/8 teaspoon Orange Oil
• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Yield: Makes about 12 standard cupcakes.

Directions

1. Preheat oven 350°F, fill muffin pan with baking cups.
2. In mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar.
3. Add eggs, milk, chocolate, vanilla, and orange oil, mixing after each addition.
4. Add flour, baking powder and salt; mix just until blended.
5. Fill each baking liner full.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
7. Cool in pan on cooling rack 8 minutes.
8. Remove cupcakes from pan.
9. Cool completely before icing.

Apricot Filling

Ingredients

• 2 (6 oz.) packages dried apricots
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 teaspoons Grand Marnier (optional)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 - 3/4 cups granulated sugar

Yield: 3 cups of filling.

Directions

1. In small saucepan place apricots and water and allow to stand, covered, 2 hours.
2. Simmer 20 minutes on very low heat, tightly covered or until apricots are soft.
3. Puree along with any remaining liquid in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
4. Add Grand Marnier, lemon juice and sugar, mix with several on-off turns.
5. If desired, for a sweeter filling add more sugar.
6. Fill cupcake.

Ganache

Ingredients

• One 14 oz. Package of Candy Melts®
• 1/2 cup whipping cream

Yield: Makes about 2 cups ganache.

Directions

1. Chop Candy Melts (you can use a food processor).
2. Heat whipping cream in saucepan just to boiling point. DO NOT BOIL.
3. Remove from heat, add chopped Candy Melts, stir until melted and smooth.
4. If mixture is too thick, add 1 to 2 additional tablespoons warm whipping cream.
5. Place cupcake on a cooling grid over drip pan.
6. Pour glaze into center and work out toward edges.

Can be used as filling if allowed to thicken or can be poured on baked goods as glaze.

Special Hints

Change the apricot filling to raspberry or strawberry to recreate your favorite dipped candy flavor

Photo: Pink Cake Box

WHOSE WEDDING CAKE IS IT, ANYWAY?

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Brooke Empting, and this summer I have been given opportunity of interning with Andria. With this position comes the wonderful task of coming up with my own blog series. I love cake. I can't eat cake. So, I write about cake. Today I will be discussing wedding cake traditions, and how they have changed over time.

The wedding cake has been an important part of the wedding celebration since Roman times. At the end of the ceremony, a thin wheat cake, representing bounty, was crumbled over the bride's head to ensure her fertility. Thankfully, the bride no longer ends up with cake on her head, just smashed in her face. One of the cake traditions that has developed over time is the bride and groom feeding the first piece of cake to each other. In most cases, one if not both of them will end up smashing the cake in the other ones face. This taste of the first slice serves as a symbol of the bride and groom's willingness to share a household.

 Another wedding cake tradition is to have the top layer of the cake made out of fruit cake, since it can be kept for long periods of time. This layer is saved and frozen for the bride and groom to eat on their first anniversary. Many couples do this, but it doesn't usually taste very good a year later. But really, who cares? It’s tradition.

Putting a piece of the bride's cake under a single person's pillow is said to lead to "dreams of a future spouse", according to tradition. So, if saving the top layer of the cake is not for you, or you do not want to eat year-old cake, you could have the caterer pack slices in cute little boxes to send home with guests with small paper inserts describing the tradition. The inserts will allow people who are not aware of the tradition, which is probably most people, to understand why they are getting an extra piece of cake.

Now, where's my fork?

Tell me, what are your favorite wedding traditions?

Photo origin unkown

YES, WE ARE STILL HERE PLANNING WEDDINGS IN MEMPHIS!

And, boy, has Memphis kept us busy! We are working on some really great things for you, our wonderful readers. So, please forgive our lack of posting over the last month. Brook The Intern is working on a fun, tasty series for you all that will begin Thursday.