Mary Lindsey's Wedding Cake

Mary Lindsey is MARRIED!!!!

Mary Lindsey and I have been friends since we were little girls at Highlands Presbyterian Church.  We went through many VBS's, RYM trips, church lock ins, and so many other events together.  She is a beloved friend, and I was absolutely THRILLED and honored when she asked me to her wedding cake (and groom's cake!!). 

Mary Lindsey and Troy ordered the bobble heads for the wedding cake topper which turned out to be adorable.

For the cake she gave me some pictures that she liked and said that she wanted it to be pretty simple.   The product was a 4 tiered lemon almond cake with grooved, lined sides, and a smooth top.  The icing is a cream cheese icing inspired by Rose Levy Beranbaum, though I added my own touch as well. Mine is much sweeter (we are Southerners!!) and more fluffy.

I made an extra cake top tier for Mary Lindsey so that they could serve the entire cake at the wedding. I told the server that she was allowed to cut the top tier since we had an extra, but I swear she thought I was crazy.   I don't think she believed that I actually made the wedding cake.  In the end though, I believe the whole cake was gone.

The evening was enchanting. I am so happy for Mary Lindsey and Troy and wish them a life time of happiness!!

Troy's Groom's Cake

I hope everyone like's chocolate.

This groom's cake was for Troy Jackson, the groom of one of my childhood friends Mary Lindsey.  Troy and Mary Lindsay are both Jackson, Mississippi natives so the Mississippi shaped groom's cake was perfect!

This cake is a three tier, dark chocolate cake with a raspberry ganache icing.  I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but the cake was HUGE.  Getting it to the venue was quite the experience and took multiple helpers (I'm so thankful for my friends and family who helped out!!).

I also made the bride's cake so stay tuned for a post about that cake and sweet Mary Lindsey! 

Blueberry Pie

My roommate Katherine recently came home with the largest box of blueberries that I've ever seen from the farmer's market. We still had a box of blueberries in the refrigerator, so she said to use them up however we wanted to. Of course my mind immediately goes into action... cake, cobbler, pie?

The final decision was a nice summer blueberry pie.  I was going to go to the grocery store to pick up a Pillsbury pie crust for the sake of simplicity, but I am currently on a budget so I decided to open up the pantry and put in a few more minutes of work.  The Mississippi humidity is always a little intimidating when making pastry but I decided to give it a go nonetheless.

The result was fantastic.  I took it to my parent's house for father's day and the pie was gone within 15 minutes.  I had several people say it was the best blueberry pie they've ever had so I'm counting it as a success.

Brooke's first birthday

The cake for the adults above

The smash cake for Brooke below

My baby niece Brooke turned one several weeks ago!!  It was interesting for all of us to see a very practical demonstration of how different parenting is for a third child than for a first child.
When Jane Bradley turned 1, the whole world knew about it.  Lacey hand delivered invitations to her friends that were inside rubber duckies.  There were rubber duckies in the pool and hanging from the trees and just about anywhere else you could think of.  Lacey didn't miss a beat in making sure that it was the party of the century (aside from her wedding of course).

But about 6 years later Brooke came along as the third child.  This time the party was more intimate.  People didn't get rubber ducky invitations but the house was filled with laughter of kids from the neighborhood and family who gathered to celebrate Brooke.  It was a really sweet day-- even sweeter for Brooke when she discovered how much cake she could eat!

100/99: Golden Dream Wedding Cake

 

The photo shows Kay on her wedding night on the left with my modernized replica on the right

This cake is exciting for several reasons:

1. This cake marks the 50th anniversary of our dear friends Les and Kay.  Les had called me several months in advance to book the cake for the event.  After having discussions with family over what type of cake to make, I  received a photo of their original cake from their daughter and set out to replicate it.

2. It means that I have exceeded the original number of Rose's cakes that I committed to making. Granted this cake was not made within the same year of the other 99 but I certainly feel like a disciple of Rose.  When you make 100 of someone's recipes, it shows commitment. 

99/99: Bernachon Palet d'Or Gâteau

Ninety nine cakes in three hundred and sixty five days. And it's done.

General thoughts about the moment:

My feet hurt and my arms are covered in chocolate.

What on earth am I going to do with all of these cake pans and plates?

And then there's the big question that I've been asked 99 times this week: What's next?

98/99: Torta de las Tres Leches

 

I've never had torta de las tres leches before but I've heard that its incredible.  There's a lady in my church who asked me months ago about it and ever since then I've been waiting to try this cake.

97/99: Le Succés

This one was definitely not a success right away.

The cake itself was easy.  I don't even know if I would call it a cake.  To me it was more like a meringue cookie or something. 

96/99: Marionberry Shortcake

I've never heard of a marionberry before.  I went to good ole' Kroger with Marionberry on my list and didn't even ask the grocer what it was. I guarantee you that 99 out of 100 people in Jackson, Miss won't know what a marionberry is.

Well friends, I just looked. Apparently its a type of blackberry.  I don't know why Rose couldn't just say blackberry. Wikipedia deems the Marionberry "the Cabernet of blackberries."  I'm not really sure what that's supposed to mean either though. Cabernet is just another type of grape used when making wine. As far as I know, its not any better than a merlot grape. Maybe this is where I start sounding like I'm from Mississippi?

Nevertheless, I went for the raspberries- easy and classic.

95/99: True Orange Génoise

 

I've actually been dreading this cake because orange cake is not exciting to me. But this one may surprise me- these cakes often do.

I've actually tried to make this cake twice before.  I bought the oranges about 2 weeks ago and never got around to it.  The oranges went bad and that was the end of that.  Then I tried this weekend but my plans of baking got interrupted by the trampoline. 

So now, I've finally completed this cake once and for all!