Monday, August 19, 2013

Prepping for Bay's Shower

Last Thursday and Friday were designated to getting ready for Bailey's Shower that we had on Saturday. Trisha, Kendra and I emailed back and forth for over 2 months so that we could discuss all of the details of the big day. We had a lot of fun planning together and everything went off without a hitch. I will post pictures from that day soon but for now I wanted to explain how I made the cake pops and party favors. Bailey is now 37 weeks along and soon she will be the mother to little Harper Lee Johnson! We are already planning our trips to see her once the little one arrives! 


  First I started by making the Strawberry Cake mix (Pillsbury Super Moist Box Mix) and baked it in a 9x13 pan like any other cake. Then I cut the cake in cube pieces and crumbled the cake a little bit to let it cool down. 

Once the cake was completely cooled I added a couple large spoonfuls of cream 
cheese frosting. I used about half of the container of frosting. I figured cream cheese frosting would be delicious with strawberry cake. I also looked on different blogs for tips with cake pops since this was my first time making them. One of the useful tips was to not mix in too much frosting and to add it a little bit of a time so that it was a good consistency for forming balls.  


Then I rolled all 28 balls and froze them overnight. The next day I went to Kendra's to start dipping them. I used vanilla flavored pink almond bark chips from Hobby Lobby. And I ended up using the whole bag of chips. For the dipping technique I used a tall ceramic mug, dipped the sticks first about 1 inch down in the melted almond bark and then put the cake pop on it.


To let the pops dry I stabbed holes in a box lid so that the pops could be upright and not have any flat spots when they cooled. 



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Coffee and Polish Party Favors

Bailey loves coffee but hasn't been able to have any while she is pregnant. That doesn't mean her guests can't enjoy some freshly brewed coffee on the go! I got this idea from a friend at work and it was reasonably priced since. Each reusable cup was $1 and if you use it at Starbucks then you get 10 cents off your order! I also found 97 cent pink NYC nail polish at Target which I was excited about because I had to buy 16 of them and wasn't going to pay $4 a piece for nail polish. 

 I used some whole bean coffee that I already had at home and filled the bottom of the cups with some great smelling beans. I wrapped the nail polish in tissue paper, tied it with ribbon and placed it inside the cups. Then I added a little tag that said "Bailey is "Brewing" up Something Special" to finish off the party favors! 


And they were a hit with the Beautiful Momma to Be!

To see more photos from the shower this weekend follow me on Instagram
@lmd004

6 comments:

  1. What a cute idea for party favors! Also, nice job on the cake pops. I heard those can be quite tricky. Yours look delicious!

    Cute blog!

    XO,
    Catherine
    FEST

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  2. Way to brave making cake pops- they turned out great! I am always so scared to try and make them!

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  3. They were sooo yummy!! You should make some more so we can eat them again :) I can make up something to have a party for if we need an excuse!

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  4. So creative! What a great flavor to use for a summer shower.

    Almond-Crisped Peaches
    Adapted from Ripe: A Cook in the Orchard

    Nigel Slater’s recipe is incredibly simple: almonds, sugar and butter. I came so close to following it exactly, and then couldn’t resist adding 1/4 cup rolled oats, a pinch of cinnamon and a pinch of sea salt, because I love all three so much in crisps. Consider it optional; the recipe works with or without them. Without them, the topping is more butter and brittle-like after baking; with them, it is still buttery and brittle-like, but with a little more of a traditional crisp texture and flavor. Both are magical; the peaches are barely sweet and taste fantastic with a dollop of creme fraiche or softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on top. As for fruit, you could use peaches or nectarines with roughly the same cooking time, or try it with plums or apricots, or all soon, apples and pears. Feel free to try other nuts, too, any kind that you enjoy with baked fruit.

    Slater recommends bakers sugar, which is sold in the U.S. as superfine sugar. I couldn’t resist going in the opposite direction, using coarse raw sugar (turbinado, often sold as Sugar in the Raw here) instead. Regular granulated sugar works as well. I didn’t try it with brown sugar, and suspect it may be delicious, but will not be certain until one of you report back (hint) how it holds up in the long baking time, hopefully not over-browning.

    ~Ashley @ A Cute Angle
    http://acutelifestyle.blogspot.com

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  5. This is such a great idea!!
    As a coffee lover I totally appreciate this detail!

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