Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Vintage Bridal Shower: The Cakes

So today at last I'll finish up my posts on the Vintage Bridal Shower with a talk about the food.  I've said before how much I adore tall layered cakes - there's something so decadent, fun, and kind-of vintage about them - they always make me think of the cakes at the Fair in Pollyanna.



So I knew I wanted to do three big cakes: Pink Strawberry, Kahlua Icebox, and Coconut.   It's ridiculous I don't have a better picture of all three of them together than this.



The Pink Strawberry was the most fun for me.  Pink is my favorite color for life.


 WHAT I DID
1. Made 1 Pillsbury Strawberry Cake Mix
2. Made 1 Pillsbury White Cake Mix and added a little red dye (this was the lighter pink of the two)
3. Doubled a recipe of Basic Butter Cream (so yes, I used 4 sticks of butter ;) Can't have enough icing in my book.  It is so good.

Basic Butter Cream - Yum
1 cup (2 sticks) butter (room temperature)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1b. 10X powdered sugar
1-3 teaspoons milk, half and half or cream
 




Kahlua Icebox Cake.  I've posted about this favorite before.



WHAT I DID:
1. Made 2 Boxes of Pillsbury Yellow Cake Mix in 8" pans, but only used 3 of the cakes
2. Slice Cakes in Half using this method or serrated knife - making for a total of six layers (again, ridiculous I don't have picture of the inside - the six layers looked so fun)
3. For Frosting: Whip two pints of whipping cream - whip in about 1/2 cup dry Nestle Quick and fold in Kahlua to taste.
4. Chill for at least 3 hours - the longer the better. 

 


The Coconut Cake.  This is the only cake where I didn't cheat and use a box.  Box mix coconut cake is against the rules, pretty sure.


WHAT I DID
1. Made cake using Barefoot Contessa's recipe in this book, doubling the recipe, but again only using three of the four layers (freeze the forth for a treat later!)
2. Instead of her coconut cream cheese frosting that I don't like very much I used a great one Sister got from Emeril.  Unfortunately I didn't exactly measure the powdered sugar and didn't use enough so it turned out too runny - see the frosting puddling?  Don't let this happen to you! : )

Emeril's Coconut Frosting
2  sticks butter at room temp
8 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup Cruzan coconut rum or coconut milk
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
flaked Sweetened Coconut to sprinkle on top
(no need to double this recipe - it makes loads)


For drinks, I bought 1/2 pint size mason jars at Wal-Marts (12 for about $7) and filled half of them with Pink Lemonade mixed up with sparkling water and the rest with milk. 
Now I'm using these jars as glasses for my little people - love this size.


I got these pink stripey straws off Amazon, and just had to cut them down to scale a little.


And that's that.  It was so much fun...especially the left-overs. ; )


7 comments:

  1. So soft and so pretty! I am a HUGE coconut fan, but all of them look delicious.

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  2. this is so lovely. i just might copy you. i'm throwing a bridal shower pin a few weeks.

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  3. ahhh! Cailan, you make things look SO pretty!!! Love it ALL.

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  4. I love those straws.
    Suddenly I'm 6 again.

    The cakes are fabulous.
    The textures and colors are a real treat.

    Thanks for sharing them with us!

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  5. Everything looks so gorgeous-especially the cakes! I love all the sweet details. 100% girly and I love it.

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