Baby Shower and Bridal Cookies

There is something really special for me when I get to make cookies for a major life event. Cookies are great, but when they are for something like a milestone birthday, bridal shower, wedding, graduation, baby shower, etc., there's just an added "oompf" to them for me.

Last week, I made cookies for my co-worker's daughter's baby shower. I'm sure you can tell from the photos below, they are expecting a little girl. The really neat thing about this for me (because it is ALL about ME! Ha!!) is I also made her bridal shower cookies before she got married 2 years ago. 

The platter included cookies shaped like bibs, onesies, bottles, and baby carriages. This was the first time I used the carriage cookie cutter and I think it added a nice variety to the overall appeal of the final platter. 

From what I hear, the shower was a hit and everyone had a good time. 

As if cookies for one life event wasn't enough, Eric has four (yes FOUR) co-workers who are all going to be brides this summer. Holy wedding season, Batman!!! To celebrate the upcoming weddings, Eric's office had an after-hours happy hour to raise a glass to the brides-to-be. Because I was already making cookies, why not throw in a few bridal gowns in with the onesies and carriages??

The beauty of bridal gown cookies is there is typically no need to mix color into my royal icing! I did add some pink embellishments on a few of the dresses, simply because I already had the pink from the baby cookies. Talk about the stars lining up!! Eric divvied up the cookies (two per bride), put them in corsage bags, and tied each bag with ribbon. Edible and pretty. Win-win! :)  

 

Recent Baking Exploits

It is funny how baking requests seem to come in waves. Recently, we were asked to help with two different baking projects for the same day: a friend's 50th bday party and a baby shower for my sister's co-worker.

 My husband is a VERY talented man (duh!) and, once again, showed his skill working with fondant and a smattering of random pointy tools. I cannot even begin to understand how he so easily and beautifully takes a lump of fondant and makes a person... or an animal... or whatever else someone requests for the top of a cake. Bravo, hon!!

Jim (Elaine's husband) asked us to make the cake and gave us free license for the design. He sent over a couple of options that caught his eye (over the hill stuff) and so we used that as inspiration for Elaine's birthday cake. In our opinion, she is anything but over the hill, so made a happy, flower-covered hill. Two unknowns were big parts of the cake... would the fondant figure successfully stand (she did!) and would the cookie cutters cooperate when I cut out the fondant letters (they did!). WHEW!

My sister's co-worker is fairly new to the area and is expecting her first baby soon. To celebrate the baby's upcoming arrival, the people at work decided to throw her a baby shower. Once the planning process started, Suzanne asked if I'd make sugar cookies for the party. Umm... YES!! I love making cookies and for a baby? EVEN BETTER!

The desserts from both parties were met with rave reviews. So glad everyone enjoyed themselves and we had a hand in their eventual sugar rushes!

Recent Baking

I've had a bunch of recent baking requests, all of which I was MORE than happy to fulfill.

In October, I was asked to make a birthday cake for a family friend who was about to celebrate her 99th birthday. How could I possibly say no to that?!?!? Mrs. Young (my mom's friend who ordered the cake) wanted a BIG cake with bright colors. Each tier is comprised of 4 cakes and the tiers are 14", 10" and 6" cakes. The bottom tier was white cake with homemade lemon curd filling. The middle tier was chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling. The top tier (aka the temporary bane of my existence until I re-made the original square cake and made a round tier instead) was white cake with creamy lemon curd (aka lemon curd and buttercream frosting mixed together). The top tier (although you can't really tell in this photo) is quilted and has silver dragees at each line intersection. This cake would easily feed 200-250 people and was too heavy for one person to carry ... quite possibly, it is the largest cake I've made to date.

The same weekend was a baby shower for my best friend's sister. Their family is beyond amazing and I cherish them like no other. So, when Kate asked if I'd made cookies for Aileen's shower, there was no way I was going to say anything but a resounding "OF COURSE!" Aileen is expecting a baby boy any day now, so to celebrate I made lots of little boy onesie cookies and some bottle cookies. I think the green onesie with the sailboat is my favorite of the lot.

Last but not least, this weekend, I made a cake for the NISSA (NW Infant Survival and SIDS Association) auction. Aileen (same as above) asked if I'd make something for this year's auction. I think I've donated a dessert to the auction for (I think) 6 of the past 7 years. This year's auction theme was "Courage and Hope", which sort of stumped me until my friend Kate (God bless her for so many reasons) suggested that I use the auction's logo as inspiration. Once that idea was in my head, the rest took shape. Annika and I delivered the cake Saturday morning; Annika had a great time helping me place the stars. She's such an adorable pastry chef in the making! The cake was two tiers, each made up of three white cakes with marionberry filling. The bottom tier was 10" cakes and the top tier was 8" cakes.