The ever so pretty and cute and adorable cake balls made them with Tiffany blue icing. These make a good wedding dessert or finger food. I used the magnolia bakery red velvet cake recipe for the cake and colored white chocolate compound with Tiffany blue food color for the coating. I’m absolutely sure that this kind of blue, white and chocolate are the cutest colors for wedding. And if not, its just inspiration for you to come up with your own color palette!
RED VELVET CAKE BALLS
cake recipe adapted from Magnolia Bakery Cookbook
3 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 ½ cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
6 tbsp red food coloring
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 batch Creamy Vanilla Frosting (see below)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and lightly flour 2 cupcake pans (24 cupcakes).
To make the batter: In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.
In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.
Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Arrange the oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and bake the cupcakes, switching positions of the pans halfway through baking, until a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the pan 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a rack.
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
recipe adapted from Martha Stewart
16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and brought to room temperature
2 pounds confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Beat cream cheese and vanilla with a mixer on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add butter, beating until incorporated after each addition.
Reduce speed to low. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar, and beat until fluffy and smooth. Frosting can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days; bring to room temperature and stir well before using.
MAKE THE CAKE BALLS
Crumble the red velvet cake up into a large bowl. Add the cream cheese frosting and mix the cake and frosting together with your fingers. Roll the cake and frosting mixture into small bite sized balls. Heat up the candy coating a double boiler. Use a wooden skewer to dip the cake balls into the melted candy coating. Repeat this step for each of the red velvet cake balls. Let the cake balls dry completely on wax paper or chill in refrigerator.
This is what I’ve been living off of for the past week. I bought two at the farmer’s market, and four days later these suckers are just starting to wane. Reed avocados, especially this massive cannonball varietal, have officially eclipsed Hass as mi aguacate numero uno. The flavor is nutty and, for a lack of a better word, avocado-y; the texture is firm and smooth, never mushy; and the best part: they don’t oxidize. Well, I should say they don’t oxidize quickly. Sure, they’ll brown if you stick in hot direct sunlight for an hour, but there isn’t the constant vigilance required with Hass avocados even after you’ve covered them in lemon juice. Easy to slice, perfect to snack on, and sturdy in salads, it’s the perfect avocado.
This is my everything. Breakfast, lunch, snack, I’m bored so I’ll eat, dinner, whatever the reason, this tartine is instant gratification. The warm, crunchy wheat toast, which has just a hint of sweetness, is the perfect textural counterpoint to the avocado, while the Tapatio’s punch of vinegar and spice brightens the whole thing up. Enjoy!
Avacado Toast
1/4 reed avocado, sliced
Tapatio (or tobasco)
Olive Oil
Wheat Bread
Toast the wheat bread, cover with avocado. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on top, plus a little olive oil and hot sauce. Eat, enjoy, repeat.
Dujour girls are not one to show off too much skin, well, unless of course its either a super hot Australian summer day or we’re in one of those dreams we have with any of the Gossip Girl hotties. But enough about fleeting fantasies, and on to what you should be wearing for that long awaited wedding night! La Lilouche creates a stunning luxury lingerie line that any girly girl would want to wear for flirtatiously enticing her beau! Aren’t you inspired by the chic and couture look?! We can just feel the silk, satin, and Chantilly lace used in their Fall collection against our skin now… *sigh*
As you probably know, its Wedding Week here on Dujour, and I could not be more excited! I’ve been married for over a year myself, but I still love looking through wedding blogs for inspiration. And as a DIY bride, I really enjoy seeing the way other brides tackle unique touches and memorable wedding projects.
So, here are a few of my favorite DIY wedding details, with a slightly vintage vibe…
To celebrate all the love in the air, this whole week is Wedding Week on the Dujour Blog! What are some of your ideas, tips, and inspirations for wedding planning? We want to hear all about it. Leave comments on any of the posts this week for a chance to score a lovely gift card to some of our fave wedding shops!
Surely we all have seen plenty of Alice in Wonderland-inspired photo shoots by now, with even Brits jumping on the bandwagon, mustering up window displays at Harrods and an out-of-this-world pop up shop at Selfridges. But we still cannot get enough, and this lovely photo soot coordinated by the uber talented Christina at Simply Modern Weddings is no exception. We love the combination of soft and bold colors! FYI, this does NOT help with our obsession for planning imaginary weddings with Mr. Don Draper from Mad Men. But a girl can dream…
Fun Inspired Ideas:
-Choose a vast woodsy area as your location with references all around like playing cards creating a pathway for guests to follow
-Concoct a crazy yet adorable floating teacup structure which has the feel of a moss covered tree with floral teacups for branches
-Paint real mushrooms pink and purple for the base of the floral tree
-Scour antique shops and thrift stores for worn books perfect as table decor that add that extra touch of whimsy and nostalgia
To celebrate all the love in the air, this whole week is Wedding Week on the Dujour Blog! What are some of your ideas, tips, and inspirations for wedding planning? We want to hear all about it. Leave comments on any of the posts this week for a chance to score a lovely gift card to some of our fave wedding shops!
Love is definitely in the air this season; even some of our own Dujour girls and editors are getting married! And who doesn’t dream of a pink wedding? Pink on pink in the palest subtle shades of blush, a rose never smelled so sweet…these palest of pale pink confections are 100% silk chiffon over layers of silk charmeuse, and made by hand and available at Claire la Faye. Now this is a wedding we would attend!
Don’t you just want to bake cookies, cookies, and cookies few weeks before the holiday? Although sometime pie baking could be really tempting. But baking cookies at this time of the year is pure pleasure. First, you want to do the bake tests, of course you don’t want to serve or give your friends and family a bad batch of cookies. Second, you can choose which cookie is the best…the best of all cookies. And third, you just want to spoil yourself with cookies and cookies and more cookies. These linzer cookies are a big holiday cookie. They are crumbly, nutty and buttery. And for more idea to make this holiday cookie even more holiday-ish, you can use different cookie cutters like stars, snowflakes or tree. And use different jam fillings like apricot, raspberry, cherry, marmalade, so you can have colorful linzer cookies.
LINZER COOKIES WITH BLUEBERRY FILLING
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup whole almond, toasted
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup blueberry jam, strained
Method:
1. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl; set aside. Pulse almonds, confectioners’ sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a food processor until finely ground (but not wet); transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
2. Add butter and granulated sugar; mix on medium speed until fluffy. Mix in vanilla and egg. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until combined. Halve dough; shape into disks. Wrap in plastic; refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thick. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Cut out squares with a round cutter. Cut out centers of half the squares with a 1/2-inch heart cutter; reroll scraps. Space 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake rounds and hearts until pale golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to racks to cool.
4. Meanwhile, heat jam in a small saucepan over medium heat until reduced and thickened, about 7 minutes; let cool.
5. Sprinkle cutout cookies with confectioners’ sugar. Spread jam onto uncut squares; top with cutout ones. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days.
Love is definitely in the air this season; even some of our own Dujour girls and editors are getting married! And who doesn’t dream of a pink wedding? Pink on pink in the palest subtle shades of blush, a rose never smelled so sweet…these palest of pale pink confections are 100% silk chiffon over layers of silk charmeuse, and made by hand and available at 
