B-52 Cake Recipe

January 27th, 2012

You’ll probably recognize this cake as the cover shot of my second cookbook, Evil Cake Overlord.

It was actually a last minute substitution for the original photo we’d planned for the cover… while our “Citrus Splendor” cake is gorgeous – and super delicious! – it just lacked the “ominous” and “evil!” look I was aiming for, for this cover.

B052 cake, on the other hand, did NOT disappoint. Look at these photos. That cake is leering at you, just daring you to make it!

B-52 cake was a favorite from my cake flavors menu back in the day, and was actually a fairly popular choice for wedding and groom cakes. It’s something that anyone can make, but it definitely involves a bit more time, effort, and dirty dishes than many of the other cake recipes on this blog, and in Evil Cake Overlord.

B52 Cake

The ambitious will be rewarded for their efforts though – this cake is stunning both to the eyes AND the mouth! Alternating layers of blood orange and mocha cake are filled with alternating layers of Irish cream buttercream and Blood Orange chocolate truffle ganache!

Give it a go… and be sure to send us pictures!

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Adults Only! (Boozy), Cakes & Cupcakes, Desserts, Recipes, Spirited Baking, Spirited Living | No Comments »

Wedding Trends: Not Quite What You May Think

January 25th, 2012

Fell out of bed this morning, checked my email – and there was a brightly colored bit from an industry publication.

Now, I may not be directly in the wedding industry anymore, but I’m still on a lot of mailing lists – too lazy to get myself removed. Plus, sometimes there are nuggets of entertainment in there. The wedding industry, when watched as a former member, is probably something akin to the sleeziest reality show out there. You know it’s gross, lowest-common-denominator at times, and that a lot of the characters are just loathesome… but it appeals to some twisted voyeuristic (schadenfreude?) section of the brain. I do enjoy when friends behind those “enemy lines” keep me up to date on the current gossip in the local industry, LOL.

Anyway.

This particular publication was loudly declaring that “vintage big-top circus” is going to be HUGE as a wedding theme this year. I wish I could include the photo that’s attached to the article, but I’d rather not get DMCA’d over it. Let me describe: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Celebrations, Decor, Rants, Weddings | 1 Comment »

Massive Post of Super Bowl Party Food Inspiration!

January 24th, 2012

This time of year kind of stings a bit, this time around.

My third cookbook should have been coming out right about now… but it was backburnered when we were hit by the tornado just over 8 months ago. Given that I still don’t have a functional kitchen (1 week to go!)… it was a good decision.

Anyway, given the subject matter of the book – greasy, cheesy, deep fried, baconny “Guy Food”… all of this talk about Superbowl Party food has me a little sad for what could have been, you know? Ah well.. next year!

I’m not one to wallow, so I went through all of my past blog posts and culled the absolute best recipes for sporting event parties – all linked here (click on the photos)! Appetizers, Main Dishes, and Sweet Treats.

Hope you all find some great inspiration here, and have a fun party!

PS: Be sure to take a photo of anything that you make from our recipes, and post it to our Facebook page! We love seeing what you come up with!

Now, on to the recipes… Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Celebrations, Entertaining Ideas, Sports Parties | No Comments »

Free Crochet Pattern – “1 Up” Mushroom Baby Hat

January 23rd, 2012

Still without an at-all functional kitchen (not so much as a sink hooked up, at this point!), let’s go for something completely different today!

This weekend marked a first for me – attending a baby shower. I tend to meet friends after they’ve finished spawning, and my younger friends tend to be happily childfree. The opportunity to attend such a shindig just hasn’t come around.

Not that I really minded, btw. From what I’ve heard (Games involving melting chocolate bars into diapers and “identifying the poopie”, for instance)… they sound sort of horrible. I’m not a huge fan of anklebiters in general (though I’m sure yours are awesome, dear readers!), and I’m not the type whose uterus shudders with delight at the idea of teeny tiny socks.

Yep, sometimes I just fail at being a girl! Haha!

Jenni, however, is awesome. Awesome person (I mean, she’s a librarian… I’ve yet to meet a less-than-awesome one of THOSE), total geek… one of the very first friends I met through Convergence. Love her!

Still, I was super stressed out about attending. After looking up her registry, the idea of shopping at “Babies R Us” terrified me. I don’t know what ANY of that stuff was for, but it mostly looked… tremendously unsettling. LOL. Yep, I was gonna have to wing it, and make something. Besides, making something meant no risk of duplication of gifts, right? :)

In honor of the geeked-out beginning of our friendship (and the guest list for the shower!), I decided that I would crochet some baby hats based on “random fandom” – 4 hats in total. This one – for a Super Mario Brothers inspired baby beret – was my favorite of the lot. I’d like to show you how I made it! Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Baby Showers, Celebrations, Crafts, Geeks Celebrate, Gift Ideas, The Geek Life | No Comments »

« Older Entries