It's been a busy couple of weeks!

Bridal Shower - Brunch & Bubbly

The last few weeks have been extremely busy, so I haven't had a chance to write a post in awhile.  This last week, I was preparing to host my sister's bridal shower at my house, and amongst other things (like cleaning, shopping, etc.), I started planning her bridal shower cake.  After some thought about flavors, layers, tiers, etc., this is what I drew up:

It's always fun to sit and imagine what you want a cake to look like.  Luckily, with the help of the Internet, Pinterest, Instagram, etc., ideas are endless.  After some brainstorming, I knew that I wanted to make a two tiered cake, and since there were going to be kids at the shower, I wanted them to have a fun and special cake, and for the adults to have a fun cake for them too, so I decided on a vanilla rainbow cake for the kids and a pink champagne cake for the adults, which was perfect for the shower theme of "Brunch & Bubbly".  I also wanted to have both a pink tier and a white tier, to go along with some of my sister's wedding colors, so this cake design was going to be perfect for her special day. 

The shower was on a Saturday, so the day before, I started baking.  This is always the longest process especially in gluten free baking.  From mixing my own flours (rather than just using an all purpose flour), to beating egg whites to make the cakes extra light and fluffy, to making a pink champagne reduction for the cake and frosting, to making the strawberry and raspberry filling, and then of course the different buttercream frostings.... Needless to say, I was in the kitchen almost all day and all evening that Friday.  I think it was 11pm before I started putting the cakes together.  I did have to take some breaks in between because I had family arrive from out of town, kids to entertain, decorations to put together, other food to cook, etc.  I was beyond exhausted when my head hit the pillow at 12:30am.  

We got an early start on the day of the shower because we had lots of cooking, prep and decorations to do.  Plus, I needed to finish the final decorations on the cake.  In the end, I am so pleased with how the cake turned out.  It looked and tasted gorgeous, and I even had someone tell me that the adult cake (the pink champagne tier) was the best cake that they had ever tasted, with gluten or without!  That right there, is proof that food does NOT need to have gluten in it to taste good.  

So, here it is! The final product: The bottom tier (for the adults) is a gluten free & dairy free pink champagne cake with a strawberry raspberry filling topped with a pink champagne frosting, and the top tier (for the kids) is a gluten free & dairy free vanilla rainbow cake filled with a strawberry raspberry filling, and topped with a vanilla buttercream.

I unfortunately didn't think to take a picture of the pink champagne cake when I first cut the cake (I was too busy trying to get a piece to everyone), but I did get sent a picture of the last few slices... it's not the prettiest picture (and it's a tad blurry), but it shows the layers and the raspberry filling.  

Overall, the bridal shower (and the cake) were a success.  I was so honored to host a party celebrating my sister and her upcoming wedding.  I'm looking forward to making the cake and cupcakes for her big day, as well.

Until next time...