bridal mania pt 3 – cute as can be desserts

This is the last in the trilogy of bridal mania posts. I just wanted to show you guys the cute mini versions of my strawberry Oreo pies that I made. They were so much fun to make, and probably the easiest dessert for this bridal shower. I simply doubled the recipe, bought a bunch of disposable mini tart shells and pressed the graham cracker crust into them. Then just scoop the filling into each tart shell and top off with half a strawberry.

The Oreo truffles I usually make are smaller but Shirley asked me to make them a bit bigger for the bridal shower. So, I obliged and it made the dipping a bit more difficult – not to mention the fact that the hot kitchen made it impossible for the chocolate to set. I ended up making these in shifts and putting them into the fridge until they set. It took a bit longer than usual, but they are soo worth it.

In the end, it was a lot of fun to have an excuse to bake these many goodies. I think the selection was pretty good: refreshing strawberry oreo pies, decadent oreo truffles, rich buttermilk chocolate cupcakes and moist buttermilk vanilla cupcakes. Delicious.

a taste of summer: mini oreo strawberry pies

a taste of decadence: giant hand-dipped oreo truffles

a taste of everything: the bridal shower desserts

xo dessertchick

bridal mania pt 2- vanilla bean overload cupcakes

This is the second cupcake that I made for the bridal shower. The bride and the bridesmaid wanted something simple and classic, and of course, delicious. So, since the buttermilk chocolate cupcakes took care of decadence, it was a no brainer to pair it with light and fluffy buttermilk vanilla bean cupcakes. And what pairs well with vanilla cupcakes? Of course, even more of the creamy and delicious vanilla bean buttercream icing. Really, when you’ve got a good thing….why stop? I say, just slather on more of the good stuff.

The picture I have are of the cupcakes I made with the leftover cupcakes because I didn’t have time to set up a photoshoot with the bridal cupcakes. For the bridal shower, the icing was a nice strong pink rather than the lavender icing I have shown here. It’s a good thing I had a couple left over because the eight I had saved for pictures were devoured withing 12 hours.  The recipe is fool proof and has become my favourite go-to recipe for vanilla cupcakes. Just make sure not to overbake these babies.

fluffy and moist and you can't just eat one

Recipe

Ingredients: (this makes 24 cupcakes)

• 3 cup pastry flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3 tsp vanilla bean paste/vanilla bean extract/vanilla bean seeds
• 1 3/4 cups super fine sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk

How-to:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and line two muffin pans.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and vanilla bean paste for 4 minutes, until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time until thoroughly combined.
5. Add 1/3 of the flour mix, then 1/2 of the buttermilk, then 1/3 of the flour mix, then the rest of the buttermilk, and finally the remaining 1/3 of the flour mix, making sure only to mix for a few seconds after each addition (you don’t want to overmix). Make sure to scrape down the side of the bowl as well.
6. Scoop the batter evenly into the muffin pans, making sure not to overfill it because they will rise a lot.
7. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes. I had to rotate the pan halfway through to ensure even baking.
8. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing them and letting them cool completely on a wire rack.
9. Only when they are completely cooled (and this is important!), proceed to top them off with the vanilla buttercream icing.
10. Sprinkle pretty sprinkles and admire your work – right before biting in.

xo dessertchick