Cake Pops!

Ah, Bakerella, we love you! Thank you for introducing us to the wonders of cake pops!

These delicious little pops are fun to make, wonderful to eat, and provide a generous amount of creative outlet. Just look at all that you can do with these gems of the dessert world:

all photos from Bakerella

If you are not familiar with cake pops, let us explain, they are literally a piece of cake rolled up and placed on a Popsicle stick. They are a true delight to eat and make! The creative options for these little treats are endless. The flavor combinations are whatever your heart desires, and the decorating can range from simple to "oh wow!" as you can see from above.

Here is a simple recipe for you to follow. Of course, you can improve on this recipe by making as much of this from scratch as you dare. But to begin, we started with simple.
1. Prepare and bake a boxed cake recipe. Once the cake cools, crumble it into a large bowl.
2. Add a can of pre-made frosting to the crumbled cake and mix it all together with a fork or your hands.
3. Lay wax paper over a cookie sheet and roll the cake/frosting mixture into little bite size balls. Place on the wax paper and freeze overnight at the least or up to a few days. You can place the sticks into the balls at this point or before dipping into the chocolate (next step).

Next day...
1. Prepare your counter top with everything that you will need to decorate your pops. Get your sprinkles, candy, nuts, cookie crumbs, etc. ready because once those pops come out from the melted chocolate you must decorate asap while the chocolate is still hot!
2. Melt chocolate over the stove. For this, we used a bag of chocolate chips and a bit of canola oil. (For melting chocolate, most recommend a double burner. If you don't have this use 2 sauce pans, one slightly large than the other. Fill the larger with water and place the smaller inside... don't let any water get into the smaller! Pour the chocolate chips into the smaller and bring the water to an almost boil. Once the chocolate chips appear glossy, stir them and add canola oil until the chocolate is smooth and fluid enough to dip).
3. As the chocolate is hot (keep the burner on while you do this), dip the pops into the chocolate and cover as desired.
4. Decorate!
5. Place off to the side to cool and let the chocolate harden. We found that if you hold the freshly dipped and decorated pops in the freezer for about 45 seconds to a minute, the chocolate hardens enough so that you can then place the pop down and you won't get a flat edge on your rounded pop.
6. Serve! We placed ours in mason jars with a bow around it. They were cute and delicious center pieces to our dinner table :)

Enjoy!
The ladies of Ellenor

The Very Versatile Carnation

Gorgeous, long lasting and relatively cheap! The carnation is making its way back into chic wedding and event floral designs. With a history dating back to Greek and Roman times, we have seen the carnation fluctuate in and out of popularity. However, with designers becoming more and more creative and the carnation’s ability to be traditional, contemporary, simple or elaborate- the carnation is back in action and personally, we are loving it! Check out the images below of some of our favorite examples of the carnation’s versatility. The first two images are ours. We used these carnation arrangements to help enhance the atmosphere at a colorful and contemporary Los Angeles Baby Shower.

For these table flower balls we used solid carnations for the main centerpiece and combined carnations with yellow and green mums for the supporting arrangements on either side.

For our tall buffet arrangement we used carnations, mums, decorative branches, and chocolate lilies. However, carnations were the main flower.

I am IN LOVE with this bouquet from Martha Stewart weddings. I am dying to try something similar for one of our brides. The white is lovely but there are so many shades of carnations. The possibilities with this are endless. It is cost effective for the budget minded bride but makes a strong, classic statement.

This is an arrangement by Nancy Liu Chin Designs and was featured on brides.com. Again it is relatively simple in its design but is absolutely stunning and has a wonderful presence on your table!

So, for your next big event or just to dress up a room, consider the carnation!

~ Ellenor