Key Lime Pie with Graham Cracker Crust

In search of warm weather and tropical vibes, I made this key lime pie and it delivered on every level.  Using fresh squeezed key limes was the key to getting the perfect sweet and tangy flavor. I hope you'll enjoy this one as much as I did.  

Key Lime Pie

Serves 8 people

Ingredients

1.5 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs

⅓ cup white sugar

6 tbsp butter, melted

3 cups sweetened condensed milk

½ cup sour cream

¾ cup key lime juice

1 tablespoon grated lime zest

Directions

1: Make the Crust: Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter until well blended . Press mixture into an 8 or 9 inch pie plate.  Bake at 375 degrees F for 7 minutes. Cool to room temp.

2. Adjust oven to 350 degrees F

3. In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice, and lime rind. Mix well and pour into graham cracker crust.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 5 to 8 minutes, until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of pie. Chill pie thoroughly before serving. Garnish with lime slices and whipped cream if desired.

A Botanical Garden Party

Sometimes living in Northern California it's hard to tell where spring ends and summer begins.  We're blessed with mild weather throughout much of the year, which makes outdoor entertaining a joy.  June is my favorite month of all... the flowers are in full bloom and everything still looks so lush and green.

Last weekend I took advantage of the season and hosted a small party for a friend's birthday in our backyard. I knew I wanted it to have a botanical feel after I saw the new Sweetgrass collection from Martha Celebrations, and I decided to mix it up with some bright bursts of California Poppy orange. 

This was an informal gathering so I set our picnic table up as a buffet with a green + white striped fabric that I often use as a tablecloth, and hung the lovely fern paper lanterns from the trees above.

To add a little extra orange color, I was inspired by this post to make some hand painted terra cotta pots.  I used washi tape to mask off varied heights and, after realizing the orange craft paint was going to get totally soaked up by the terra cotta, I remembered that I was supposed to put down a layer of white paint first.  As you can see it really helped the color pop.  I also framed a few botanical prints that I found here and spruced up in photoshop.  Fun, right?

I adorned the table with a garland of... handmade fringe napkins actually. Pretty sure this was the most fun and easy craft project I've done in a while... and it's a great way to make your party supplies do double duty!

How to Make a Fringe Napkin Garland: Hold your napkin so the fold is facing up & away from you.  Take your scissors and cut up about 3/4 of the napkin height, leaving at least a 1/2" space at the top.  String through your ribbon and secure the center of each napkin with a glue dot or double stick tape. Done and done.

As is always the case when I'm in need of a cake, I reached out to my friend Michele of Cakewalk Baking.  She created a delicious white birthday cake with buttercream frosting, along with her classic vanilla cupcakes (and even stayed to help me put everything together because she's just that awesome).  I topped the cake with a variety of ribbons tied on skewers, fresh California poppies from our yard and added pretty butterfly picks to the cupcakes that coordinated with the wrappers.

There was also an assortment of little sandwiches (who doesn't love little sandwiches?) along with tea cookies and some candy treats.  The drinks were served out of weck juice jars on this vintage bamboo tea tray that I scored at a thrift shop.

I sent my friends home with these darling faux bois favor boxes filled with mint chocolate maltballs.  The boxes are great because they come flat so you just fold as many as you need and save the rest for future gift giving...

photos + styling © cake. 2013

We coudn't have asked for a nicer afternoon... sadly the pictures I took don't begin to do it justice.  As nice as the weather was, dappled sunlight sure does make for some challenging photography!

If you enjoyed this party, be sure to check out the #LetsCelebrate pin party and take a peek at what some of my favorite bloggers did with their Martha Stewart Celebrations products.

All of the Martha Celebrations at JCP products featured in this post were provided by the Editors at Martha Stewart Living, a team that loves a good party and deeply admires the bloggers who throw them. All opinions featured in this post are my own.

These images are for personal use only. If sharing them on your site, please credit CAKE. events blog and link directly to this post.

Cornbread Cake with Honey Butter Frosting

You know those recipes that never fail... the ones that you know by heart because they're quick, easy and always get rave reviews? That's my honey cornbread.  For our latest backyard gathering, I had the crazy idea to step it up and turn the recipe into a layer cake. It's already so moist and dense that I figured it would hold up great when stacked (which it did), but I wasn't sure how to frost it without overpowering the cornbread's subtle honey sweetness.

 My husband actually solved my dilemma when he said skeptically... "A cake??  But I like your usual cornbread with honey butter on the side". Wait, what?  How did I forget about honey butter and why not turn it into a honey butter frosting?  It took a little fussing to work out the flavor, but in the end it was an experiment gone right. And so, I bring you the three layer cornbread cake. You should totally make this for your next party... your friends and skeptical spouses will think you're pretty swell. And they'd be right.

photos + styling © cake. 2013

Honey Cornbread Cake
adapted from a family recipe

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup fine ground cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup honey

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  **Grease two 6 inch cake pans.
2. Melt butter and pour into mixing bowl. Quickly mix in sugar. Add eggs and beat until well blended.
3. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture.
4. Stir in cornmeal, honey and flour until well blended and batter is smooth.
5. Pour batter into prepared pans.
6. Bake for about 30-40 minutes (until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean).
***Note: For a three layer cake you'll want to double this recipe.

--
Honey Butter Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup honey
1.5 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup full-fat sour cream

Directions
1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on high speed until light and fluffy- at least 5 minutes.
Mix in powdered sugar a little bit at a time until fully combined.
Mix in honey and sour cream until combined (this could take another 5-10 minutes on high speed. if it looks lumpy at first... have faith.)
Tip: If frosting is too runny, add more powdered sugar to bulk it up, just a little at a time.
Spread with a spatula onto fully cooled cakes.

These images are for personal use only. If sharing them on your site, please credit CAKE. events blog and link directly to this post.

Setting a Natural Spring Table

A few weeks ago we hosted a small dinner party in our backyard. I didn't have a lot of time or money to spend, but sometimes that turns out for the best doesn't it? I wound up clipping a few branches from each of the different trees in our yard and laid them out as a table runner on top of some plain butcher paper. The blue patterned napkins.... yeah, those are actually dish towels from Ikea. Pretty right? And that was basically all it took. We had a grand old time and ate ourselves silly on southern bbq, red beans + rice, cole slaw and king cake.

Of course, I haven't mentioned the cornbread. It's not a party if I don't go a little overboard on something... but more on that tomorrow.

 

photos + styling © cake. 2013

These images are for personal use only. If sharing them on your site, please credit CAKE. events blog and link directly to this post.

He Loves Me | A Daisy Bridal Shower

Spring is clearly in full swing over here today.  I had such fun collaborating on this daisy bridal shower with my favorite partners in crime: Cakewalk Baking and Sherry Heck Photography.  Maybe you saw it featured last week over on The Sweetest Occasion?  Cyd is a doll and her blog is truly my favorite daily dose of pretty, so I can't thank her enough for such a beautiful feature.

Remember those carefree days of picking petals in the grass and dreaming of your true love?  You know, 'he loves me... he loves me not... he loves me!'. We were inspired by that innocent childhood memory to create a fresh take on a classic bridal shower with pops of bright colors in spring green, bold yellow and crisp white. All of the details to help create this shower are below. We hope you love it as much as we do.

Daisy Petals Invitation: I designed this invitation (available here) as a fun way to kick off the daisy theme and make guests smile with nostalgia. For an added pop of color, line the envelopes by tracing the envelope pattern onto a favorite piece of scrapbook paper, then trim down and insert.

He Loves Me Banner: We used a Silhouette machine to cut out the letters for the banner (which could also be accomplished by hand cutting). Strung with baker’s twine across the table, it added the perfect sweet and romantic touch.

Daisy Fans: Simple tissue fans doubled as giant daisies when placed in a scattered pattern above the serving table. They are lightweight enough to be affixed to the wall with just a bit of double stick tape or glue dots.

Daisy Cake & Cookies: Created by Michele of Cakewalk Baking, treats included a show stopping two tiered fondant covered daisy cake, sparkling sugar cookies and lemon tartlets topped with fresh whipped cream and candied lemon slices.

Spiked Lemonade: Traditional lemonade is always a refreshing beverage option, but for a more sophisticated twist, try this recipe for a sparkly spiked version: Simply combine 4c lemonade with 1c seltzer water, 1c vodka and a tbsp of lemon zest and stir. Garnish with a lemon wedge and either a sprig of fresh herbs or a single daisy.

DiY Tea Towels: Instead of traditional shower games, surprise the bride to be by having guests create unique a keepsake for her home- hand painted tea towels. This project is easily competed during the shower by providing a station with white flour sack towels, craft paints, stencils, brushes and washi tape. Guests can exercise their own creativity or use the tape and stencils to create a simple pattern.

Potted Daisy Favors: Thanks a bunch! These pretty potted daisies can double as centerpieces during the shower, but make a wonderful favor to send home with guests. Once home they can be transported into the ground, to grow and bloom with the marriage to come.

Credits
Styling: Cakewalk Baking + CAKE.
Photography: Sherry Heck Photography
Printable Invite + Graphics: Merry Happy by CAKE.
Cake & Baked Goods: Cakewalk Baking
Paper Fans: The Tomkat Studio
Daisy Gift Wrap: Paper Source


All images are ©Merry Happy by CAKE. and are for personal use only. If sharing them on your site, please credit CAKE. events blog and link directly to this post.

DiY | Color Block Easter Eggs

I'll be honest... I'm kind of in love with this project.  I've been pinning loads of beautiful Easter eggs this month and was thinking about what a shame it is that they only last a few days.  Then lo and behold, while I was at the craft store hunting for the cheap-o plastic kind, I wandered into these wooden beauties and bam- inspiration! It's almost like they were begging to become a DiY.  They've already become a focal point of our spring decor, and they're sturdy enough that I'm considering hiding them around the house for Caitlin to hunt down next Sunday.

I'm a bit of a failure as a DiYer because I never stop what I'm doing to take pictures of the process, but you can rest assured that these are pretty easy... see below for the written instructions. Have a happy Easter!

photos + styling © cake. 2013

Here's what you'll need: 
- wooden eggs
- masking or washi tape
- craft paints (I used martha stewart pea shoot + gold)
- 2 small paint brushes 
- egg cups for drying paint (a cooling rack works too)

Here's what to do:
1. Wrap tape end to end around your eggs using a different angle on each egg.  If you're planning on using multiple colors, it's best to choose the lighter color first and let dry completely before taping and painting the darker color. 
2. Brush paint on taped area. This may require 2 coats. Tip: If you're impatient like me, I find that using my finger to help smooth the paint helps it dry faster and more evenly.
3. Let paint dry before removing tape.
4. Use a bit of paint on the end of your brush to even out any rough edges.

These images are for personal use only. If sharing them on your site, please credit CAKE. events blog and link directly to this post.

Simply Styled. | Biscuits + Brights

via southern weddings

Free Easter Bunny Printables + an Update

We are huge fans of Annie's organic bunny products in our house, and as Easter and springtime draws close, I wanted to incorporate them into a family friendly printable for the season. So how about sending your little ones to school with a special snacktime treat and a little bunny love? These cute tags can be used lots of ways. I designed them in pink and orange with two lengths for different bag sizes... or you can always just cut and hole punch them for Easter place settings or gift tags.  Aren't they fun?

photo + styling © cake. 2012

Additionally, I wanted to offer apologies for the unannounced absence last week (though I hope you enjoyed the tea cookies) and update everyone that I'm going to reduce our post schedule for the time being as I re-prioritize and seek out additional help and contributors for CAKE.

Some of you may not know that in addition to running this blog, I'm also a full time working mom.  I recently accepted an incredible new full time position, and though I couldn't be happier about the opportunity, it involves additional hours and commitments.  I have no intention of giving up what I've worked so hard to build, but maintaining a sense of balance is important, especially as a mom.  Perhaps you can relate?  I hope I can count on your continued support of CAKE. and would love to hear from those in a similar position who want to share advice or tips on making it all work.

Now enough about me... go enjoy your Monday and your freebies!

All in the Details: Mason Jar Mania

I've always been kind of a mason jar fanatic- they're a simple everyday detail that can be used as casual or elegantly as you see fit.  Lately they've been popping up in all sorts of unexpected ways... and in such pretty colors too!  Here's a little inspiration for how to incorporate these jars into your home or event this spring.

photos (top to bottom) via: the wedding chicks // once wed // style me pretty // boots + gus // the csi project

Simply Styled. | Flower Cones

via oh happy day

Go Green: Up-cycled Bottle Arrangements

Hello again from Kim + Natalie of Geranium Lake Flowers! One of our favorite things to do is to create by re-creating. Not only is it eco-friendly, but it’s also budget friendly and helps us think outside of the “box”! Reusing glass bottles is an adorable and festive way to up-cycle and create a beautiful arrangement.

 
First you will need to collect empty bottles. Some of our favorite bottles are Perrier and Orangina, because of their shape, but we’ve been known to use Coke bottles and even a few beer bottles! Like most things we do, we like to cluster things in odd numbers so try for 3, 5, or even 7 bottles at a time.
 
Once you’ve got your bottles, you are going to want to remove any labels and make sure that the bottles are clean {this is important for looks AND for the life of the flowers that you are going to insert}. For stubborn, sticky labels, we soak our bottles in very hot, soapy water for 10-20 minutes and then scrub the residue off with a wash cloth or other abrasive cloth.
 
More than likely, you will want to arrange your collection of bottles on a platform of sorts. We like to use gold chargers {$5 at Target!} and sometimes miscellaneous water dishes/saucers from old terracotta planters that we have lying around. Use your imagination and scavenging skills… you could use vintage plates, etc.

Next you will want to fill each bottle with water {approximately 2/3 full} and then wipe them dry. We do this before we arrange the bottles on the platform because you’ll want to keep your platform as dry as possible for looks and it’s really hard to wipe drips once they’re all assembled!
Start with the largest or oddest bottle in your collection and find its perfect place on the platform. Use your other bottles to fill in around it.
 
We love to use wire or ribbon around the collection of bottles to keep them sturdy and on the platform.
 
The last step is adding fresh flowers – and it happens to be the easiest part! We love the look of one fresh stem per bottle to create a simple, minimalist look. We also like to go with a monochromatic color palette but use your imagination and do what you love!

PS. If you’re feeling extra creative and are giving this as a gift, insert a vintage post card to complete the look!

photos © erica ann photography

Sweet Style: Spring Styling Workshop

I'm thrilled to share these exclusive images from Aussie dynamo Leanne of Sweet Style, from her Spring Styling Workshop.  She hosted this event in her home along with several other presenters as an opportunity to teach other moms some styling tricks and tips.  Naturally Leanne was in charge of party presentation, so she put together three gorgeous tables- for adults, for children and one for beverages.  Read on below for all the special details in her own words...

photos © sweet style

From Leanne: With styling for both the home and parties being so popular in Australia now, a friend of mine Penny from Working Mums Masterclass decided her next workshop topic would be spring styling. The session was held in my home and we had 3 presenters on the day. Jane for interior styling, Jacki did food prep and plating, and I did party and dessert table styling. 

I put together three different tables. The first was a fun kids table with a spring or garden party theme. I included little details that tied back the lady bird and flowers on the invite.  The second table was an adults table with a vintage feel to it - the colours of aqua and pink look lovely and I demonstrated how you can get different looks by using different centrepieces. We went over different ways to add small touches like ribbons, tags or twine and adding personal touches by stamping wooden cutlery and the all important backdrop.  The third table was a drinks table with a flowing sheer tablecloth, some lovely tall blossoms and vintage jars with stripy straws to drink out of.

There were 20 mums who came along so they could get tips and ideas for styling in the home and for their parties.  We talked about everything from backdrops, to centrepieces, party favours, display tricks and tips, personalising various items, jars and bottles and food.  My favourite part was getting to meet so many people who read my blog and contact me online - being able to have a chat and see how excited people are with party styling was wonderful.

Want to see more parties from Leanne?  Click here and here.