Wedding

Almost exactly a year after my wedding, I got to make cupcakes our friend who officiated our own wedding ceremony. Isn't that a nice little circle of giving? I thought so. Anyways... they asked me to make one cupcake tower for the groom (as I have known him longer) and they had another friend who is closer to the bride make her tower. As the other baker and I didn't know each other and only met the week of the wedding, there was potential for disaster. But through many an email we worked out a nice complimentary plan of attack and the results were highly praised by all.
I was a fool and forgot my camera, so I snagged these from another attendee's facebook account. I'm looking forward to seeing pictures by the photographer, he went crazy snapping pictures of the cupcakes.

The bride and groom with toppers made by the groom himself.

My contribution. The flavors were jalapeño (requested by both as they had them at my wedding), mocha, and Irish Car Bomb. The tower was made with cake boards lines with unbleached canvas (as the groom and I were classmates at art school), trimmed in ribbon and supported by glass jars filled with flowers and leaves from the property. The jars looked nice and I was proud of the idea, but it was a bad one! The table wasn't level and the tower was highly unstable. Thankfully there were no terrible disasters, but a few cupcakes were lost at one point.

End of Summer Icecream

My latest culinary obsession is ice cream, and man is it a tasty obsession to have! Since there are only two of us I often have to throw away stale baked goods that we just can't (or shouldn't) eat fast enough. So it's nice to make a sweet that will patiently wait in the freezer while we slowly nibble away at it.
I don't have an ice cream maker, and while I would like to get one some day I've found that mixing by hand works quite well. I pour the custard into a wide bowl with a flat bottom (I used a jelly roll pan a few times but I would always mix too vigorously and make a mess), place the bowl in the freezer, and whisk it about every hour or two until it gets nearly frozen all the way through. Then I scoop it out into an old yogurt container and let it finish freezing. Yeah, it's not perfectly smooth, but I don't care! It's amazingly delicious and still better than most store bought ice creams. So there!

Berry Ice Cream

1 1/2c half and half
1c sugar
4 large yolks
1 1 /2c heavy cream
1 2/3c fruit puree (I just mashed equal parts blackberries and raspberries, I like them to be chunky)
1T lemon juice

Warm half and half and sugar in a heavy bottomed pan over a low heat, stirring often until sugar is all dissolved and mixture nearly boils. Remove from heat and slowly temper into the yolks. Return this to the pan and cook over a low heat, stirring constantly with either a whisk or a rubber spatula. Remove from heat when the mixture coats the back of a spoon (I cooked mine a touch too long and it started to curdle, but the end product wasn't affected). Strain into a larger bowl and add the cream, fruit, and juice. Freeze either in an ice cream maker or using my method mentioned above.