A Sweet Catering Experience

I got a call last week from my sister-in-law. She had been assigned dessert at a fancy party that she and my brother were attending…just a few days later. She needed help, and I just so happened to be in town. She asked for my help (eek!), and I happily obliged!

Of course, “helping” for me meant taking over completely and making a menu for several tasting desserts. There would be fourteen people at this fun party, and we both wanted them to have lots of sweet choices for their after-dinner treat.

This was the menu. I think that we’re in business here!

I started out on Friday evening by making some from-scratch cheesecakes that turned out so perfectly. Baking them a day early allowed them to cool completely so they were ready to be formed into pops and dipped in chocolate on Saturday.

I’ve never made cheesecake from scratch before, but it was easy-peezy and holy smokes delicious. And Hubby ate all of the “failed” pops and couldn’t get enough, so that is saying something for a guy who isn’t crazy about sweets.

The cheesecake took longer to set than I expected, so I ended up forming them into balls and then popping them back into the freezer to set up.

Melting cheesecake doesn’t mix well with warm dipping chocolate, you know?

And only the best would work for a party of this magnitude. This chocolate perfectly cut the sweetness of the cheesecake. Rich, creamy, decadent. I think they will like it!

After being dipped and tapped to get rid of any excess chocolate, the cheesecake pops were rolled in fresh graham cracker crumbs and then placed back in the freezer until transportation time.

They turned out amazing. I guess the whole rustic look is working here, because the party-goers couldn’t get enough of these. They were big on purpose, so each partaker got one to enjoy.

I don’t think that I would attempt cheesecake next time, unless it didn’t have to travel. We had to store everything in a cooler on top of some ice to keep them cold. They weren’t very forgiving when it came to travel, but I’m glad that they held up through the party!

I decided to add some mint to the menu through some homemade Oreo cookies with from-scratch cream cheese mint frosting. The cookies were delicious and uniform in size, thanks to my one-inch cookie scoop.

These were deliberately removed from the oven just a little early so that the cookies would stay soft and chewy. After cooling on the pan for a few minutes, they were moved to a wire rack to hang out until ready for some frosting in between.

The frosting got tinted green to let the guests know what to expect when they took a bite.

My sister made a birthday cake once for my brother. It was covered in a beautiful green frosting, and we all got excited for the mint explosion about to ensue. But she was stunned at our expectations…it was just green frosting.

No mint.

I have learned so many lessons from this wise sister…now I know that green frosting = mint, and never bring fruit trays to Christmas Snack Tables.

Next I baked some sugar cookie cups to fill with a sweet cream filling. I piped this into the cups and then topped with beautiful fresh fruit.

The cookie cups were so fragile, but I love how they turned out. They were chewy in texture, and the cream just melted in the mouth. The tart bursts of the berries on top made a nice presentation with the eyes and with the mouth!

These were less than two inches wide, so they were just little guys. But lots of flavor came in little packages. And it’s fruit, right, so it’s healthy!

Right?

I made five treats today, thinking that I would still have four back-ups in case one of them didn’t work the way that I wanted. I am thrilled that all five dessert options turned out today…fragile cookie cups included!

It made baking from 7:00 AM nonstop through 4:00 PM a wonderful experience. I have way more fun with this whole catering thing when the goodies turn out well!

You know that I couldn’t really cater a party without having a cupcake offering, right?

For today, I decided to go with Rolo Cupcakes similar to these from My Baking Addiction. I changed the frosting and used melted butter in place of vegetable oil for an even better cupcake.

The cupcakes turned out perfectly plump and not too tall or short. I was relieved.

I’ve always wanted to try a “dripping” chocolate ganache on top, and I am tickled to announce that it worked like a charm!

Kitchen Assistant Hubby had to help me with this step, since the chocolate ganache set up quickly after touching the cooled caramel cream cheese buttercream frosting. So he came right behind my spoonfuls of sugar chocolate ganache with some cut miniature Rolo candies.

I love when people are shown what they can expect to taste. Rolos on top because there was a frozen Rolo baked inside!

Tickled was I at seeing these done cupcakes. They look so dang edible!

My last item to prep for the day was Lemon Drops for some nice tart flavor. I usually make Paula Deen’s Lemon Blossoms, but they always get stuck in the pan regardless of how well the pans are greased. And I couldn’t deal with that potential failure today of all days!

So I decided to try a new recipe from Woman’s Day for Little Lemon Drops, and they worked like a charm. I held my breath when I turned the pan over. They were supposed to just fall out…and they did!

Wonder of wonder, miracles of miracles!

I set them out to cool on a tea towel. To make them look even more professional, I decided to top them with Sugared Cranberries.

Purdy, huh?

They sat in a dissolved-sugar glaze overnight before being tossed in more sugar, so the tart smack was really toned down. They ended up being the perfect topper for pretty little lemon bites of bliss.

Aren’t they fancy?!

After I made a lemon glaze, it was time to dip the little lemon drops and then top them with the cranberries.

Wait for it….wait for iiiiiiiiiitttttt…….

SHAZAM! (Say that in a Gomer Pyle voice, please).

Don’t you just want to pop one (or thirty) of these little guys into your mouth? Of course, for quality-assurance purposes, I did just that.

No, I didn’t count. But I was happy with the party taking place in my mouth!

The glaze actually locks in the moisture from the cakes. I toned down the lemon juice in the glaze because the extreme tartness today came from the sugared cranberry on top.

Aren’t they gorgeous?!

I was really happy with how everything turned out. I feel so blessed that all five attempts at awesome desserts worked well enough to be proud of putting them in front of people to eat.

My brother said that each and every dessert was a hit at the party, and he even managed to hand out some business cards for them to call me again.

I’m OK with that. It must have been the cute Chrome Animal Name Card Holders, huh?

Chrome Animals…Best Spray Painting Ever?

So I don’t know if I’m the first to think of it, but little plastic animals would probably make some pretty cute name card holders. Don’t you think?

I’ve kept an eye out for some plastic animals in various stores that I like to visit (cough cough Target cough). No luck…until I stopped at Party City to see if they had any for favors.

Eek! They did! And for just thirty-five cents a piece?!

Of course, I got carried away. I dug through the bins to find every possible animal that was in stock. I ended up with an entire army of various jungle animals!

Like lions, and tigers, and…seals?

I fell in love with the elephant instantly. And I think we already know that this moose has a special place in my heart, so he made his way into my sweaty little shaking-from-excitement hands to bring home.

And, of course, several large cats received representation today as well. And a gorilla, which would shortly become a silver-back gorilla.

Who knew that they aged so quickly?!

This poor guy ended up being the guinea pig today, simply because I grabbed a few extra rhinos. I tried to boil them and then saw them while soft. But that didn’t work.

Thanks for nothing, Internet.

So I had to patiently wait for my manual labor to get home from his real job. He dug up a utility knife to conduct surgery on the back of each animal.

I wanted a slit in the back to hold a name card, or place card, or business card. But the slit needed to be stable enough to hold the card in place, too.

I should have known that he would be good at sawing plastic animals…he’s good at everything else! Why not this?

It’s so nice to have Hubby’s help with these projects. He usually thinks through every option, where as I sometimes get impatient and just want to see the end result.

I appreciate the rhinoceroses giving their lives in the name of science arts and crafts today.

Here is the gorilla getting a test run with a business card to see if the fit was working.

We tried the fit with all of them before taking them outside. I am already loving how adorable these are, but I don’t like the red eyes on half of the sweet, little, cuddly animals.

Sweet, little, cuddly animals don’t usually have red eyes, you see. At least they don’t in my book.

You know what will fix that? Spray paint.

Hubby helped me set up these little guys for their first coat on the bottom. To hold them in place, we used little finishing nails in cardboard.

Even upside-down, they are so cute! Can you tell already how great this is going to be?!

Man, I need to get out more.

And, of course, ever since he got it for Christmas, I have faithfully used the tall turkey fryer box as my professional spray painting booth.

Soon, these little beasts (ha! literally!) were ready for some painting. This is my favorite-favorite part, if we’re being honest here.

I really love spray painting things. Or have I mentioned that already?

A few weeks ago, I discovered how incredibly awesome chrome paint is on lamps. So I knew immediately what paint finish these little animals would be getting this beautiful afternoon!

The Ace Hardware paint has cheap little spray nozzles, but buying this clip-on gun makes them purr like kittens! The paint comes out even and fine…and it allows me to buy any paint and not just Rustoleum with its perfect spray nozzle.

Several light coats are better than one thick coat. This is where patience would probably come in handy, I’m assuming.

Once their bellies were dry, it was time to turn them over for a spray on top. Aren’t they oh-so cute already!?

This hippo is my favorite of the bunch. Isn’t he wonderful? Imagine him holding your name card at a dinner party! Eek!

And the giraffe is looking pretty good, too. Once these get some paint on top, I let them dry for a whole two nights before I use them for a party that I catered!

Eek! More on that to come tomorrow!

Consider these puppies jungle animals sprayed! And they look really great. Of course, I was pretty elated by now. The hard part was letting them dry so that I could see them with a card in place.

I waited, though. Can you believe that?

Oh my goodness. I really love this little elephant, too. Look at his textured skin! Not too shabby for a third of a dollar, huh?

And a few days later…here we are!

Even better? These are the name cards that I used for the party that I catered. Wouldn’t you want to eat a bunch of desserts if they came presented in such a cute manner?

     

Hello, Lion! You look rather sharp when you’re all chromed up. And I still heart this little elephant.

Can it get any cuter than a giraffe holding a Mint Oreos name card?!

And it’s only appropriate that Lemon Drops should be displayed from one of my favorites…the little moose.

But the hippo is still my most favorite. I love his open mouth and fat wrinkles. It’s almost like he’s opening wide for some Rolo Cupcake goodness!

I had way too much fun with this project, but it was cheap and easy and turned out just how I hoped. They will last me a long time and be useful for many different reasons around my house.

Most chromed animals are useful around my house, after all.

I had good help (thanks, Hubby!), and I am thrilled with the end results. What do you think of these shiny little buddies?