DIY Closet Remodel with an IKEA Hack!

     Finally, we finished the closet remodel project! No more living out of suitcases and diving into boxes on a quest for shoes. I eventually gave up on the effort of matching my shoes to my outfits after about two weeks of moving in, it was too much effort for a non-morning person. If flip flops or being barefoot were acceptable at the office, that probably would have happened.

     Anyway, back to the closet remodel; this was a project that absolutely had to be done. This was #2 on the home improvement list when we first viewed the house (#1 was removing the partitions in the dining area). I forgot to take a before picture before we started tearing down walls, but I'll try to explain the previous layout.

     Basically, the original entry to the closet was through the bathroom. The closet space was not that much, as it was just using the back wall and small space in the corner, with a single wire shelf/rack. It was cramped and there was definitely not enough room for all our clothes and shoes. The linen closet was also kind of odd and very deep; there was already a nice sized hallway closet for linens and towels, and we could also utilize the guest bedroom closets to store extra linens if needed. So, we decided to create a new entry through the master bedroom and break down the existing wall, and re-purpose the linen closet as additional space to create a walk-in closet. This created more wall space for shelves/racks, and other closet storage, while we ended up shaving off a few inches in the bathroom by the new angle of the wall to the left, it was worth the extra room to be able to walk through the closet, if we kept the same wall structure, it would have been too narrow to walk to the back of the closet which would defeat the purpose of a walk-in.

So here was the process:

Cut out a new entry through the master bedroom, and took out the door frames for the linen closet and original closet entry. The original wall frame was also removed along with the drywall.

Built a new frame and installed to fit the new floor plan - Meghan and Liz rock! They used a powder load nail gun to fix that frame to the cement foundation - it was LOUD.

New drywall was applied, and Meghan did the tape and mudding on the joints and corners, and sanded for what it felt like, literally 3 months to do both sides of the wall (bathroom/closet).  When the sanding was done, we then primed, painted, and installed baseboards and trim. 

Here is the view while walking into the closet with the new drywall. 

     The hard part now was choosing what type of closet system we wanted without spending a lot of money. We knew we didn't want the traditional wire rack system, so we started looking at natural wood options. We liked the look of the wooden slats, but whoa, the price (about $500+)! I was searching for some inspiration from IKEA, and came across a cool hack using benches (found on ikeahackers). Yep, you read that right, benches:

We also added shelving for pants/jeans using IKEA shelf brackets, and also made our own "floating shelves" using small L brackets and lumber from Lowes for the shoes. Here is the end result!

We've got double shelves/clothing racks, and one for dresses and long sweaters.
 I also made a rack from dowel rods for scarves and belt storage.

IKEA shelving brackets applied to wooden shelves for pants/jeans storage.

Progress of installing "floating" shelves for the shoes

All done!

     This turned out really well. It took a lot of weekends to complete, but we are so happy with it and the extra room and better use of space for our needs was much needed. I love that the entry is now through the bedroom and that all the shoes can be organized. This entire project with all building materials to re-frame the space, and all items for the closet system and shelving came roughly at $250. That sounds like a lot, but to provide perspective, the closet system we found and liked online was price at $265 for the racks only, the shelves would have had to be purchased separately at $150 for the shelf frame and then $50 per pair of shelves (for pants/jeans storage). We not only saved money by doing the wall framing and drywall work ourselves, but we also didn't have to spend $500 or more for the size of the closet system, and that is not even getting to the shoes or the scarf/belt rack! I'm sure if one tried there might have been an even cheaper (and more creative) alternative, but at the end of the day, we achieved the look that we wanted for the budget we wanted to spend. This is definitely a win and a huge improvement for the master bedroom.

     We also took the same concept for the shoe shelves and installed more in the foyer closet. Previously the shoes were all piled on top of each other, then we got one of those expandable shoe racks, but every time you reached for a shoe, the rack would wiggle and all the shoes would fall off. Every. Time.

Now, everything is nice and tidy!

My Best Friend's Wedding Cake - the Process!

February has been a whirlwind - while it has been a good kind of busy, I am glad things have settled down. It has been packed with moving (officially out of my apartment and into the new house!), followed by back to back weddings, one of which, I was making the wedding cake!

This was a really special project, because it was for the wedding celebration of my dear and best friend/college teammate. No pressure. At all.

Not to mention, I had to travel to make this cake, baking pans and all! I literally packed my whole kitchen. I am sure this set off some alarms while being scanned through the airport.

It was an adventure, TSA ransacked my suitcase and broke a few things. I mean, I am all for public safety, and I don't have any issues with the screening process, but why so rough, TSA!? When I got into town, I had to run a few errands to replace some damaged things, but nothing was a lost cause, thank goodness!

This cake was a two day process, using a lot of new design components and techniques I had not implemented before, so I was really nervous - but excited! The wedding theme was 1920's inspired, and the venue was industrial with a vintage flair; so I used the theme and what they told me about their wedding decorations as inspiration. I actually did not collaborate too much with the wedding couple on the cake design since they gave me complete creative freedom, which was nice, but you always wonder if your ideas and theirs are on the same page.

I wish I still had the sketch, but the design of the cake included:

1. Three tiers
2. Gold sequin details
3. Wafer paper rosettes and flowers
4. Wafer paper gold tipped feathers
5. Sugar lace Wafer paper lattice detail

The night I flew in, we needed to buy the remaining ingredients off my list - AKA, had to go on a scavanger hunt for for specific brand ingredients to three different grocery stores. Whew! We went everywhere in Silver Spring: Costco, Safeway, Harris Teeter, and then out of desparation, a random Jewish Deli/grocery store. It amazes me how specific brands are dispersed over so many different grocery chains. What ever happened to the concept of finding it all at one place? Needless to say, I have much more appreciation for Publix now.

After the ingredient hunt, I baked the chocolate cake layers using my go-to chocolate cake recipe. I also made the dark chocolate ganache to let it set overnight.  I then mixed the Sugarveil to make the lace, but it would not set. It stayed tacky the whole time and could not peel the lace out of the mold! I was really disappointed, but I did have a Plan B. I now know I definitely prefer the Clair Bowden sugar lace instead, it is much easier to handle.

The next morning bright and early, I whipped up the Italian meringue buttercream, which was flavored salted rum caramel - so good! I also started to make the wafer paper feather and flower details that would top the cake. The wafer paper, pearls, and gold are all food grade and edible.

Later in the afternoon, I began to torte the layers and fill the cakes with the buttercream, caramel, and dark chocolate ganache. Then crumb coated and ganached the whole cake;  this by far, has been my best ganache work, look at those smooth edges! What I love about ganache is that it sets as a "shell" around the cake, but the consistency is still like a chocolate truffle filling, and makes it easier to handle the cake.

Once the ganache had set on all three layers, I applied the white fondant to prep the tiers for decorating! For my plan B, I had to run back to the craft store an get a Martha Stewart craft punch to create the wafer paper lattice that were to be applied on the middle and top tiers. It was so delicate, the white on white was subtle, but up close you can really appreciate the details. 

For the bottom tier, I used the JennaRae cakes technique that I came across on the CakeBlog to create the gold sequin look on the top on the tier. All you do is apply those little rainbow sequin sprinkles and then "paint" over with edible gold lustre, super easy and adds a wow factor and interesting texture to the cake. I sprinkled a little bit if edible glitter to add some sparkle to the cake, then applied all those beautiful wafer paper rosettes all around the cake. I am seriously in love with wafer paper!

Once the cakes were decorated, I inserted the support dowels, and then the tiers were boxed separately (because I am too chicken to deliver a fully assembled wedding cake, even if it was only a 5 minute drive- it makes me too nervous!). I had awesome helpers to assist me with transporting the cakes (Meghan and Kristin) to the venue for set up. Once at the venue, I stacked the tiers and applied the finishing touches! I said goodbye to this baby and we hurried back to change because it was time to partay! I am getting better at not getting too emotionally attached to my cakes, haha. 

The cake overall came together really great with the theme of the wedding! While I hit some snags along the way and barely slept, Shana and Kahle were so supportive and encouraging, I really had a lot of fun putting this one together and glad I had the opportunity to spend time with everyone. I am so happy I was able to participate in their special day in this way, especially since they have become such important people in my life. I love you both and always wishing you the best!

Home renovation progress - December and January

So far we are about 95% complete with the floors, finished painting the common areas of the home, master bedroom, and guest bedroom. YOU GUYS, the new flooring in the kitchen looks so great! Originally, there was tile with an off center design in the doorway that bothered my eyes. Now it all flows really  nicely!

~Kitchen and Foyer Progress~

Goodbye red/orange laminate floors. You were just too red/orange.

Goodbye smelly gray carpet - you were probably as old as the house.

Tile, you were not bad, but we decided majority rules and put new flooring throughout the house.We will just leave you as a present in case, one day in another lifetime, your new owners decide to rip up the flooring.

Two of the cabinet doors were converted glass door panels - added some trim molding to give it a more finished look and to hide the raw cut edges. Now the cabinets are ready to be painted! This also means our dishes have to be organized. We decided on creamy gray color called "Sutton Place Gray" by Glidden that goes nicely with the mint green color ("Venetian Pearl" by Berh) on the walls and we think will add good contrast to light counter tops and white tile back splash - can't wait to get started on it! 

~Master Bedroom Progress~

Since the master bedroom is in the back of the house with limited natural light, we wanted to change it up to a lighter, vibrant color scheme. The gray in the before picture was actually much darker in person and made the room feel small and kind of gloomy. Going for that coastal theme throughout the house, instead of the usual one color accent wall we decided on an ombre effect. This actually started out to be a blended ombre wall that was a huge Pinterest fail. I could not get it to look right, despite trying every method possible. It just looked really blah. 

It was a frustrating process, so frustrating I accidentally kicked over a can of paint while furiously blending colors on the wall for the hundredth time. I was so disappointed I shed tears. I wish I had a picture of how much of a failure that was to justify why you would cry over paint. I have learned that home renovation can sometimes make you revert back to being a 5 year old when things don't go right. Pinterest might sometimes sensationalize how easy things actually are, just a little bit - but I still love you Pinterest. We cool.

Luckily, we found some quick inspiration via Google image for a plan B using thick horizontal stripes that are separated by light gray lines and we love how it looks more clean and adds multiple colors to the room. I custom mixed the different light and dark blue colors and added some gray paint to tone them down a little. I am super happy with this look! The rest of the room is painted in a lighter gray called "Irish Mist" by Behr. 

#googlewin

Installing the flooring in the bedroom, love the warmth it brings and the contrast to the blues. 

~Other Progress~

Lately, most of what I have been doing has been installing and painting moulding to finish up the floors - it always amazes me what paint can do. The original baseboards were very off white, almost almond color. We went with Behr ultra white to really make the light gray walls stand out more.

We also decided to dressed up the columns, instead of leaving them plain. So bead board and decorative moulding were applied - and it turned out pretty nice. I'm not gonna gush all over this project because I am going to keep it real, this was a real betch to get done. I am so happy it is over. I also found out during this emotional journey that caulk is my best friend.

More painting in the master and guest bathrooms, and repainting the guest rooms as well. I am actually getting tired of painting, I am more and more ready for furniture and styling the rooms! Still, the rooms are not completely ready, but getting there.

Guest bedroom #1
Top color was a full can of paint I found was left behind by the old owners - its called "Palm Breeze" by Behr, I think it may be a discontinued color - but it was free!
Bottom color is Behr "Silver Drop"

For the most recent demolition, we knocked down some walls in the master bath, and also created a new doorway. Before the only access to the closet was through the bathroom - we decided this was no bueno. There is also this extremely deep closet in the bathroom that was kind of odd.

After much though, we decided to use that space to extend the closet into a walk in closet! I can't wait for the drywall to be installed and to start designing our closet space. To give you perspective on how awesome this is going to be, I reserved a wall for shoes only.

Left: future closet space, also going to adjust the door to open outward instead of in, to give the bathroom more space.
Right: New doorway, also moved the light switch from the bathroom to its new location - and trying out the fit for the new door. 

Still lots more to be done, but the moving in process has also begun. So, on top of all the chaos of building materials, power tools, and other tools scattered everywhere - now there are boxes and random items added to the mix. Time to get organized and start making this house into a home!

Homeowners!

Yes - this happened!

We are pretty happy about it - great location, nice neighborhood, close to the beach. Our real estate agent rocked, she really helped us find the perfect first home as well as helped us through the whole process. We learned a lot, because there is nothing out there that mentally prepares you for the grueling process of home buying. Nothing. It was rough, an emotional roller coaster, but we made it to the finish line - and now we are home owners! See? Totes easy.

Now about the house, it's not exactly a move in ready home, and also not exactly a true fixer upper - but it still was one of those houses where you say to yourself "this has lots of potential" (potential emphasized in the form of a rainbow waving over my head with unicorns and sunshine).

Ah - potential. You are a sneaky thing. After the adrenaline rush of home buying (yeah right) we were smacked with the reality of all this "potential" we have been dreaming about for this house. 

So right into planning, budgeting, and remodeling/renovations - and I mean the "DIY everything because we aren't millionaires" kind of work.

Major demo/reno projects for this house:

1) Removing partitions (1/2 wall type structures that really congested the main area)

2) Ripping out all the old flooring, and replacing with new flooring 

3) Re-painting the entire house
4) Create a new doorway to closet that is currently only accessible through the master bathroom (we are closing up the wall in the bathroom)
5) Kitchen remodel/face lift

Oh boy, #1 was a doozy. To sum it up, I have never knocked down any kind of wall whatsoever in my lifespan, but I have watched enough HGTV to convince myself and the significant other that I was totally experienced in this sort of thing (Lies). Thank goodness for Google and YouTube, I'm just sayin'.

The plan was to remove the drywall in large enough pieces to reuse it for patching needs. It was pretty hard to refrain from ninja kicking or slamming a sledge hammer to the walls and smashing it to pieces - because that is obviously more fun. Alas, the things we must do to save a little money.

I am going to throw a disclaimer in here because we are not professionals - but we did our due diligence of research on how to safely perform these tasks and work on these home improvement projects while consulting with experienced professionals for advice and instruction when needed. 

Ok, now that is out of the way, what we basically did was remove the molding, scored the edges of the dry wall and tried to remove it in as large pieces as possible. Once the drywall was removed, there was a structure made of 2x4 boards that needed to be removed. There were also electrical outlets that were no longer needed so we terminated with caps and electrical tape (when dealing with electrical wires, you must turn your power circuits completely OFF).

Here are the before and progress pics:

This was done the first weekend we began working on the house - sweet victory!

We love it!  Removing the partitions already makes the house look so much more open in the common area.  You can see in the above pictures the original laminate flooring which is a reddish brown, the quality of the flooring was fine, but we were not really diggin' the color so we ended up pulling it all up along with the carpet. We decided we wanted uniform flooring throughout the whole house, with the exception for the bathrooms. The bathrooms had a vinyl tile that looked fine so we left that as is, but everything else was gonna go, including the tile in the kitchen. Since we live near the beach we figured laminate or tile was ideal - laminate happened to work best with our budget.

Over the past month, we recently finished installing laminate in all the bedrooms (except the master - some more work to be done for that room), the hallways, and living room, dining room, and entry way, as well as repainting the entire house. More progress pictures to come for that soon!

Homemade Marshies

I am probably late to the party on the homemade marshmallows thing - but holy cow! Not only are they easy to make, they taste amazing! I actually prefer them to store bought now. I have been converted thanks to Ina Garten. This has become new obsession - I am already thinking about new flavors to experiment with, how to incorporate these into macarons, dipping them in chocolate, or topping them over sweet potatoes, adding this as a regular for holiday treats, and ... whoa now, let me calm down.

Anyways, I only tackled the simple vanilla marshmallow on my first go. So of course, being summer, I was inspired to make a S'mores cupcake. Luckily, there was an office birthday this week, which was the perfect celebratory excuse to make these morsels of heaven. I ate 3 or 5 before I shared.

I am not going to go and reinvent the wheel here - so please click here for Ina Garten's recipe on homemade marshmallows. I will however, post a vegan version of these marshies in a future post - because I believe in marshmallow equality.

Fresh cut marshmallows dusted in powdered sugar

As for the cupcake, I used my chocolate cake recipe, frosted with a graham cracker buttercream, topped with a toasted marshmallow.

**UPDATED** The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe (Adapted by Epicurious)

This recipe yields two 10 inch layers, three 8 inch layers, 24 standard cupcakes, or 48 mini cupcakes

You can halve this recipe if needed (use 2 eggs instead)

• 6-7 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate (I used Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate morsels)
• 1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee (this can be made with 1.5 cups water and a teaspoon of instant coffee)
• 2 1/2 cups sugar (I actually use 3/4 cup Splenda sugar blend)
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I use King Aurthur unbleached flour)
• 1 1/2 cups Dutch press cocoa powder (you can use regular unsweetened cocoa - but you don't get that rich dark chocolate color and taste)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
• 1 tbsp vanilla 

Let's Bake!

1. Preheat oven to 300°F. and grease pans.
2. Line your cupcake pans.
3. Combine hot coffee, chocolate, and butter. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool a little.
4. Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer).
5. Alternate between dry mixture and chocolate mixture until well combined. Add in vanilla and buttermilk until well combined. 
6. Divide batter within the cupcake pans and place in the oven.
7. Mini cupcakes bake at 10-12 min.
   Standard cupcakes will bake at 15-20 min.
   8 inch cake layers will bake at 30-40 min. 
8. Once the toothpick or knife comes of relatively clean (a little crumb is OK - it us usually melted chocolate) Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 min. 
9. Remove cupcakes from pan and onto a cooling rack until completely cooled at room temp. 
10. Once cool, frost with buttercream or icing of choice. 

Graham Cracker Buttercream

• 4-5 cups (1 batch) vanilla buttercream (Italian meringue, swiss meringue, or traditional is fine)
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs -finely processed

1. Mix graham crackers with buttercream until well combined.
2. Frost cupcakes (I used a large round tip)
3. Used any extra graham cracker crumbs to sprinkle over cupcake.
4. Top with toasted marshmallow (I used a creme brulee torch to toast the marshmallows on a cookie sheet, then placed them on the cupcakes).

Updated Chocolate Cake Recipe!

I'll admit it, I have been slackin'/lazy with the blogging. It's not that I haven't been cooking or baking - I just haven't done a stellar job at documenting it all. Actually, If you follow me on Instagram (@sweetkaeiku) you will probably disagree that I've been lazy.... maybe.

But seriously (yep, I started a sentence with but), the time has flown by. I literally blinked and all of a sudden, it's summer. Actually, it is almost the Fourth of July - what the heck!? Lot's of things have been going on though, and good things at that:

1. Visited my my family for a weekend and taught my sister how to make Italian meringue buttercream -  WITHOUT a stand mixer, but well worth it. I also played in my high school lacrosse Alumni game. I haven't seen some of these girls in 11 years!

2. My sweet grandma turned 80 - and went to a wonderful surprise birthday party for this amazing lady.

3. Been working on some samples for a client's wedding - this one has been a challenge with cheesecake! However, I do adore the alternative wedding dessert choices!

4. Went to the APTA conference with Dr. Meghan on a quick weekend trip to Queen City (Charlotte, NC) - ate lots of great food and tried local brews - shout out to NoDa!

5. Got promoted at my job -Woot! 

6. Supported Meghan at the New Smyrna Beach Surfari Club Surf Contest and Liz at her second sprint triathlon. Meghan placed in the top 6 and Liz (her mom) made her time under 2 hours - amazing!

Needless to say, it has been busy, busy for me! 

To add to my accomplishments list, I recently revamped my chocolate cake recipe. It has been on my to do list to make it even more delicious. Just a few little tweaks to the old recipe made a huge difference - it has additional richness with more chocolate, swapping the oil with butter, and using a tad more vanilla ... because there is no such thing as too much vanilla.  

NEW Best Chocolate Cake Recipe (Adapted by Epicurious)

This recipe yields two 10 inch layers, three 8 inch layers, 24 standard cupcakes, or 48 mini cupcakes

You can halve this recipe if needed (use 2 eggs instead)

• 6-7 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate (I used Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate morsels)
• 1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee (this can be made with 1.5 cups water and a teaspoon of instant coffee)
• 2 1/2 cups sugar (I actually use 3/4 cup Splenda sugar blend)
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I use King Aurthur unbleached flour)
• 1 1/2 cups Dutch press cocoa powder (you can use regular unsweetened cocoa - but you don't get that rich dark chocolate color and taste)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
• 1 tbsp vanilla 

Let's Bake!

1. Preheat oven to 300°F. and grease pans.
2. Line your cupcake pans.
3. Combine hot coffee, chocolate, and butter. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool a little.
4. Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer).
5. Alternate between dry mixture and chocolate mixture until well combined. Add in vanilla and buttermilk until well combined. 
6. Divide batter within the cupcake pans and place in the oven.
7. Mini cupcakes bake at 10-12 min.
   Standard cupcakes will bake at 15-20 min.
   8 inch cake layers will bake at 30-40 min. 
8. Once the toothpick or knife comes of relatively clean (a little crumb is OK - it us usually melted chocolate) Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 min. 
9. Remove cupcakes from pan and onto a cooling rack until completely cooled at room temp. 
10. Once cool, frost with buttercream or icing of choice. 

To make the chocolate buttercream:

Add 4 oz. melted chocolate (that is cool to touch/room temp) to 1 batch (about 4 cups) of Italian meringue buttercream (click here for recipe). Mix well with paddle attachment. 

I have been swooning over these lovely mini cupcakes with mini pastel chocolate bars made extra fancy with the edible gold leaf.

Chocolates were made by mini chocolate mold I purchase from here.

Edible gold and silver leaf purchased from here.

X-Large piping tips purchased from here.

Edible Flowers and a Rosette Cake

Spring is here! 

Warm(er) weather, pollen, caterpillars, and blooming flowers are making their way into the world. As much as I understand that caterpillars turn into pretty butterflies, I still do not enjoy them falling on my head every time I go on a walk where cascading trees are present. Eek.

I have to say the most inspiring part about spring has been the beautiful variety of flowers that have been blooming. I had a long Easter weekend, which gave me the spare time to enjoy some spring weather and of course, baking.

I have been working on some recipes to provide a cake tasting for a new wedding client. Round three has been the most successful, but I have a few more other things to try out!

First I have been experimenting with new mediums other than gum paste for cake decorations: Sugar sheets and Modeling Chocolate. Both were fun use and took a little practice to get the hang of it - the modeling chocolate was very tastey compared to fondant and actually edible compared to gum paste. The sugar sheet was edible as well - but with a different texture and mild sweetness to it.

I made the modeling chocolate out of candy melts and corn syrup, and colored it with gel food coloring. After the "clay" was set I used it to make a peony cake topper:

Modeling chocolate Peony

I also made a peony cake topper with the sugar sheets - I had to color the petals by hand with candy coloring which is oil based. Water in regular food coloring would dissolve the sheet! The hand painting took some time, which made my impatient self a little restless.

Sugar sheet peony (made with Wilton Sugar Sheets and colored with Wilton Candy colors)

I'd say both came out nicely, but I definitely will be trying again with wafer paper next time around and decide which medium I want to use and that will hold up well in Florida weather. The modeling chocolate peony stayed in tact. I experimented with putting it in the fridge for a few hours and then taking it out to sit at room temp- it didn't sweat or get gummy, it stayed dry and the petals stayed together.

Unfortunately, the sugar sheet did not last against the beach side humidity, the petals kept on wilting and would not dry completely, so I will have to rule that one out. Wafer paper may work better as it is not as heavy - will have to test it!

Next I put together a little Rosette Cake that was layered with dark chocolate cake and cheesecake! The wedding couple I am working with are looking for some cheesecake alternatives to wedding cake, and this is one of the options I was thinking about including in their tasting. It is a nice balance of cake and cheesecake - I really loved this combination of flavors and textures. You get the best of both worlds!

The Rosette cake I made is 6 inches in diameter, with 5 layers total (3 layers of cake and 2 layers of cheesecake), and frosted with white chocolate Italian meringue butter cream! I served this cake after an Easter dinner - everyone said it was delicious! The cake was a nice balance of sweet white chocolate buttercream, creamy vanilla cheesecake, and dark chocolate. A few of us went for a second slice! I just realized I have been using exclamation points way to much in this post.

Dark chocolate cake - smelled so good out of the oven! Click here for the recipe

White chocolate Italian meringue Buttercream (Click here for Italian method recipe) - Add 8oz melted white chocolate (cooled for about 10 min) and mix into to batch of vanilla buttercream 

Homemade cheesecake layers - Yummy!