Wedding cake for my friend Allie and her new husband Kelton. Haven’t made a wedding cake for a few years and it was not like riding a bike but it came out ok.
The cake is from this recipe here, the Original White Almond Sour Cream Cake Recipe. (It has almond in the title but I made it a vanilla cake as per Allie’s request.)
The frosting is our favorite buttercream called Basic Buttercream Icing, found here.
Allie provided the flowers (which I loved!) and the owl topper.
Here’s a fun and easy Easter treat that you could make with kids or surprise them with on Easter.
FOR THE CHICKS
1 package golden Oreos
1 bag yellow candy melts
small candy eyes
1 package orange Airheads candy (I couldn’t find just orange Airheads so I bought the multi color ones and then just trimmed the blue and and green and used the yellow/orange/red)
1 Melt candy melts according to package directions.
2 Carefully dip an Oreo in the melted chocolate with a small spoon. Gently tap against side of bowl to get rid of the excess chocolate.
3 Carefully set on a piece of parchment paper and place a triangle piece of the Airhead with pointed side down on the Oreo then add two candy eyes. Let set before moving.
FOR THE BUNNIES
1 package marshmallows
pink sugar sprinkles
1 bag white candy melts
1 package Golden Oreos
small candy eyes
pink M&M’s from a bag of Easter M&M’s
1 Take a marshmallow and cut it in half then cut each half in half. Roll the cut marshmallows in the pink sugar sprinkles for the ears.
2 Melt candy melts according to package directions.
3 Carefully dip an Oreo in the melted candy melts. Tap gently to get rid of the excess candy. Place two ears side by side on parchment paper and carefully set dipped Oreo on top of the ears. Place and M&M on the Oreo for a nose then add two candy eyes. Let set before moving.
I made these mini cupcakes and sugar cookies for a Bridal Shower for a friend who is getting married. Isn’t that charcuterie board so cute?
I made mini cupcakes from a chocolate cake mix and then topped them with my favorite Buttercream Frosting, recipe for frosting here.
The sugar cookies are a knockoff recipe from a soda shop here called Swig. You can find that recipe for the cookies and frosting here. The shop makes the frosting pink but blue was one of the bride’s colors so we went with blue. Oh and by the way, those cookies are to die for!
Congrats to Allie on your engagement and upcoming wedding! Love you!
We spent the last day of our vacation at Harry Potter World in Universal Orlando. Surprisingly it was so much more crowded than any day we spent at Disney World and as a result, wasn’t that much fun. Harry Potter Land was insane.
We did get to eat lunch at the The Leaky Cauldron because we got there early, like 11:30. It was one of the better meals we had on our vaca.
We ordered two kinds of Butter Beer – one cold and one frozen. The hubs loved the cold Butter Beer while I liked the frozen better so that worked out nicely.
We ordered the Fish and Chips and
the Banger which was a sausage sandwich. Both were great and would order again.
After fighting our way out of Harry Potter Land, we headed for the City Walk and ended up at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium where we had some of the best ice cream shakes we’ve ever had in our whole lives!
Bob had the “Cookie Jar” (on the right) and I had the Espresso Buzzzz (on the left).
I can say without a doubt that it was the best ice cream shake I’ve ever had!
And that my friends brings our vacation to an end. Thanks for taking this trip with me!
Look closely at this picture. Your eyes go to the giraffe but if you look behind the giraffe you can see the hotel rooms. That’s right, at Animal Kingdom lodge you can get a room overlooking the animals, how cool is that?
But on to the food . . .
There is a restaurant in the Animal Kingdom Lodge called “The Mara” and we ate there several times. It was quick, easy to get to , and pretty good. Along the lines of a cafeteria but the food was definitely better.
The first time we ate there we had a pulled pork sandwich and a Cheeseburger both with fries. Like I said it was good and fast and easy.
The second time we ate there we had a Chicken Caesar Salad, a Fire Roasted Tomato and Herb Ricotta Flat Bread, and a side of fries, of course. That flat bread was one of the yummiest things we ate on our vaca. Really good combination of flavors.
We ate breakfast for our last visit there and it was better than any breakfast we had in the parks. We had Mickey Waffles with bacon and a breakfast plate with scrambled eggs, French Toast, bacon, sausage, and tots. All of it good, like I said, better than in the parks.
You don’t have to be staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge to eat at The Mara. You can hop on a shuttle and check it out. Totally kid friendly too with a tv’s playing Disney cartoons.
Next up was Hollywood Studios which, if I’m being honest, was a bit of a letdown. Star Wars Land was the draw for us and it was awesome but the rest of the park, not so much.
We did however have one of our better meals at the ABC Commissary located on Commissary Lane. This Mediterranean Salad and the Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich were both winners! And, bonus, you can go in the Commissary and sit in the air conditioning to eat which on this hot day was a real bonus.
The hubs surprised me with this birthday cake while we were at Disney World. It was beautiful to look at and delicious to eat. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate mousse covered with more chocolate and those ears were chocolate too. This might be the best birthday cake I’ve ever been given, it was delicious!
If you’ve got a trip to Disney World planned and you need a special cake for a special event or you just love cake, click here for more info.
We went to the Magic Kingdom twice on our trip so we ate a few more things there than in the other parks.
We started our first day in the Magic Kingdom with Mickey waffles at Sleepy Hollow Inn which is located in Liberty Square. They were delicious and I feel like it’s not a trip to Disney without a Mickey waffle covered in strawberries and syrup and whipped cream, what more could you want?
For lunch we ate at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe which is located between Frontierland and Adventureland. The hubs had a Double Bacon Cheeseburger and I had Chicken Nachos, both very tasty, would def go there again.
Our second day in Magic Kingdom, we ate breakfast at Friar’s Nook which is located in Fantasyland. We got one of everything on the menu to try them all which included Sausage and Gravy Tots, Cinnamon – Sugar Doughnut Holes, and Sausage, Egg, and Cheddar on a Pretzel Roll. It was all ok, not terrible but not great either. Not sure if I would eat there again.
This is one of the most fun things we did while in Disney World – the Magic Kingdom Fireworks Dessert Party, Seats and Sweets located in Tomorrowland. I would happily do this again if we ever go back. The picture at the top of this post is one that I took during this event. It’s a little pricey but I think worth the cost. You get to eat from a big dessert buffet with all kinds of yummies on it and you have a special place to sit comfortably and watch the fireworks at your own private table without anyone standing in front of you Highly recommend and would definitely do it again.
Our second day in Disney World was spent in Animal Kingdom which I think is my favorite park. This is the Tree of Life that greets you when you get into the park. The safari is amazing, taking you so close to all kinds of animals.
We ate lunch at Flame Tree BBQ which is located in Discovery Island.
We had a Smokehouse Chicken Salad, Baked Mac and Cheese with Pulled Pork, and onion rings instead of our usual fries.
The onion rings were just ok. The salad was ok but that mac n cheese with the pulled pork was the big winner. So good! We should have got two of those. Highly recommend!
Later on in the day we were wanting something sweet (after all the walking) so we headed over to Dino Bites which is located in Dino Land, of course, for some Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches. Our first mistake was ordering two, they are enormous, one would have been plenty but they were a really good treat.
The hubs got the Chocolate Chip Cookie with vanilla ice cream sandwich, on the right here.
I got this one which, if I remember right, was two sugar cookies with vanilla ice cream, chocolate cookie crumbs, chocolate sprinkles, sugar sprinkles, and a cute chocolate green dinosaur, and some little white chocolate bones. They were both delicious but again, one would have been plenty for both of us.
The hubs and I just got back from a birthday trip to Disney World. It was for my birthday and we had a blast! Since it was our first trip to Disney World, I was doing a lot of research online about the parks and the food and it was super helpful once we got there so I though I’d blog about the food we ate there and maybe pass along a little info to anyone else planing a trip.
Our first day there, we started off in Epcot. It’s big and a little overwhelming but I had done some research so we knew where to start.
Right before you eat lunch or dinner in Epcot, go on the ride called “Living with the Land”. It takes you behind the scenes a bit and shows you all the vegetables, fruit, flowers and other plants that Epocot grows and then uses at their restaurants. We rode the ride then went o Connections Eatery which I totally recommend. It is located in World Celebration.
We ordered french fries because we are french fry addicts, and a Margherita pizza which is much bigger than pictured here as it was folded up, and a Nicoise Style Sald which was fun to eat because it was full of all the veggies we had just seen growing on the “Living with the Land” ride. All of it was very good and I would order any of it again.
This Cookies and Ice Cream Funnel Cake is the only other thing we ate in Epcot because one of the rides make the hubs sick so we had to go back to the hotel and rest a bit before going back in. The funnel cake cart is located right between Japan and The American Adventure and is totally worth all the walking you have to do to get to it. The toppings consisted of vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, and crumbled up chocolate sandwich cookies. My only regret is that we didn’t buy two.
So that’s it for Epcot. Next up Animal Kingdom!
(All photos are mine unless other wised indicated. Please do not use without permission. )
Penny's Food Blog 