easter cake

I was just downloading photos from my daughter's birthday party last weekend and guess what I found!? The cake I made to take with us to friends house for Easter. I'm so out of date! I thought about posting it next year around Easter... yeah, if I don't post it now, I'll definitely forget.  

deviled egg "holder"

With Easter one week from today, the ever popular deviled eggs will be making it's annual appearance in abundance. Yum! I always have a problem serving deviled eggs though. They slip and slide all over the plate (and when they fall, they leave your pastel pallet Easter dress looking a little yuck.) Some people have the luxury of owning one of those fancy platters especially for holding deviled eggs. If you are like me though, don't fret.... here is a solution!

Awhile back we were eating at Blue Smoke in NYC, I snapped a quick picture of how they handle the annoying egg-sliding problem. (I'm sure they don't want their servers dumping deviled eggs on any one's Easter bonnet, now do they!?) While piping in the yolk mixture, you also pipe a dollop on the plate and then place the egg on top. Genius, right?!

easter :: restaurant decorations

One of my continuing jobs is decorating a bar/restaurant for various holidays. This past weekend it was time to decorate for Easter. (If interested, you can look back at what I have done for the same place at Halloween and Christmas.)  Like at Christmas time, sticking to the neutral palette of the venue was very important to me. When I saw these nest and natural colored eggs wreaths at Joann's, I was sold. Not only did it fit the cream and browns in the space beautifully, but it also picked up some of the muted blues in the stone work of the restaurant's front facade. For the front windows, I used two wreaths back-to-back so they would be visible both inside and outside the restaurant.

Using the color palette from the wreaths as inspiration, I arranged little bouquets to embellish the lights along the bar. This decorating technique works well here because it is still prominent, yet keeps the bar clear for food and drink service. 

With a left over arrangement from the bar lights, I created a little table centerpiece by adding more eggs to a glass vase as filler. 

easter basket cake

I hope everyone had a great holiday!  Here is the quick cake I made to take with us to some friends house.  Being away from family on holidays is very hard, but we are so fortunate to have friends that open their home to us and welcome us in.  Thank you Ferraro family!  

grassy place card

I'm working on an Easter cake for tomorrow, but I thought I'd take a break and show you a great little last-minute Easter dinner detail.  I saved it from Martha Stewart Living a few years back.  It's so easy and so cute!  Check out the how-to here.

(image via Martha Stewart)

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

spring decorating

I just have to show you guys something... While decorating one of my clients homes for Easter recently, I fell in love with a beautiful set of springtime terrarium bell jars.  I was at the house by myself, so I couldn't inquire about where they got them, so I did the next best thing - flipped it over and looked for a tag.  Of course, I should have known since they were so gorgeous - Williams-Sonoma!  As soon as I got home, I searched Williams-Sonoma high and low to buy myself some, but, unfortunately, came up empty handed.  They must be from spring collections past.  How did I miss these!?  So, like me, there's not really anything you can do about it if you like them, but I still had to share.  They are so pretty!

My clients had several of them, so I grouped some together (above), but they also show beautifully being displayed individually like this picture below.  

Beyond the look, another quality I love is they are not real glass - not too heavy and less likely to get broken.  That's a plus in my active kid house!  Maybe I should try and make some myself!?

easter weekend

What a fun weekend this will be!!! We are headed to NYC for loads of fun! First stop, the Apple store to get a new phone - Thank goodness! Next stop, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The tickets were a gift to my daughter for her birthday. This is their 200th anniversary show and according to the NYTimes it's a GREAT show! I'm just as excited as my girls - there is still a kid in all of us! Then spending the rest of the time with our best friends Max and Jejon. Pizza night at their house and then a day at the park playing on whats to be a glorious weather day Saturday. What more could I ask for!?

Back home for Easter Sunday - We have to be back in time for the Easter Bunny to visit!

And speaking of Easter, my Easter party I posted awhile back is featured over at Entertain Exchange here. Thanks for sharing it with your readers Susan!

Happy Easter everyone!

easter party

Since hearing about Maddycakes Muse Spring/Easter Tablescape Contest, I thought I'd better post (and then enter) my oldest daughter's second birthday party. I also thought this post would be timely if any of you were looking for Easter party details.

My daughter's birthday is April 6th and that year her birthday fell on Easter weekend. So needless to say, a theme was pretty easy to choose that year. Living on the east coast has lots of advantages, but the weather in early April is not one of them. It is still pretty cold, so a fresh, spring table was well received.

Lets start with the invitations. Pretty simple, but just so cute for a little girl's birthday. Can't you just hear those chicks saying "chirp, chirp"!?



As you all saw on previous posts, I stamp plates with edible images for a lot of my parties. For the written how-to click here. I promise to post a photo tutorial soon. This particular party I used the "Happy Birthday To You" stamp again. (I remember I was on the hunt for a large bunny stamp, but came up empty handed, so back to the old birthday party stand by.)


Notice I wrapped the table in astroturf (available at Home Depot or Lowe's). This really set the tone for the whole table. It gave a good back drop to all the other colors. I have used this turf on so many of my other parties too - Super Bowl, a golf party, a friend borrowed if for her son's bug party. The possibilities are endless. It is a really low cost item to have in your decor arsenal.

My favorite detail of this party was the silverware. I bought green utensils and orange napkins and with a little twist of some green pipe-cleaners, I had cute little carrots. The irony is (funny little fact about me) I despise carrots. But I liked these carrots.


But wait, I LOVED these carrots even more. For the favors, I filled cake piping bags (being the "cake lady" I have hundreds of these laying around) with orange jelly beans and tied them off with some metallic green curly ribbon. Since this party, I have seen these all over the place around Easter time. Wish they would have been available back then and I wouldn't have had to make them.


I have posted this cake before, but I had to include it again to show the overall table. Many guests at the party didn't know this was cake. They kept putting their fingers into the frosting! I think it was just an excuse to have some frosting before cake cutting time. Of course I had to make it a carrot cake, right!? What do you know - another "carrot" I like.


Here are some more overall photos of the whole table. The food... more CARROTS (ugh!) and deviled eggs. An Easter party wouldn't be complete without these staples! I found those cabbage plates the deviled eggs are sitting on at Tuesday Morning for a great price. (R.I.P. Amity, CT's Tuesday Morning. You will be sorely missed by the bargain hunter!) I also made bird's nest cookies. See recipe here. Since I always want your parties to be even better than mine, I had noted on the recipe that it only made about 2 dozen cookies (instead of 3 like the recipe said) when I used my cookie scoop. I guess I could just be a "big" cookie maker, but I didn't think they were that big?



To bring some of the spring decor out into the living room, I made this Easter tree. Employing my now infamous white ice bucket, I put Styrofoam in the bottom to feed the Pussy Willow branches into. Then I decorated with ribbon and Easter ornaments. In years past, I have also used a large tree branch, spray painted it white and then decorated. Very springy!

Happy Easter!