A Beautiful Holiday Party

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful lady named Diane Gottsman.  Diane is a nationally recognized etiquette professional and owner of The Protocol School of Texas, which is a company that specializes in corporate etiquette training.  She is also the author of Pearls of Polish, an etiquette guide for today's busy woman. Diane's website was named one of the top 100 websites for women by Forbes! I love her blog, www.dianegottsman.com, she offers little etiquette tips on different subjects.  To top all of this off, she is the sweetest, most down to earth person you would ever like to meet.  Diane is one of the people that immediately makes you feel better and happier when you are around them and I am happy to now call her my friend.

Diane had a Christmas tea at her house and I helped with the goodies.  We spent the morning doing one of my favorite things: preparing for a party!  Here are a few photos of all the goodies.



Coconut Cake makes a great presentation on a holiday table, very elegant.



Sugared cranberries add just enough color to look very festive.



No holiday table is complete without smiling Gingerbread Men!





Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies!





I love how Christmasy these look!




Add candy cane sticks to cake pops for a fun, festive look!





Diane and myself



Birthday fit for a Princess

Hello everyone... meet Bella.



I love her outfit!



Is she not the cutest thing ever?  Bella is my best friend's daughter and the closest thing I have to a niece.  My bestie has three children and amazes me everyday with her patience and how calm she stays.  I have one and I remain in a state of panic the majority of the time.   
My bestie did a fabulous job on Bella's birthday...it was every princess' dream! 

I was very happy and honored to make Bella her zebra and pink birthday cake! Here are a few pics from Bella's 2nd birthday.

Bella's Vegan Birthday Cake: get the recipe here.  I did make a few changes to my basic vanilla cupcake recipe... replaced the emulsion with 2 tsp. of vanilla extract and the almond milk with vanilla soy milk.  I used Vegan Fluffy Buttercream.

The bow and pink balls are made of gum paste that was dried for 2 weeks.

The table looked beautiful!

Cake pops or Dirt balls..whatever you want to call them.

Get the recipe here at Abby Sweets.

The banner I made using my new Cricut machine!!

Strawberry Cupcakes w/ Vanilla Frosting (see recipe below)



I love this picture!

Happy Birthday Miss Bella!!
Printable Version

Strawberry Cupcakes (Vegan)
adapted from Madhuram's Eggless Cooking

1 1/3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
14 fresh or frozen strawberries, pureed
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tbsp. white distilled vinegar

*This recipe will yield 12-16 cupcakes or 1 loaf pan.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and baking soda.
In a large bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, and vanilla.  Add the strawberry puree.  Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.  Pour batter into prepared pan(s) and bake 22 minutes for cupcakes and 40-45 minutes for a loaf pan or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack.

I frosted the cupcakes with Vegan Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream, (the same one used on the cake except tinted pink.  I have made this in a loaf pan and frosted with fresh whipped cream for a light summer dessert...it was Divine.