My friends and I had a great time putting together a baby shower for our sweet friend, Shelly. The expectant parents already have a name picked out for their new baby girl...Jenna. I love her name, and I can't wait to meet Jenna when she comes!
Laura was in charge of the decorations, and the room looked so good! I wish I was able to take pictures of all of the decorations she put together. She decorated the walls with huge cactus plants, a boot and a sheriff's badge made from colorful butcher paper. The tables were covered in pink and brown tablecloths and pretty cowboy hats decorated with girly bows. Everything was so cute! Luckily, I was able to get a picture of the cute welcome banner she made.
We planned a western-themed shower and made western food to go along with it. We had Mexican Lasagne (courtesy of Colleen), Creamy Tortilla Soup (This soup was SO good, and Colleen posted her recipe here: http://myfoodiefavorites.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/creamy-tortilla-soup/), cornbread muffins (courtesy of Lesley), barbecue meatballs (courtesy of Amelia), Russian potato salad (courtesy of Liliya), fruit (Liliya again), homemade salsa and chips (courtesy of Kelly), and root beer floats for the drinks (Lesley again). I loved that Lesley called them "Sarsaparilla Floats." I am so grateful to have such fun and talented friends!
Amelia and Lesley planned some great games for the baby shower. Here's the cute sign Lesley made for the "Do You Know Your Baby Vittles?" game. We don't use the term "vittles" nearly enough, in my opinion.
Here's the cake I made for the shower. It's strawberry cake, filled with cream cheese frosting, covered with a thin crumb coat of cream cheese frosting, and then completely covered with chocolate ganache.
Here's a closeup of the baby cowgirl boots. I'll post a link to the template I used to make the fondant boots in the STATS section at the bottom of this post.
*UPDATE* I just realized as I posted this, that I attached the boot waist incorrectly onto the sole of the boots. The downward scallop should be at the front and back of the boot, not at the sides under the pull straps. And to think I so carefully placed the pieces exactly wrong. LOL! Oh, well. Live and learn.
Cake Anatomy
Strawberry Cake
1 (16.5 oz.) box of white cake mix
1 cup flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 (3 oz.) package of strawberry gelatin
8 oz. sour cream
1/2 cup pureed strawberries
1/2 cup citrus soda
3 large eggs
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together cake mix, flour, sugar, and strawberry gelatin in a large bowl. In a separate mixing bowl, beat together sour cream, pureed strawberries, citrus soda, and eggs. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet, mixing on low speed at first. Then, beat on medium speed for 2 minutes until well combined. Line a 9x13" baking pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Pour cake batter into prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes then raise oven temperature to 350 degrees for another 20 minutes. Cake is done when a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
STATS:
Kathy's Custom Cakes Baby Cowboy Boots Template
Ganache Recipe, Tips, and Videos at Art and Appetite
Cream Cheese Frosting
