Monday, November 21, 2011

Dirty's Secrets of The Bridal Show-down: Wedding Cookies!

How sweet it is...Dirty's Little Secrets rocked the Desmond Bridal Show!

My unique wedding cookie display was THE ONLY ONE of its kind at the show compared to the three (at least) cupcake displays from other bakeries. So let me start with Dirty's Little SecretCUPCAKES ARE SOOO LAST YEAR! Nothing against cupcakes or cupcake lovers I think they offer a great alternative to the traditional cake etc. But...I'm offering an updated, fun option to the dessert genre.

Jumping ahead a little bit...



Here is the display I did for A Gracious Event. What a fun new addition as a wedding dessert, wedding favor, or shower treat , right? I hope you think so! 

So here's how I created these little sweeties! I used the same recipe I used on my Experimenting post. 

 Phase One 6 batches, let me break that down for you that's :
  • 24 CUPS OF FLOUR
  • 3 LBS OF BUTTER
  • 12 TEASPOONS OF VANILLA EXTRACT
  • 12 CUPS OF SUGAR
  • ABOUT 18 EGGS
  • 7 LBS OF CONFECTIONERS SUGAR
  • AND SOME OTHER TOP-SECRET INGREDIENTS :) 


All of this amounted to 200 cookies.






There was a lot of rolling, cutting, baking, and reshaping going on. Then... there was a lot of sifting, icing, and decoratingDirty's Little Secret is using a Royal Icing recipe that doesn't involve meringue powder. I personally prefer the simplicity of sugar, egg whites, and water. I've found that using this method makes flooding the icing onto the cookies easier (faster), meringue powder seems to keep a stiffer consistency as well as dries more quickly than the egg whites. 




My recipe gives me more freedom to obtain the consistency that works for me, as well as more time in playing with the base layer of icing. Thus making it easier to go back and put on some pre-made bows like this...


After an hour of drying time I entered Phase Two of the decorating process. Mixing up a stiffer Royal Icing and adding royal blue with a hint of purple food coloring for the bows and embellishments. I took liberty to play around with design ideas and this was my canvas! 




Phase three: Fashion photo shoot of my final product. Dirty's Little Secret: Diamond wrap turns my cookies from awesome to amazing! Bling bling!










So now that they were dressed and ready to go we were off to the show. I work as an assistant wedding planner so not only was I going to promote my wedding cookies but also to let brides know about all the services offered by A Gracious Event. Here we all are:




From left to right, first that's me (Dirty), Sue (seamstress/dress designer), Laurie (owner of the Appel Inn & A Gracious Event), and Amber (assistant planner).


 So here is Dirty's Secret Wedding Cookie Display, diamond wrap, backlighting and all!


Guess it's not so secret anymore :)


Cuter than a cupcake? I think so.


Can you even backlight a cupcake?!


Yum. 

Dirty's Little Secret is out, I'm offering a new and improved alternative to your classic wedding cake or dessert. The cookies are versatile and can be displayed and managed more easily than a cupcake which can get messy. Or a cake that can get heavy not to mention expensive. Buttercream Icing is more difficult to maneuver than Royal Icing which holds its color and shape! At the end of the wedding, party, event, you can easily handout individually packaged treats that are as cute and elegant as the Bride herself!  


See that smile? That's a Dirty Smile, because I had such a good time at the bridal show, because I was the only person there with a unique display for something other than a cupcake, and finally because I'm thankful for all the positive and fabulous feedback I got at the event! So THANK YOU for the support and keep sharing the good word! 

3 comments:

  1. lol i love it - ALL OF IT and so will so many other people can't wait till you are the next Mrs. Fields .... the HOT mrs. Fields :-)

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  2. Yea! So excited for you! Keep the dough rolling and soon you may get some dough that can buy you more dough! Ha! LOL... anita

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  3. Diana, I am in love with the diamond wrap I shared this on my facebook page!

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