Two of my favorite things together at last… Dessert and jewelry!!!
This weekend my dear friend Tonya had an event to showcase her beautiful jewelry. Her business is called HoneyBrown Jewelry, it is absolutely gorgeous and everyone should know about it… so I am helping to spread the word! Everything is handmade and one of a kind, and when I look at some of the details of her work I am simply amazed at the level of care that she takes to create such beautiful things! My apologies for the quality of these pictures, I was taking pictures with my cell phone that was two seconds from dying, so in my rush to get pictures they didn’t come out as clear as I would have liked. However, I have included a couple pictures from her site and I think that you can definitely still see the beauty of the pieces below…
I love the fact that she has turned what started out as a hobby into a business! It encourages me because perhaps one day this baking thing I have going on can turn into something more! I have several of her pieces of jewelry, they are some of my favorites and every time I wear them I receive compliments.
To help support my business, she asked me to make a couple desserts for the occasion (true friendship!). More on what I made later, but now let’s take a look at her anklets… I am the proud owner of the one that is front and center!
You should definitely check out her Facebook page for additional pictures of her jewelry! She is so very talented and I expect that in the near future that you will be seeing HoneyBrown Jewelry in stores and Boutiques across the country! Here are a couple of my favorites from her site…
So, what dessert does one make to compliment such pretty jewelry… Pretty desserts of course! Tonya gave me free reign to make whatever I wanted, so I updated a couple of old favorites. I made my pineapple up side down cupcake, with more pineapple compote added, a lemon cupcake with lots of lemon zest and homemade lemon curd filling and my nutty coconut cupcake. But the real star of the show was the chocolate raspberry cake…
I was really proud of this cake because this is the first time I did this type of decorating technique! Three layers, raspberry Italian meringue buttercream filling, chocolate buttercream frosting, chocolate ganache topping and a couple of fresh raspberries for a pop of color! It was really good, if I do stay so myself!
So… you should definitely check out and like the HoneyBrown Facebook page. You will see the beautiful pictures of her truly one of a kind, handcrafted beaded jewelry designs. For special orders or information contact Tonya at HoneyBrownJewelry@gmail.com. Check out this picture is from Tonya’s page… isn’t it beautiful!
I am actually hoping to have Tonya make some of my wedding jewelry, perhaps my bridesmaid jewelry! Wouldn’t this be beautiful! I kind of want bold statement pieces for the bridesmaids! This is a good example of what I want (hint, hint! :)) Can’t wait to see what she comes up with!!
Well, my showcase of my little baking business yielded a cake order and a request for two walnut cakes for the holiday season… not bad at all!!
Recipe Line Up!
So, I adapted a couple recipes have already been showcased…
Lemon Cupcake – using just lemon zest
Pineapple Upside Down Cupcake – minus the rum
The nutty coconut cupcake can be made by adding a little coconut milk to the Sour Cream Pound Cake recipe (yes, this becoming my favorite vanilla cake recipe!). The frosting is a marshmallow frosting… I used this recipe from Epicurious.
My chocolate cake is now an old classic recipe that I am still having fun remixing! This is my favorite recipe for Italian Meringue buttercream, its from Whisk Kid’s site. What I love about it is that it only uses 2 sticks of butter, compared to 4 or more. Its so light and airy and not overly sweet. It takes on the flavor so well and to this version I added about 1/4 cup of pureed fresh raspberries. FYI, be patient with this buttercream recipe, all will appear to have gone very wrong when you start adding the butter, but keep mixing and everything will be alright! I promise!
And last but not least, check out the inside of the chocolate raspberry cake!! Not the greatest picture, but I wanted you to see the goodness on the inside!
ENJOY!