Monday, May 16, 2011

My Best Friend's Wedding (Shower), Again

Last month, I posted pictures of the vegan dishes my mom and I made for my best friend's Sheridan's wedding shower. That was her traditional, ladies-only family shower, but this past weekend, Sheridan's friend Leslie rented out a couple of rooms in Little Rock's House Gastropub for the fun co-ed, friend shower. Since most of her guests had already given their gifts, we mostly used this shower as an excuse to party!

Here's Sheridan and her partner Drew:

They're getting hitched in June. I'm not typically a big fan of folks getting married, mainly because our gay brothers and sisters aren't afforded that basic right. But these dudes have been together for, like, 10 years. So they might as well get some tax breaks and presents. Plus, they're having a vegan wedding, and that's way better than a regular wedding.

Leslie, awesome hostess that she is, paid for all the food and all-we-could-drink microbrew on tap. I found a new beer love in Goose Island Honkers Ale, which was similar to Fat Tire. They don't sell Honkers in Memphis, so guess I'll have to go to Little Rock for more.

As for food, the House is one of Little Rock's most vegan-friendly eateries. We had loads of this awesome Hummus with Pita Chips and Bread:

And the House's homemade Veggie Burger Sliders on Foccacia Bread were amazing, especially topped with pickled onions and curry ketchup:

The staff brought us a massive bowl of Sweet Potato Waffle Fries:

For dessert, I'd planned to bring the carrot cake cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, but they totally flopped. Anyone tried that recipe? I followed the directions, but they sank in the middle. And they were all sticky and gooey. I think the recipe calls for too much baking soda and not enough baking powder. It seems like the amounts called for are reversed.

Anyway, at about 1 a.m. Friday morning before the shower, the carrot cakes came out of the oven all sad and icky. So I went with Plan B. I had everything needed to make the Basic Vanilla Cupcakes from VCTOTW, and since I've probably made those a hundred times, I knew it was a winner. I didn't have any more time to lose so late at night.

I'd already whipped up Isa's cream cheese frosting for the carrot cakes. So I decided to follow her recommendation for mixing in a little orange zest.

The result were these Vanilla-Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes. That's what I named them because the citrus-y cream cheese frosting and the soft vanilla cupcake combined to taste a little like an orange push-up pop. I pulled out my special fairy cupcake toppers that I'd been saving for a special occasion:

Happy Wedding, Sheridan and Drew!

15 comments:

Jackie Smith said...

Sounds like a fun party!

Mihl said...

A vegan wedding, how awesome!

There is a typo in the carrot cake cupcake recipe. I think you have to add more flour. It's somewhere on the PPK.

VeggieLow said...

that's funny there's a typo. i have made them a milion times and they have worked. i usually add more flour just b/c they seem sticky. i'll hafta search the ppk. great post!

Anonymous said...

i heart these cupcake toppers! you just gave me a great future craft idea.
i'm catching up on blog reading. parenting and working is so hard. i need to make a clone of myself to get all the things done i need to get done.
i miss you!

Sheridan said...

Yay!!!! I hate it that you spent so much time on the cupcakes that flopped, but the ones you brought to the party were delicious!!! Love you!

Anonymous said...

If you google the recipe there are a lot of posts on this topic. The flour should be 1 2/3 cup.

Helen said...

That's really weird about the typo because i've made these several times and they turned out perfect. I did use agave instead of sugar, adjusting the liquid measurements accordingly. No change to the dry ingredients though. I remember thinking the batter was a little runny but the cupcakes turned out perfect.

Helen said...

Also - I have a problem with my cupcakes sometimes coming out dry because i accidentally overbake them. Maybe that's why the recipe with the typo turned out the perfect cupcake for me, lol.

Jessica said...

Sweet potato waffle fries sound amazing. What a great idea - I have never had those before.

Goose Island may be coming your way - they just got bought out by Budweiser. I don't know if that's good news, though.

Jess - The Domestic Vegan said...

How fun! Weird that your cupcakes flopped; those carrot cake cupcakes turned out great for me the couple times I made them... I think I must have done 1 2/3 cup flour, though, instead of just 2/3. Your Plan B sounds/looks super delicious, though!

One of my best friends got married last week & she had a vegan wedding, too! It was so fantastic.

Jess - The Domestic Vegan said...

Oh, and those sliders look AMAZING!

Leslie Richman said...

Cupcake perfection!

MollyZilla said...

*drool, that food looks amazing!!

Unknown said...

Hummus, sliders, sweet potato fries and cupcakes. What a fabulous combo.

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