Pink, Pink, Pink Valentine's Table and A Giveaway

This year's family dinner is all about

PINK!

I love to set the table for the family but 

we have outgrown all of the tables

and have to set the bar too, but I

wanted Valentine's Day dinner for

the family to be fun and beautiful.

The cupcakes are the stars and 

they are covered with hugs and kisses

because that is what Grandma loves to

do when the kiddies come running 

through the door.

And the silicone Teacup Cupcake cups

are the giveaway for some lucky winners

this week!

Decorate a cupcake in these teacups

and they deserve to be placed on a pedestal!

Everything is white and pink to

change it up from our usual brilliant

red tables for Valentine's Day.

I hauled these beautiful pink dishes

all the way from San Antonio, Texas

last year when visiting my sister Jean.

They layer beautifully with the  white

textured dishes.  Have you noticed how

hard it is to find pretty pink plates?  I

had been looking for a while for these.

 The Pink Jamestown Fostoria

stemware was a gift from her daughter,

Laurel, my niece who had inherited

them from my mother.  That was so 

sweet of her because it is also hard to

find pretty pink stemware.  This is the

first time I am using these.  She brought

them for me on her last trip from Texas.

I love how heavy they are and I am not

afraid to let the kids use them.

They were topped with the cloches,

but you can see in the background

the child friendly option, without the cloches.

I used my sparkly heart ornaments

as napkin rings and I chose to

use this white plastic flatware.  I love

the pink against the white just like

the plate stack.

These were a great treasure found 

in the same gift shop back in Washington DC

where I purchased the silicon Teacup Cupcake cups.

Our centerpiece is all about pink too!

It features a couple of old

Valentine's Day chocolate boxes

from See's Chocolates.

I surrounded the centerpiece with a

heart made of pink plastic hearts which you

can see on the left.  You can't really capture

it in the picture.

I love you comes in pink and chocolate for the table.

And a rose ball under glass!

It is finished off with a pink candle

on a delicate pink candle holder.

These Fostoria glasses are the prettiest

clear pink.  Fostoria also made a Virginia Pink

which is more of a peachy pink.

The kids at the counter had a simplified

stack and no cloche.

They also had a chocolate marshmallow

skewer on their plates.

As I mentioned on my last post,

I had posted about these silicone

Teacup cupcake cups two years

ago and had purchased them in a

gift shop and they were pretty pricey,

but I am now having a giveaway.

I just love giveaways and we haven't had

enough with the downturn in the economy!!!

I will be giving away two prizes,

one set of eight cups and saucers

in pink and one set of eight cups and

saucers in white.  The cups are oven

save, the plates are not.  

To be eligible for the giveaway

you must be a follower and you

must leave a comment saying which

color of set you would like.  The giveaway

will last until Monday, February 16, 2015

at midnight.  Then two names will be

drawn at random (matching their color

choices of course) and the winners will

be announced.  

These are lightweight and I can mail

them anywhere in the world, so everyone

is eligible to enter!  

You don't have to be a blogger to enter,

just leave me an email address in your 

comment so I can get ahold of you if

you are chosen as the winner.

I will be posting this with

Tablescapes Thursday

Home Sweet Home
http://frenchcountrycottage.net

Pink Saturday

Hugs and Kisses Teacup Cupcakes

How romantic are these little love cakes?

Who doesn't want a fun and elegant

presentation when making cupcakes?!!

I am in love with these silicone teacup cupcake

molds!  Let me tell you my second favorite 

thing about them (number one is that they are

so stinking cute, ok, number two is that they

are not disposable) so I guess number three is

that they keep your cupcake so moist!!

Have you ever made cupcakes ahead and

then when you go to eat them they have

dried out because of the paper cups?  I have!!

Not with these, they get more and more moist

and now I am going to let you in on an

even greater thing - 

I AM GOING TO HAVE A GIVEAWAY 

FOR MY BLOG READERS AND FOLLOWERS

GIVING THEM A SET OF THESE!

I had posted my Tres Leches Cupcakes

two years ago and when people asked

about the silicone cups, they were just

too expensive.  I had found them

in a gift shop on a trip to Washington DC,

 but now I found some for you and am

going to give them away, starting with

my Valentine's Day tablescape this week

so check back!!

I just made my favorite chocolate

cake recipe, sprayed the inside of the

silicone cups with a baking spray 

with flour added and filled them just

a little over half way full.  

I placed them on a baking sheet and

baked in a preheated 350 degree

oven for 20 minutes.  

You could eat them just as they

are!  But let's make them a lot more

decadent with Almond Buttercream Frosting

and Almond Flavored Homemade Fondant.

I was heading out the door Saturday night

and I honestly whipped up the fondant and

frosting in 30 minutes so this is super easy

and super delicious.

This isn't your premade fondant, this is yummy

homemade marshmallow fondant that whips

up in your heavy duty mixer so quickly!

Almond Homemade Fondant

16 oz. marshmallows

2 T. water

1 squirt gel foodcoloring

2 tsp. almond flavoring

2 lb. powdered sugar.

Place the marshmallows, water and food coloring

in a microwave safe bowl.  Heat for 1 minute on

high and stir.  Heat again for 30 seconds to one

minute or until you can still the marshmallows

and make the mixture smooth.  

Add the flavoring.

Place the melted marshmallow mix in the

large bowl of a heavy duty mixer.  Mine is

a Kitchenaid.  Attach the dough hook.  Pour

in the 2 lb. powdered sugar and mix on medium

until smooth and like a stiff frosting.  This takes

just minutes.

Remove from bowl and let cool on the

counter.  You don't want to use it when it

is still hot as it will stretch too much.

Pinch off a piece of fondant and using

powdered sugar, dust your counter top.

Roll out the dough or roll it out on a dusted

piece of parchment paper, making sure that

it doesn't stick to the surface.  Be sure 

to roll it fairly thin so that there isn't

too much fondant on your cupcake.

Then dust your fondant mold

 (find in craft stores or online)

with a little powdered sugar

and place that on top of the fondant.  Roll it firmly

to make a nice impression.  Remove the fondant

mold and cut into a circle to fit.  I used the top of

a canning lid which was just a little small so I had to

stretch it slightly to cover the frosting.

Frost the top of the cupcake with frosting,

then place the fondant on top of that and smooth

the edges removing any frosting that is trying

to peek out!

Decorate as desired.  I used these pre-made hugs

and kisses but I also made some fondant roses

that didn't take any time.

The fabulous buttercream

kind of blends into the fondant so

with a thin layer of fondant, everyone

exclaims that they love fondant, not that

they hate fondant and flavoring them

both with almond just is the "icing on the cake"!

Almond Buttercream Frosting

1/2 C. real butter, softened

1 tsp. almond flavoring

4 C. powdered sugar

2 to 2 1/2 T. cold water

Place the butter, flavoring and sugar

in a large mixing bowl.  Use the whisk attachment

and add 2 T. water.  Turn it on and begin whipping

the mixture.  Add the additional 1/2 T. if needed.

Let it whip on medium high for 5 minutes.  This

really makes a nice texture if you just let it beat

for a while.  Most people struggle with a simple

American buttercream but if you follow this

recipe and measure the ingredients you will have

success every time.

I am featuring these on my tablescape

tomorrow along with the giveaway so 

be sure to come back.

(Hint, to wash the cups out, it works really

well to turn them inside out - then it is a breeze!)

Click here to enter the giveaway for
8 pink or 8 white teacup cupcake cups.

I will feature these on

Foodie Friday