Donut Cake Pops

Posted on April 26, 2012 by glitter&pearls

I heart donuts. I’m not sure why exactly. For starters, I am completely and utterly intolerant of sugar, so my donut eating involves a tiny nibble and a feigned “I’m satisfied after that measly one bite” smile. Also, donuts are probably one of the least sophisticated of desserts, and I love baking. But the mystery behind the fried dough deliciousness is much of the donut’s appeal as well. Plus, who doesn’t travel up the east coast for donuts? Oh, err, that’s just my family?

But I digress. Let me get back on topic (it only took me a paragraph today … not bad, self!) My mom and I had been oohing and aahing over cake pops for some time, and for my Poppy’s most recent birthday, we wanted to do something a little special as a party favor. The event was set to be a brunch, and that weekend quickly came upon us and homemade cake pops seemed just a tad daunting at the eleventh hour. So we thought and thought, and what goes better with brunch than donuts? So to Dunkin Donuts we went … begging for donut holes. (Let me just say, donut shops are not big fans of giving away their day’s supply of donut holes.)

What you’ll need …

donut holes (lots + lots of donut holes)
lollipop sticks
styrafoam or green foam board (to prop pops while they dry)
chocolate (we went with dark + milk)
edible glitter, spray paint, sprinkles, etc.

The instructions …

We set up our area first (because I’m totally anal like that) with everything in reach.
We melted the white chocolate and dark chocolate in two separate containers, microwaving in 30 second and then 15 second intervals until the chocolate was melted and could be mixed easily with a spoon. (You can always re-microwave for a few seconds if the chocolate starts to harden.)
One by one we pushed candy sticks about mid-way through one side of the donut hole. And as a cheat, to get the donut to adhere better on the stick, we dipped the tip of the stick in a bit of melted chocolate, then pushed the stick into the donut hole, and gently allowed each donut-on-a-stick to rest for a few minutes so that the chocolate would harden, holding the donut to the candy stick.
Then we rolled the donut-on-a-stick into the melted chocolate, using a spoon to pour chocolate on the parts of the donut that couldn’t easily be covered. Carefully, after rolling any excess chocolate off, we stuck the end of the stick into the styrofoam board and allowed each chocolate covered donut to cool and harden completely.
Once the chocolate-covered donuts were dry, we covered some in edible glitter and some we sprayed with edible metallic spray paint.
Once all of our pops were completely dry, we wrapped two per clear plastic candy bag and tied with a twist tie and a bow (not shown.)

The donut cake pops were a huge hit! Not only did the donut pops look great, but they tasted AMAZING (satisfied one bite of a donut lady, right here.)

Dress of the Week

Posted on April 20, 2012 by glitter&pearls

I love this week’s dress of the week all the more because it’s homemade. As an avid sewer and dressmaker, it came as no surprise that the bride, Suzannah, would make her own wedding dress. Her vintage-inspired gown, a layered gray tulle tea length (midi) number is just stunning, and perfectly wearable.

The bride on her dress:

As for the attire… as someone who sews and loves clothes, and weddings!, this was probably the most exciting part for me. I designed and made my wedding dress, but it was an… uh… organic process, and I didn’t know what it would look like until it was almost done!

And the dress … It was grey. And pale pink, peach, and ivory. I like to be a little different, I guess, so I wasn’t ever sure about wearing a white dress, although I did want to look wedding-ey. I love grey, and it’s pale enough that in the right shape it still looks pretty bridal. The dress design process was lots of fun and I used a lot of online inspirations but didn’t ever find the perfect dress if I had wanted to buy one, anyway. I’ve always wanted to make my dress, so I’m so glad I was able to! My mom helped out with some fitting issues, since she’s the pro dressmaker with years of experience, but she didn’t really understand what I wanted until it was done. Making the dress itself didn’t take long at all (it’s a very simple bodice pattern with a gathered overskirt over a circle skirt), but making all the self-fabric flowers (by hand) did. I watched a lot of movies while cutting out and sewing together all those little petals.

And check out Suzannah’s blog, Adventure’s in Dressmaking, to follow her step-by-step instructions on designing her wedding dress and other great projects!

Via Ruffled Blog // Photography: Studio 623 Photography // Donuts: Voodoo Donut // Wedding Shoes: Nina

Coffee + Donut Bar

Posted on December 26, 2011 by glitter&pearls

I hope you all are loving this post-holiday day off! My big move of the morning was changing out of my pajamas. Progress.

This donut and coffee set-up has me craving a good old-fashioned donut, but because I promised myself I’d eat better after the holidays (and really New Year’s Eve doesn’t count – champagne has no calories, right?), I’ll just drool over the pictures (and cry.)

Loving that this donut set-up offers up a donut bag takeaway!

Via Divine Party Concepts // Photographs by Tinywater Photography // Styling and Paper Goods + Design: Alice Koswara

Powdered Donut Cake

Posted on December 10, 2011 by glitter&pearls

Already a donut fanatic, this tower of Hostess powdered sugar donuts {complete with tutorial} had me at hello.

The gals over at Paiges of Style offer up this easy-as-could-be donut tower tutorial for Cake. (Events). The dessert display is both easy and inexpensive and features some of the best store-bought donuts around: Hostess brand powdered donuts. Sold!