Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Well Traveled Cakes

I didn't want to have a store bought menu for my cross country baby shower but I also didn't want to spend my time in Boston cooking or baking. I needed food that could be made ahead of time and travel well in a suitcase. Oh and I also wanted it to be pretty.


I decided to bake three bundt cakes because they freeze well and are dense enough to handle a bit of shaking. They can also sit on a counter for a few days without becoming stale if you keep them wrapped.You can also serve them with or without frosting, depending on if you need to hide any cracks.

 Mother helped me bake all three cakes a week before the baby shower. It took us all afternoon, but there is no way I could have been as efficient in my small kitchen. We had plenty of room to spread out at her house. Mom wrapped them in freezer paper after they were cooled and stored them in her freezer until right before I left for the airport. I transported them in individual cake carriers padded with shredded paper. Fortunately my cakes survived the flight in my checked bag without any issue!

The recipes I used are perfect if you need to bake ahead. They lived in the freezer for four days and then on a countertop in Boston for two days before the shower. None of the cakes dried out or crumbled. All three recipes turned out delicious, but the most popular was the apple cream cheese cake. The chocolate cherry cake had a funny texture on the outside, but still tasted good. I also mistakenly bought cherry juice infused dried cranberries instead of dried cherries. And the sour cream pumpkin cake is super easy to make and is perfect for any occasion this season.

We had plenty of food with the three cakes, two bags of grapes, and a double batch of brownies for the 25ish guests who attended. There was enough variety that everyone found something to enjoy, but not so much variety that I (or the food table) was overwhelmed.

What do y'all like to serve at showers? This isn't the first event at which we have served bundt cakes. They are just so pretty!

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