family

we're married!!!!!!!!!!

the big fat snow flakes that fell from the sky,

the cake with our smiling eggs, a marzipan heart, halva, and gold,

my new family, 

my old one,

the lace from stoopie's wedding dress tied to my bouquet with a bracelet from mia,

a crab brooch from china and a cuff from mum's mum as my something blue,

the sound of the fugue as we walked down the aisle through a sea of love and rosemary, to eggboy with his egg tears. 

john's perfect speech, the cell phone soundtrack to our vows, the smooches, the sprinkles, the shawls that kept my bridesmaids warm,

eating all of the challah and prosciutto for the buffer for all of the aquavit that fueled the chorus line, the conga line, the hora, and cyndi lauper sing along,

the perfectly timed dinner bell, the late night grilled cheese covered in tons and tons of ketchup, the later night papa john's soaked in garlic butter, the smiley faces and the dancing, the perfect cake, the perfect pies, the perfect soup, the big big hugs,

and my husband.

hehehe.

my husband.

-yeh! (hagen!)


thank you to our amazing photographers, chantell and brett for these photos!!! more photos to come :)

marzipan moose mousse cake

tomorrow i will become mrs. egg. 

i am the happiest hippo in all of the land and i couldn't imagine a better christmukkah present.

i'm also the most caffeinated hippo because i have been wide awake at 3am almost every night this week with a mind as fast as a racehorse, scribbling to-do lists, writing my vows, stressing out about how i will pee when i'm wearing my dress.

but it's all so fun and amazing!!!! and i'm so excited to wake up tomorrow and frost my wedding cake with stoop, bake pies with mum, string together rosemary boutonnieres with my bridesmaids and bridesmen, gain a gaggle of new wonderful family members, do the hora with my homies, smooch my husband, say the word "husband" a thousand million times, and be showered in sprinkles as my dad plays mozart for the new mr. and mrs. 

ok, i'm gonna cry now.

i hope you are all having wonderful holidays filled with yummy food and lots of hugs! i will be back next week with a new ring and a new name! 

this marzipan moose mousse cake isn't our official wedding cake (that is yet to be decorated by stoop and me), but it's not an egg wedding without chocolate and marzipan! i was inspired by a moose cookie cutter that i found at ikea, and "moose mousse cake" is just so darn fun to say. hehe. so this little guy will be on our wedding dessert table, alongside the sprinkle cake and red velvet.


this recipe makes one very very very large cake. it requires baking four 8-inch layers and then throwing one massive party so that people can help you finish it. such as a wedding. however, it does halve (and even quarter!) quite nicely, just get your measurement equivalents memorized. you might not be able to fit two entire ikea moose onto a smaller cake, but consider dala horses or teddy bears. the chocolate cake recipe is based on magnolia's, and it is the one i swear by. it's so super moist and rich and perfect, and it doesn't require an electric mixer. the jam i've used here was made by eggcousin elaine, and i like it because she doesn't use any sugar, so it balances out the sweet cake very nicely. 

marzipan moose mousse cake

makes one 4-layer 8-inch cake or two 2-layer 8-inch cakes

ingredients

cake:

4 1/4 c sugar

3 1/2 c all-purpose flour

1 3/4 c cocoa powder

1 tb baking powder

1 tb baking soda

1 tb kosher salt

4 large eggs

2 c coconut milk (whole milk or almond milk will also work)

1 c vegetable oil

2 tb vanilla extract

2 tsp almond extract

1 3/4 c boiling water 

mousse frosting:

4 c heavy whipping cream

1 c cocoa powder

1/2 c powdered sugar

1 tsp almond

filling and decorating:

about 9 tb raspberry jam

16 oz marzipan

crushed almonds

powdered sugar, pearl sugar, sprinkles, optional

clues

preheat oven to 350. grease and line four 8-inch round cake pans. 

in a very very large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, and extracts. add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and then whisk in the boiling water. the batter will be very thin. pour into the cake tins and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. begin checking for doneness at about 25 minutes. cool for 10 minutes in the tins and then turn onto a greased wire rack and let cool completely.

these can be baked up to a week in advance, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, and then frozen. 

to make the frosting, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks and then gradually add the cocoa and powdered sugar. add the almond extract and continue beating to stiff peaks. 

to assemble your cake, level your layers and then place one layer on a plate or cake board. spread with a thin layer of frosting. roll out your marzipan to 1/4-inch thick and cut out a circle that will fit on top of the cake. place it on top and then spread on about 3 tablespoons of jam. place your second layer of cake on top and then repeat this process twice more. cover the cake in frosting. using the remaining marzipan, cut out your moose, and if desired, knead a bit of gel food coloring into some and cut out hearts. stick them onto your cake. surround the bottom of the cake with crushed almonds, and dust the top with powdered sugar, pearl sugar, or sprinkles.

store in the fridge.

enjoy!

-yeh!

a gingerbread farm

here is what our farm looks like! for the most part. it's not totally to scale and it's actually a vision of what the future will look like because there is a hot tub and a few ponies romping around, and with the exception of the pink tractor, it is all edible! there are za'atar trees and matcha trees and heart-shaped jolly rancher windows... even a shameless gingerbread buick lesabre. 

i spent more hours that i'm willing to admit on this, and if i had a dollar for every time eggboy conveyed that i was a lunatic in the process, i'd have enough to buy a real pony, but it was 100% worth every second just to see the looks on all of the eggs' faces when they saw it. eggboy's lucky that i didn't set this in the middle of our living room and scatter coconut flakes all over the floor to represent the wheat fields and sugar beet fields. i will save that for next year.

i'd like it to be known that i did not throw one frustration-induced tantrum during this whole process. that's probably a given because technically i am a grown-up, but i've got an awful track record (which in past years has resulted in having to construct a house of cardboard and glue through a sea of tears), so i am very proud of myself for this. 

do you want to have a tantrum-free gingerbread house building experience? i have secrets for you over on food52! follow along this week with a series of three gingerbread house posts that cover: how to make rock hard walls that won't collapse, how to make icing that will dry like cement, and how to make fun little accessories like a blue raspberry hot tub and cylindrical pieces of gingerbread wall for a grain bin or silo. and you'll get a little tour of our farm in the process :)

go check it out!

-yeh!

gingerbread terrariums

my friday night began on a bench outside of the sears at the town mall. i ate a cold soft pretzel with honey mustard and worked on my computer while eggboy picked out some birthday tools with his family, because is there any better way to spend a friday night?

i should mention that our town mall is really great and carpeted and has an entire cowboy boot store.

we had plans to see the new hunger games after, and maybe eat a slice of pizza for pizza night, but by the time i could wind my way through the fleece pajama section to find the eggs, eggboy was on his way to the parking lot to revisit tommy the turkey and two kinds of stuffing in the worst way possible. nooooo!!!

three bottles of gatorade, a lot of episodes of the office, and a couple of saltines later, he is finally feeling well enough to fold laundry and stomach some toast. oy vey. poor guy. luckily, my weekend to-do list only consisted of finishing my gingerbread farm and making these gingerbread terrariums, so i was on hand to make tea and toast at a moment's notice. and ok, i might have watched a lot of the office too, which i consider a triumph because for the longest time i just didn't get that show and i felt like such a loser about it, but now i really like it. (does anyone care? no? ok.)

in other news, which probably should have come before news of barf: eggboy is 28!!!! and his dad, who also had a birthday this weekend, is, um, another year older!! we celebrated with a nice low-key brunch. biscuits, eggs, and bacon for us, a little plate of saltines for him. and then i made sarah's fantastic gingerbread for a cake because making a gingerbread farm really makes you crave gingerbread--actual gingerbread, not rock-hard gingerbread walls and roofs. i frosted one layer and slapped it on my new cake stand, and then crumbled up the other layer to use as the "dirt" in these edible terrariums!

i can't take any credit for the brilliant idea to make an edible terrarium. i have geordan to thank for that! the gingerbread and coconut "snow" put a wintery vibe on these, but feel free to use chocolate cake or any other dark cake for the dirt. and go wild with frosting flavors and other decorative goodies! part of me is really tempted to make my terrariums flood with a monsoon of milkshake or hot chocolate... 


gingerbread terrariums

makes 8-10

ingredients + supplies

1/2 batch of this gingerbread (or other 1 layer 8-inch cake), cooled

8-10 16 oz jars

1 1/2 c frosting (vanilla for snow, chocolate for mud, lemon for... yellow snow?)

ground pretzels for gravel or shredded coconut for snow

tweezers

marzipan kneaded with green food coloring for succulents or christmas trees

rosemary or other herbs

cookie cutouts, mini candy canes, sprinkles, any other fun decor

 

clues

crumble up the cake into the bottom of the jars to form an even layer and pat it down gently. top with a blob of frosting (it's easiest to use a piping bag for this). top with a thin layer of coconut or ground pretzels, and then use tweezers to position your plants and other decorations. 

to make the marzipan succulents, roll out the marzipan and use small cookie cutters or a knife to cut out little ovals or hearts and then smoosh them together to form a little flower.

enjoy!

-yeh!

this post was done in collaboration with urban outfitters! the mugs in these photos are the 4040 locust antler mug and the classic mason jar mug. thanks so much, urban!!