Baby Shower!

This past weekend my family and friends threw me a baby shower in my hometown.  It was really nice to go back and see all the people I love in one place, together to celebrate my soon to be born daughter.  I was really blown away at the decorations and the desserts... oh my GOD the desserts.  Well, here are some pictures so you can get an idea...

My friend S.I. made these macrons.  She had never made macrons before.  She went off my recipe for chocolate macroons, substituting the coca powder for 1/2 tsp of vanilla instead. Okay I was informed that these were actually using Martha Stewart's recipe for macrons because it yielded more cookies and these were not vanilla.  They were just plain macrons, but still delicious! They were filled with a simple chocolate ganache.  All I can say is that they looked amazing and tasted even better.  She was up until 4 am working on desserts for the party the night before.  She is pretty amazing that way.

I just really loved these macrons.  I mean it took two of my favorite things, Hello Kitty and macrons and put them together.  What can be better?

S.I. also made these cupcakes.  They were funfetti with whipped frosting and a white chocolate Hello Kitty on top.  She handmade those Hello Kitty toppers.  What is awesome about this is not only how cute the toppers are (and how tasty!), but the fact that S.I. knows me well enough to use whipped frosting rather than buttercream. I love whipped cream frosting.... buttercream, not so much.

Even the display stands were super adorable!  But wait until you see the cake my sister in law had made for us... oh em gee.

This cake was from my favorite bakery in Chicago, Bittersweet Bakery.  They have the best pastries and cake.  It was a chocolate cake filled with chocolate cream and raspberry preserves.  Delicious.  I am not sure if you can really tell what is going on in this picture, but its Hello Kitty sitting in a crib.  My sister in law got the bakery to do this design as an homage to my love of all things Hello Kitty along with the fact that my cat Plato has been trying to claim the crib as his own place to sleep, as shown below.

We are trying to find a way to stop this.  Any suggestions are more than welcome.  So far, we think we will be using a crib tent, although those make me a little nervous...

Okay, I know this is not a dessert, but it was just too cute for words.  My pal J.Lo (yes, we actually call her that and no, she is not Jennifer Lopez) made this adorable diaper cake.  I loved this for several reasons: (1) I had been stressing over the fact that we have no diapers in the house, even though we don't have a baby yet; (2) the picture frame is a great keepsake and (3) I am not sure if you can see that cutie little owl peeking out, but its one of those stuffed animal blanket thingies and I think those are just too cute.