Almond Wedding Cake

One of my favorite things about marrying William was getting all of his mom’s amazing recipes!  She shared this elegantly simple almond cake with me a few summers ago, and I’ve been making it ever since.  Originally it had both gluten and dairy in it, but after a little experimenting (and a lot of happy taste-testers!) I was able to sub out both of these to fit our dietary restrictions.

Because William and I love it so much (and because we desperately wanted to cut into a cake we could actually eat!), I made a three layered version of this cake for our wedding.  The caterer who made the cake for the other guests decorated ours as well, so it blended in beautifully.  Now we’re just counting down the months so we can eat a little more!  But in the mean time, I had a friend over recently and made a single layer of this cake, topping it with a dust of powdered sugar and toasted almonds.

Almond Wedding Cake

-3/4 c. sugar
-I stick Earth Balance (or butter), softened
-8 oz almond paste, crumbled very finely
-3 eggs
-2 tsp kirsch, triple sec, or grand mariner (optional)
-1/2 tsp almond extract (bit more when I leave out the liqueur)
-1/4 c. all purpose gluten free flour (or regular all purpose flour)
-1/3 tsp baking powder
-powdered sugar, toasted almonds, and/or fresh berries to top, if desired

Combine sugar, Earth Balance, and almond paste in a large bowl, and cream together with a mixer until extremely smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and then add the extract and liqueur. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold it into the sugar mixture until just mixed through.
Pour into an 8-9 inch round cake pan that has been buttered (Earth Balanced?) and floured.  I also like to line mine with parchment paper for good measure.
Bake at 325° for 30-40 mins. Check the cake at about 20 minutes to see if it’s browning and needs to be covered lightly with a piece of foil.  Let the cake cool completely before you invert it onto serving platter and dust with powdered sugar and cover with toasted almonds. Serve with fresh berries on the side.  Enjoy!

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Our Monteagle Wedding

This Summer we have had our fair share of weddings. Caroline actually just rounded out the summer wedding season with a camp wedding near Monteagle. We have received our pictures and gotten our ducks in a row, so I am now thrilled to share some of the details of my wedding weekend!

William and I met in Monteagle, Tennessee years ago and were crazy about each other from the very beginning. His great-great-grandparents built their cottage in the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly in 1913, and I decided to work with the youth programming on a whim one summer.  William worked in the snack shop that summer, and the rest, as they say, is history. William and I both love being outdoors, and we always knew we wanted our wedding to draw in our love of nature as well as our love of Monteagle.

William and I knew that we wanted our day to feel polished but a little rustic, and we never would have been able to pull it off without all of the help from Caroline, our moms, and countless others!

 

I wore a Christian Lacroix gown, which was updated beautifully by Muna Couture in Nashville. The dress was made of off white silk organza and embroidered with big white flowers and vines, perfect for an outdoorsy wedding. My veil was made out of lace taken from my grandmother’s wedding dress, and it was also worn by Caroline on her wedding day.  The men wore gray suits with ties from Pelican Coast Clothing, a nod to my south Mississippi upbringing.

We decided to take all of our pictures before the wedding with our incredible photographer Jamie Clayton of Nashville.  William brought over sweet Jake, his lab, who clearly stole the spotlight!

 

Our ceremony was simple, short, and sweet and filled with quite a few very happy tears. It was held in the chapel right in the middle of the Assembly and guests walked just across the bridge and into the historic gym on the grounds where the reception was being held.

    

 

The catering was done by Natural Bridge Events with the cake by Ivy Wild, but with our crazy food restrictions, I made a gluten and dairy free cake for William and me.  It was a seriously delicious almond cake that Ivy Wild decorated for us so it would blend right in!

CEO the Band, out of Atlanta, was the hit of the evening with Motown classics as well as pop hits, and everyone enjoyed dancing away, long after we left through a spray of sparklers!

Adeline Travels to Jamaica

Last week I was fortunate enough to get to attend the wedding of a dear friend in Jamaica. Her wedding was at Round Hill Resort and Villas, and I cannot say enough positive things about the resort. The setting for a weekend getaway, week long vacation, wedding, girl’s trip, etc. is absolutely perfect. Idyllic, really.

From Nashville the travel time was just over 4 hours which was quite do-able then once you arrive at Montego Bay Airport the resort is only 20 minutes away. The bride told us about Club Mobay which is a service that the MBJ airport provides and it allows for expedited customs, a person to help you with bags and through airport and a lounge with “free” drinks and snacks… I say free but there is a charge for the service, $30 (each way) if you book ahead of time.  Knowing that I was only going to be there from Thursday through Sunday I knew that money would be worth a fast and easy airport experience for me. 

 Once you get to Round Hill you will receive a complimentary Rum Punch and be escorted to your room in the Pineapple House or your villa. The majority of the wedding guests stayed in the Pineapple House. It has great rooms and views of the ocean and pool. I would recommend getting a room on the bottom floor because you will have your own little patio, plus you still get the great views just maybe not quite as much of a view of the Caribbean. I always go for Ocean View rooms because if I am at the beach I want to see the ocean, but at Round Hill go ahead and opt for bottom level, if available, although you really cannot go wrong. This would be the one thing that I would have changed.

   The infinity pool is amazing. The beach is so very convenient you go between the two easily. The drinks are delicious — let me recommend the Lime Daiquiri, basically a less tart version of a margarita with rum. Amazing and not quite as sweet as Pina Coladas.. although theirs are also amazing so just plan to have “one” of each.     The staff at Round Hill was all so very nice and accommodating. Their is tip already included in all of your bills and the tip is divided among all of the hotel staff so instead of leaving your usual 20% for food and drinks, I suggest leaving $1 or $2 per drink. The food is delicious. Our favorite lunchtime treats were the Conch Beignets and the Plaintain Nachos, get these to split with a few people and you will thank me. Also the Jerk Chicken Wrap was excellent. 

 If you are going to splurge on one meal I recommend going to get their breakfast buffet one morning. It was extraordinarily good with a smoothie and fresh fruit bar to boot.

While at Round Hill you have just enough options of things to do when you want an activity, but not so many that you feel like you need to try it all or you will miss out, if that makes any sense? They offer great snorkeling right off of the dock, glass bottom boat rides each morning, great walking trails and places to explore like their organic garden where they grow many of their ingredients for meals, yoga, tennis, etc. With my short time frame the pool and the beach with friends were the only activities I needed but if I had been there another day, I would have definitely tried snorkeling and jumped on the glass bottom boat.

Another favorite “activity” of ours was tea time every afternoon from 4 until 5pm. It is complimentary and they have coffee, tea, tomato and cucumber sandwiches, rum balls, scones, etc. It was especially perfect for us since we had wedding activities at night to get coffee or iced tea and a bite to eat so the caffeine and sustenance would keep us moving right along.

 The easy, luxury and classic beauty of Round Hill is one of the best parts of this resort. The interiors were designed by Ralph Lauren and he has a Villa that he and his wife frequent at the resort. Also if you care a lot of celebrities  (I love celebs) have visited Round Hill from JFK to Kathie Lee (who was there along with Ralph Lauren and his family as well as Katie Lee from the Food Network over Easter of this year– or at least that’s what Instagram and Page 6 reported).

If you are looking to go clubbing at a huge all-inclusive, this is not necessarily for you (no knocking all inclusive’s, just saying this is not a Spring Break, tzzz tzz tzz

Usually when I travel I want to check places off of my bucket list and go onto the next one but Round Hill is somewhere that I know I will return to in the future.

Congrats to the newlyweds!     

Packing for a Destination Wedding

Tomorrow I am going to Jamaica for a dear friend’s wedding!! Woop woop. But first I have to figure out what to pack for three nights of wedding festivities plus several casual but cute beach days.   Round Hill Resort, Montego Bay

I am a chronic list maker so I will start with the weather forecast and a list of what to pack.. The high is going to be in the mid-80s, mostly sunny with a chance of scattered storms.. Storms? I am going to act like I didn’t hear that and think positive thoughts.   

Usually I pride myself in carrying on but with sunscreen and shoes I have decided to kick my pride and patience to the side and I will check a bag. Because of this I know I will probably pack more than necessary, but I will be prepared. 

The staples of my suitcase will include: maxi dresses (2 dressier, one cotton casual), a cocktail dress, swimsuits, cover ups, kimonos, wedges, slides, sunglasses and sunscreen. Plus all of the other “necessities” that have made my packing list… such as sunscreen, self tanner (because of said sunscreen), Surf Spray.. a selfie stick.. like I noted “necessities.” Now I need to actually get these items in my suitcase.    Slides, shades (yes, three pairs are necessary), tassels and turquoise.

  The “essentials” for this getaway.

 Panama hat + pink + fringe = Vacation

Do you have any recommendations on what I should take?? Would love to hear your ideas — In fact I am always looking for and open to inspiration and recommendations!

Bon Voyage!