Candy Dish Blog

Today is the big day for my friend Hilary, who is getting married in Chattanooga to her boyfriend fiance Rick. You remember Hilary, right? She’s the one who made the fun M&Ms video and the equally fun Peeps video. Check out the sneak preview of the dress and bouquet!

Hilary actually visited me a couple weeks ago. It was a real treat to get to know her better. She loved our office and was almost overwhelmed by the candy room. And she brought me taffy. I know Tori just talked about taffy from her visit to the Outer Banks but the stuff Hilary brought me was from Maine, so really it’s like a different topic altogether.

All the best to you crazy kids, doing the marriage thing and the Fiesta Movement thing at the same time. Oh yeah – the kicker for this big wedding day is that after the nuptials, Hilary and Rick are going skydiving. To quote Dave Barry, “I am not making this up.” I can’t wait for the photos!

Okay, I admit it.  For the last 30 minutes I have been researching weddings online.  Nope, I’m not engaged.  (uhh, okay crazy girl…)  BUT – one of my best friends is engaged and I was doing a little surfing for her big day since I’m in her bridal party.  I was looking for unique place card ideas and came across this post on A $10,000 Wedding. 

What a great idea!  Who doesn’t love Ferrero Rocher® chocolates?  And they’re affordable.  The gold foil wrapping keeps it classy and the chocolate is soft and creamy enough to stick a toothpick in it.  This could definitely double as a wedding favor, saving you a little bit of cash.

Two thumbs up, Ferrero Rocher®.

I recently hosted a dinner party for 100 or soof my closest friends.  When my husband and I first met with the caterer, I told him that as a spokesperson for the U.S. chocolate and candy industry it was important to me to incorporate these foods in unusual ways during this dinner party.  One of the things I really wanted to do was use cocoa and chocolate in savory ways during the dinner.  Our chef, Gary Leach of Centerplate Catering for the Roland E. Powell Convention Center, scored a total hit when he presented me with a menu that consisted of Chocolate-Dusted Scallops with Vanilla Butter Sauce AND Chili and Cocoa Marinated Flank Steak with Chocolate Merlot Sauce.

The scallop recipe is courtesy of Emeril Lagasse and the Food Network.

John Dooley and Chef Gary at Centerplate were kind enough to send me the following recipe for the entree course.  Thanks guys!  You made our day very special and now you’ve helped me make today very special for readers of the Candy Dish blog.

Chili and Cocoa Marinated Flank Steak with Chocolate Merlot Sauce

Yield: Dinner for 6 – 7

Marinade Ingredients:
2 – 2.5 lbs Flank Steak
1.5 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
½ bunch Fresh Cilantro
¾ cup Chipotle Pepper Powder                                     
¾ cup Cocoa Powder
4 cloves Fresh Garlic
1 Tablespoon Onion Powder                                                              
1.5 ounces Worcestershire Sauce 
3 Fresh Limes, Zested and Juiced                        

Sauce Ingredients:
1 Medium Onion, Diced Small
¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil                                
3 cloves Fresh Garlic, Peeled and Minced                         
2 Fresh Jalapenos (Roasted, Peeled and Seeded)
2 cups Merlot Wine
1 Beef Bullion Cube
1/3 cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips       

Method – Marinade:
Place garlic and cilantro in food processor and puree, then add oil in a stream while blending, then add remaining ingredients and process until well blended, this mixture will be thick. Coat the Flank Steak with puree and marinate overnight. Scrape off excess marinade and grill on a hot grill to sear and then move to a medium heat to finish to desired doneness. Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing (against the grain for the most tender eating).

Method - Sauce:
Sweat the onions over medium heat in the oil. Add the garlic and pepper and sauté for 1 minute, then add the wine and reduce by half. Off the heat, add the chocolate and bullion cube and stir until completely melted and absorbed (you can puree this sauce if you like with a blender). This sauce has very intense flavor and just a little on the flank is best and quite delicious. 

In case you didn’t hear, our very own Susan F. recently became Susan W. at a beautiful wedding in Ocean City, MD. A festive occasion it was. Susan was a lovely bride and the ceremony was on the beach with waves crashing in the background, the groom looked dashing in his tux and blah blah blah. Whatever.

Let’s get to the good stuff at the reception. There was a roast with a savory chocolate sauce. No joke. But the coolest part of the reception, in my opinion, was the candy bar. Look at this buffet of candy. Yes, an all-you-can-take buffet, complete with little bags so you could take some home with you. I wish you could have been there to see and taste it yourself, but I didn’t have anything to do with the guest list. Alas. We missed you.

One thing that I’ve noticed during the ridiculous amount of time I’ve spent reading wedding blogs during the past year is how much brides LOVE candy.  There are countless ways to introduce candy into your wedding it seems – favors, out of town bags, candy buffets, centerpieces, cake decor and the list goes on.

I happen to love all the personalized stuff.  It’s hard to think of a sweeter and more appropriate candy to use at wedding than the classic Hershey Kiss.  You can special order the Kisses through the Hershey Gift Web site with custom flags.  They can either say “Just Married” OR you can have your name and wedding date (or whatever) printed on them.

Hershey Kiss images from www.HersheyGifts.com

There are also wedding favor sites where you can order Hershey Kiss favors that have little stickers on the bottom with your name and wedding date (I’ve even seen blank stickers that you can print yourself at Michael’s).  Also, since there are so many varieties of Kisses these days, it’s easy to get them in different color foils to match your wedding.  I love the dark purple foil used to wrap the dark chocolate Kisses.

As for me, I’m a traditionalist.  We’re going the candy buffet route (big surprise, huh?) which will feature, among about a dozen different types of candy, a jar of classic, silver Hershey Kisses.  It’s hard to mess with perfection.

A few weeks ago, my girlfriends threw an excellent bridal shower for me.  Jaimie, the lead organizer, decided on a Margaritaville theme and picked really cute invitations with magenta and lime green circles.  What candy comes in magenta and lime green discs?  Yup.  M&Ms.

As you can see, the colors coordinated very well with the invitations and decor for the party.  The candies have personalized messages, as well:

Read the rest of this entry »

Georgetown Cupcake recently won the Washington Post's contest to find the best cupcakes in the city.

Back in November, I blogged about my interest in a chocolate wedding cake and our readers had lots of great comments  – including a couple of suggestions encouraging me to to think about cupcakes.  About a month later, I celebrated my birthday which happens to be the same day as International Cupcake Day.  About a week after that, Susan S., Tori and I were lucky enough to sample some cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes in Washington, DC. (and, yes, we brought one home for Carl).

I felt like the stars were aligned and telling me to go for cupcakes.  Luckily, the fiance agreed.

I knew I wanted to include a chocolate shell on the top of each cupcake, and the folks over at Georgetown Cupcake readily agreed to place them for us.  We’re using these beautiful chocolate praline shells from Guylian chocolate.  I loved the white and milk chocolate marbled effect.  Our shells will be used in place of the decor the cupcakery normally puts on the top of the shells (like that cute heart on this red velvet cupcake here).

Next we had to pick flavors.  Originally, I wanted a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting, a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting and one other signature flavor.  We were leaning toward lemon, but then I realized that it didn’t look as good with the marbled chocolate shells, so I think we’re back to the basics with chocolate / vanilla and vanilla / chocolate.

Our wedding venue has a tower for cupcakes that will (hopefully) hold enough for all our guests.  Our friends Martha and Libby will pick up the cupcakes for us the morning of the wedding (we’re getting married three hours away so reliable friends who can deliver the cupcakes were critical to the success of our plan). Libby is lucky enough to live around the corner from Georgetown Cupcake.

I’ll post pictures of the final product.  In the meantime, if you live in the Washington, DC area or are planning a visit, be sure to drop in on the folks over at Georgetown Cupcake and see what the fuss is all about.

Georgetown Cupcake
1209 Potomac Street NW (at the corner of M Street and Potomac Street)
Washington, DC

red velvet by aliciagriffin