Hi Everyone. Sorry my posts have not been as consistent as I like them to be. The start of Spring is a very busy time in our household with lots of birthdays and Easter. I’m working on lots of projects for our remodel too, so I have some fun stuff coming your way.
So let’s get to catching up.
My daughter Sage turned 20 and she loves Sunflowers, so I knew that would be the theme for her family birthday party. I found this cake while gathering up ideas for Easter on Pinterest and knew this would be perfect for her celebration. It was super easy to make and unique. Sage loved it and it tasted great too. More on the cake in a minute but first I want to show you the table setting. I wanted it to be filled with sunflowers and feel like we were eating in a Spring garden.
I found this beautiful table cloth and napkins at Homegoods. As I’ve mentioned before, right around St. Patrick’s Day, Homegoods starts to get really lovely Spring table linens. I fell in love with this one. Not only are the colors bright and beautiful but I really liked the detail on the trim.
I used my natural woven placemats from Target to add to the garden sunflower theme.
Simple white plates are always my favorite. I bought a set of 24 of the white plates pictured at IKEA. I needed lots of place settings for when we host Christmas, so I went with these along with matching salad plates and bowls. I bought them a while ago, but IKEA is always a great source for inexpensive but lovely tableware. Our extended family keeps growing though, so it looks like I’ll have to add more soon, which I’m more than happy to do. FAMILY IS EVERYTHING to this blogger.
I had two large bouquets of sunflowers in glass vases at each end of the table, so they wouldn’t block anyone’s view or ability to converse, this is really important; you don’t want the centerpiece to be overwhelming or make it difficult for people to talk to whoever is sitting across from them.
In the center I added one smaller bouquet of complimentary yellow flowers in a glass vase.
One of my favorites touches was the yellow flowers I put in Hubert’s Lemonade glasses. I’m a big fan of using something unique for a vase check out my post here for another unique vase idea. My daughters love this Lemonade, it is a staple in our refrigerator during the summer months. You can find my girls drinking them while laying on rafts in our backyard pool or taking them along for a beach picnic. They come in lots of flavors, our favorite is strawberry lemonade. You can find them at most grocery stores. I’ve been saving these glass containers just to use for a fun Spring or Summer tablescape and this was a perfect opportunity to display them. I filled each with some more of the pretty yellow flowers and placed them at each individual place setting. This would be a great party favor for your guests to take home. I love that the glass jars are being repurposed and are free!
How cute are these Hubert’s Lemonade bottles?!
Now lets get to that adorable Sunflower Brownie Cake.
The yellow peeps serve as the petals of the Sunflower.
Chocolate Chips and Mini Chocolate Chips form the center detail of the Sunflower.
The base of the cake is a brownie instead of cake. Although you could use one layer of a chocolate layer cake if you’d prefer. I liked the idea of the brownie because it was something different and my family is big fan of the Ghiradelli Triple Chocolate Brownie mix so that’s what I used.
This recipe is easily make gluten free, just replace the brownie mix with a gluten free version, all other ingredients are gluten free. I’m always happy when I can make a gluten free version so I can enjoy it too.
Dessert plates are from Marshall’s.
Sunflower Brownie Cake
Ingredients:
- 1 small box of brownies (should fit a 9 x 9 pan)
- 1 container chocolate frosting
- 20 yellow peeps
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
- parchment paper
Directions:
- Line a round cake pan with parchment paper*
- follow directions on brownie mix (except you will use a round pan)
- bake as directed on box
- let cool
- flip upside down onto serving plate or cake stand, peel off parchment paper (if using)
- put frosting on top of the brownie
- place peeps around the outside of the brownie
- put mini chocolate chips in center of brownie in a circle
- put regular chocolate chops around the outside of the mini ones
* I used a spring form pan and lightly sprayed it with cooking oil in lieu of parchment paper and it worked great.
Avenue of Joy 