Chapeaux and Champagne Brunch

Hello, Everyone! I know I’ve been gone quite a while, but I have a great excuse… I was traveling Europe! The good news is, although I’m sure you’ve been missing my wacky antics, I have stocked up on some fab ideas for new desserts. (Prepare your bellies!)

When I got home, I had a mystery package waiting for me. I opened it up to find this:

This darling invitation for the Chapeaux and Champagne Brunch was sent from Erica Keuter Designs, and look how elegant and clever it is! She also designed the rest of the stationery for the brunch. It also seems super fitting that I was invited to a fancy, shmancy French-themed brunch right after my European tour. I was instructed to wear a dress and a hat, and to please bring some dessert to fit the theme. So, to accompany the petit fours and champagne cupcakes that really classed up the affair, I made little pink macarons with lemon cream cheese filling. (recipe below)

Walking into the brunch was such a treat. The hostesses, Erica Keuter and Christina Norton, did such a gorgeous job! Look at this table setting with its stunning centerpiece by Elena Hodis. As a favor, each guest received a hand-painted box with a packet of blooming tea inside.

Now look at the food setup, everything was so beautifully detailed – including the color of the desserts!

All in all, the Garden Fete was a huge success! The food was delicious, the company divine, and we all looked fab in our chapeaux!

And now for the Lemon Cream Cheese filling recipe I used in the macaron. For the cookies, I used this recipe from French Macaron Day.

LEMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING – should be enough for 12 cupcakes

• 4 oz cream cheese, room temp
• 4 oz (one stick) unsalted butter, room temp
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 2.5 cups powdered sugar (add more to taste/for consistency)
• Optional – half of a leftover vanilla bean that would otherwise not be used

Start by creaming together your butter and cream cheese. Scrape down the bowl so they blend smoothly. (I also added in the vanilla caviar at this stage)

After you scrape down the bowl, add in the lemon zest and lemon juice and mix until incorporated evenly.

Then add in the powdered sugar and mix until there are no lumps. Feel free to add more powdered sugar at this point if your frosting isn’t the consistency you’d like.

This was more than enough frosting for a batch of macarons – I’m pretty sure it could have frosted 3 batches of around 3 dozen cookie sandwiches each. If that’s too much math for you, it’s about enough frosting for two people each with a spoon. Or one if you’re selfish like I am.

Pipe the frosting into the middle of the cookies, and voila! Little pink macarons perfect for a Chapeaux and Champagne brunch! (They look even better on display!)

Thank you again to Erica Keuter and Christina Norton and all the other lovely ladies who made this brunch such a success!

Tags: brunch, champagne, chapeaux, cream cheese, dresses, french, friends, Frosting, fun, girls, hats, lemon, macaron, recipe, step by step