Well, these do have chocolate, but I love the combo of chocolate and raspberries. They're a bit time consuming and fresh raspberries are expensive, but strawberries could be used instead if that's what's available. I've also made chocolate truffles and stirred in raspberry jam for a raspberry chocolate truffle and I've wrapped maraschino cherries with the stems still on in chocolate truffle filling and dipped them into chocolate, a double chocolate hit with a cherry in the middle! Anyway, the raspberry truffle recipe, from an old Gourmet magazine, and it would be nice dipped in white chocolate too: Chocolate-Covered Raspberry Truffles Gourmet : December 2004 Be sure to use bittersweet chocolate with no more than 60 percent cacao for this recipe. Yield: Makes about 50 Active Time: 50 min Total Time: 2 hr (includes chilling) 1/4 cup heavy cream 7 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not extra-bitter or unsweetened), finely chopped in a food processor 1 1/2 tablespoons framboise or brandy(I used raspberry vodka but extract would work too, added to taste) 6 oz fresh raspberries (1 cup) 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder Line a tray with wax paper. Bring cream just to a simmer in a 1- to 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat. Remove from heat, then add chocolate and stir gently with a heatproof rubber spatula until ganache is smooth. Stir in framboise. Pat raspberries dry if necessary. Add 6 to 8 raspberries to ganache and gently fold in to coat using rubber spatula. Remove each chocolate-covered raspberry with 2 forks, shifting it from one fork to the other to let excess ganache drip off, then transfer to tray. Coat remaining raspberries in same manner, working in batches of 6 to 8. Chill truffles on tray until firm, at least 1 hour, then loosen from wax paper. Put cocoa in a sealable bag and add all of truffles. Seal bag, leaving some air in, and shake to coat. Empty bag into a shallow bowl. Transfer coated truffles to a platter with your fingers, shaking off excess cocoa. Keep chilled until ready to serve. Truffles can be chilled, covered after 1 hour, up to 2 days. Coat with cocoa powder up to 1 hour before serving. If you're having truffles, you probably don't want chocolate cake and if you're having lemon cake pops, you won't want lemon or other citrus. Carrot cake is good, but a little "heavy" and people either like it or they don't. How about a coconut cake, or maybe red velvet? I don't care much for red velvet, I think it's pretty much just a chocolate cake wannabe and I can't imagine eating that much red dye, but some others love it. If you're not opposed to using liquor, someone here posted this recipe, maybe Stacy? I copied it back in the olden days before I had enough good sense to note where I got it! Actually, almond extract would probably work fine in these if you don't have the Amaretto. Amaretto Dream Cupcakes with Amaretto Butter Frosting 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt- 3/4 cup butter or margarine 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar 2 eggs 1 1/2 cup buttermilk 1/4 cup Amaretto 1/3 cup slivered almonds In a medium bowl; sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Alternately add 1/3 of flour and all of the buttermilk, then 1/3 of flour and the Amaretto, beating well after each addition. Add remaining flour; mix until smooth. Stir in almonds. Line regular or mini muffin cups with baking papers. Fill each 2/3 full. Bake at 375 degrees for 14-16 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool In pans for 5 minutes. Remove and cool completely before frosting. Yield: 24 regular or 48 mini cupcakes. Amaretto Butter Frosting 3 cups confectioners' sugar 1/4 cup butter or margarine; melted 3 to 4 tablespoons whipping cream 2 to 3 tablespoons Amaretto In a small mixing bowl, beat confectioners' sugar and butter. Add whipping cream and Amaretto; beat until smooth. Add remaining cream and Amaretto if needed to achieve spreading consistency. Yield: frosts 24 regular cupcakes good luck on that job, I know they'll love it all. Be sure to come back and let us know what you decided and how it went! Annie

is this a diaper cake in the shape of a baby carriage? I have never seen instructions for this one. I googled and found this pic and ingredients - I imagine it is just a matter of stacking the diapers to the right shape, just like a normal diaper cake http://www.bamababiesandbirthdays.com/baby_carriage_diaper_cakes.htm looks like two bibs is the hood, and a ruffle of large lace is added to the ribbon, uses rolled burp pad wheels. Not sure how all is fastened together though with such an odd shape. you could pin or glue, but some of the diapers may become unusable. The third bib may be under the toy. cannot tell if the diapers underneath are stacked or rolled. It may not matter as they are covered by the lace. hth Here is a link that might be useful: diaper cake

Glad she had a healthy baby! . Some folks never get any training from their parents on how to give a party or even small get- together perhaps because parents never could afford anything or worked 2 jobs as single parent & no energy to do much of anything. It's different world these days. Even at places you would expect folks to know they sometimes don't. I went to large potluck with about 100 people there & people were putting salads(cold items) in among the hot dishes, desserts & breads, I suggested that it might be easier to have hot items grouped together, then breads then cold items &then desserts on another table & the beverages on yet another-in case of spills & ease of getting them. Everybody thought it was a great idea & I just thought it was common sense! Of course after that I was often asked to organize that type thing. Usually it is older aunts or relatives that have showers for the younger relatives so these people tried & probably will do better next time. Always a 1st time around. I know I've asked if invitations had been sent out for a shower & received a very funny look so I grinned & said "more people come when they know when & where it will be" Girl needed a little help, I told her who had cute invites & cheaper than most of places too & suggested couple of games & suggested she use tablecloth over card table for the gifts so would make a nice pic. That would spare her embarrassment day of shower as looked like she hadn't thought of "gift table". Takes practice to get it perfect!

Gorgeous, Gillian! I want to see the other cake, too. Hey, it has to be better than one I saw last week for a baby shower- it showed a woman actually giving birth! It's too graphic to even link to, but if a person googled "shower cake labor Olivia" I bet they'd find it.