Trifle Time!

When life hands you broken cake - make a trifle!!

I have made I don't know how many cakes in the past few years -  and never before have I had one I couldn't get out of the pan in one piece. Until now:-) I was making a white chocolate cake for Brian (looking like the blue ribbon cake), only this happened...so I decided to abandon the original idea and roll with it. And actually, it was the perfect birthday dessert for Brian!

White Chocolate Raspberry Trifle - I used white chocolate cake, white chocolate pudding, raspberries and whipped cream. It was delicious!!

Annnnnd we invited hordes of people over at the last minute, so I whipped up another one a few hours before they came over. Strawberry Vanilla, this time:-)

I had to try both, (naturally), and I really couldn't decide which one I liked better. Happy Birthday Brian!

I've Done It...

I've created another blog! Somebody STOP ME! haha. Basically, I just wanted a website to refer people to, other than facebook, and didn't want customers having to wade through my personal blog, also, I didn't want to have to post *every little thing* about the business and all my baking here on this blog.

So check out Cookies & Cupcakes and see what you think! I know I have some bakers that follow my blog, so you'll want to check out this post specifically, to find out how these have revolutionized my life! If you bake cupcakes (or cakes), even just occasionally, but hate the messiness and the cleanup, than this is for you!

An Icing Pod

I've been revolutionized, I tell you!

Blue Ribbons

Sorry for so many recipe/cake posts! There have been so many parties recently, on top of my cookie and cupcake orders, it seems like all I ever do is bake:-) I don't mind, I do enjoy it, and I am still learning so much that nothing is boring to me yet.

I volunteered to make a cake for a small baby shower tomorrow night. So today I baked the cakes, and tonight after church I stacked, filled, crumb coated, froze it for a bit (to accelerate the drying process)

Then I tried something I have never tried before - making ruffles, or ribbons.

I LOVE how it turned out. Not embarrassing at all for a first try.

Even still, doing it once, I know how to improve my technique for next time. No where to go but up!

Really pretty!

Ok, the flash went off on the camera for only one picture. Weird. And it changed the way the icing looks. It's not a brilliant sky blue, it's very pale, like in the other pics.

I named this cake Blue Ribbons. And I like how it looks like a flower from the top view.

Ok - a bit of a killer with the hand cramping aspects - but I think I did a pretty good job, and I will definitely do this again. It's pretty easy, and really a no-fail way to present a cake - much like covering them with roses - soooo much easier than trying to get smooth buttercream.

Baseball Cuties

Baseball babies. Notice the league fixed the "soccer shirt" problem and got the right logo on there:-)...and Grey, wanting to fit in, wanted to wear baseball stuff today too:-) He will play teeball next year.

Brooks

Here is some footage from todays game - they won 6-1, against the Blue Jays. Brooks has had a few decent hits this year, and Kenna even hit one...pretty much by accident. She was so surprised she hit it she almost didn't know what to do...and ended up running all the way to first carrying the bat, with everyone shouting "DROP THE BAT", she got out at first, but she got a hit!! I caught one of Brooks' hits on camera today. A good Mom moment. It seems like I usually miss everything worth taping;-)

Star Wars Cake

Brooks wanted a Star Wars cake - so this was the simple easy idea I came up with, it has the roman numeral for 7, since that is how Star Wars numbers their episodes, and it's says:

Have A Happy Birthday You Must - which is totally how Yoda would say it, according to Google

He wanted a vanilla cake with chocolate icing.

Crumb coated!

The recipe for the cake comes from my sister - a made from scratch vanilla cake. It's pretty good for a from-scratch cake. I have my scruples with from scratch cakes. Basically - I like light "fluffy" cakes, and Duncan Hines delivers each and every time. Homemade is usually denser. Sure enough, this one is more dense than DH...but, that being said, it IS still really a good cake. I wonder if I found something similar, recipe wise, but with oil instead of butter...maybe would be better? All of that is very personal preference though. For people that like a cake with a heavier feel (not as dense as pound cake), it's perfect! Check out the recipe here

I bought these toys to go on the cake, and now they can be played with:-)...the sabers light up!

And the icing - I tried a new recipe, and it's a total winner in my book. I will use it most often on cupcakes I think - the light chocolate taste will go well with a fudgy cake.

This recipe is light, fluffy - and made from Hershey bars and not cocoa powder! Can you say WINNING?! I think you will be very happy you tried this buttercream. Check it out here.

Brooks' 7th Birthday

On Brooks' actual birthday, we spent the day at the field day for our co-op. It was a fun way to end the co-op school year!

His chosen birthday cereal was one we've never had before, but he saw it on a commercial. It's basically s'mores:-)

And his cake!! He wanted a Star Wars cake, and since I knew we'd have a busy week, this was about the easiest thing I could think to do;-)

He's showing how the sabers can light up

Brooks' birthday song. We got the whole song this time - but Brian was manning the camera and couldn't figure it out. A trifecta of messed up birthday songs for 2014. Bueno.



And the gift he's been asking for, for awhile now...Beyblades. Which is the new way of saying "we're playing tops". Beyblades are tops. But they made them cooler. So instead of spinning tops, you can sling beys. yaaaah. We don't really get it. But boys between the ages of 6 and 12 toooootally get it.

So he got Beys from everybody, since that is all he requested:-) Grey is the cutest little slinger of them all. Haha!

Brooks requested BLT's for his birthday meal, which we enjoyed today (Sat), so Uncle Dale could be there too. So we enjoyed dinner on the screened in porch with Lauren and Dale, and then opened a few gifts and ate cake! He asked for a vanilla cake with chocolate icing, and I will share about that in another post with the recipes.

Cake Flour

Well, are you like me...constantly subbing out cake flour for all purpose flour without ever really thinking about "what is the difference" - maybe it's just me. I've never bought cake flour, I've always been mildly curious as to what the difference was, but it took until today to google it and figure it out. I don't know why, but I literally stood in front of the cake flour at Walmart (about to grab some), and googled it on my phone.

Thanks to my findings, I didn't buy it.

Here's the skinny - (I am making a from scratch vanilla cake tonight, and wanted it to turn out "just so")

For every cup of all purpose flour used, take out 2 T. And add 2 T of cornstarch to replace what you took out. Sift together. Done.

So for my recipe today, I measured out 3 C all purpose flour. Then I took out 6 T of flour, and added 6 T cornstarch.

EASY, right?! *I didn't actually sift it, I put both flour and cornstarch in my Kitchenaid, and mixed them together for a good long while on the "stir" setting, while I got the other ingredients prepared.

I guess it makes for a lighter cake? I am baking the Brooksie boys birthday cake, so I'll let you know what it tastes like, and if it was worth the extra effort (not that it was really hard, or time consuming at all).

My tip of the day!