Sharing is Good...

...and I just think this blog needs to be shared with the world. I was checking out some of the blogs that were nominated for the "Bloggies" awards to see what was so special about them. Some of them were absolutely beautiful. The photos were professional grade and the writing was superb. It put mine to shame and I came to the conclusion that I will probably never have an award winning blog when compared to those. Seriously, it's like it is their full-time job to put these things together and the time and effort it takes to make something worth reading on a regular basis is more than I have available right now. So, while I was investigating the nominees I came upon a blog called "Cake Wrecks". I sat there and scrolled through the utter disasters that people called cakes and laughed so hard I cried. I mean, tears were rolling down my eyes and I thought, "This is a blog worth following!" Check it out, maybe you'll be glad you did. I must warn you, however, that sometimes things can get a little gross, like this post on foot cakes.....but still very funny :)

A Classic, The Pound Cake

Had an itch to try something new this week, pound cake.

I wasn't sure why they called it "pound cake" so I did a little (very little) research and here it is,

your "fun fact" of the day:

It seems that the original recipe from the early 1700's used a pound of every ingredient

(butter, sugar, eggs and flour)

and not because you gain pounds for eating it.

Hope you feel as enlightened as I do :)

They turned out nicely and the recipe I used actually made 5 mini loaves so I gave some away to some friends. I noticed something though, the mini loaves get eaten faster.

Dense and moist with a buttery almond flavor, it's easy to see why they went so fast. The recipe was actually one from Better Homes and Gardens magazine for Vanilla Sparkling Wine Pound Cake but I substituted milk for wine because I didn't have any. I also like to take a recipe down to it's bare-bones to sort of test it so I was OK with leaving the wine out this time. The basic recipe was delicious and I'm interested to know what difference the wine will make.

Until next post, happy baking!

All Hail The Birthday Girl, The Maker of Wishes, The Opener of Presents...

And here is the Birthday Girl, I bet you couldn't tell that from the picture.

This is from her 3rd birthday. It's funny, every past picture you look at of your kids you say,

"They were so little back then!"

You can't help yourself, it just comes out!

So let me get to the point of this post...drum roll please!

Here is the princess crown birthday cake I made for her last year,

and when I say "I", of course I mean "my husband and I".

I saw it in the Family Fun Magazine and knew I had to do it for her. What I didn't know was the amount of work that it was going to take. They make it sound so easy, "just do this and that, use this and that...blah, blah, blah", and I admit, the concept is "easy", reality is a little different.

It's a simple, two layer cake from a box (don't judge me, I wanted to keep it as simple as possible) frosted with canned frosting, that was the easy part. Then you take a roll of sugar cookie dough and using a template from their website you cut out the pieces of the crown. Here is where I spent hours trying to get the perfect cookies. They spread and I had to re-cut the hearts out of the middle AGAIN and trim the sides so they would be straight. Some of them weren't hard enough to stand up, some ended up crumbling, I was getting frustrated. But eventually, after the help of my wonderful husband, I had enough cookies to finish the cake and I could calm down. It turned out cute but boy, was it a pain! At least we have some good pictures of it and more importantly, my daughter LOVED it.

And one more picture, I just had to throw it in, my husband Jason and my son.

Thanks honey, couldn't have done it without you!

At the End of My Rainbow There Are Cupcakes!

We just celebrated my daughter's 4th birthday. As usual, I asked her what kind of party and cake she wanted to have. Her answer was, "Pink, purple, green,...", just a bunch of colors. So, I thought "why not?" and gave her the rainbow she asked for. She was specific about having cupcakes, and also about having the party at Jungle Bounce, an inflatable party place, but that's about it. I let her pick the colors of food dye at Michael's, the cupcake liners and the sprinkles and I think she had fun doing that. She took it very seriously, feeling very grown up with the responsibility of these decisions and after she had made her choice there was no changing her mind. Is she like me or you Jason?

So I just made a yellow cake from the box, Duncan Hines, and colored it with the chosen Wilton gel colorings. The colors are so vibrant and it didn't change the taste of the cake at all.

You can see how they show through the liners.

I borrowed the cupcake stand from my sister-in-law, Kathan, because for some reason I don't have one. I'll have to find one on sale or something because after this I don't know how I've lived so long without one! By the way, I didn't edit the color on these pictures, just the exposure, the colors were really this vibrant. I made a simple but yummy buttercream frosting (oh how I love buttercream frosting!) However, I could have used less purple and rose in the frosting because there was a bitter taste, for some reason that didn't happen with the green. I used about a 1/4 tsp in each and I think I could have used less without compromising on color.

Here's the close up, yum!

And the cut-in-two shot.

Look at how the batter spread, very cool. All I did was spoon each color into the center and the rest happened on its own. There was a birthday candle in this one that's why the center has that line in it, but it was the only one left in the house before I thought to take a picture of it like this.

These were very fun and very easy, unlike the cake I did last year for her 3rd, but that will be another post for another day.

I'll get it going again, I promise.

I'm sorry to all (two of you) who are trying to follow my blog, I have been very lazy lately and not posted anything. It's not like I haven't been baking but I haven't had the time to sit down and write about it. I will try to get things going again soon so please check back periodically. I'm sorry, hope everyone's holidays were enjoyable.

The Revision of The Dream

The last post I did felt pretty good at the time. I was satisfied with the pictures I had found and felt I was successful at conveying my ideas. I was glad to hear that some of you out there could identify with what I was feeling at the time....yes, it felt nice to have a dream of mine illustrated so that I could see it "on paper". However, I was gently reminded that I left something out.

My life is good.

It's not just good, it's blessed with all kinds of gifts from my Father in heaven and I am so thankful for what He has already given me that to "daydream" about having something different seemed ungrateful.

So here's a little post about reality.

I have two beautiful, smart, creative, funny children whom I love with all of my heart.

I actually got to carve out some time this week to make our first Christmas cookies together!

I have to say, even though getting together with all my family and friends still sounds great, this time with my kids satisfied me more that I could imagine.

I love building memories and traditions into our lives!

And look at the cookies we created :)

They aren't like the cookies that you see in certain magazines about "living" but they have more meaning and love than a perfectly decorated cookie will ever have. (By the way, the one that looks like a ghost is my sons angel)

I also have a husband who does everything he can to take care of me, whom I love with all of my heart also. He's smart and funny and thoughtful. He works hard to provide us with nice things and takes care of them when they break (which seems to be often lately). I'm also blessed because he knows so much about God's word and is able to teach his family the truth of scripture. If you haven't checked out his blog, you should. He's got some great stuff on there.

There are so many other things to be thankful for that it would end up being a very long list so I'll sum it up with this...

God continues to provide for our needs, He is faithful and trustworthy. And, as I was reading in Jeremiah this morning, I found comfort in these words from Him which were meant to strike fear in the hearts of the Jews because of their rebellion against Him, but for those of us who love the Lord they mean something else entirely...

"Am I a God near at hand," says the Lord, "And not a God afar off?"..."Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the Lord.

Jeremiah 23:23 &24

God is near to us and is active in the world today. He does not stand afar off and leave us on our own but takes care of us and cares for us and for that I am thankful.

Have a blessed day and a worshipful Christmas Season!

The cookie and frosting recipe I used can be found at

www.landolakes.com

"Best Ever Butter Cookies"

"Favorite Butter Frosting"

And the cake in the above picture was the lemon cake I posted about here.

Visions of Sugar Plums

I love Christmas Cookies. They almost look too pretty to eat...almost.

I know they're not sugar plums, what are sugar plums anyway? I don't really care since I won't be making any this season, my point is I'm dreaming today.

This post is a little different than my normal posts, I guess I'm in a bit of a wishful state of mind today. The weather outside my living room window, where I sit typing this, with my Christmas tree glowing and sparkling from all the decorations, looks like a typical "winter" day. The sky is gray and the wind is blowing like crazy. It looks like it should snow at any minute. But, alas, I live in Florida where the feels like temperature today is somewhere around 80 degrees (I'm sure) and instead of snow we will get rain (oh yeah, and a possibility of tornadoes). So, I sit in my warm, cozy house pretending to look out onto something like this...

...and daydream of being in a kitchen like this...

...with family and friends, sharing wonderful stories and laughing at funny things that have happened to us over the year, since the last time we got together to do some holiday baking. Not that I've ever done this but I dream of doing this. A whole day devoted to female bonding! Mothers, sisters, friends, anyone who wants to come to my house, relax, listen to Christmas music, have a glass of wine or egg nog and bake till their little heart's content (that is why I need such a big kitchen, it's not that I'm greedy, I need the space!)

And look at this kitchen table!

Can you imagine the cookie making that could go on at that table???

And for those wanting to take a break from the kitchen, you can sit and nibble on the goods by the tree.

What would the men be doing? I have a few suggestions. Hunting, fishing, snowmobiling...

...or relaxing in front of the TV watching football...

Or maybe shooting a friendly game of pool?

See, I didn't forget about you guys.

Welcome to my dream on this blustery December day.

Maybe one day it won't be "just a dream"