This week I am up to my eyeballs in batter, icing, flowers, ribbon, wire and tissue paper. I am doing a wedding for saturday which is going to be gorgeous I might add. Purple is not normally my favourite colour but I have blended some different shades of purple for the bouquets and it looks fabulous!! I am definately a growing fan of the colour. I am decorating a shower for thursday night and I just got a call to do some baking for my neighbors 40th wedding anniversary which is on sunday!
Needless to say, my house work is catching up with me. My Laundry is becoming a mountain and yesterday I spent my afternoon at the garage getting new tires. We had blown a tire the night before when we decided to go for a ride because it was too warm in the house for our kids to fall asleep. It wasn't the... peaceful, lull our kids to sleep..., kind of trip we had planned. Anyways to top it all off I have to go back to the garage this afternoon again because they put on the wrong tires!! Have I mentioned we are moving in a month.
Now that all of that is off my chest, I can go on.
Spring and early summer have brought on a few surprises, (mostly disasters) and a lot of lessons learned.
Let me name a few.
#1 Never try to fondant a cake when the humidex is more than 80% humidity. Everything melts!! I mean everything! My niece's first birthday cake was a lump of sweaty stretchy fondant and buttercream icing long before it was even left my house. Actually, it never left my house. It landed in the garbage and my neice had a lovely ice cream cake from Dairy Queen that day.
#2 Always pick up the cake securely with both hands to ensure that your balancing skills will not be foiled when your 4 year old son runs through the kitchen and bumps into you. If you do not have a firm grip on that cake it will surely land upside down on the floor.
#3 Always use the oven timer!! Burnt cake not only looks bad and tastes bad, it smells bad for days!
#4 Never use royal icing to stick on the grosgrain ribbon around the bottom of a lovely wedding cake. It shows through where you stuck it and never dries. Just sloppy.
#5 Don't become a baker when you live across a horse farm.....the flies will do thier very best to win the battle. Luckily for me I have the master fly swatting husband around. They have not gotten the better of me and my cakes yet..................but they are one reason we are moving.
So with these new lessons learned under my belt I am ready to face the two cupcake towers for two weddings on the same day in two different cities, another Justin Bieber Cake and one more wedding cake within the next month. Wish me luck!
Do you feel fatter just reading my blog?...I Do!
I think that everyone of my facebook friends have taken up running this spring. My entire newsfeed is littered with where, when and how fast my friends are running. Now don't get me wrong, I think that is wonderful but the more I read their posts and the more I read my posts the fatter and even fatter I feel. So today I did something about it. No I did not go out for a run! I live in the middle of nowhere. It would be a long time before anyone found me passed out at the side of the road and I live in Canada, even though it is spring just think about it. Passed out on the side of a country road in a ditch filled with ice cold ditch water and maybe even snow if it is a shaded spot. I could die of exposure!! No not this girl, running is far too dangerous where I live.
Instead, I went to my trusty recipe box and found a great recipe for fat free cake and in honor of my friends who are timing their runs I thought I would time my bake!
10:00 Put the baby down for a nap, preheat oven to 350 degrees F
10:05 Plug in the "Plug in my Secret Love" Kitchenaid Mixer, fit the bowl and attach the paddle
10:06 Dump in the Box of Angel Food Cake Mix - uh oh, baby is still crying
10:07 Dump in 19 oz can of crushed pineapple, turn on mixer to stir, go check baby. Soother back in mouth, kiss hug return to kitchen
10:08 Grease only the bottom of the Tube Pan, listen for baby, all is well, turn off mixer and pour batter into prepared pan.
10:09 Cake pan goes into the oven, sneak down the hall, listen for baby - crying again, let him cry for a few minutes
10:10 Wash the bowl and paddle, reattach bowl and this time the whisk to the mixer, pour the pint of whipping cream into the bowl (I only claimed the cake was fat free), set it to 10 and let it fly for about 5 minutes. This works really well to drown out the sound of the crying baby.
10:15 Whipcream is ready, cake is baking, baby is whaling! Put the whip cream in the fridge and go get the baby. Make sure he has soother, rock him in the rocking chair, sing a little song, ward off any toddlers who will thwart my plan of getting him back to sleep, put him back in bed, close the door and return to the kitchen.
10:30 Get snacks for Emma and Ryan, listen for baby - all is quiet.
10:35 Go out onto the back deck and blow bubbles with Emma and Ryan, Oven Timer goes off.
10:36 Take cake out of the oven let sit a couple of minutes.
10:38 Invert the cake and cake pan onto a bottle and let hang upside down until cool.
10:40 A little more bubble blowing, some pinecone collecting, a Wii tournament, a couple of cartoons and..
11:38 Remove cooled cake from Pan onto plate. Listen for baby - still quiet.
11:40 Cover cake with whipped cream (now if you want to keep this a completely fat free cake use
a fat free dessert topping instead)
(You can also sprinkle this cake with coconut if you don't have a nut allergy in your home like we do)
11:45 Cake is done..... Baby is crying! Perfect timing.
I did that cake start to finish in the same time that it took one 18 month old baby to have a nap!! I don't even think I need to improve on that time. Best part of this little marathon is that I am invigorated from the experience but not exhausted and to celebrate we will have cake with our lunch!!
You will notice some differences from the original hand written recipe to what I did. My oven cooks hotter, so less cook time, the recipe also says to mix by hand but like I said before, I can turn my mixer on and walk away. That works out very well for me.
For those of you who are wondering who the baby is, his name is Jacob, he lives across the street from me, and he hangs out at my house 4 days a week while his parents are working.
Done and it's Perfect.......Oh wait a second?!?
Today is my dad's birthday and our entire family piled into my moms three bedroom bungalow to have dinner and Birthday Cake. It's a little squished and so we were all happy that it was a lovely day outside. Some family members could congregate on the deck, after a while all the teenagers end up leaving to go for a walk and the little kids just want to play outside in the centre of the circle. Once everyone disperses into thier own little groups the living room again has enough seats for the adults with only a couple of exceptions left sitting on the floor. But no one on the floor is complaining because Mom & Dad have a new puppy and he is so tiny the people on the floor get first dibs on playing with him.
Anyways, it was my job (of course) to bring the cake. My dad loves anything lemon so I made a lemon cake and lemon icing to cover it. It tasted really good and my dad loved it. Job well done...well almost.
I don't have a picture, I get so mad at myself when I forget my camera but I do it very often. Just let me explain as best as I can and hopefully you can visualize it. I made a semi circle cake, turned it on it's side to make it look like a hill and then put a road going over the hill. I stuck one of Ryan's cars on the road (which he wasn't impressed about sharing) then I lined the road with Hydro poles and strung them together with wire. Each hydro pole was made by placing a black straw in the cake (thank you cheesecake factory for black straws) and then embellishing it with transformers made out of black icing. Each pole was hollow, perfect for a sparkler to slip into.
My dad is a retired Master Electrician and my mom thought it would be fun to make his cake like the transformer blew and sparks were flying everywhere. So that's the look I was after and it turned out really good...or so I thought.
Everyone crammed into the kitchen we lit the sparklers and sang happy birthday as loud as we could. My dad smiled from ear to ear until the sparks from the sparklers kept landing on the tablecloth and the smoke from the sparklers set the fire alarm off (now of course I bought the biggest sparklers I could find so it seemed to go on forever). Someone was smacking out the sparks on the table while another waved a tea towel in the hallway to stop the alarm. The youngest family member is only 10 months old and she certainly didn't like the commotion so started crying and that sent the puppy into a little yapping spell and just when it seemed like it could't possibly get any louder or chaotic in the house the sparks died down and it was over.
And my dad had a Happy Birthay! No that is not a typo. Well actually it is a typo but it was a piped black icing typo on a green hill cake that almost set the tiny house filled with a million people on fire all on a lovely sunday afternoon in April.
I should probably note that when I was making the cake and after I finished piping the greeting on the cake I stood back and thought to myself. "Oh, that looks good, everything is lined up and it is perfectly centered on the cake" then Emma says, "Mom, is that how you spell birthday?"
Another good idea gone wrong! Oh well, this experience reminded me of a great blog that I found over a year ago. It's called "Cake Wrecks - When Professional Cakes go Horribly, Hilariously Wrong" just go to cakewrecks.blogspot.com if you want a good laugh. If I need to be cheered up or just have a chuckle I will visit this blog. I am guaranteed to be laughing before long. Sometimes you have to read the greeting written on the cake a couple of times before you get it but once you realize the mistake, you will be laughing your head off. This is a recent one that I found really funny "Happy Birthday Justin, Big Tip if it gets there before Noon". Obviously the "Big Tip" portion of the greeting was just information about the delivery and probably should have never landed on the top of that cake. I seriously doubt there was a tip at all when that cake arrived!
If you want another laugh read on.
I already warned you that Ryan was not happy about sharing his little car with Grampa even if it was only for a short time. I have another warning before you continue reading....Ryan thinks that "square words" as he calls them are hilarious! Now at our house swear words include words like stupid, dummy, ugly and any thing to do with bathroom humour. When we arrived at my parents home this evening. Ryan is always the first to the door, because it is his job to push the elevator button (door bell, his other grandparents live in an apartment) As my dad opened the door, Ryan begins his rant. And all I can say is thank heaven my dad doesn't catch half of what he says on most occasions. I only really caught the last of his tirade as I was bringing up the rear and carrying the cake. However, this is what I caught.
Gwampa, I need my car back and you are not keeping it. My mom didn't ask is she could use it for your fart fart cake and I am not very happy bout it. When we are done eating your big poo poo cake you have to give it back and I will take it home. (ryan looks back a sees me coming) Here comes mommy with your big dumb, stupid fart fart poo poo pee cake. (ryan bursts into laughter and adds) Oh, Gwampa, Happy Birthday.
Bewildered I looked at Rich and ask, "where did all that come from?" Rich looks back at me very innocently and says I don't know, I just told him to go say "Happy Birthday Grampa, you old fart!"
Honestly! I feel like beating my head against the wall sometimes.
Anyways, it was my job (of course) to bring the cake. My dad loves anything lemon so I made a lemon cake and lemon icing to cover it. It tasted really good and my dad loved it. Job well done...well almost.
I don't have a picture, I get so mad at myself when I forget my camera but I do it very often. Just let me explain as best as I can and hopefully you can visualize it. I made a semi circle cake, turned it on it's side to make it look like a hill and then put a road going over the hill. I stuck one of Ryan's cars on the road (which he wasn't impressed about sharing) then I lined the road with Hydro poles and strung them together with wire. Each hydro pole was made by placing a black straw in the cake (thank you cheesecake factory for black straws) and then embellishing it with transformers made out of black icing. Each pole was hollow, perfect for a sparkler to slip into.
My dad is a retired Master Electrician and my mom thought it would be fun to make his cake like the transformer blew and sparks were flying everywhere. So that's the look I was after and it turned out really good...or so I thought.
Everyone crammed into the kitchen we lit the sparklers and sang happy birthday as loud as we could. My dad smiled from ear to ear until the sparks from the sparklers kept landing on the tablecloth and the smoke from the sparklers set the fire alarm off (now of course I bought the biggest sparklers I could find so it seemed to go on forever). Someone was smacking out the sparks on the table while another waved a tea towel in the hallway to stop the alarm. The youngest family member is only 10 months old and she certainly didn't like the commotion so started crying and that sent the puppy into a little yapping spell and just when it seemed like it could't possibly get any louder or chaotic in the house the sparks died down and it was over.
And my dad had a Happy Birthay! No that is not a typo. Well actually it is a typo but it was a piped black icing typo on a green hill cake that almost set the tiny house filled with a million people on fire all on a lovely sunday afternoon in April.
I should probably note that when I was making the cake and after I finished piping the greeting on the cake I stood back and thought to myself. "Oh, that looks good, everything is lined up and it is perfectly centered on the cake" then Emma says, "Mom, is that how you spell birthday?"
Another good idea gone wrong! Oh well, this experience reminded me of a great blog that I found over a year ago. It's called "Cake Wrecks - When Professional Cakes go Horribly, Hilariously Wrong" just go to cakewrecks.blogspot.com if you want a good laugh. If I need to be cheered up or just have a chuckle I will visit this blog. I am guaranteed to be laughing before long. Sometimes you have to read the greeting written on the cake a couple of times before you get it but once you realize the mistake, you will be laughing your head off. This is a recent one that I found really funny "Happy Birthday Justin, Big Tip if it gets there before Noon". Obviously the "Big Tip" portion of the greeting was just information about the delivery and probably should have never landed on the top of that cake. I seriously doubt there was a tip at all when that cake arrived!
If you want another laugh read on.
I already warned you that Ryan was not happy about sharing his little car with Grampa even if it was only for a short time. I have another warning before you continue reading....Ryan thinks that "square words" as he calls them are hilarious! Now at our house swear words include words like stupid, dummy, ugly and any thing to do with bathroom humour. When we arrived at my parents home this evening. Ryan is always the first to the door, because it is his job to push the elevator button (door bell, his other grandparents live in an apartment) As my dad opened the door, Ryan begins his rant. And all I can say is thank heaven my dad doesn't catch half of what he says on most occasions. I only really caught the last of his tirade as I was bringing up the rear and carrying the cake. However, this is what I caught.
Gwampa, I need my car back and you are not keeping it. My mom didn't ask is she could use it for your fart fart cake and I am not very happy bout it. When we are done eating your big poo poo cake you have to give it back and I will take it home. (ryan looks back a sees me coming) Here comes mommy with your big dumb, stupid fart fart poo poo pee cake. (ryan bursts into laughter and adds) Oh, Gwampa, Happy Birthday.
Bewildered I looked at Rich and ask, "where did all that come from?" Rich looks back at me very innocently and says I don't know, I just told him to go say "Happy Birthday Grampa, you old fart!"
Honestly! I feel like beating my head against the wall sometimes.
I'm in Love...with my Kitchenaid Mixer
My first love, Ron, was kind, gentle, loyal, trustworthy, incredible, determined, faithful, full of integrity and one of the most amazing people I have ever met in my entire life. I felt so lucky to be his wife. After he passed away I really wasn't sure anyone would ever fill that void for me.
Then I met the Rich, who is and always will be the love of my life. I adore him in every way. He is an incredible husband, amazing father and the best friend I could ever ask for. After our tenth anniversary last year I was still confident that he would forever be my soul mate. The one my entire life's journey had prepared me to spend the rest of my life with.
But then last summer I had a crush that turned into infatuation, maybe even a little bit of an obsession, after a lot of thought I decided to go ahead and make a move, the excitement of meeting was almost more than I could bear. I have to admit it was love at first sight and day by day our affection grew until now our relationship has grown into a very deep and abiding love. I am totally in Love with my Kitchenaid for so many reasons.
Let me name the top 10 for you.
10. I can ignore him for long periods of time and he never complains
9. When he is busy working, I can just walk away and do something else.
8. He is so darn good looking.
7. He whistles while he works.
6. He is happy to help with making supper
5. The kids love to play with him
4. I can clean up after him in about 2 minutes flat.
3. I never need to find socks for him
2. He ALWAYS gives me what I want
1. I can turn him on..EVERY TIME... with just the flip of a switch.
What more can I say. I will be loyal to you forever...
...Unless of course a better looking model more efficient model comes along. Afterall, I think we have already established that I am just a little fickle. And this year I am feeling very partial to the Eggplant Artisan model with splash guard and pour spout!!
Richard, if you are following my blog which I am sure you are NOT because it isn't about Boats, Snowmobiles, Motorcycles, Fast Cars, Engines, Servo Motors, C&C Machinery or anything else mechanical (with the exception of this post) but just incase you ever read my blog. I do still love you more than anything else in this world. I only gave a tiniest portion of my heart to my kitchenaid. I just wanted you to know.
Then I met the Rich, who is and always will be the love of my life. I adore him in every way. He is an incredible husband, amazing father and the best friend I could ever ask for. After our tenth anniversary last year I was still confident that he would forever be my soul mate. The one my entire life's journey had prepared me to spend the rest of my life with.
But then last summer I had a crush that turned into infatuation, maybe even a little bit of an obsession, after a lot of thought I decided to go ahead and make a move, the excitement of meeting was almost more than I could bear. I have to admit it was love at first sight and day by day our affection grew until now our relationship has grown into a very deep and abiding love. I am totally in Love with my Kitchenaid for so many reasons.
Let me name the top 10 for you.
10. I can ignore him for long periods of time and he never complains
9. When he is busy working, I can just walk away and do something else.
8. He is so darn good looking.
7. He whistles while he works.
6. He is happy to help with making supper
5. The kids love to play with him
4. I can clean up after him in about 2 minutes flat.
3. I never need to find socks for him
2. He ALWAYS gives me what I want
1. I can turn him on..EVERY TIME... with just the flip of a switch.
What more can I say. I will be loyal to you forever...
...Unless of course a better looking model more efficient model comes along. Afterall, I think we have already established that I am just a little fickle. And this year I am feeling very partial to the Eggplant Artisan model with splash guard and pour spout!!
Hubba, Hubba!!
Richard, if you are following my blog which I am sure you are NOT because it isn't about Boats, Snowmobiles, Motorcycles, Fast Cars, Engines, Servo Motors, C&C Machinery or anything else mechanical (with the exception of this post) but just incase you ever read my blog. I do still love you more than anything else in this world. I only gave a tiniest portion of my heart to my kitchenaid. I just wanted you to know.
Cake Recycling
I have two containers that I keep whose contents don't look like much at all, that is until I magically transform them into little scrumptious bites that no one, I know, can resist. Especially my husband Richard!!
The first container is in the fridge it gets filled with all of my leftover french vanilla icing (which I always use as my buttercream base on cakes) The other container is in the freezer and it piles up quickly with all of the cake scraps I have from levelling the decorated cakes I do. Once the cake container is full then the magic starts to happen. I let the icing warm a bit, not really room temperature but softer than the rock hard candy it has become on the top shelf in my fridge. All of the cake scraps go into the food processor and then are spun into crumbs. Once the cake is crumbs. I pour them into a large DEEP bowl. Then back to the icing. In my kitchenaid mixer I beat that icing for old times sakes reviving it back to its once fluffy state and I add cream cheese, lots of cream cheese and beat it again until it looks like fresh dreamy icing, unfortunately this icing is usually a khaki green colour of maybe a little pinkish beige depending on the cakes I have done in the past week. Not that appetizing. But wait it gets better, so much better.
Then I dump the entire amount of icing over the crumbs. I take off my rings. I wash my hands and I start to mix. Then I wash my hands and mix some more, then I wash my hands again and continue mixing, then I wash my hands again and finish the task. Now I have a super duper sticky, crumby concoction that I need to form into balls but before I do that I need to wash my hands. I have learned 2 important things about myself since I have been making cakes, Number 1 - I don't really like to get my hands dirty!!and Number 2 - I need to use more hand lotion. My hands are clean but quite chapped from all of the handwashing I do.
So an hour later,100 more handwashing episodes, and I have just over 100 formed cake balls all on a tray and ready to return to the freezer. They go back in the freezer to freeze solid. Once they are frozen then the best part is just around the corner.
In a double boiler I melt the best belgium chocolate I can get my hands on and start dipping all of the frozen cake balls until they are completely coated and put them on a tray lined with wax paper to solidify. All lined up in little rows, like soldiers awaiting the changing of the guard, these left over ingredients have emerged triumphant with new life, ready to sweep the next taste bud off it's feet.
The only difficult part now is keeping them. I am not sure if they roll away into the vortex that is somewhere in my house that already contains many socks, a few pens, 3 pairs of my best scissors and I am sure the backings to one of the 20 pairs of earrings that are now unwearable in my jewellery box. I think there are also hair clips, tweezers and blistex tubes there. If these cake balls aren't in the vortex then I am sorry to say I have a thief in my midst or maybe even more! In light of passed experience I lean towards the latter theory.
Two Christmas' ago I had a large order for cake balls to fill. I made enough for all of my orders and a few extra for gifts that I could give to neighbors and .....friends... you know the ones. The friends that show up with a gift for you by surprize and luckily, in return, you had something for them... hidden... in your bedroom, that you wrapped in a panic while they waited in the Living Room. I have had a couple of those experiences in my life. I hope you're not all wondering if you were that person. Don't worry, you weren't I learned my lesson a long time ago. Anyways, I finished the order, packed the orders, made the deliveries and when I returned from making the deliveries my sister had arrived from Kingston. I had been gone a long time making all of the various stops but my husband graciously let my sister in, got her and her family set up in the guest room and offered them something to eat......guess what they ate? The left over cake balls, the ones for my neighbors and "friends". They didn't tell me at first, but they didn't have to. They both had that "cat that ate the canary" look on thier faces. I glanced around the kitchen then looked at them with the "I know what you have done, so fess up" look. They burst out laughing, because if you know my sister, you know, she is always laughing. When the laughter subsided they confessed the whole tale. They gave the kids something relatively heathly as a snack and sent them all to bed and then he broke out the good stuff........my cake balls. I know that Richard was the biggest culprit because to this day he inhales them instead of eating them. I don't really mind though because it makes me smile when he tastes one and his eyes roll into the back of his head!!
Now I can't say that I am the creator of the little wonders. There are many other people who lay claim to being the original "cake ball" inventor. So just to be clear I am not claiming this as my own, I just like making them! and I bet (if you don't mind getting your hands dirty, or at least washing your hands very often) that you might like making them too. Below is a picture of the company that claims to be the "original". Just look how yummy they are. You're going to be trying them I can guarantee it.
The first container is in the fridge it gets filled with all of my leftover french vanilla icing (which I always use as my buttercream base on cakes) The other container is in the freezer and it piles up quickly with all of the cake scraps I have from levelling the decorated cakes I do. Once the cake container is full then the magic starts to happen. I let the icing warm a bit, not really room temperature but softer than the rock hard candy it has become on the top shelf in my fridge. All of the cake scraps go into the food processor and then are spun into crumbs. Once the cake is crumbs. I pour them into a large DEEP bowl. Then back to the icing. In my kitchenaid mixer I beat that icing for old times sakes reviving it back to its once fluffy state and I add cream cheese, lots of cream cheese and beat it again until it looks like fresh dreamy icing, unfortunately this icing is usually a khaki green colour of maybe a little pinkish beige depending on the cakes I have done in the past week. Not that appetizing. But wait it gets better, so much better.
Then I dump the entire amount of icing over the crumbs. I take off my rings. I wash my hands and I start to mix. Then I wash my hands and mix some more, then I wash my hands again and continue mixing, then I wash my hands again and finish the task. Now I have a super duper sticky, crumby concoction that I need to form into balls but before I do that I need to wash my hands. I have learned 2 important things about myself since I have been making cakes, Number 1 - I don't really like to get my hands dirty!!and Number 2 - I need to use more hand lotion. My hands are clean but quite chapped from all of the handwashing I do.
So an hour later,100 more handwashing episodes, and I have just over 100 formed cake balls all on a tray and ready to return to the freezer. They go back in the freezer to freeze solid. Once they are frozen then the best part is just around the corner.
In a double boiler I melt the best belgium chocolate I can get my hands on and start dipping all of the frozen cake balls until they are completely coated and put them on a tray lined with wax paper to solidify. All lined up in little rows, like soldiers awaiting the changing of the guard, these left over ingredients have emerged triumphant with new life, ready to sweep the next taste bud off it's feet.
The only difficult part now is keeping them. I am not sure if they roll away into the vortex that is somewhere in my house that already contains many socks, a few pens, 3 pairs of my best scissors and I am sure the backings to one of the 20 pairs of earrings that are now unwearable in my jewellery box. I think there are also hair clips, tweezers and blistex tubes there. If these cake balls aren't in the vortex then I am sorry to say I have a thief in my midst or maybe even more! In light of passed experience I lean towards the latter theory.
Two Christmas' ago I had a large order for cake balls to fill. I made enough for all of my orders and a few extra for gifts that I could give to neighbors and .....friends... you know the ones. The friends that show up with a gift for you by surprize and luckily, in return, you had something for them... hidden... in your bedroom, that you wrapped in a panic while they waited in the Living Room. I have had a couple of those experiences in my life. I hope you're not all wondering if you were that person. Don't worry, you weren't I learned my lesson a long time ago. Anyways, I finished the order, packed the orders, made the deliveries and when I returned from making the deliveries my sister had arrived from Kingston. I had been gone a long time making all of the various stops but my husband graciously let my sister in, got her and her family set up in the guest room and offered them something to eat......guess what they ate? The left over cake balls, the ones for my neighbors and "friends". They didn't tell me at first, but they didn't have to. They both had that "cat that ate the canary" look on thier faces. I glanced around the kitchen then looked at them with the "I know what you have done, so fess up" look. They burst out laughing, because if you know my sister, you know, she is always laughing. When the laughter subsided they confessed the whole tale. They gave the kids something relatively heathly as a snack and sent them all to bed and then he broke out the good stuff........my cake balls. I know that Richard was the biggest culprit because to this day he inhales them instead of eating them. I don't really mind though because it makes me smile when he tastes one and his eyes roll into the back of his head!!
Now I can't say that I am the creator of the little wonders. There are many other people who lay claim to being the original "cake ball" inventor. So just to be clear I am not claiming this as my own, I just like making them! and I bet (if you don't mind getting your hands dirty, or at least washing your hands very often) that you might like making them too. Below is a picture of the company that claims to be the "original". Just look how yummy they are. You're going to be trying them I can guarantee it.
Celebrate with Me! (although it has nothing to do with Icing)
When I was 7 I entered a colouring contest at the local pharmacy. It was Easter and the prize was an easter bunny almost as big as me. I carefully coloured my picture the best that I could. I stayed in all the lines and tried to colour in all the same direction so it would look neat. I was super shy (I know, hard to believe) and I almost didn't hand it back in. My mom convinced me to just take it back to the store. She would be right by my side for moral suppport. So I did.
Easter drew close and I was absolutely shocked when a call came from the Pharmacy that I had won. My mom was always such a great support but I think even she was shocked that day. The chocolate bunny was really as big as me. I brought it home and I think there was enough chocolate for the entire family and maybe even the neighbour kids.
I have entered a couple more contests in my lifetime, not many, but I have never won anything since, until today!!! It's really nothing big, I didn't win a trip or a handsome sum of money but I won a scrapbooking contest for a submission I made about my home town.
Okay, so I wasn't really even the ONLY winner. I share the title with two other very talented ladies.
We all won....wait for it.........a POSTER!!
It's actually a poster sized scrapbook page that I have to make myself. Isn't that awesome!! I am so excited. I have been smiling since 2:00pm MST the time zone where the contest was run from or 4:00pm EST which is my time zone.
I have written an acceptance speech for the occasion!!
I would like to thank my friends and family for all of the support they have given me throughout my life. They have stood by me as I have tried to launch my career as a.................well as I have tried to launch my career. To my mom who knew even when I was very young that I would one day find myself at the brink of artistic stardom. For my husband, who has supported me and endured 3:00am wake ups whenever I have a new great idea. My children who are my inspiration for many scrapbook projects that I do. My friends who vote for my crafts even when they are so busy, and I know hitting the "Like" button can often be challenging, finding the right page and clicking on the right items. I really do appreciate it. I wouldn't be where I am without all of you. Now that I am so famous I promise to never forget all of you who have lent your support on my rise to stardom. I accept this award with tears in my eyes and gratitude in my heart. To all of my fans and my now "8" followers plus a few blog stalkers I have recently become aware of Thank You, Thank You!!
(Music fades in and then louder as I exit the stage and we go to commercial.)
You would probably also like to know that for this occassion I was wearing Pyjamas, designed by George and provided by Walmart. My hair was swept back in a very fetching barrette no make up was worn except maybe some blistex.
Happy Birthday to Me - and all you other April babies!
My daughter, Emma knows that my birthday in April begins the string of family birthdays that lead to hers in June. Being the first day of April today she came to me with the first of a what will be a very long list of Birthday Criteria for her own birthday in June. But before we go into that, let me tell you a little about what she did last year for her birthday.
It was a wild west party in our backyard. We invited her entire Kindergarten class, before you gasp at that thought, I should tell you there were only 12 kids in her class. We then added a cousin and a couple of other close friends. We turned our playhouse into the Ponderosa. Rich burned the name "Ponderosa" into an old plank and nailed it to the front of the playset, he added saloon doors to the clubhouse. We put gold rocks in the sandbox and gave them sifting buckets, we had a donkey pinata and the best of all, We turned our corral into a riding ring. Now I know, that some of you are thinking, "Right, a corral, in your backyard" but we do have a corral. It's empty the other 364 days of the year but we have one. The kids all got to ride my neighbors pony and pet him and give him a carrot. His name is Cowboy - perfect for our party! They had races with broomstick ponies and loot bags filled with "Sassafrass Candy" whatever that is. Some M&M's, some old fashioned taffy and those candy sticks that you can buy at old fashioned candy shops (or the bulk barn) The kids liked the name of it. Then to top it off, the birthday cake. I should tell you that there were no sparklers this time. I learned my lesson at the previous birthday party. (check Birthday Extravaganza Post)
I think I'm nuts. Honestly how many 5 year olds get a 4 tier cake!
So now that you know all that, I can tell you the first of the Emma's Birthday wish list. She would like a
Rock Star Cake, it should be 6 layers, one for each year. There has to be some black on it. One layer should be purple for sure. If I could add sparkles to the fondant that would be good but if I can't she guesses that will be okay too. The top layer should have a microphone on it, and there should be a guitar somewhere on it. Maybe some lights should shine on it. And then I interject with "Should I have it play some cool version of Happy Birthday when we cut into it?" Emma's response with wide eyes - "You can do that?" My response, "Well...........maybe............I'll talk to your Dad"
So Emma has her request in. And thank goodness she has given me so much notice!! My mom has the request for my dad's cake in, my brother has the request for his daughter's cake in. Any other requests while I'm at it?
All of these cakes and I am starting to wonder, what should I do for my own birthday cake?
I know the perfect cake - DQ Ice Cream Cake. I love cake but I love ice cream way more and
I just might keep it all for myself. Yum!!
Happy Birthday to me!
If you don't here from me again after April 8th you know I had my cake, I ate it too and now
I have quietly slipped into a diabetic coma!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)