Cindy's Icing!

On my birthday my friend, Cindy, made me a fabulous strawberry cake and it is definitely worthy of a serious "SHOUTOUT". Have you ever tasted something soooo good only to find out that it is the most simple recipe ever. "Why didn't I think about that?" runs through your head. This is one of those moments. At least it was that way for me when she told me how she made this delicious treat. Well, I have company coming and it was time to try it out. It was sooooo easy that I just had to pass it along to you!

I baked a strawberry cake (Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker, etc. is fine). It is the icing that is the kicker! You beat 1 box of confectioner's sugar with 1 stick of butter and then gradually add fresh strawberries starting with 1/3 cup. That's it! As you add the strawberries, the juice permeates the entire batch of icing giving it a fabulous, and fresh summer strawberry taste. It can get runny so be careful but if you gradually add the berries until you are satisfied you should be okay. I don't even know how many I added but it was less than a cup. TADA! Delicious strawberry dessert. I added the strawberry fan, that I learned from Pampered Chef, just to give it the decorator's touch.

Cindy and I think that the icing would probably be good over white cake or even chocolate cake, if you like the taste of chocolate and strawberries. I have visions of choco. dipped strawberries for decorations around the top and base. If you want to be fancy! The cake is an A+ on simple and satisfying! Thanks, Chef Cindy!

Skyler's Swimming Cake and Lady Bug Baby Shower!

In the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to make a birthday cake for a friend and a baby shower cake for another friend. I only post these pics to say, "If I can do it, so can you!" I haven't had any lessons, I' am just a big copy cat! I surf the internet find a pic and make it up in hopes of creating something that looks kind of-sorta like the original. I get real picky because I am such an amateur and I always see alot of flaws but I am trying to get over that. After all, I am not charging some outlandish professional fee. Nope, these are cheap cakes! Its fun but I won't lie, my imperfections stress me out.

I really do want to take some lessons soon and hope that it will be possible in the near future, cause, to be honest, I can't make a rose, at all. Not even anything that remotely looks like a rose and I am pretty sure that making a rose is like cake decorating 101. I also can't make the shell border that is like a cake making standard-I just make up borders and hope people don't look that closely.

This first cake is a pool in case you can't tell. My young friend swims on the swim team and so I tried to make it look like lanes at a swim meet. He is winning and these other two guys are close behind. Their even wearing little speedos! Haha! They are made out of fondant, so completely edible.

The picture of this one really makes it look better than I thought it did. I had thin spots in the icing in a couple of places that really frustrated me but after its been in the fridge it is too late to do repairs so you just have to live with it. The baby's nursery is all decorated in ladybugs so I found a picture like this on the internet and just had to try. Again the bug and spots are made out of fondant and I left circle cutting on the lady bug up to my fabulous husband. He is more precise than I would ever be. He used a small plate to get the bug perfectly circular. The spots I made with a candy thermometer tube that was just the right size for punching out circles. It's amazing what you find in your kitchen to use on these cakes.

Looks like I have another groom's cake coming up in January, so my wheels will begin to spin about that one soon. I hope this inspires some of you amateurs out there. Seriously, if I can do it, a mere "Ace of Cakes want-to-be", then you can too! Its fun, a little stressful but fun and you can do it. Also, your family will love you for all of the practice cakes you will try out on them!

Alora's Seven Cake! Little Pony Theme!

We had BIG plans for Alora's birthday this year! When Andrew turned five, we took him to the beach to celebrate his birthday and this would be Alora's year to go for hers. Have I mentioned I love homeschooling! This was our Fall Break week and so we headed down to pick up my parents and drop off Cookie to be boarded on Wednesday. I looked all over the internet trying to find a bakery in Gulf Shores with no success. So, I planned to pick up a cake from Edgar's Bakery close to my parents and just have cake before we left this year since everything was going to be so hectic with packing and getting ready. When I asked Alora what she really wanted on her cake, I decided I was going to have to make it--or pay a ton of money at Edgar's! I began the cake process at about 9pm on Tuesday night. What a mother will do for her kids!
She couldn't decide between a cake and cupcakes so I made both-one three tiered cake and one cupcake. The three tiers was my idea not hers. I just like it with some height. It really was a small three tier cake the pic makes it look a lot bigger. Granny sent me pans (all sizes) a while back and I am lovin' em! Alora LOVED the finished product and that is what counts.

I added some ponies because Alora loves My Little Ponies.So my baby is 7 now!!! It's crazy! How did this happen? I am grateful for all that God has blessed us with in Alora. She has such a tender heart toward the Lord. She is memorizing His Word and loves to talk to Him. She prays the sweetest prayers. She is girly and loves glitter but at the same time she would beat you to the top of a tree any day! She loves digging for worms and wearing pink while she does it! Basketball and barrettes, Soccer and Snacks. Singing and Racing. Animals and Piano. She is truly a blessing to our family. Happy Birthday, Alora-LuLu-Wheezy-Ali Noel Thompson. We love you bunches!

Squirrel Cake For Spencer!

One squirrel cake coming up!

Complete with acorns, tree and leaves.

And with the leftover batter and icing--we made fall cupcakes. The kids really came up with some awesome designs.

Birthday Cakes in Red!

An American Girl Cake!

It seems like forever since I have made a cake! Bethany, a sweet friend of ours had a birthday and she received a special treat this year- a trip to the American Girl store in Atlanta! She was so excited and her trip became the inspiration for her homemade birthday cake.

We had a little surprise shindig at our house. The cake was chocolate on chocolate and decorated with buttercream icing. It was very sweet but quite delicious!

Happy Birthday, Bethany!

A Fall Wedding Shower Cake

I finally figured out how to upload my pictures from my Blackberry to my computer so I can retrieve some photo that I took. Yes, I have had the phone since July! I just have no confidence with electronic devices, but as of recent, I am out to figure it out myself. A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of making another cake for a special occasion. A Bridal Shower!

The decor and theme for the wedding is fall and so I had to come up with a fall cake. I surfed the internet and just couldn't find the perfect combo of "fall" and "classy" and "attainable" that I wanted so as usual, I took multiple pictures and laid them out side by side and went to work making stuff up.

This is the first time I actually didn't cringe when I presented the cake.
Most times I can see every crack and crevice in my work and strategically turn the cake hoping people won't notice, but not with this one! It actually did exactly what I wanted. (except I wasn't perfectly pleased with the way I wrote their initials; should have been curlier but it wasn't happening and I gave up) The fondant turned out with the perfect consistency for the first time since I started baking cakes!
What was different?
I decided to follow the directions!!! HA! Funny how that works.
That is not chocolate icing, by the way, I colored it with so many colors trying to make brown that I will never reproduce that color again! It was a great shade of brown, too bad I don't have a formula of how to achieve it again.
I am looking forward to one more wedding occasion cake in the future--my brother's groom's cake!
Could there be a more important one?!?
Sigh.