Here You Go.

You've seen that commercial with the black screen and words that say that the following scenes may be disturbing?  Then they show cakes that are sliding and slipping and falling over.  Then they show you the fix-it solution.  Cool Whip frosting.  Then the cakes are beautiful. 

For Easter we went to my mom's for, um, Easter, and for birthdays.  Sam is one of those birthdays.  So I asked him what he wanted me to make for the birthday dessert.  He said he wanted the Hobbit cake from Dairy Queen.  Um, no.  So I offered to make a chocolate cake with the Cool Whip frosting. He readily agreed.  As long as I consider, with all seriousness, the Hobbit cake from Dairy Queen for the actual birthday. Done.

And here it is.  And here is my review.  'Cause I know you wanna know what I thought and how it worked!  Right?  You have to thaw it out to spread it.  Then you have to keep the cake in the fridge forevermore.  Just kidding.  You keep it  in the fridge until you serve it.  I put the cake in the freezer after frosting it because it was getting sloshy.  You know, like the bad cakes on the commercial.  Hmm.  Then I put it in the fridge over night.  Then we traveled a good hour down to my mom's with the cake in the back of the Durango.  We stopped at the cemetery to say hey to Aaron and Rebecca (we love you, we miss you, come back soon!) and then on to the house.  I kept it in the fridge there, too.  Then it was time to serve.  Just look..

It tasted good.  But it looked... like the cakes in the commercial that they say the frosting will cure.  I was disappointed in how it looked, in how it needed to be stored and that the container wasn't the same size as the real Cool Whip.  I wanted more.  But everyone enjoyed the cake.  My grandma gave praise, even though she shared my disappointment in the overall experience.  So, you can go ahead and try it.  Your cake or cupcakes will be yummy.  But it's a hassle that regular frosting doesn't give.

There you go.

Have Your Cake And Eat It Too.

Which just doesn't make any sense.  I mean if you have cake, you're gonna eat it.  Am I right?  It's not going to just sit there having you gaze lovingly at it.  Eat it, for Pete's sake.  And who the heck is Pete?  I think maybe a thorough analyzation of the things we say is in order.  Any takers?  Anyone want cake? 

Well, whether you want it or not, this is a cake post.  I hope you want it.  And I hope you try it.  Yum.  Yesterday after school I got the elementary school's newsletter.  It was long.  Packed with all kinds of information!  I was impressed.  One page (page 6 if your kids are in the same school) has a recipe.  A recipe for cake.  Yum.  It called for ingredients I already have on hand, too, much to my delight.  Because I believe a finely done food storage room should have many cake mixes.  Many.  And brownie mixes.  It's the right thing to do. 

This is what you need.  1 box of Angel Food cake and 1 box of another cake mix.  Put the 2 cake mixes into a gallon zip bag. Mix it all up good.  I chose Devil's Food cake.  Doesn't that create a wonderful conundrum of sorts?  Angel Food.  Devil food.  Ohh the perplexity of it all. And just don't look at the Creamy wrapper behind the zip bag.  One of my kids left it there ;)

Grab a hot chocolate mug from your shelf.  Rinse it out 'cause I know it hasn't been used in a while.  Although the mornings are so cool now that my house almost feels like Fall is coming.  I love that!!  But still not hot chocolate weather.  So dust it, rinse it, wash it.  Whatever.  Then take 3 tablespoons of the cake mix and 2 tablespoons of water.  Mix them together really good.  I used a fork so I wouldn't end up with powdery chunks in my end result.  Blech! Stick that bad boy in the microwave for 1 minute.  60 seconds if you're feeling saucy.  Let it sit for 1 minute after it's finished.  60 seconds if yo... Never mind.

I plopped this one out on a plate.  I then proceeded to pour a lot little chocolate sauce over it. 

Eat it up, yum!

When I offered it to the kids I got these reactions...

Ruthie: "MOM, this is wonderful.  It's so moist and delicious.  I think this would make a great Family Home Evening treat!"

Sam: "I don't eat cake without frosting!"

Isaac: "Will you please buy me some more air soft pellets for my gun when you go shopping?  Are you going shopping tomorrow?  Please? I don't want any cake."

At least he said please.

The recipe...

3-2-1 Cake -In-A-Mug

ingredients:

Angel food cake mix

Favorite flavor cake mix

 

Directions:

In a zip bag, mix the 2 cake mixes together.  Use a microwave safe mug, mix 3 Tbs of cake mix and 2 Tbs water.  Stir well

Microwave on high for 1 minute

Let sit 1 minute

Enjoy.

 

And go ahead and add cake mixes to your food storage! 

I'm A Little Whine Pot

Short and Stout... Yesterday, towards the end of Sacrament Meeting, I could feel my blood sugar dropping. I ate a couple of glucose tablets and headed back to Primary right as the closing hymn started. I thought I was doing okay and then as Primary started, I realized I wasn't okay. I think it was completely missing the opening prayer even though the Sunbeam's mom was right there to help her. I kept giving wrong information and I didn't know how to correct it all. So I left the room right as our dear chorister started Singing Time. I saw Daniel in the hall, who knew I needed help, and started to cry. Sheesh. So with more glucose tablets and a granola bar and an offer from Daniel to go get me a cheeseburger (can I also get a diet coke with that?) I pulled it together and was feeling mostly better by my Sharing Time. Senior Primary went much better, thank you!!

The kicker is I get a stinking headache after my blood sugar comes back up. So with some Excedrin and a diet pepper I got through the day. Then last night I got up to check my blood sugar (not feeling great) and it was really low again. So this morning, to ensure I don't have this problem, I had this for breakfast...
Diet pepper and leftover cake. Oh Yeah! Don't tell me you're not jealous! I know you are. I did have a sensible breakfast before this one. Well, if you can call honey nut scooters sensible. I have a horrendous headache and lots of dirty dishes. Can I stay in my jammies all day? Please? I need some ambition. Maybe another bite of chocolate cake will do it for me!

Have A Marvelous Monday!

The Picture Project.

Monday...FHE. It was Ruthie's night for the lesson and she chose an activity...Sorry. This was the most maturely played game we have ever had in our house! I was so impressed!

Tuesday...Mom needed a nap and Ruthie made sure she got one. She gave me her own pillow and quilt to use.
Wednesday...I don't have a picture for Wednesday. So I put Ruthie in!
Thursday...My kids earn money. Every once in a while we go to a store with their money and they can buy what they want. Toy prices have gone up. These were $17-$22.00 toys. I love that it wasn't my money and they've been kept busy for days! And that's static causing Ruthie's hair to be like that!

Friday...I went to pick Ruthie up from preschool and brought a Leprechaun home instead!

Saturday...This deserves more than one picture! Daniel's brother called Saturday morning and said he had 8 tickets for Disney On Ice. Do we want them? Yes! Can we also take his 2 daughters with us! Yes! So we go and I get just a couple of shots and my camera memory gets full and then the battery dies. But we had a blast. Here's Pumba.

And here is a group shot after the lights went out. You can see our nieces well, and everyone else is in the dark. We had tons of fun watching the show. Thanks Uncle Stephen!

Sunday...This one gets 4 pictures. Today we celebrated March and April birthdays which means I had 2 cakes to make. First is Sam's. King Kong vs Godzilla! Do you like the volcano?

Sam loved the volcano and that he got to celebrate his birthday a month early!

Isaac got a Chewbacca cake. Please tell me you can see it's Chewie!

It actually looks like a dead muppet. But Isaac loved it and loved that he got a second cake!

Good Night and I hope you had a Super Sunday!

KingBooCake

If you say it all together and say it really fast, it sounds cool. That's why I put the words together. KingBooCake. KingBooCake. KingBooCake. KingBooCake. Say it out loud. Go ahead. You know you want to. KingBooCake! I love it!

For Family Home Evening, the treat person gets to choose what we have. There are many choices, but you only get one. Sam was in charge of the treat this week. He wanted a KingBooCake. King Boo is a character on Mario Kart. So here he is...

KINGBOOCAKE!

And have a wonderful Wednesday!

A Piece of Cake

So tell me. Does this look like a Camaro?

I didn't think so.

I was comissioned again to do a birthday cake.

This is going to be a Transformer birthday extravaganza for a new 5 year old.

His favorite Transformer is Bumblebee.

He's a Camaro.

So I thought and thought and looked around the internet for an idea.

Then I saw one.

Here's the back bumper...

The front and top view...
And Bumblebee in profile.
Now, I realize I didn't put headlights on. Oops.
Camaros are hard to duplicate with cake.
But I think it turned out okay.

Happy 5th Birthday, Kaleb!

The Day After

Pumpkin pie for breakfast! A roll with turkey in it for lunch! Pizza for dinner!

That's my "day after" post!

But, of course, there there was much more going on in my life today besides pie for breakfast.

Mmmm.

Okay. Now I'm ready. Earlier this year our ward did a fundraiser for our youth. I donated 3 "cakes". That means 3 people can commission me to make a cake for them. I don't know what they paid because the moolah went straight into the fundraising pot! Anyhoo, Kale turned 8 and I was going to do a cake for his birthday/baptism. But dates changed and so I was asked to do a cake for the baptism day. He wanted a soccer theme.
I have to say, I'm kinda talented. But. I should have put the black one on top. Oh well. Did you know that the white and the black shapes on a soccer ball are actually different shapes from each other? They are. Luckily Daniel is pretty savvy with that kind of stuff. Not a soccer ball. Shapes. He likes mine. Do you see how I put the ball in the net?? I'm so good. Actually I just follow directions well.
So the cake is done. It's in the fridge in their garage. His grandma opened the lid to see the cake. I have to say here that I haven't used boxes for my cakes until just recently. The smaller boxes I used for the hat cakes were tall enough that I didn't need to worry about the top of the hat hitting the box top. The bigger box has a smaller clearance. You see where this is going...
So I left a message for the mom to call me and tell me when I can come over and fix the top of the ball. Did I mention I'm not a professional? Well, I'm not. But I did have fun making the soccer cake.

Happy Baptism Day, Kale!

WOW! Do I Have Some Catching Up To Do!

It's been a tornado weekend. And so far I am letting so many things just go this morning so I can catch up!! I will tell our tale with pictures...

Yikes!! Who is that masked man?? Oh, it's just Sam. Goofball Sam.

Eek!! Look at those teeth! She's always had such beautiful teeth. Now they're just bigger! And sharper!
Halloween night we had a jack-o-lantern pizza. Yum!
For dessert, we had Twinkie coffins. Mmmm...
Tick or Treat. Smell my feet. Give me something good to eat.
This is my son the martian and my daughter the princess.
Ready for action!!
Isaac thought he'd stay home and help pass out treats. He set up camp on the broken bench on the front porch and passed out pretzels to our 9 trick or treaters.

Saturday was full of cake making. November is filled with birthdays...Ruthie and cousins Nick and Maddie.

For 11 year old Nick, I delighted with the lava fight scene from Star Wars. It's been so long since I've seen the movie that I don't know what to call it. I also couldn't get Anakin to stand up.

Nick thought the cake was Awesome!! Thanks, Nick.

His mom apparently did get Anakin to stand up!

We interrupt this blog for a special announcement...

When Daniel went to my sister Laurie and took the new baby John, I knew it was time to make it known..

Yep! We are both baby hungry!

But when I said, "Should I go and see if we can reverse my ligation?" Daniel quickly said, "NO!" I guess the idea of his second wife raising my kids stifled his baby appetite.

Next we have Madelyn. She turns 6. Her favorite color is green. So I fashioned a nice green hat for her.

She's not a demon. I forgot the red eye button. By the time I got it pushed, her turn was over. Darn. She liked her cake, too.

Then comes my birthday girl. Because Ruthie is a Strawberry Shortcake kinda girl, I made a Strawberry Shortcake hat. YAY! MOM!

She loved it and is so happy I'm her mom. I'm awesome!

Every time I tried to take a picture, she would pose, then the flash would do all the fancy red eye stuff, then finally snap the picture. By the time the thing snapped, she had moved on to totally bored! This picture was supposed to be Ruthie blowing out her candles!

Notice they are all blown out and she's ready to go home. Whew! That was fun.

Monday morning brought lots of work. 4 of us went to the church to get all the seating arranged for the Primary Program this Sunday. That was a lot of work and my friend Lori had to basically tell me to chill and that the seating is okay. I know! I need to take a chill pill.

After school, we hightailed it over to the Insta-care to get Sam's cast off. 4 weeks down! It took the doctor quite a while to get it off. Apparently it was the thickest cast he's ever seen. Good job last doctor! He finally got it off and Sam said. "Throw it away!" Then he changed his mind and went and got it from the trash!

Um! Gross! So he threw it away again and went to get another x-ray.

When he got back, we waited for the doctor to come tell us the verdict. We all tried to offer our thoughts for the new cast color. You know, just in case he hadn't healed up yet. Red, green, orange, blue again, yellow, and my personal favorite, pink!

Luckily his bone is pretty much healed. He has to be careful for the next month. If he falls on it, we have to bring him right back for another cast. It will be easily broken. So we won't be jumping off swings or hanging from monkey bars. He even gets to take a real shower again!!

And, of course, my kids were angels through it all. They just sat and read books during the 2 hours we were in that stuffy building!

Alright! No they weren't. But they are dang cute!

The construction of a cake.

A King Kong Cake, that is...

It is a well known fact, if you well know me, that I love to make cake! Not just any cake mind you, major cake! I get a cake idea from my kiddo, look it up on the internet and copy it to the best of my amatuer ability. Next Saturday is Sam's 6th birthday. Tomorrow we go to my mom's for the April birthday extravaganza. I ask Sam, "What kind of cake do you want for your birthday at Abbie's?" He says, "King Kong!" Ok. So here is the construction of the King Kong cake.....

First you need a large cake pan...this cake has some serious layers. This is my "big" cake pan.
This is a "small" cake pan. Pour 3 cake mixes worth of batter into the 1 "big", 2 "small"s and 1 Barbie cake bowl (previously used to make a Barbie cake, which was ok but not a great cake moment!).
Put a couple in the oven at a time. Can't forget that some pans, because of their size and shape, cook at a different time than others. I am happy to say that I didn't forget that!
Meanwhile, only because it's so boring waiting for cakes to bake, and because my house is immaculate, the laundry is done, my kids are prefectly playing together and tonight's dinner is simmering as we speak, I make the icing. (Just kidding! My house is a mess, 1 kid is in her room until it's clean, don't know where the others are, and can you say Burger King for dinner!)Those are actually 3 different tints of gray. Not really, but that sounds like I know what I'm doing!
When the cakes are baked and cooled, I have to cut the 8 inch cake squares down to 6 inch squares to make this thing. I don't have 6 inch pans because you have to special order them! A serrated knife and tape measure can work miracles!
Then cut the monstrous cake into 1 9 inch square and 2 6 inch squares. Oh yes, there is a reason for all those squares.
Make sure you have all the necessary pieces cut and ready to assemble.
Before assembly, though, take a taste test of your handiwork, um, handibake, um, bakework, OK, just take a taste of the cake you cut off of the piece you need!
Taste test on a couple of other unsuspecting characters. The one not pictured still hasn't cleaned her room!! Whatcha gonna do Sam? Slay it??
Oops, almost forgot to get something to put the cake on! A jelly roll pan upside down covered with foil...
Put the base piece down and frost. I love to put waxed paper around the bottom of the cake so I don't frost the pan, too.
Stack the next layers, 1, 2, 3, and frost. Notice that I had 4 6 inch layers made above. Don't notice that I have only put 3 on! Please! It would have been just way too tall, and guess who has to carry it on her lap on the hour long drive down to Sandy tomorrow!?!?! Aah, so 3 layers are placed on the base and frosted.
Then the dome. Now if you were to go on the internet to where I got this cake idea from, you would see that, not only did I not put a 6 inch layer on, I also "left out" (didn't realize I needed)the smaller round layer that goes on top of the 6 inch layers and under the dome. So I won't bother to tell you where to find this lovely on the net. Do you see the top of a building taking shape? Looks a little like a beehive actually.
Aahh, the little details mean so much. Did the little girl there actually finish cleaning her room?? Nope, just a water break.
And the finished product........
All I need is Fay Ray to complete the adventure. It does look a little squished, like the building is cracking under Kong's weight. But, like I said, I'm an amatuer! I love making cakes for my kids, and other unsuspecting little ones. It's fun and even a bit of therapy.

Have a fun and enjoyable Conference weekend everyone!