Missing Cakes, Part Two

Just a few more imperfect birthday desserts. . . with some commentary.

My (poor) attempt at Lord Baltimore cake. Next year: Dark Lord Baltimore cake!

Banjo birthday

All lemon, all the time!

I think this is the 3rd or 4th zebra ice cream cake for the child.

We played around with royal icing to make hard decorations.

Store-bought (on vacation)

Brownies never disappoint, right?

And now I'm caught up with birthday "cakes."

Missing Cakes, Part One

 I don't give my blog much attention lately; I've decided it's more important to give the attention to my family. But I would like to continue posting occasionally. Some of my favorite types of posts are the ones that show the unprofessional and imperfect birthday cakes I make for my children. 

(Remember: Kids can have happy birthdays without the perfection others show us online.)

It's been a couple of years that I've failed to post cake pictures, so I have many pictures. I'll break them up into a couple of posts. The funny thing I noted while looking through the forgotten pictures is that many of them aren't even cakes. And one birthday didn't even get a special dessert, so I didn't have a picture. And once I forgot entirely to photograph a birthday cake. Imperfect, indeed.

Fresh strawberries are easy decorations.

German Chocolate

Black Forest-- The Portal edition

Another construction cake

Christmas-themed cake

This child loves her zebra ice cream cakes!

December Birthday Cake

 It seems I am destined to be behind. That's okay. This birthday party was delayed by a couple of weeks anyway because of sickness. 

The birthday girl requested a snowman cake, and a snowman cake I attempted. 

This was a fun and easy cake to make. I loved the colors, and it tasted good with some coconut extract in the chocolate cake.

Fall Update--Cakes (and more!)

Fall is here, and we've recently wrapped up our family's birthday season. As always, I like to post pictures of my homemade cakes (and sometimes not cakes) to encourage folks who don't have the time/talent/money to make each birthday "pinterest-perfect." 

First up is a Zoey Zebra cake. The 5-year-old requested a zebra ice cream cake. 

Zebra toy + ice cream + fudge stripe = Zebra ice cream cake

All I had to do was melt ice cream a little bit and smoosh it into the lid of a cake carrier. Then I crumbled up off-brand chocolate sandwich cookies and threw them on the ice cream and drizzled some homemade fudge topping. Last I added another layer of very soft ice cream. I covered the whole thing and put it in the freezer. Just before cake time, I flopped the cake out onto a cutting board and put on zebra stripes (cold hot fudge sauce in a zip plastic bag with the corner cut off). The toy doubled as one of the birthday presents. 

The next cake wasn't a cake at all. The new teenager requested skillet cookies. I decorated the top with the rest of the fudge sauce.

The next birthday boy wasn't really sure what he wanted, but he didn't want a decorated cake. He was more interested in flavors. So I suggested a spice cake and a carrot cake.

Looks plain but tasted good!

The cake on the left is a spice cake with a maple cream cheese frosting, and the cake on the right was Grandma's carrot cake recipe. Those are toasted pecans in that cream frosting, and, yes, they WERE tasty.

And last, and certainly the sweetest, was a repeat request. My youngest son wanted another construction cake with a toy on top and candy. I'm not sure this was actually a construction toy, but he liked it. And it was so easy; I frosted the cake with chocolate frosting, dumped a bunch of candy on top, and placed the toy. 

But there was a problem. The birthday boy took a bite and declared it too sweet. The poor child didn't even eat his own cake. To tell the truth, he wasn't the only one who couldn't eat it because it was too sweet. I felt horrible, and I learned a lesson.

And that wraps up the Fall Birthday Season of 2020.

ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

***If you are a regular reader, you might be curious about how my heat game is going this year. So far, no heat! However, I am not optimistic that we'll last the entire week. Today was chilly and damp, but I countered nature's move by baking a pumpkin, dressing the beds with flannel sheets, and digging out the warmer pajamas.

In a strange turn of events, my 15-year-old is attempting to sabotage my game by purposefully leaving the front door open. I countered his move by threatening a grounding from all electronics for the rest of his life. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

(Is anybody else playing along with my insane game?)

Playing Catch Up

It's been so long since I've touched this blog. It's time to play catch-up. First up should definitely be birthday cakes because y'all know how I love showing the world that birthday cakes don't need to be professional (or even cakes) for a birthday to be special. Also, the pictures don't need to be wonderful.

First up is an 11-year-old's watermelon cake. This was an easy one since there was no piping necessary. Is there runny food coloring at the bottom? Yes! Are some of the chocolate chip "seeds" smeared with frosting? Yes! Was the birthday girl happy? Yes!

Watermelon cake just in time for the summer weather.

The second birthday was a big one-- sweet 16 for my eldest. He chose to have a variety of pies-- vinegar, pumpkin, and cherry (the only one captured on camera). It's possible there was another kind of pie, but I can't remember.

Can she make a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?

No frosting. Filling bubbled up on top of crust. Still a happy birthday boy (or young man). 

And now I must gear up for September's three birthdays!

Out with the Old. . .

It is New Year's Day, and I'm already behind. I need to clear out some pictures from 2019 (which, by the way, was not my favorite year). First, I need to finish out the birthday cakes. For her 8th birthday, my dear daughter wanted me to make an elephant cake because elephants are her favorite. I've made this cake before (twice), and it's easy and fun.

Elephant cake with circus peanuts

Elephant cake with circus peanuts and Ellie the Elephant

As for Christmas baking, that didn't happen. Instead of singing Christmas carols this year, we took turns serenading each other with a chorus of coughing. We have been sick (in a staggered pattern) since December 11th or so. Instead of cookies and family get-togethers, we've had fevers and home remedies and doctor visits. In short, very little of our normal Christmas fun happened. 

However, a lovely lady from church gave us a pre-made gingerbread house kit. We pulled it out a couple of days ago and got to work on it.

See that large crack? I just don't think that bodes well, do you?

Notice how those windows and the door kind of look like a sad face?

I think it's because this gingerbread house had a premonition concerning its fate. Below you can see the serious effort going on to hold that house together. I think it collapsed maybe a minute after it was all "finished." 

We were not in top form (remember we have been sick and sleep-deprived) and failed to completely read the instructions.

See that part about waiting 15 minutes until icing is dry prior to decorating the house? We didn't do that. Oh, well. It still tasted fine. I guess the architectural collapse saved us the guilt of tearing it down.

Four Birthday Cakes

We have finally wrapped up the fall birthday season. While I realize we still technically have 3 more birthdays this fall, they are more spaced out and only one is a kid's birthday. So that means it's time for a birthday cake post.

I have two disclaimers for those who haven't ever read my birthday cake posts. 1.) I am not a cake decorator, nor do I play one on television. I am a busy mom who strives to make cakes her kids like. This means my cakes look homemade and unprofessional.  2.) One of these cakes is not a cake because I let my children pick their birthday dessert. Usually it is cake, but sometimes we have different.

First up is the "not a cake." My new 12-year-old wanted ice cream sundaes for his birthday (which was on a Sunday!). We stuck candles in a bucket of ice cream, and began the melting process.

First "cake" was easy-peasy.

Re-lighting sparkler candles + ice cream = melting ice cream

The second birthday was just one day after the ice cream sundae one. We drove from home after the birthday party to my parents' house where I promptly went to the hospital and spent the evening there with my mother. Then I went back to my parents' house and baked cake. The decorating came the next morning because the new 4-year-old wanted to help.

Can you tell a 4-year-old decorated this?

My dear little daughter wanted "chocolate cake with sprinkles and chocolate chips," and I think we totally nailed it! 

Stunning side view

I did have to inform all the eaters of the cake about my little one's cake decorating method; after placing each chocolate chip on the side of the cake, she carefully licked the frosting off of her fingers. Such a hygienic child.

The third child was my new 14-year-old who ordered, "a chocolate cake." When asked to elaborate, he clarified that he wanted neither chocolate cake nor chocolate frosting. He further clarified that he wanted vanilla cake with green frosting and cherry, blueberry, and strawberry filling.

He was happy with homemade cherry filling. We also added a shimmering pool of homemade cherry filling on the top of the cake. The pictures don't do this "chocolate cake" justice. 

Do you see the shimmer?

A blurry picture showing the many layers with cherry filling

And finally, the new 6-year-old wanted a cake like his brother's from the previous year except with a "P" instead of an "N".  And blue instead of green.

One book cake coming right up!

Lovely antiqued pages

A spine which will make it easy to find on the shelf

And that wraps up our busy birthday season and its cakes. It was a bittersweet season since it surrounded my mother's death, and I was so thankful for the distraction of parties and the happiness of celebrations.

Belated Birthday Cake and Pie

I thought summer was supposed to be slow and lazy. Not so around here. My mother was in the hospital for over two weeks, and she continues to need extra care. The garden needs weeding-- always. We've had a few small building projects (fence and shed). We've started visiting the pool for some swim time. So I've missed posting several pictures I would normally would post.

First up, a birthday cake. An easy birthday cake-- yay! My daughter (whose age is now in the double digits) wanted an artist's palette cake. Voila!

A few weeks later, my eldest turned 15. Fifteen?! What happened? Anyway, it seems 15-year-olds have more mature tastes. He's interested in making cheese and trying new cheeses-- even the ones I consider gross. You know, the ones with fungi. We allowed him to pick out some "fancy" cheeses for a meal with just our family sometime around his birthday, and he prepared our cheese tray. 

For his actual party, he picked vinegar pie for a dessert. However, I considered that our guests might be more likely to eat pumpkin pie, so I made some of that, too. However, they tried the vinegar pie and liked it. If you've never had vinegar pie, you should try it; it tastes much better than its name sounds.

My son didn't want wax on his vinegar pie, so the candles went on the pumpkin pie.

Now that our internet is working again, perhaps I can post a little more often. Have a lovely week!

Week's End

I am forcing myself to blog before I get to work on the waffles the little one has been asking for so long. It seems that blogging and writing are things I merely desire to do, while providing for the children (food, clothing, education) is an obligation I can't ignore. It would be more frustrating for me if my obligations didn't bring me so much joy.

Anyway, here at the week's end I'm sharing a few random photos and thoughts.

First, have you ever experienced thunder in a snowstorm? This past Wednesday I was sitting at the table when there was a flash of light. My first thought was that the electricity was flickering and about to go out, so I told my eldest to hurry and fill a water pitcher. But that flicker was soon followed by a loud boom and rumble of thunder that shook the house! The lightning and thunder combo repeated three times, and each time felt so strange as I watched the snow fall outside.

Second, a week and a half ago, we had another snow and ice storm, and our power did go out. I was in the middle of making breakfast and had but one more omelette to make. Our cast iron griddle retains heat well, so I poured the eggs on and hoped for the best. 

As you can see by the pictures below, the best didn't happen, so we improvised with candles. Call it a science experiment. 

Blurry picture that captures the mood of the morning

Less blurry picture that captures our improvised stove

It took several adjustments beyond this to help cook these eggs. We added coasters under the candles to lift them closer to the griddle and added a couple more candles. I think the whole process took half an hour to produce some scrambled eggs.

And last, I have some pictures of a birthday cake from the vaults which I realized I hadn't shared. And you know how I love sharing my cake flops!

Magic hat on the outside. . . 

Total flop on the inside.

Almost two years ago, our eldest was really into learning to do magic tricks. So we made a magic hat cake. My idea was to make one of those cakes that had a surprise when you cut into it. I was going for cool circle shapes. I got a bunch of odd blobs that tasted weird from all the food coloring. You live and you learn, right?

So Many Birthdays, So Many Cakes

I love posting pictures of the birthday cakes I make for my children, but not because I think they are amazing. I don't post to brag (and you can see from the pictures they are NOT professional). I post the cakes because I think it's important that we don't all try to feel we have to live up to Pinterest-worthy cakes (or crafts or home or anything else). 

Also, sometimes my efforts are worthy of a hearty laugh. I don't mind if you laugh at me; I laugh at myself, too.

So, in chronological order, let the birthday cake parade begin!

First in the lineup is a volcano cake for the boy who wanted a volcano cake last year, too. 

Front view

That number 11 is make with store-bought chocolate rocks. The trees are pretzel sticks, and they turned out much better than expected; my expectations for being able to make anything resembling a tree were quite low. 

Back view

Next in line is the easiest cake of the bunch. Cake + whipped cream + sprinkles + plus Peppa Pig toy= one happy birthday girl.

Yay for birthday gifts that double as cake toppers!

The third cake I made in September was a book. That was the request. I decided I wanted to try out spray paint made for cakes. It was easy to use, but I'm not sure it did anything so special. I was going for the gilded pages look, and I'm not sure I achieved that effect. But the cake was loved, so I was happy. 

The budding author's birthday cake

The next cake was another repeat of sorts. The five-year-old boy wanted another cake that used construction toys to mutilate excavate the cake. Another super-simple cake. Notice the extra green frosting from the book cake and the chocolate rocks from the volcano cake?

Rubble in action

The last cake was by far the most difficult, and it wasn't even really a cake. I was so tired of cake that I dropped suggestions for the birthday girl who thought the suggestions were a great idea. So after two evenings of work (not kidding at all here), the sweets were ready.

My washer is the perfect place to store the birthday cakes out of the way and behind locked doors.

The birthday treat ensemble included not one but two cookie trees. This was not in the original plan. Originally I thought I'd make one cookie tree, but I didn't really know what I was doing. I made three cookies of each size, but the tree I made with all of them too much resembled the leaning tower of Pisa. The whole thing was disassembled, and I made the tree with only two cookies of each size. Then we made a second (rather squat) tree with the extras.

The trees were decorated with frosting and pastel candies.

Then the petits fours. I wanted to try my hand at petit fours. Let's just say my hand has been tried. It was a job and a half. I did enjoy the process, but I'm not sure I'd do it again. Maybe with a different recipe for the coating? It was too sweet for me. Maybe if I made them again they wouldn't turn out so gloppy looking? Oh, well. The birthday girl liked them.

The chocolate ones are just brownies cut up small with a chocolate glaze. The ones with green dots on top are simply the extra of what's under the pink stuff.

Up close and personal

I had to wedge the candle in between the petits fours presents because the tops of everything were too hard to shove candles into. 

And that is the end of our birthday "cake" parade. I hope you enjoyed. I know I will enjoy the break until the spring birthdays.