Simple cake + kitten bed! November 20, 2008

Haven’t been keeping up with you blog.. lacking in motivation at this point in life.

I made a really simple cake using a recipe called Edna Lewis’s Busy-Day Cake. I found it on Orangette’s site and it’s quite delicious.

Very easy to make and so satisfying. Just make sure the butter, eggs, and milk are room temperature. This recipe can be made without an electric mixer.

I got kittens! They’re about 2 months old – we don’t know for sure because they’re strays we found in an abandoned garage in our community driveway. We kinda call the cats all different names.. their official names are Isaella (gray female) and Ringo (black male).. official meaning vet’s office. But we also call Isabella – Bella, Milky, and a Chinese name meaning Lucky. Ringo is also known as Blacky, Edward, and a Chinese name meaning Happy.

I could not find the bed on sale at CVS because they never stock anything.. horrible customer service. So I made one using this lovely tutorial by lorie marie. As you can see mine is a rectangle. Only problem is that the kittens do NOT sleep in it at night. I guess it’s too cold in that area.. =( They hid behind the refrigerator!! Eww.. it’s so dirty back there.. and we can’t reach them to get them out. Once we blocked off access to the fridge, they found a new place to sleep. Under the couch. I think it’s because there’s a warm spot on the floor under the couch. Oh well, at least they nap in the bed during the day. =^_^=

Oh and my betta fish (Twitchy) passed this morning. RIP Twitchy. I had just moved my three neon tetras into the 30 gallon tank along with two new neons the day before. I cleaned out Twitchy’s 10 gallon and now there are two rosy red minnows in there. They’re so pretty.. to me at least.

Burger Birthday Cake and Cupcake Pops! July 29, 2008

Happy Birthday to my brother Jason! I did a lot of research and with the help of my siblings, we put it all together. Presenting…. the best burger cake ever!

Isn’t it amazing?!?!

Supplies:
Yellow cake mix
Devil’s food cake
9″ round pans
Large glass bowl
Fondant (I used the marshmallow recipe)
Frosting
Shortening for greasing pans and working with fondant
Food coloring
Green fruit roll up

Bake the yellow cake mix for the buns. Put less than half the batter in the 9″ round and the rest of the batter in the large glass bowl. I tried to do it so that the diameter of the bottom of the top “bun” is also 9″ in diameter. Grease the pans and bowl with a lot of shortening to ensure the cakes come out. You can also use parchment paper for the bottom of the pan, just cut out a circle to fit the pan.

Make the fondant by nuking the marshmallows with some water, grease your hands and surface then mix in the powdered sugar a bit at a time until it stretches nice and smooth. I only made 1/2 the recipe and I worked on a cookie sheet so cleanup is easier. Color some green for lettuce and some red for tomatoes, yellow for cheese, and leave some white for the onions. Make some pickles out of some microwaved green fruit roll up. Make some sesame seeds out of white fondant.

Build burger: bottom bun, cream cheese frosting “mayo”, cheese, chocolate cake “meat”, red dyed frosting “ketchup”, fondant “lettuce”, “tomatoes”, “onions”, fruit roll up “pickles”, then the top bun. We didn’t want too much sugar so all the fondant pieces are only around the edges and not in the middle of the cake. Stick sesame seeds onto bun with frosting.

So if you have been keeping track, there’s still a half a chocolate cake left. With that I made these super sweet and super cute cupcake pops. Original recipe from bakerella! If you haven’t seen her site yet, go visit her site! It’s great. She was even on the Martha Stewart show.

Basically crumble the cake and mix in 1/2 a tub of frosting. I used cream cheese frosting. Don’t add too much! Mine was very moist. Mash that all together. Put in freezer to make it cold. When cold, roll into balls. It’s really messy. >.< Put them all on wax paper on a cookie sheet and freeze again. When cold, mush into molds for the cupcake look. I just used my fingers. Freeze again and melt the chocolate for the bottom of the cupcakes. Let the chocolate cool a bit so it’s not runny. Dip the cold brown lumps bottom side down into the chocolate, place bottom side up back onto the pan and stick in the candy stick. Freeze again and melt the top chocolate color. Repeat dipping but this time dip the top of the cupcakes. Sprinkle on sprinkles and stick them into a chunk of styrofoam or floral foam. Chill until chocolate coat hardens. Enjoy!

sugar comaaaaa