Let Them Eat Cake

This is my first ever fondant rose, calla lilly, and leaves. Needs a bit of work, but not too bad for a first timer.




This is the first cake I ever decorated. That's a butter cream frosting that I made to look like fondant. The hearts are little funky (clearly I need more practice), but hey, it tasted just fine.



Happy Chinese New Year! This is my Chinese inspired "Cherry Blossom" cake for a Chinese pot luck we attended. The cake was a typical yellow cake with ginger added to the batter, and a plum filling. The sides of the cake had the "Ox" symbol drawn on them (2009, year of the ox), which I didn't really capture well in this photo.




This I call my "Get Crazy With the Cheeze Whiz" Cake (or in this case frosting!). This is my most recent cake. I got a little out of control with the piping bag, but it was fun to make.



This completes my first Wilton Cake Decorating Course. I can't wait to take more classes!

Wine tasting

We're in Lompoc enjoying the company of our friends and getting ready to go taste some wine! Last night, while dining at a local family owned Italian restaurant, we sampled an Addamo Dolcetto that was wonderful. I've requested that we visit the Addamo winery today so we can purchase a some of this fabulous vino. From there it doesn't much matter to me what we do. I'm "One Drink Becky" for a reason, so after that first tasting I'm pretty much done. But, since the hubby enjoys wine I want to indulge him. He deserves it, he works hard. So we're off to have a superb time in the gorgeous weather of Santa Barbara County.

Low Fat Frosting

Once upon a time I would have slapped someone upside the head for suggesting such a thing. "Low fat frosting?! NEVER!" However, I'm no longer in my twenties enjoying a fabulous metabolism that just doesn't quit. Now, with a metabolism that seems to have flatlined, I'm thinking, "Hey, low fat frosting, sure, I'll try that. How bad can it be, it has cream cheese in it!" I'm planning on testing this out Monday night. If it's awful... well, um, that'll be the end of that. If it's good, woo hooo, more cake to bake!

My first cake turned out beautiful. I smoothed out the butter cream frosting until it was as smooth as fondant. In fact most people who know what that is, thought that is was fondant. Unfortunately, fondant typically tastes awful and I was told that for weddings and such when it's time to serve the cake the kitchen folks take the cake away, peel off the fondant and then just serve up the cake. What a waste! The frosting is my favorite part of the cake. Thus, the need for a frosting that won't add inches to my waistline.

Baking Fool

This weekend I made from scratch a white cake with butter cream frosting, lemon blueberry almond nut cupcakes frosted with more of the butter cream frosting, and a banana nut, orange cranberry cake with a cream cheese frosting. As far as I know everything turned out great. Haven't tried the white cake yet as I'm saving that for Tuesday's cake decorating class.

I purchased a cake saver (huge plastic lidded dome thingy used to transport a cake). When I transferred the white caked from the cake decorating stand to the cake saver I fudged a few spots along the base of the cake. Not a big deal as I can fix it with frosting. However, I'm going to have to figure out a better way for future cakes. I should have used a cake plate/base thingy - I'm sure there's a technical name for it... but hey, I'm new to this stuff and have to figure it out as I go.

I'm just very pleased that thus far things are turning out great. It's a lot of fun baking and decorating. I just love that I get to create yummy things and then eat and/or share it with others. The best part is that it's all temporary. If I find I don't care for a particular flavor I'll make something different next time. The only lasting evidence of any of this are the tools of the trade and pictures (if I remember to take them!). Of course, the dinning room table is a disaster right now... gotta find a home for all my new toys. Can't stand it taking over the space.

This baking stuff is fun, fun, fun. I guess I'm fulfilling grandpa's destiny. Apparently he always wanted to decorate cakes, not sure why he never did, but I'll give it a shot in his honor. The only problem is what to do with all the baked goods? Can't possibly eat it all, nor do I want to. Hopefully the folks at work will enjoy it.

Coffee Cake & Carpeting

This morning I was motivated; within an hour of waking I cleaned all three litter boxes, did a load of laundry, emptied and reloaded the dishwasher, made coffee and a coffee cake. I was very pleased with how the coffee cake turned out, having never made it before.

I was always fascinated by coffee cake as a child. I wasn't allowed coffee and cake was usually reserved for birthdays or other special occasions. However, coffee cake was something my paternal grandma always seemed to have on hand AND we were allowed to eat it! With "cake" in the name I just knew it had to be good and it was. I wondered if it had coffee in it and why did we only get to eat it at grandma's? Finally I reached adulthood and coffee is an option as is cake. Life is good and this morning's coffee cake just proved it.

Unfortunately the afternoon wasn't quite as good. The hubby and I tore out the carpeting, padding, and tack strip in the guest room. It only took several hours and was easier than I thought it would be. I had feared the worst, that the padding would be super-glued to the cement and impossible to remove, luckily that wasn't the case.

The cement floor is pretty ugly, but at least it doesn't have any cat piss or dog barf stains. Eventually we'll recover it with something more pleasing to the eye, probably a hardwood floor. I'd love cork, but since we don't use the guest all that much I'd rather put cork in the office/craft room where we could truly appreciate it. I like the look of bamboo and so does the hubby, so we'll probably go with that. If only flooring cost as much as coffee.

So little and yet sooooooooooooo loud!

How do they do it?

We're pet sitting for a friend. She has two itty-bitty daschunds, Pete (10 months) and Duke (3 years old). They're as cute as can be... but boy are they loud! They bark, they whine, they cry, they whine, they bark. I'm not used to all the barking, as our dogs rarely do that.

Pete really, really, really likes to play. However, no one is able to keep up with him! Not Duke, not Karma, not Sassy, not the hubby, not me... and definitely not the cats. Ginger's been hiding ever since the little buggers got here and Jordan made an effort to say "howdy" but was greeted with hearty barks and then a chase. Haven't seen much of her as she's been hanging out IN the box spring mattress. We've shut the cats in the guest room to keep them away from the little dudes.

Pete's a holly terror, he's been humping Karma as if it's his life's work. Karma just gives a low growl and has a look on face as if so say, "If there weren't people around I'd knock you into next week bub!" Sassy, being HUGE compared to the wiener dogs, just ignores them and goes about her business. Sometimes she'll chase the little fellers.

Pete is now attacking my slipper, as if my foot were inhabited by a badger. He's wrested my slipper off at least once and keeps going at it. It's kind of funny and it's the only thing keeping him quiet so the hubby can sleep. Little Duke is curled up next to me on the love seat and covered with a blanket. He gets cold very easily.

I enjoy the little guys, but I'm not sure I'm cut out to handle them full-time. They're just so full of energy. Our girls are pretty lazy, which works out great cause we're really lazy!

This has been a great opportunity and a lot of fun, but I'm actually looking forward to the boys return home. I'm pretty sure the cats are looking forward to it even more than me!