Learning new tricks!

Thinking about the whole "Old dog, new tricks" thing, it is possible.  As a gal who was a cake decorating class drop out, apparently thinking that I was cool for school.  Ha...that's a joke...I'm so far from being too cool for school...but lack of time to take more classes and desire to make up my own rules, I decided to teach myself.  I'm sure my technique could be better...I'm sure there's easier or better ways to decorate cakes, but I've been OK with just rockin' out doing my own thing.   And this week....I decided to teach myself not one...but TWO new things!  Woah, what a week!  Folks, I learned how to make marble cake.  Fancy, huh?  I mean, chocolate and vanilla cake mixed perfectly together in every heavenly bite?!  Life is good when that happens!  OK...if you don't agree...just humor me for a few seconds while you read this and be excited for me that I know now how to make marble cakes, ok?  Cool, thanks.  Moving on.  The second thing I learned this week.  I decided it was time to try my hand at fondant!  I knew I wanted to make ropes for a cowgirl cake (hold your horses you'll see it in a second)...but I had no idea what my other options would be if I didn't use fondant.  So, I marched my happy self into Michael's...with, of course, a 40% off coupon in hand...to buy a pack of fondant.  I went home, opened that pack of chocolate brown fondant, realized that I may have been able to get the same effect with Tootsie Rolls, but I got to work anyways.  It was pretty fun to work with it.  I felt like I was back in preschool playing with play dough.  I am happy with how the fondant completed the look on the cake that I wanted.  And here, ladies and gents...the Cowgirl themed cake for sweet Shauntel's 5th Birthday.

So there ya have it.  Happy Birthday, Shauntel!  I hope your birthday is so much fun tomorrow! 

Yee-Haw! It's the weekend!  Have a good one, everyone! :)

Lindsay and Elliot's Engagement Party

Yes, I am still around.  Yes, I am still totally addicted to everything that has to do with baking.  Yes, I have had a lot of projects to keep me busy.  And yes, it feels good to know that many of you miss my blog posts when it takes me a month to post a new one.  Speaking from my experience of blog reading, I know how annoying it is to check back on blogs day after day only to find out that the writer of it is slacking.  Sorry about that, folks, but here's what I've been up to. 

Last weekend a few of my friends and I threw an "Engagement Party BBQ" for our friend and co-worker, Lindsay, and her soon-to-be hubby, Elliot.  If you remember me mentioning Lindsay in previous posts, you will remember her being one of my biggest fans with this whole baking, cake decorating, thing of mine.  When we were planning this shower, I knew that it was my opportunity to do it up big for her.  There was cake.  There were lemon squares.  There were lots and lots of cake balls.  And when I spoke to her on the phone while I was preparing the treats, there was a happy Mama Haug (my mom) who was thrilled that I FINALLY made her recipe for Lemon Squares.

The theme was "Burgers and Brew"...I know, how fun, right?  It was a laid-back, casual party in Lindsay and Elliot's backyard.  Just a good ol' backyard BBQ with appetizers, burgers and hot dogs, a keg of beer, a few games of cornhole, and...um...many, many pitchers of "Beergaritas".    We decorated with paper lanterns and fresh flowers...easy breezy.  I love paper lanterns and wanted to use that as the theme on the cake...

With all of the other sweets that day, we forgot to cut the cake...but it's all good.  At least Lindsay and Elliot didn't need to worry about making breakfast the next morning!  Isn't cake for breakfast the best?!?

Congrats Lindsay and Elliot!  We all had a wonderful time celebrating with you.  Looking forward to more fun times with you when you become Mr. and Mrs. Elliot Carhart.  And yes...I promise there will be more cake or cake balls to help us celebrate. 

I am my mother's daughter.

As I get older, I am reminded more and more that I AM my mother's daughter.  I may look like my dad, but I am noticing, as well as others pointing out to me, that I do so many things that are identical to those that my mom does.  I share my love of baking with my Grandma Virginia, my mom's mom.  Growing up, I always loved to bake and would walk over to my Grandma's house often (the house I grew up in was about 2 blocks away from my grandparents house) and bake cookies with her.  My grandma is a wonderful baker and her desserts are always absolutely perfect and look more professional than the bakery.  So, even with my grandma having a love of baking, that passion must have skipped a generation.  My mom isn't a huge fan of baking and with my love for the activity, I always knew that was a difference between the two of us.  Most recently, however, I have been getting phone calls, texts, and emails from my mom, sharing with me new recipes that she has found, or desserts that she has made for get-togethers or luncheons at work.  God Bless her (and Mom--I know you're reading and trust me, it is ENTIRELY out of love), but she has been on quite the roll with a new recipe for Lemon Squares that she and everyone that she makes them for adores.  I have yet to try them, but definitely will, because I don't see this hot topic fading away until I do.  But this little example reminds me once again that I am, in fact, my mother's daughter...

I find myself totally, 100% addicted to baking.  I crave going home from work at night, getting to the gym to get my workout out of the way, and returning home to get baking.  I have been trying out a few new recipes for cookies, that in my opinion, are nothing to call home about, and I'm not going to waste space on my blog posting the recipes. 

But...one of my newest, most severe baking addictions are making these...

Cake balls.  I LOVE making them.  It's fun to make them for each season or occasion.  I find that for me, cake balls are like lemon squares to my mom.  I want to make them for everyone.  I want to bring them to every party I'm invited to.  I want to tell everyone and their uncle about cake balls and how great they are.  I have posted status updates about cake balls numerous times on my facebook page.  I have emailed the recipe and will probably do many, many more blog posts about them, too.  So, if you see anything on the lines about "cake balls" in the subject on a post, I wouldn't be offended if you skip reading my post that day.  It's an addiction.  I can't help it.

The cake balls pictured are french vanilla cake balls and made for my friend Abby's aunt Cindy, who is in Florida visiting.  I have adopted Aunt Cindy as my own and was so excited to whip up a batch of these when I knew she was coming.  She told me awhile back that she loves sweets and loves cake.  And trust me, when people tell me things like that, I rarely forget.  It's like magic words to my brain that get archived forever.  I hope she likes them...I'm heading out to the beach now to meet them for a drink...and cake balls, of course. 

Hope you are all having a great weekend!  The weather here in FL has been beautiful and was especially gorgeous today.  85 degree, no humidity.  Heaven.  On.  Earth. 

Staying tuned next week...I have a cake order due on Thursday and will a little something up my sleeve for my bestie Emily who will be arriving on Saturday from Minnesota. 

Easter Dessert

So, I don't have much for you tonight.  I hope you aren't disappointed after I asked you to check back and see what I came up with to bring to my Easter dinner on Sunday evening. After tossing around some ideas and trying to whip up in my head a little Easter cake idea, my mind started turning to other desserts...outside of the cake world.  I was thinking about making a super-yum dessert that my mom made growing up, Chocolate E'Claire Torte, but then I decided on "Not Yo Mama's Banana Pudding" by Paula Deen.  Healthy?   Not so much.    Delicious?  Oh my goodness.  Let's just say HEAVEN. ON. EARTH.  I think it was well-received at the dinner.  I was pretty confident it would be since about 1,763 other people gave it a 5 star rating on the Food Network website.  I have no pictures to share, but you're not missing much.  It's not the most pleasing to the eye, but don't worry, your tummy will thank me.  Here's the recipe, if you're interested.  It can also be found at Foodnetwork.com.

Not Yo Mama's Banana Pudding

• 2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies
• 6 to 8 bananas, sliced
• 2 cups milk
• 1 (5-ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping thawed, or equal amount sweetened whipped cream

Directions

Line the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top.
In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate until ready to serve (overnight is best).

It's that time of year! Time for Peeps!

I am not-so-much a peeps fan, but have always thought they are super cute.  I mean, how can adorable, fluffy bunnies coated with bright, crystally (I don't think that's a word, but you know what I mean) sugar not be adorable?  In my travels through the world wide web, I stumbled upon some cute Easter treats, made with peeps.  I was excited to give it a try and brought most of them in for my co-workers as "Party Favors" during last Monday's 8am meeting.  I hope the treats helped kick start the week.  And I'm not kidding--I think it's cool to load people up with calories and sugar bright and early in the day.  That's just how I roll, so get used to it, co-workers!  Aside from giving most of the treats to co-workers, I ran some over to my condo "peeps" (HA! Like that one?  That was good, huh?).  I wish I could've mailed some off to my sweet little nephews in Indiana and other friends and family back in the Midwest, but with the hot FL temps, I didn't want them to get icky in the mail.  I forgot to take pictures of mine, but here's some pics from the website I got the idea at.  http://www.lovefromtheoven.com/

 I whipped up a batch of carrot cake cake balls to bring in for lunch yesterday.  My co-worker came in with her sweet, sweet little baby Sarah.  Not only did Kim come with a baby, she also brought one of the most delicious casseroles I have ever had....I call it Chapitoriousdeliciousness Chicken, but I think it's really called "Chapious Chicken"...I tend to make up names when I don't really remember the real name.  (Did you know you'd learn so much about me through my blog?) I'm sure my friends could share stories with how I make up names for people when I can't remember their real name, but that's another story!  Wow- I got a bit side tracked there, sorry about that!  Back to the cake balls.  I was super disappointed with how they turned out.  I swear the box said "carrot cake", but it tasted like spice cake.  Ick.  Usually I like spice cake, but maybe I was really looking forward to CARROT cake.  I used cream cheese frosting with the so-called-carrot-cake, but it still didn't taste right to me.  Oh well, maybe I can try a different brand of cake mix next time.  God forbid I would try to make the cake from scratch...who makes cake from scratch, anyways? 

I am looking forward to Easter dinner at Lindsay's with her soon-to-be Hubby and our co-worker Katie and her hubs.  Stay tuned to see what I made to share for dessert! 

Carrie :)

Let It Snow!

With the temps that are quickly arising in Florida and from what I hear, the snow that recently fell in the Midwest, I thought posting this "snowman cake" would be somewhat appropriate.  The Floridians might like to see a snowman right now, and the Midwesterners are probably dreaming about throwing this cake in a Floridian's face.  I hear ya about being so over the snow.  Enough is enough and trust me, I know...I've dealt with it for 23 years!

Lindsay (the physical therapist that I blogged about) ordered this cake to share with her family who was visiting for Christmas.  Remember me saying that Lindsay gets very excited about cake?  Well, it's true.  The girl has been my VIP and orders cakes for nearly every holiday.  The best part is she lets the design up to me!  I was excited to try something other than the traditional "red and green" Christmas design. 

Love the polka dots!

Just a simple little polka dot birthday cake!  I never seem to get tired of polka dots...definitely one of my "go-to" designs!  I made this cake awhile back for a combined birthday lunch for two co-workers.  I like the colors against the chocolate brown icing.  Chocolate doesn't seem to be a favorite flavor, so I don't get many opportunities to use these color combinations.