Pink Princess

This was for our niece Kyla's 5th birthday. The instructions were pink and princessy. I loved making all the flowers that cascaded down 4 sides of the cake. More shots of this uber pink cake here.

Jacob's Baseball Cake

This was for my co-worker's son. He loves the Dodgers so I had to try and achieve dodger blue which I now loathe... it was the hardest part of the entire cake. As you can see I didn't make much of it that blue color... after adding all that coloring the fondant started to smell a bit like chemicals... not very appetizing in my opinion. You can see some other closeups of this one here.

Abstract Ocean Cake

This was for my niece Jessica to celebrate her 16th Birthday. She just said ocean but not a beachy luau type of cake. I think this fit the bill but I'm not so sure she will give me free reign again...because it is a little odd.

You can see more shots on my website here... there were great things on every side that I just loved it was hard to make the web page for this and pick only a few photos.

TWD: Sugar-topped Molasses Cookies

I'm not a cookie dough fan, I don't care for cookie dough ice cream and I would never scarf down a tube of slice & bake. But this dough... man.... so so good! I had to get out of the kitchen and write this post or I would have ate it all.

I was saying to my honey that I don't recall if I've ever made anything with real molasses in it. I catch the spill over whilst I was measure out the 1/2 cup for the recipe and give it a taste. Memories of baking with my grandma come flooding in when the flavor hits my tongue and the most vivid thing of all....molasses on pancakes!

Well, I just took pictures and did the taste test. I think these are by far my most favorite Tuesdays with Dorie recipe so far! Thanks to Pamela of Cookies with Boys for choosing it.

Modern Conveniences

 

Right when we moved in to our cool new digs our dryer decided it liked our old house better and refused to work anymore. Oh sure it spun around and teased us by warming up a bit but otherwise it was a big huge doorstop.

Being broke as a joke (having bought a new house and all that) I devised a plan to hang out laundry. We rigged up a really cool line in the backyard and proceeded to hang out our chonies for all the birds to see. With temperatures ranging from 96-106 degrees it doesn't take long for your clothes to dry... so bonus for being in California right. But no longer can you throw in the random load in the evening, you pretty much have to be dragging clothes in and out everyday to make sure all the laundry is done, pre-planning is key. Its kind of theraputic for oh say 5 loads then its just god damn annoying.

Well this weekend my honey fixed the dryer (w00t!) $50 bucks and a allot of cursing, the dryer is good as new. I'm very lucky to have married a handy man and I'm super thankful for modern conveniences.

File under ridiculous....

Because we had ever so loverly change of time Sunday, I had the rare occasion to sit on the couch and eat breakfast this morning.

Apparently if your up really early (or really late) you can experience the most ridiculous products on TV. That over there to your right readers is a Pump Glove! Pure geniu.... err ok maybe not. I think its my grandmas garden glove with a bow glued on. Who the hell is going to whip out some polka dot gloves at the gas station?!

I say save the $14.95 + shipping & handling and get your hubster to pump your gas for you! Cuz that's what my momma taught me!

TWD: Cherry Fudge Brownies

In my opinion the imperfectly flaky top and the chewy cherry interior didn't need the topping that transforms this simple brownie into a delicious torte. It's a good thing too because I didn't have all the ingredients for the Tuesdays with Dorie recipe chosen by April from Short + Rose.

Sure I coulda just ran out and got them, but its been a weird few months... and being frugal is the name of the game. I skipped the cherry directions entirely... folding in some chopped dark chocolate covered cherries that I happened to have in the cupboard already. It turned out pretty good too. In fact I don't think my honey simply fell asleep last night... oh no he fell into a deep chocolate coma after consuming two slices of this baby!

TWD: Spiced Muffins

Ack! I thought I lost my photo of the spice muffins! Way to give a girl a coronary at 8pm! Geesh... well worst case senario, I would have had to make them again of course. They were so good it wouldn't have been such a bad outcome.

In a fit of absolute laziness I didn't measure the butter for the topping and put in way too much.....as if there is there such a thing!? The butter just melted into the bottom of the muffin and made the whole shebang kinda flat and dense. I didn't have any allspice so I subbed in cardamom and cinnamon and used a little tangerine zest in the mix which turned out to be a superb combo IMHO or maybe it was all that melty butter who knows but they were good!

Grab the recipe over at Kayte's blog Grandma's Kitchen Table if you don't have the book and definetly give these a whirl.