The cake that made me happy.

I am too exhausted from our big big big day to write a full post. BUT I've waited two days to share this with you... Pictures of my first for reals for money cake. Granted it was for a friend. But a five year old little girl can be tricky to please so I was nervous! She was happy :). I was happy. I absolutely love how it turned out.*in an effort to be fair and honest and unfabled. This cake was a 7 hr cake.this is my hobby though an id rather be elbow deep in powdered sugar than anything on this planet. But I understand not everyone feels that way. There is no shame in buying the lovely cakes at h.e.b :)!! They are quite yummy!

Not this cake

But three more! I am super excited that this month has three baking events. My first ever paid for cake, balins birthday and a baby shower. I've been browsing blogs and pinterest for some fresh ideas and was seeing lots of ruffle cakes. Could it be done with marshmallow fondant? Why yes. It may not be as delicate as some I've seen, and thanks to south Texas humidity struggles with flop issues, but I think my practice ombré ruffle cake turned out pretty cute :).

The cake that wasn't.

So a few days ago I told you about aydens request for an earth shaped cake. I tried. Multiple ways. First I tried baking cake in a bowl. Some say that works. I forgot to grease and flour the first bowl and undercooked the second. Oops. Then I tried to make a rice krispie treat bowl but the humidity here melted it so it refused to hold shape- of any kind. Eventually I iced a layer cake and made it pretty. Put a horrible drawn earth map on it and called it good. I did make sour cream cake or the layers and almond buttercream for the icing so it should taste delicious. Aydens response? " at least I have a cake". You can't say he isn't honest, ha! We did not actually get to eat it though because everyone got sick- so into the freezer it went. We will try again next week! Happy b{earth}day Ayden!

Simply Party:: {Linda's wedding shower}

This weekend I had the honor of making cupcakes for a church bridal shower for one of the young ladies. Although I have not had the chance to get to know her very well yet, I have spent some time with her Mama and was thrilled that God has given us enough time with this body of believers to not only be around when the engagement occurred, but to also attend the wedding next month!  I was thrilled to try out some new recipes and ponder marriage as it would take the form in a cupcake. These three creations are the symbols I came up with to share our marriage advice in my favorite form... sugar. I gave the bride a copy of the recipes, a cupcake tin  and a 1M tip and icing bags~ all she will need to recreate these herself~ and all you need to do the same.

Bliss

A simple and sweet cupcake to remind you of the early days in your relationship and the beautiful ceremony and celebration that you started your life together with.

 1 box white cake mix

1 cup cake flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 1/3 cup water
2 Tb spoons vegetable oil
 1 Tb vanilla
1 Tb almond extract
1tsp salt

 Pre heat oven to 325. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix wet ingredients. Slowly add to dry ingredients and mix with a mixer until smooth. Fill cupcake cups ¾ full and bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Bumble

A cinnamon spiced vanilla cupcake with a surprising sweet honey injected center. A reminder that sometimes our bumbles in marriage provide the greatest opportunity to sweeten our relationship. Forgive often.

 1 box vanilla cake mix

1 cup cake flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 1/3 cup water
2 Tb spoons vegetable oil
1 Tb vanilla
½ Tb cinnamon
½ cup honey

Pre heat oven to 325. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix wet ingredients. Slowly add to dry ingredients and mix with a mixer until smooth. Fill cupcake cups ¾ full and bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  When cool use a medicine dropper for children or a baking injector to inject approx ½ tsp of honey into center of each cupcake. Ice after injecting.

Blessing

These rich and chocolaty cupcakes have a hint of mint to them and are perfect to remember that in our marriage it is most important to seek to honor our spouse, loving or respecting them as needed, and to desire to bless them daily. A blessed marriage is one in which both partners cling to the cross and lay their life down for one another.

 1 box chocolate cake mix

1 cup cake flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 1/3  cup water
4 egg whites
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ cup Andes Mints

 Pre heat oven to 325. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix wet ingredients. Slowly add to dry ingredients and mix with a mixer until smooth. Fill cupcake cups ¾ full and bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Simply Party:: {Balin's 4th part 1}

Four years and 1 day ago I was pregnant with my second baby. I went in for a Dr visit and got the best birthday present of my life. She sent me into the hospital! We stopped and had icecream with Ayden to celebrate first, and then took him to a friends house where he spent the night. The next afternoon I was holding my sweet babe.   This weekend was a BLAST. We celebrated Balin with a so- much -fun pirate party. (Ahoy!) Here are a few details in case you want to throw your own!

There is nothing I enjoy more than a planned party. Kids tend not to get  bored. Your house stays clean (at least the parts you want to keep clean) and everyone has a better chance of going home happy :-). Pirate themes are super easy for summer birthdays, and we had good fortune by finding tons of favors and props at the dollar store!
 For today I'll give you just the food.

First:the cake. The cake is always the center of parties I throw. I'm learning new methods all the time, and really think any one of you could actually make a better cake than me.... I'm just crazy enough to do it! This was a three day cake. The first day I baked the cake and dirty iced it. I used chocolate cake mix (duncan hines) nd then made my own banana cake mix for the "lid".. recipe will come in another post. The icing was banana butter cream, which I tinted yellow for my four year olds sake. The second day I made marshmallow fondant and then layered four sheets of cake for the base. The top sheet got a square in the middle cut out to make a place to store all the treasure. The treasure is, of course, the best part! We used Hershey's pot of gold chocolates and chocolate coins my husband bought while in the big city at a World Market store. I threw in some unwrapped ring pops and clear jewel toned jelly belly's for fun. Balin wanted crabs, so while I was making the red fondant for the "leather" strap I gave Ayden a ball and he made crabs. Request completed. As far as snacks go I had the party starting at 10:00 am. I knew parents might want kiddos to have something on their tummys before cake so we made fish shaped pb&js ham and cheese triangles and lots of fruit. I served chicken salad premade at the H.E.B (the rotisserie one, so good) on croissant "shells" for the grownups. Pinterest showed me a pirate watermelon fruit bowl. Goldfish finished us off!

For my basic table settings I used mostly items I already had. Under the cake I used a tan sheet and layered it with brown (non sparkly) tulle. I tore some holes in the tulle to look like netting. I had the conch shell laying around and then surrounded the cake with ground up Graham cracker to look like sand. On the snack table I just threw down a strip of burlap, used serving trays from the dollar store, set out the pinata when we were done and called it complete!

Bundt of the month: February

I am making an effort this year to celebrate more with my children and expand my baking vocabulary. A simple and yummy way I'm going to do this is to make a monthly bundt cake! I know. It is going to be so difficult to indulge in one of the concoctions each month, but if I have to I will. You know, for the children. Here is February's (made for valentines day)... enjoy

Chocolate Covered  Cherry Bundt cake 

1 box Moist Delux white cake mix

1 large jar  maraschino cherries

3/4 cup chocolate syrup

1/2 cup melted butter

4 egg whites

Grease and flour a 12 cup bundt cake pan and set aside. Separate Cherries from juice, reserve juice. Slice cherries into small pieces. Avoid nibbling on too many.. they will taste even better in the cake! Mix cake mix with 1/2 cup of butter and juice from the cherries (make sure juice is about 1 cup.. if less add water to equal). Mix in egg whites. Stir in sliced cherries. Your mixture will be a beautiful pink color if you had enough juice. Feel free to add food coloring if you want, but make sure you use taste free if you use red! Scoop half the mixture into the cake pan. Now add chocolate syrup to the cake mix. Resist the urge to find a big straw. Pour chocolate onto cherry layer. Use your spoon to gently marble the mixture. Bake for about an hour or until middle is cooked (clean knife test). I let mine cool for a little while before turning it out onto a baking rack. After completely cool you can ice with a royal icing drizzle. My recipe wasn't very good so I'm not sharing! I colored mine pink and then added sparkly red sprinkles to the top of the cake after drizzling the icing.

Sweets for my Sweets

Valentines Day 2005: while dating Lucas was living on an island in the Caribbean giving his best at med school
Valentines 2006: recently married, Lucas's last semester on the island
Valentines 2007: Lucas in review class downtown for his medical boards while I (pregnant) waited at home (evil evil boards...)
Valentines 2008: Lucas was in Houston while in training for his first job.. I was in Louisiana living
Valentines 2009: Lucas was on a job working
Valentines 2010: Lucas was in Laredo with  the stinky company he temporarily worked for
Valentines 2011: LUCAS HOME. :-)
It's been seven years and we are completely wallowing in Hallmark card chessy-ness. Conversation hearts, chocolate covered strawberries, handmade valentines.. the whole deal. For two days. So much fun. I even made a chocolate covered cherry Bundt cake. More on that later. We did the celebration today so the boys can eat their goodies. (I don't usually recommend sending easily distracted boys to school with a belly full of chocolate). With the flu descended on us we cant get out to church this morning so we've been talking with the boys about how we can love because He first loved us. God gave us his son. No chocolate can express that, but I firmly believe our rejoicing is a sweet sweet sound to our Creator. Love to all from the Tilsens
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!