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Sunday, February 27, 2011

Guess what? I was going through some old pictures and look what I found....


Yeah I know, don't laugh too hard! I made this cake 28 years ago. That was long before I ever had any intention of being a cake decorator!

My husband's birthday falls on the 4th, we were married on the 5th, and my birthday is on the 6th of the same month. So the year we got married, I came up with this idea... I'd bake him a birthday cake and decorate it to look like a wedding cake! That's why there's a corny bride & groom on top, and that's why it says "Got'cha!!!" on the front. Ohhh... the joys of young love!!!

There is absolutely no support system in this cake! It's a miracle it didn't collapsed or crumble into a million pieces. I remember my mom only had two 8" round cake pans, so I improvised and decided to use different sized mixing bowls to bake the cakes in. Are you impressed yet??? Then to top it all off... we took the cake into the back yard, set it in the grass (bugs and all), then took this wonderful picture!

Hahaha, what great memories! I hope you've had fun taking this trip down memory lane with me. I think my cake decorating skills have improved a little since then. But regardless of how it looks, I can honestly say... there was never a cake made with more love!

February... I'm glad it's over!

Saturday, February 26, 2011

This month has been awful!

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I got sick early in the month and it seemed to last forever. Yup, about 2 weeks of not wanting to do anything! Last night was the first night I didn't wake up with coughing fits. (My poor husband.) So hopefully that's all behind me now.

The highlight of this month has been my kids and their music activities. (I have 3 children who are percussionists.) Two of them had solo night at the high school... it's always a very stressful thing. They both did well and will go on to the state competition.

My 23 year old son is in a band. (Don't worry, it's not what you think.) It's great music that I even enjoy listening to. They have 3 members who are all excellent musicians. They are very well trained on their instruments, and have a strong background in jazz music. My son's the drummer. Anyway, they had 2 huge concerts for the release of their second CD. "j.wride" is the name of their band. You can look them up on facebook if you're interested.

My 16 year old son had a week full of rehearsals and 2 nights of huge concerts. He's the drummer for the "Crescent Super Band". This band has been ranked #1 in the world for high school aged jazz bands. They are really amazing, you'd never guess they were so young if you heard them play. Each year they have different Grammy award winning and world renowned artists come to teach and perform with them. This year Jeff Coffin from the Dave Matthew's Band, Poncho Sanchez, Steve Reid, Abraham Laboriel, Fransico Torres, and Rick Drumm came and performed. What an amazing opportunity for him!

My eighteen year old daughter will be performing again this summer with a drum corps. (Santa Clara Vanguard) She flies to California once a month and practices with them. In May she'll move there and will spend the summer touring all over the country competing with other drum corps. It's a lot of hard work, but she loves it. She spends hours & hours practicing and learning her music.

Well, I think I've filled you in on my month. Now it's time to get back to cake! I'm working on something right now, and will try to write a post about it soon.

Until then remember... Birthdays are nature's way of telling us to eat more cake!

Valentine's... Just in Time!

Monday, February 14, 2011

If you could hear the words I'm typing, you'd notice I sound like a large, burly, manly man. Yup, I've been sick. Not just one of those 24 hour things, but the kind of sickness that lasts for a week! So sad... Valentine's day isn't the best time to feel yucky!   ~Listen... ♫ I think I hear violins playing in the background! ♫ ;)

I'd planned to publish this post 4 or 5 days ago but didn't get the frosting made before I got sick. So I put the cupcakes in the freezer and went to bed. These adorable cupcakes, however, are perfect for Valentine's Day. Therefore, I've pulled myself together long enough to finish them up for you!

I saw this cute idea for the first time on the website bakeitinacake.com and I knew I had to give it a try. I wasn't sure if they'd turn out very well but was pleasantly surprised with the results!


First you need to mix together some vanilla cake batter. Remove 1/3 of the batter and put it in another bowl. Color that 1/3 portion with red food coloring. Pour the red batter into an 8x8" pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 min.


After the cake's cooled, remove it from the pan. If you have a small heart shaped cutter, use it to cut out heart shapes. I didn't have a heart shaped cutter that was small enough, so I used a round cutter instead.


After some trial and error, I found the shapes held together and were easier to work with if you compacted them before going on. (Compacted sounds better then saying "smashed". LOL)


After compacting the circle, use the same cutter and cut the circle shape once again.



Using a sharp knife, cut the circle into a heart shape.


Fill a cupcake tin 1/2 full of vanilla cake batter. Push the heart shaped piece of cake into the tin. Then add more vanilla batter until the heart is completely covered. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes. 

One thing to keep in mind is that you'll need to know which way the heart is facing inside each cupcake. If you cut the cupcake in the wrong direction, instead of a heart, you'll only see a rectangle.


Isn't it cute!!! These cupcakes look complicated and people will wonder how on earth you did it. But in reality... they're pretty simple. Try making them and impress your friends, just don't tell anyone how easy it was!

Now I'm going back to bed....  Happy Valentine's Day!

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