Just One Mom Trying: cake

Showing posts with label cake. Show all posts

Friday, May 25, 2012

Sunflower Twinkie Cake

It was my daughter's 4th birthday last weekend. She wanted a flower-themed birthday party. It's a little tricky to decorate outside but at least we had a flower cake. I got a quick picture of it before it disappeared.

This cake was fun and easy to make. The center is a regular 9" round cake frosted with yellow frosting and topped with Hershey kisses. The petals are Twinkies cut in half. I liked how the sunflower turned out.

Next time I think I'll do a daisy- leave the Twinkies long (maybe cutting off just a little on one end to give it a flat edge) and frost them white (or whatever color). I'll probably use candy melts for the center, since they come in all sorts of colors, or just pipe it with frosting.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Alternative to Cupcake Liners

Emily 11:28 AM 0 Comments

Today I made a bunch of pumpkin bread for some thank you's today. I had some left over batter and wanted to make some pumpkin muffins. Instead of cupcake liners I used a 5" x 5" piece of parchment paper as my liner. I love the look of it! And, since it's parchment paper, it's meant for baking and it doesn't stick.

The paper peeled off great when they were done! I will be doing this more often, especially for gifts. I wonder where I can get different colored parchment paper? I know they have it in a tan color. Hmm...Anyone?

Wrap these up in cellophane and tie a ribbon around it. I'm sure it would look so cute. (This bag is a little too big for the muffin. A jumbo muffin would look a whole lot more awesome.)

# birthdays # cake

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Eat Cake

Emily 4:08 AM 0 Comments

It was my husband's birthday last week. He requested this cake. (This was the last piece.) I have made it once before and now it's one of our favorites. It's a white cake made with buttermilk and layered with old-fashioned chocolate frosting.

It's so good that I'm sharing the recipe!

White Cake

Ingredients:

4 egg whites at room temperature

2 c. flour

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup shortening

2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Let egg whites stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour pan. In large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, bakingg powder, salt and soda. Add buttermilk, shortening and vanilla. Beat on low until combined. Then beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add egg whites on low until combined and then beat again for 2 more minutes on medium speed. Spread in pans. Bake 25 minutes or so until done. Watch and check to see when done. Cupcakes will take about 15 minutes, depending on your oven. Cool and frost.

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting

This recipe is from Our Best Bites. Click HERE for this AMAZING recipe.

NOTE: I do not have a paddle attachment to my Kitchen Aid stand mixer but a whisk attachment works just as well. If you notice that the frosting isn't whipping up very well, put the bowl back into the ice bath until the frosting is cooler. The recipe says to let the bowl stay in the ice bath for 1-2 minutes. I suggest at least 5 minutes or so, stirring constantly. Make sure you scrape the bottom and sides of your bowl before whipping the frosting. Sometimes the chocolate begins to harden in the ice bath- it's okay as long as you scrape it off the sides and bottom before whipping.

ENJOY!!!

# birthdays # cake

Monday, June 27, 2011

Family Night: Game Night

Emily 8:05 AM 1 Comments

Tonight for Family Night, we are going to play some games with MJ. She loves to play games with us but often times our playtime gets postponed due to preparing meals, running errands, cleaning, working, etc. So, tonight we are just going to play!

We will start our family night off with a new tradition: Accomplishments and Achievements. Each member of the family shares one thing they accomplished or achieved last week and we will all cheer for them. It can be anything from an actual award, to participating in an event, to just a kind act of service they performed for someone else. (Thanks to my little sister who gave me this idea.)

Games

I'm pretty sure that we will play Hide-and-Seek. MJ loves this game. Even when she knows where we are hiding, she'll pretend like she doesn't and will say things like, "Is daddy under couch? No. Is he behind the TV? No."

Alphabet Relay: This is a fun one if you have active preschoolers like MJ. (My sister gave me this idea.) All you need is a set of alphabet flashcards. Pick 4 to 6 letters to lay out on the floor on one side of the room. Have your child begin on the opposite side of the room. Call out a letter that is displayed on the floor. See if your child can pick out the correct letter and run it back to where he/she began. Replace the card with a new letter so there will always be 4 to 6 letters on the floor.

Guessing Game: Gather some unique household objects. Make sure they are safe to touch. Put one object in a bag without anyone else seeing. Have those who are guessing put their hand in the bag, one at a time, and try to guess what the object is. You can also put objects in the bag that make noise and have the "guessers" listen to the object.

If you really want to get fancy, you can do this with different smells. Dab some pickle juice, lemon juice, or vinegar on a cotton ball before hand. Store each cotton ball in a separate baby food jar or other container. See how many smells the guessers can pinpoint.

Other games: click on the game title for instructions on how to play.

Red Light, Green Light : We have adapted this game for our 3 year old. Someone is "it" and controls the traffic lights (red light, green light). "It" says "stop" or "go" ("Red light"and "green light" are sometimes too difficult to say or remember what they mean at young ages) and the others respond to the requests of "it." The first person to reach "it" becomes the next "it." "It" also doesn't need to have his/her back facing the others. "It" may see the other players approaching. I made a simple "traffic light" for "It" to hold. It creates a good visual when preschoolers are playing the game. It is easier to respond when both senses are stimulated (hearing and sight).

Click HERE to download and print your own Stop & Go traffic light. Cut out the two circles and paste them back to back onto a craft stick or paint stir stick.

Telephone

Simon Says or Johnny Jump-Ups

Hotter/Colder

Dessert: White Cupcakes with Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting

White Cake

4 egg whites at room temperature

2 c. flour

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup shortening

2 tsp. vanilla

Let egg whites stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour pan. In large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, bkg powder, salt and soda. Add buttermilk, shortening and vanilla. Beat on low until combined. Then beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add egg whites slowly and beat again for 2 more minutes. Spread in pans. Bake 25 minutes or so until done. Watch and check to see when done. Cupcakes won't take more than 20 minutes. Cool and frost.

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting

Click HERE for the recipe to this AMAZING frosting from Our Best Bites (one of my favoriterecipe sites).

# cake # dessert