Golf Cake Upgrade!

     Ok, so yes, it has been almost an entire summer since I've typed up any fun for you. Firstly, I apologize.  Secondly, I have SO much to share with you. I'm going to start with a project I undertook for my Dad's surprise 60th birthday. The additional motivation for this is the fact that a similar golf themed cake project I put on Pinterest previously has the most re-pins out of any so far!
     Now, due to the fact that my "to-do" list for the party was super long, I went with cake mix boxes. (I know, the horror!) I did, however, add some bags of dark chocolate chips to the dark chocolate cake mix. It's always fun and easy to add a little pizzazz to plain old box mixes. The picture of the finished project in my head was a pretty big one- so I bought four boxes of mix. This ended up making me a total of 7 different sized cakes.

Yes, I can count…7th cake was already cooled and out of the pan!

     The next step was to pair a frosting with my dark chocolate and chocolate chip cake. My dad is a huge fan of the dark chocolate and orange flavor pairing, so that gave me some direction. I went with a cream cheese frosting with real orange kick. You can find it on Liz's blog Love Grows Wild here: Kick butt frosting

I doubled the recipe and ABSOLUTELY fell in love. The real orange zest and juice make all the difference. Here are a few shots of the frosting creation process: 

      

Such beauty from little flecks of orange!

      The cakes and the frosting were made the night before and BOTH were refrigerated for the night. If you need to shape and stack cakes it helps a lot to have them cold when you work with them. The size of the cake also inspired me to attempt fondant.  I took a wonderful stroll down the baking aisles at my favorite Michael's and came away with fondant, gum paste, and some edible glitter. (WHAT?!?!) I know, how do you pass up glittery things that are even edible?!?! The next morning I started working on the exact formation of the cakes. The idea was to make the cake in the shape of a hill with the tee at the top and the hole at the bottom. Each cake was placed and then given a layer of orange frosting. (see crumb coat)

                                                                

     While this cooled (again) in the fridge I started working with the fondant. Again, remember the long to-do list. So I purchased my favorite cake man's fondant in bright green and gave it a quick warm up in the microwave. 

     Fondant needs to be rolled out quite thin (1/8 inch). I highly suggest either cornstarch or confectioner's sugar on your work surface before you start rolling. Let me tell you, my arms were aching by the end of this. It made me wish I had one of those fancy rolling machines…*sigh* oh well, moving on. Once the fondant is rolled out you need to move quickly and accurately. 

     You don't get a second chance with it. Place it in the right place and move quickly. Smooth out your fondant and make sure it nicely wraps all of your cake. 

     From here on out it's all fun and decorating, ahem, for the most part. There were only a few moments of panic and "I have no clue what I'm doing" thoughts. I used the gum paste to form two golf balls and a golf tee. (A chopstick was a great tool for making the little indentations of the golf balls) These were set to the side to dry. Gum paste turns hard as rock once it has been set out. While these dried I moved to a bit of decorative icing with your regular old sugary green icing and a star tip for grass. 

     Thicker grass was completed and then I set out to create my sand traps. Say what? Well, of course the golf course needs sand traps! So I pulled out my trusty box of Nilla Wafers, got a ziplock bag, and started smashing. 

     The convenience of the ziplock bag is the ability to just cut the corner with scissors for easier and more precise placement. In order to have my "sand" stick, I cut out the fondant in the spaces for my sand traps. 

     Now to the part you were all waiting for….GLITTER. Ok, so the part I was waiting for. You can dust the glitter on as it is or you can paint with it. I chose to paint with it. The trick is, you want to put it in a liquid that will evaporate quickly. (Cue the alcohol!!) Vodka is actually the perfect liquid to use to mix the glitter, as it dries very quickly when painted on thin. 

     The golf balls and tee got white glitter and the area I planned as the green was given a coating of green glitter. 

yay for sparkles! 

       The final assembly involved placing both of the golf balls on the cake. One went in some longer grass and one went into the hole in the green. The tee also went into the longer grass at the top of the cake. The flag for the green was textured paper rolled around a thinner wooden dowel with the words Happy Birthday! Voila! A fun golf themed cake with a few extra 60's thrown in! 

     ….Aaaaand just for fun here is a shot of the watermelon that honors what my father looks like any time he is in his recliner! 

     Last, but not least is a sneak peak of the next post. Straying far away from food and moving over to the DIY home organization category. 

     Keep your eyes peeled for a fun take on a $10 crate from Wal-Mart. I'm just crossing my fingers that it turns out nicely enough that the hubby can't say "I told you so!" As always, thanks for the read and stop on by soon. I swear this next one won't take so long! :) 

<3 

Happy Thanksgiving!!! er....

Hello bloggers!
      You may think I'm crazy to still be wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving...but let's face it people, it WASN'T that long ago! Yikes! However, as promised...I bring you an unhealthy post! Let me tell you, it's worth it. If I were capable of showing you tons of "after" pictures I would. Alas, it disappeared quickly, so you are stuck with this one...

   WHAT!?!??!! That's right, Cinnamon Roll Apple Pie! A little bit ago, I saw a single picture on Pinterest and the gears started turning. This will not necessarily be a precise recipe, however I sometimes like to feel out the recipes as we go. (Apologies if that strikes fear into your heart...)

   Start out by picking your favorite pie crust recipe. Let's face it folks, dump some flour, sugar, a bit of salt, and a ton of butter into a food processor. If you're thinking I mistyped the words food processor...I did not. It works like a charm! A few teaspoons of water later, you've got pie crust. Divide your crust into two halves and refrigerate them for a bit in order to work more easily with it later.

Pull your dough out of the fridge, flour a surface, and start rolling out a rectangle.

   Once you have a lovely rectangle, moisten it a bit with wet hands, and smear on some cinnamon. I did not add sugar for a few reasons. The first has to do with the amount of sugar in the pie filling. The second has do to with the ooey- gooey factor. I did not want to have pie crust falling apart from melted sugar. The next step is just to roll up your cinnamon-y dough!

   It's pretty simple from here on out! Slice your rolled up dough and slice by slice press it to the pie plate. It is important to try and minimize spaces between each slice.

   It is your choice from here on out if you pre-bake your crust or just add in the filling. Usually pie crust is only pre-baked if you do not need to bake the filling. So I "peeled-cored-sliced" about 3 Honeycrisp apples. (I have a small love affair with these apples...I buy dozens of them when they are in season!)
   Those got tossed in about 3/4 of a cup of sugar and a few tablespoons of cinnamon. When they are coated, dump 'em on in your crust.

   NOW, I repeat the same rolling, cinnamon, roll-up process with your second ball of pie dough. I originally thought I could use a rolling pin to roll together a sheet of the cinnamon roll slices and then place it on top of the pie. (SEE: Learn from my mistake) It did NOT work. haha. However, I quickly decided to just individually place the flattened slices on top of the pie and merge them as best as possible. It was not actually that difficult. 

   This got brushed with an egg wash and popped in the oven. (Egg wash: scrambled one whole egg and brushed it on) It stayed in the oven at about 350 for about 45 minutes. It smelled DELICIOUS, and came out beautifully! 

   I had to show you that shot one more time cause it's so dang pretty! I also took some fun shots so you could see that the beauty was visible from all angles! 

Thanks to Momma for holding the pie while I laid on the floor! 

   Let me tell you friends, it was a huge hit and it disappeared! It was just so fun and tasty. Who wouldn't want cinnamon rolls AND apple pie?!?! I dare you to give it a try. It's worth the attempt. (Or bribe a friend to do it!) 

    I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving. As I type to you, I am enjoying a wintery snowy night and the view of my art project that will be up here next!

           <3

The Most Dangerous Cake

     The Most Dangerous Cake.

     Prepare yourselves, because I'm about to expose my literary nerd status.  If you have never read the short story "The Most Dangerous Game," it's worth a read. The genius of this story is the situational irony that occurs at the resolution. The hunter becoming the hunted takes a surprising twist when you read the final scene.
     What does this have to do with cake? Great question. Believe me, when you take your first bite of this cake, you'll realize the tides have turned. You no longer have control. The cake is hunting YOU.

      A bit dramatic? Yes. Is this cake divine and irresistible? Yes again. Here we go!

You Will Need:
*One Box Devil's Food Cake
*1/2 of a 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
*1/2 of a 12 oz. jar of Caramel ice cream topping
*One container whipped topping
*One bag Heath bar crunch topping (I found this in the baking aisle of my local grocery store)

     This, as always, is a Pinterest find that I've made my own few tweaks on. Begin by baking your Devil's Food cake according to the directions on the box. I made one alteration to the "typical" cake directions. When my cake batter was mixed, I added in about 5/6 tablespoons of Hershey's Dark Chocolate Syrup. I love giving a cake that extra oomph of chocolate, moistness, and depth.
     When your cake is out of the oven, set it aside to cool for only 5 minutes.

     You will then use those five minutes to prepare your Caramel drizzle. In a small saucepan on the stove, combine half of your can of condensed milk with half of a jar of caramel syrup.

     On low heat, stir frequently until the two are combined and slightly warmed. They will be a beautiful light caramel color that is warm and smooth.

    When this has been completed, move back to your cake and cut slits into the entire top of the cake. Be careful to not cut all the way through to the bottom.

     

Your next step is to pour your caramel sauce over the cake and let it soak in. (YUM!) 

        Follow this by sprinkling about 2/3 of your bag of Heath crumbles onto the cake and caramel sauce. You are then going to put the cake to the side and let it cool entirely. 

      The great thing about doing all of these steps while the cake is still warm, is the result! You get a great moist cake, with a slightly gooey, crunchy middle layer of caramel, chocolate and toffee. When your cake has cooled completely, "ice" it with your container of whipped topping. You'll want the whipped topping to be at least refrigerator temperature or room temperature. This will make it easier to spread. 

   Finally, sprinkle the remaining Heath Bar crumbles on top of your whipped topping layer. Cover and put in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve it! I brought this to a family barbecue last weekend, and believe me when I say- it was a hit. In fact, I was nervous to bring the left overs home with me for fear that I would gobble it all up way too quickly! 

   This was a fantastic Pinterest find, that worked very well for me. Again, though, be warned. It is DANGEROUS! You will not want to leave any left in the pan! 

    Well, ladies and gents, I am writing to you in my last few days of freedom before I head back to the school building. There is one more recipe locked and loaded to be sent out to you soon, and then you'll get classroom shots! Keep cool in these next hot days of summer. 

             

                     <3 

Hey there and Happy Father's Day!

Well folks,
    It has been a few days, and while they were filled with much excitement, they kept me from sitting and writing to you. Most of these things include "end of the year" fun at school such as a day at camp!

And by "fun" I mean slow torture by ten year old girls...

                                                                  

JUST KIDDING. It was in fact a fun time, regardless of how entertaining it is to torture your teacher. 

     What I'm really here to tell you about is a wonderful activity that almost anyone would enjoy. Do yourself a favor and look up Painting With A Twist. It is the perfect place for everyone from the "artist at heart" to the "artist who will sit down and do the whole thing differently because that's how THEY see it." 

      I had gone to a similar studio while visiting the In-Laws in Kentucky and fell in love. Since then, I'd promised a dear friend I would take her. She picked a perfect painting for both of us and off we went last night! An experienced instructor walks you through each step of the painting and you walk away with your own masterpiece. 

     I took pictures of the progression of my very own painting to share with you. It was a relaxing experience that lets you watch and take part in the progression of a painting. 

You can see the majority of the steps in the process here. I will say that I was greatly tempted to try the whole painting in black and white and shades of grey. However, I lost my guts right before starting...There's always next time! Without further ado, here is my finished product- just waiting to be hung in the perfect place. 

I'm definitely looking forward to the next opportunity to hop out there and try another painting. In the meantime, I am going to end this post and go make brownies with mini-rolos hidden inside of them! (Because who doesn't love a surprise inside of what would otherwise be your typical brownies?!?!) 

I leave off with a "shout out" to my two wonderful fathers. Thanks to them I am artistic and musical, energetic and dramatic, and just in general, a well rounded woman. Thank you to both of you! 

<3