Ice Skate Birthday Cake

This will be short and sweet.  The Holiday Season....Thanksgiving through New Year's Day just seems to whirl past doesn't it?  We have lots to celebrate this time of year- and a granddaughter's 10 year birthday is just one of those celebrations.  To celebrate this year in granddaughter style, we were prepared to have an ice skate cake.  After taking great care to ask her wishes, I had baked the chocolate layers.  "I want two layers, MiMi."  Okay I said, just what do two layers look like?  "Oh, you know MiMi.  Where you have the big round cake at the bottom and a smaller round cake on top."  Glad I asked!

So anyway, there are still a few creative cells upstairs, even if they sometimes get dusty.  And I invisioned two iceskates on top of her chocolate, 2 tier cake with white icing an sparkly blue snow flakes...because that was her wish.  Of course, the party was to be an hour and a half away down at the collisium...on Saturday. I had plenty of time!!!   Just imagine the heart beat when I got a call on the way home from work (and we got off early)  on Friday.

 "Hi, MiMi!  This is J_______.  I was just wondering if you have room for me to ride with you..."  (grandson and brother to BD girl)
Me:  Room?  Where are we going?
 J:  Well, MiMi...to the party.  
Me:  Party?  You mean tomorrow? or today?
 J:  You know it's today!  HEART STOPS.
Me:  Let me talk to your mom.

Yep, party today...in about 5 hours, but take away the time for me to get home, not to mention putting cake together and the trip to the collisium and I will have approx. 3 hours to make icing---chocolate, vanilla and royal, finsh snowflakes, ice cake, paint fondant pieces, travel  and make our only granddaughter happy.  (Fondant pieces were rolled out and cut Thursday, but not finished.  Layers are frozen and NOTHING else is done.

What to do?  I called my visiting baby girl and asked if she could measure out a few things for me in the stand mixer so I could hit the floor running.  And run we did.  Much prayer (seriously) and some help and an encouraging word or two, "painting in the car while traveling"

 and an extremely patient husband.. not to mention traveling .IN THE RAIN...we made it!

Tadahhhhh:

Happy 10th Birthday!!!

Phew!  Just in time!  Thank you Lord for being concerned about a little girl's birthday enough to give me the speed to complete everything, and to be able to show her that I was listening to her cake "wish"!  How a loving Heavenly  Father can take time to be concerned over a 911 cake request when there are far more pressing issues all over the world only shows me that he truly loves his children.  And, my friend, whoever you are, the same God loves you.  Isn't that wonderful!

Cake for an Old Miss Fan

Cake for an Ole Miss Fan

It is the day after Thanksgiving as I type this.  Amongst many things to be thankful for, I am thankful for friends who ask me to bake for their friends.  How cool is that!

Birthdays come around every year, don't they?  I have a friend who has a friend who had a birthday...and is a football fan...of....well that is completely obvious...The University of  Mississippi (or as we down here say down here "Ole Miss")  Hotty Totty, goooo Rebels, and something about a colonel?  Can you tell I am not a big fan?  But I am a fan of cake.  So for a friend of a friend I baked chocolate cake layers, made homemade chocolate filling, made butter cream and cut out fondant accents.  The footballs were chocolate candies I found at the Party Store.  I just added the icing "laces".  

There is one major problem with a tier cake.  Transporting it.  This cake traveled well, but I put in a large cardboard box with clear plastic wrap over the opening and met the birthday guy 1/2 way. These were only 9" and 6" tiers so the cake was not huge; but just how can you box a cake that you have to have already put together?  And still expect it to travel well and stay moist for a few days?    

Check out the original inspiration link @
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/106538347404615607/

 My Mostly butter cream version

Well, the fella celebrated his birthday and is going to the bowl game this weekend.

I trust that the cake brought some smiles

and

that Old Miss hits a home run

or

makes the basket

or

ohhh yeah

gets the most touchdowns!

~All done the week of Thanksgiving...~

~

The week where our focus should be on giving the Lord thanks in all things...the week of turkeys and dressing and sweet potatoes and all things good to eat.

I close this post with an annonymous quote that I read today:

My Cup

The optimist says, "My cup is half full."

The pessimist says, "My cup is half empty."

The child of God says, "MY CUP runneth over!

65 CAKES ?

65 CAKES?

Thought you'd see a whole bunch of cakes, did you now?

Sorry to disappoint.  Wouldn't it have been great to have all those cake pictures?  In one place?  That would have been pretty awesome.

You know, when you live in the United States, a birthday comes and most of the time someone bakes a special cake. Candles are lit...songs are sung-in tune and out.  My husband celebrated, sometimes with and sometimes without a lot of fanfare, 65 of those kinds of celebrations to be exact.  That's a lot of cake!

But this year was sort of a quiet one with no big parties or gatherings.  Sometimes that is just the way the cookie crumbles.  But 65 is a lot of calendar pages!  And sure is a blessing to have my husband still with me.  And it is a sort of milestone.  Wonder why that it is...65 that is.  Why not 66 or 63?  Oh well, doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things does it?  I am asking entirely too many questions.  Probably because I haven't posted anything on here in...well...a while.  Life!

ANYWHO...

I saw this cake in several places, and when I said something to my Skip, he said he wanted one for his birthday...a made from scratch banana pudding cake.  Here was my inspiration:  Banana Pudding Cake recipe

And here is mine made with all sorts of banana pudding goodness:  

No candles, no writing...just yumminess and a birthday song from me and our oldest daughter.

There are just sometimes when the memory that you are making becomes more important than the digital capture...but they sure don't keep the same, do they.  But are precious never-the-less.

Life with its ups and downs and in's and out's are just that....life.  And our Heavenly Father knows that better than we ourselves. Life is fragile...much like this cake...Not a cake for setting out in the heat or anywhere for a long time.  Cream or Cool Whip and heat do not dwell together in harmony...But the cake, like our lives is best when kept in the best conditions and the Lord is the only one who can do that with us.  The refrigerator does a fine job for the cake and should not be substituted by the freezer.   

So I believe what I am trying to say is that it is really all right if every once in a while we don't have the party horns....just so we don't make a habit of it.

OH...want more ability to form those swirls?  Used stabelized whipping cream instead of the Cool Whip as listed in the recipe.

See:

Take a look at directions/recipe for stabelized whipped cream that keeps its shape at
this link.

John Deere Birthday Cake for a Special Boy

If any little boy loves John Deere anything more, I just do NOT know who that could be.  He lives and breathes John Deere.  He is one of my grandsons and his request for his birthday?  "MiMi, if it's not too much trouble could you make me a tractor like the firetruck?  You know one you can eat?  And maybe you could use some cookies for the wheels ....  and oh could you make some pigs to put by the tractor?  and...."  Mom interrupts, "I think that's going to be plenty, don't you?" " Yes, ma'm.  That would be cool!"

So here is my journey to make a wish come true...


I'm not sure just who had the first idea to package these treats, but I'm so glad they did.  So easy to make figures that can be shaped and covered with fondant and look at me I am speaking from at least THREE different experiences