Let Them Eat Cake

This is a cake kind of day.  In the past month I have made six different cakes for family birthdays.  My sister asks me to decorate a cake for each of her children and then I have my own family.  The thing of it is, all the birthdays are within a three month time span.  I have eaten so much cake I will have to run a marathon to work off all the calories!

The following pictures are the different cakes that I created.  I really enjoy the whole process.  You take some flour, eggs and sugar, mix them in a bowl and bake it into a fun shape.  (That is the very boring part).  The fun part begins when the frosting is mixed up.  Then you can use your imagination to create something fun or beautiful.  Either way, I love to do this. 

 

One of my favorite "quick cakes" to make is my Chocolaty Chocolate Cake.  The recipe is as follows:

Chocolaty Chocolate Cake

1 Devil's Food Cake mix (Betty Crocker is best)    1 (16 oz) tub sour cream

3 eggs                                                              1/2 package mini chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.  Batter will be very thick!  Pour into a greased and floured bunt cake pan.  Cook 350^o F. for 35 - 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean (should be a little moist).  Remove from oven and let cool for 8 minutes.  Dump out onto dinner plate or serving platter.  Drizzle with icing.  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar                        little bit of milk

1 teaspoon vanilla                              1 Tablespoon cocoa powder (optional)

Mix all together in small mixing bowl until drizzle consistency (not too thick and not too thin).  Drizzle over top of warm cake and let drip down sides.

I have been decorating cakes for some time now.  I inherited my cake-decorating talent from my own mamma who was a professional cake-decorator in her younger years.  She would do some really beautiful cakes - she even did my wedding cake!  My dad tells of a time when my older brother turned two and my daddy thought my brother needed a cowboy cake.  As my mamma started to decorate the cake my dear dad started "hepping"  decorate the cake.

Now, if you don't know the difference between "hepping" and "helping", let me give you a little insight.  "Hepping" is not really helpful.  You are just in the way or are making the task more cumbersome than it really has to be.  "Helping" is just that, you truly are making the task easier for the person in charge.

Ok, back to my dad "hepping" with the cake decorating.  It started out with a simple cowboy on a horse.  He then proceeded to tell my mamma (the professional cake-decorator) that there needed to be a prairie, then some sagebrush, then a barn, then a blue sky, then….well, you get the general idea.  Needless to say, my mamma promptly asked him to remove himself from the kitchen.

As I said before, I love to decorate fun cakes.  As I was decorating my cakes one time, I started to think about how fun it would be to start-up a party business.  I would have life-sized games like bowling, hungry hippo, and sorry.  I would do an entire theme for the party!  My oldest daughter thinks it would be an amazingly fun thing to do.  Can't you just picture teenagers as life-sized bowling pins?

Anyhow, I feel that it is important to expand our talents.  We all have them, sometimes they just need to be discovered and explored.  I challenge you to find yours.  When you find it, please share with me.  I love to see what my friends and readers can do.