Loveliness of Baking

Not too long ago I said that I loved to bake cakes. It is true. My cookies turn out flatter than roadkill and my muffins have a 50/50 chance of making it out of the pan in one piece. But I can do cakes! (Most of the time~ tee hee)! Baking a complex recipe or decorating something fun and unique is what I enjoy most.

I usually try to do something special for a birthday. Not always mind you! We have availed ourselves, on several occasions, of the lovely ladies in white behind the local SuperT bakery counter and I find them to be very capable of creating lovely confections that I didn't have to dirty a dish to deliver.

Here are some of my creations and of course I only chose the pretty ones. It's my history I'm revising here!

This one is a Banana Split Cake that was for The Professor's very first birthday party. See the cute boy in the picture frame? That's my guy! It was a Banana Pineapple cake with a
WhippedPineapple Cream Cheese frosting drizzled with chocolate and topped with cherries and peanuts. Yummy!

The Professor went through a big airplane phase! He loved them all but especially the World War II era planes. I am pretty sure we were the only people who checked out the documentary Warbirds of World War II for our three year old. We took him to the Cavanaugh Flight Museum (we had been there
tena few times before) and one of the mechanics let him sit on the wing of a real P40 Warhawk that was forever after referred to as "my Flying Tiger". (I had to ask him what the real name was and he can still rattle it off without even thinking.) The cake? Probably Duncan Hines.

Guess who requested this one? That's right, Shortcake! How did you know? Her fifth birthday was a Strawberry Shortcake birthday complete with decorations (thank you Grammie! usually we make our own) and a cake shaped like Strawberry Shortcake's hat. I don't remember what flavor it was but it was most likely a box mix also. Sometimes, you have to take shortcuts!

This little ladybug came to Shortcake's sixth birthday and was enjoyed by everyone. She was a vanilla flavored cake with chocolate mint ice cream inside. I used a Betty Crocker Bake 'N Fill pan to make it. I had requested one for my birthday because it looked really neat. What a great idea! Cake and ice cream all in one! In reality, it was very messy and hard to eat. The leftovers weren't that great either. By the time you let to cake thaw enough to eat it, the ice cream was running all over the place.

Cinderella was the theme of Sunshine's third birthday. I used a different "specialized" pan for this one and as you can see there were no problems. The Wilton Wonder Mold Kit is very versatile. We have used it for dolls, volcanoes and hat cakes. Highly recommended!


And even though BigBoy has only had two birthdays, I have had some fun with his as well. This was his first birthday cake. He didn't particularly care for Elmo, but we sure had fun watching him get covered with red frosting!

Birthdays aren't the only occasions that warrant a cake and here are some on my other favorites:


Fourteen white roses to celebrate the 14th anniversary of the ordination of our beloved pastor. It was enjoyed by him and his mother at the lunch they shared that day. This was an egg-less chocolate cake made with vinegar and frosted with a Mocha Chocolate frosting. The roses were just plain old buttercream frosting. And some of them looked more like cabbages!:^)



This is the groom's cake that I mentioned before. It was a triple chocolate cake topped with whole strawberries and shaved white chocolate which was a lot easier to do than it looked. A vegetable peeler works great and creates the lovely little curls you see but be sure to use a big piece of chocolate.


Last is this Lemon Blueberry Cake that I made for my sister-in-law's bridal shower. It is Husband's favorite and has been requested for several birthdays in a row. It is covered in a White Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting. Yum! Both recipes were from an issue of Southern Living that I still have somewhere if anyone is interested. It is a delicious cake and is best made in the summer when you can get fresh blueberries at the store or pick your own (if you live around these parts)!


Well, I just made my Lent that much harder because I gave up sweets and right now ~ I really want some cake!