It's Time For All About You Monday! Our weekly session where we get to show off our projects and creations. 










Ingredients:
Cake batter of choice
4 different food colors
Icing
Candy wrapped in gold (gold coins, Roll-O's, etc)

Directions
Make your batter as you normally would for cupcakes and divide the batter into 4 bowls.


Add drops of food color to each bowl. I used yellow, green, blue, and red.


Layer your batter into your lined cupcake pan one at a time in any order of choice. I did blue, red, green, then yellow on top. (As you can see from the picture it doesn't have to be pretty or neat and when you are letting a 2 year old help I assure you it is not going to be either but FUN it will be!)



Bake according to directions.


Tint your icing green and decorate your cooled cupcakes. Top with your gold candy.






Now my favorite part, give your Macaroni Kid a cupcake and watch their face lite up with joy! Oh and don't forget to enjoy one yourself.



Happy St Patrick's Day

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Happy Monday Ya'll

Susan from Sanders on the Pike wrote me to tell me that she's made 3 Barrel Cakes since she saw my post.


She served the first two at a luncheon for work and got such rave reviews that she entered the 3rd into a cooking contest at work as well.




Her beautiful cake won second place for presentation.  Susan says "Love this cake idea and it's so easy."
I love it too Susan!  Congrats to you all of your cakes are beautiful! 


Have you tried your hand at this cake yet?  Send me pics so I can feature you. 
Don't forget Monday to link up for All About You with your football posts or any craft project post. 

Happy Thursday Ya'll.

Well it's time for another round of Yay You Did It where readers have taken something I've done and did it for themselves. 

We have a few more cake decorators on our hands from my Decorating Cakes with NO Stress Post and I'm telling you each one that is done and sent to me is so unique and amazing and makes me want to give up my diet and dig in! 

This one comes from Dawn over at That Girls Deals.  Dawn made this beautiful strawberry topped barrel cake for her son's birthday.  What a great mom!  Doesn't this just make you drool all over your computer!

Hollie sent me her version that she did for her bookclub one night. I wish I was in a bookclub, that always sounds like so much fun and a great way to meet people, maybe I should find one here!  Anyways back to cake listen to this, she made a 3 layer white cake with buttercream frosting, and mint choc chip ladyfingers to go around the edges. Then she dipped strawberries in choclate and and put them on the top!  I know I know, we all just gained 5 pounds just thinking about it!  Needless to say her girlfriends loved it! 



This one is made by my fellow blogging buddy over at Cut Or Copy And Paste.  She had done one before and sent to me but didn't stop there, this is her 2nd one and it is to die for.  Well anything that's pink and brown and I can eat in my book is to die for! She made it for her friend for her birthday. She was originally going to add a strawberry ribbon around the cake with just plain Piroulines but couldn't find the ribbon anywhere. Instead, she found this great chocolate brown and pink ribbon so she made the cake to match it. She colored Wilton white chips with a couple of drops of my Americolor Neon Pink Gel Paste to get the pink. It really is very simple to make this and the procedure is VERY forgiving. The layers actually split in the middle and she "glued" them together like I showed in my original post with chocolate icing. She also piped icing out of a bag along the inside of the Piroulines to make the cake level. When she put the strawberries on top, you couldn't see the repair work. BTW, the Piroulines can be found at Dollar Tree which makes them super cheap!




So have you made one yet?  If not you better get busy and watch your family and friends oohh and aahh over something so easy but so stunning! 
 
Happy Hump Day Ya'll.

During the week I'm going to work on posting pics and details of the Monkey's 2nd birthday party which was a Ladybug Themed Birthday Party.  I'm going to break it up in multiple posts as there is way too much to cover in one post.  I already showed you the invitations HERE so today I'll show you the dessert table and candy buffet. 


I made the Sweets and Treats Banner using my cricut and tied with grass/lime green ribbon. Amy Atlas has really blown up the party scene with her amazing creations.  I've never done one but knew exactly what I wanted.  I wanted a cupcake stand to be the centerpiece with paper fans and tissue flower pom poms as the backdrop and decorations.  I wanted to use all white platters and various size jars.  I wanted all red and black candy and I did not want to spend a fortune.  All in all I accomplished my goal.  Let me break down what we had.

• Oreo Cookies
• Tootsie Rolls
• Cherry Twizzler Bites
• Raspberry Gum Drops
• Red, green, and black twizzlers
• Cherry Gummy Slices
• Hot Tamales
• Chocolate dipped Rice Krispy Treats
• Chocolate Dipped Marshmallow Pops
• Cake Pops
• Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods
• Chocolate Peanut Clusters
• Cupcakes
• Cake

I'm sad to report that there was not one cake pop left.  Ya'll these things will put you in a sugar coma.  I've been making them for about 3 years now and normally just do them as cake balls but I'm loving them as cake pops.  Most people use icing as the binder and I do as well but I've also made them using alcohol and other flavorings as the binder.  My favorite is chocolate cake balls with Kalua as the binder.  But since kids would be eating these I made Red Velvet cake pops with cream cheese icing as the binder and dipped in chocolate and Devil's food with Nuetella as the binder dipped in Chocolate.  OMG is all I have to say.
For Displaying them I used foam pieces wrapped in paper and glued little white picket fences to them and stuck them in.  I also put them on trays and in a vase filled with mini marshmallows to make a bouquet. 


My 2nd favorite item were the Dipped Rice Krispy Treats and there weren't any of those left over either.  I guess that's probably a good thing.  Really the only items left over were some Hot Tamlaes, Cherry Slices, and a handful of Oreos.


We had sacks with a sign that said "Grab a sack and fill with treats, thank you for making my birthday sweet." Then the kids went through and filled up.  The moms were thanking me for this one. ;)


Poppa and I made the cupcake tower, it's just cheap particle board cut and wrapped in white wrapping paper and 4x4's cut and wrapped in red tulle.  The cupcakes like the cake pops are Red Velvet with Cream Cheese BC and Devil's Food with Nuetella BC.  I made them and the ladybug cake which is Red Velvet.  Head is Rice Krispy Treats and decorations are Fondant.  She loved her cake but preferred the dipped marshmallows.



Look for Upcoming Posts on:

• Games, Prizes, and Favors and Favor Bags
• Decorations, Banners, Signs and Printables
• Food and Drinks
• Monkey, Friends, and Family

Happy Monday Ya'll.

I have to admit that lately my inbox has been filled with many awards, personal emails of why you follow me or something that you thought I'd enjoy and I can't explain in words the way it makes me feel.  My purpose in blogging started out for family who didn't live close by to be able to keep up with us and I moved the family blog and kept this one as a way to meet and develop new friendships and that's exactly what has happened.  I could take the blog down a different path and try to make money or get stuff for free but that's now what I want.  I have other endeavors I'm trying to make money at. This blog, it's about me and you. 

Did you know that I don't even charge for my advertising slots?  Nope, if it's a blog or a company I truly believe in and think my readers will benefit from then I put it up there. So that's why there's only 2 up there.  I may add more down the road or change how I handle it but for now I have it set up like this. 

Did you know that when I do the giveaways that I do which are few and far between that it comes out of my own pocket?  I think of things I think my readers, my friends, might enjoy and go buy it to offer up.  No one pays me, it's my way of repaying you.
Sure I sometimes "envy" those big blogs that have thousands of followers or make money but when I get an email or a comment or a picture of something you've done because you were inspired by something I wrote then I'm instantly reminded that I'm here for you, I'm here to make friends, I'm here to inspire and be inspired and that envy is melted away. 








        

I continue to get pictures of dressed up cakes that you awesome readers have done and I get blown away by all of them.  I want of course to taste each one!  You should see the drool. :)  I received a picture from a sweet gal, Alecia.  She doesn't have a blog yet but she does have a cool cake website.  Sweet Sparkle Cakes.  You can imagine my surprise to see someone who does cakes already and even has their own site try out what I shared on this post.  Isn't this cake just devine! 

I showed you last week on Yay You Did It some of my awesome readers who not only attempted the Decorated Cakes With No Stress, but blew it out of the water, well I continue to get emails and pictures and links and am so amazed by all of them.  I have a few more coming up in the next few weeks but had to show you this one today. 
Wendy over at Silly Steeneck's made not one, not two, but three of these babies.  She was making these for an auction and her kid's helped her decorate each one.  She even posted how much they sold for, I'm not going to spoil the surprise, but WOW, go check it out for yourself. 

Just look at these beauties, man I could eat cake for breakfast right about now. 


Don't they just scream goodness!  Have you made one yet?  I'd love to showcase it.  I'm thinking I need to make a few more to catch up to you awesome ladies. 

Happy Wednesday Ya'll.

One of my favorite and most popular posts to date is my Dress Up Cakes with NO Stress where I share how you can take the stress out of decorating a cake but still get the ohh and awww factor when you bring it out.  I love to bake and decorate cakes, I pretty much suck at the decorating part but I still enjoy doing it and wanted to make cakes look professional and great without hiring a professional.  This post generated so many comments (70 WOW, that's a lot for me), emails, and even pictures and posts of your very own little masterpieces.  To me this is one of the great perks of blogging, to have a reader see something you did and find inspiration and motivation to redo it them self.  I know that my blog is filled with projects I've done that I've gotten from you wonderful talented folks so you can imagine how honored and flattered I have felt having some of you do the same with my little cake how to. 
Monkey gets real excited if she does something like put her shoe on or sees you do something like put your shoes on and she jumps up and YELLS and claps "YAY YOU DID IT" or "YAY I DID IT" she gets tickled pink to see an accomplishment come to pass and that's exactly how I feel seeing these cakes so hence the title YAY YOU DID IT, but when you read it, be sure to yell it and clap, I'll know if you didn't. :)

Rachel at Mommy Topics did such a fun barrel cake adding bright colors and a step by step tutorial even teasing us with pictures of the half eaten cake.  She's a lover of peanut M&M's so she used those on top.  See how it's so easy to tweak it to you or the recipient's desire?




Midwestern Gone Idahoan made one for her dad, awww, and since he loves wafers she used that instead of candy bars, I love this twist and again it really shows the receiver you know them and love them!  Plus people thought she bought it and couldn't get over that she made it. 

Tori sent me these pictures, she did not 1, not 2, but THREE cakes, wow don't you want to be her friend!  And she too added a different element by using Twix, now that's a girl after my own heart, Carmel, chocolate, wafers, and cake OMG!
Jalinda at The Craft In Me went all out and did a sheet cake, she needed to feed a bunch of hungry co workers this did the trick!  It just yells goodness doesn't it!


I hope you enjoyed seeing how easy this process is and how fun it is to step back and receive so many compliments.  Did you make one?  I'd love to showcase it!  Grab my "I've been featured" button ladies. 

Happy Wednesday Ya'll.

I'm one of those people that wants to do everything myself when it comes to party planning or holidays or events.  I don't want to hire someone, I certainly don't want to buy store bought, but I want it to look like I hired someone and not scream MOM MADE.  That's just who I am, Poppa has learned to love me inspite of me.  This little personality trait of mine can drive loved ones crazy.  I tend to be controlling and the finest detail has to carry through with whatever theme is set for the event.  So why am I revealing this not so loveable trait about myself?  Well one of the things that usually goes along with events and parties is cake.  And I prefer to make my own cakes rather than buy but I'm not a cake professional and getting a cake to not scream MOM MADE can be tricky without experience, lessons, or practice. 
Over the past 4 years I've made quite a few cakes for friends and family and I've learned a lot of cool tricks and tips and thought that maybe some of you might also want to make homemade cakes but have them look more professional.  And in my opinion nothing tastes better than my recipe that has taken years to perfect.  One bite and Poppa knows if it's mine or not.  (Toot Toot haha)

So today I wanted to show you some easy ways to decorate and dress up a cake, whether it's a cake disaster or lack of experience, anyone can pulls these off. 

Let's start with a few tips. 
To get even shapes without the middle dome, tap your pans filled with batter down on the counter gently before baking to release air bubbles and to help settle the batter.  Also don't over fill your pans, put the same amount of batter in each pan by using measuring cups.  If you do get the dome shape after baking, just trim and cut to make it even and smooth.

Although store bought frosting is quick and easy, it's not going to leave a professional look due to not being able to crust.  Your icing/frosting needs to crust over so that it can be smoothed out.  But this can be tricky and time consuming so here comes my easy decorating ideas that can look professional but allows you to use store bought icing.

Items You will Need for Decorating These Types of Cakes:
Icing/Frosting
Spatulas
Longer thin candies or cookies (ie: kit kats, twix, Wafer Roll cookies like Pirouette by Pepperidge Farm)
Toppings ie: strawberries, M&M's, jeally beans, etc.

If you're stacking your cakes and let's say it starts to crumble or fall apart, have faith in knowing that frosting acts like a glue and those pieces can be "glued" back together.  Take this cake for example.  My Nana over Easter weekend informed me she wanted me to decorate her a cake like some I had done in the past.  She'd already bought the decorations and would make the cake.  Now normally I'd prefer to make the cake myself and get the decorations I wanted but this is my Nana and it is still important to her to be able to do some things for herself so when she brought me the baked cake it was literally in 5 pieces.  But like I said, no biggie, just used frosting to piece it back together.