A Twist on a Classic Cane

I love a good twist on a story or a cake. You may have seen the candy cane cake before. It is one of my favorites to bake at the holidays. This time instead of decorating it in the traditional red and white I decorated it with green and white stripes with red pinstripes. Just something a little jazzier this year. The cake itself is a butter fudge cake (I was thinking mint chocolate when I made it). This cake was made for a festive office party for a friend who enjoys a good cake. Looks like the people he works with enjoyed it as well.

Silver Bells?

As you can tell the bells are not exactly silver but they are Christmasy. A friend was throwing an office party for his staff and I helped out with some food. Now I must say I did offer up a cake because what is a party without a cake. I also had selfish reasons for offering this cake. You see this is the first time I have baked this one and I have wanted to try this pan for some time. The cake is a yellow butter cake with my basic decorating icing. It was really golden with golden icing and a red ribbon on top to add to the festivities.

Don't You Love the Smell of Fresh Baked Bread?

Yes, it smells so good in my kitchen right now. I love it. There is nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread, and there is something especially sweet about this loaf. Growing up my father's favorite bread was sourdough. To make it involved a special starter, that is kind of high maintenance, you have to feed it once a week to keep it going. I was under the impression that it required a very special yeast to make this batter so imagine my surprise when I found out with a little effort each day over a week I could create my own sourdough starter. I got the perfect glass container (sourdough starter does not do well in metal) and got started mixing flour and water in proportion until a wonderful sour bacteria started growing (no joke).

I have tried several times going through the steps and I don't know if the temperature was to cold or if the batter was just not quite right but I had several failed attempts. My bread just did not want to rise. Finally this weekend all the elements came together and the bread started to rise. On the second rising it took overnight to get it the size of the loaf but it finally worked. Baking the bread was not only aromatic but satisfying because it turned out to be what it is supposed to be.

Happy Holidays and Let In Snow Dipped in One

Each year I like to do a little something for the people I work with. Usually it is a cute ornament or cute Christmasy container of candy. This year I needed to do something different. So I decided to try an experiment. Marshmallow dipped snowmen. Basically I took three jumbo marshmallows and threaded them on a lollipop stick. dipped them in a white candy melt and decorated with black gel. Since the gel never hardens I will probably not do that again. I topped the snowman with a regular Oreo then half of a marshmallow. Voila, a yummy and cute snowman.

The snowman was placed in a small glass vase filled with Christmas candy (red and green m&M's, ribbon candy, hard candy) and was balanced with a traditional candy cane. The snowmen were very sweet and would make an excellent desert or hot chocolate stirrer. As does the candy cane, and while drinking hot chocolate there is a sweet treat to eat with it.

Bilingual Cake

It is not often that I get to make a cake that translates into any language. Okay I lied, I do make cakes that translate into any language. But a Dora cake is bilingual because the character speaks both English and Spanish. This one is for a very special young lady.

My secretary has a large family and this one is for her niece. This niece is the daughter of my coworkers youngest brother and this special little girl has the nickname of meanness. She has an entire family wrapped around her pinkie and she is a girls girl. Of course any young lady who has seen TV has seen Dora and her pal Diego. Apparently this birthday girl was able to speak to her cake in two languages. Who says we don't learn from TV? Happy Birthday to Kensley, who is the apple of so many people's eyes.

Not Exactly the Same Cake

The day after my previous post I attended the Holly Days Fair in Fayetteville, NC. This is an annual tradition for me. The Holly Days fair is an event put together by the Junior Service league and is their major fundraiser to support nonprofit organizations in Cumberland County. It is a collection of crafts, speciality items, food, and so much more. When I walked in the door the first vendor caught my eye with the N.C. State cake pan hanging on the outside of their space. The same cake pan I had been looking for for my last cake. I immediately purchased it knowing that there would be another opportunity to use it.

Before the month ended the opportunity presented itself. Our Interim County Director was leaving us as our new one got ready to step into place at the beginning of the month. We had a team work retreat planned for the his last day and we decided to take an hour or so to turn this into a farewell and thank you. Thus there is a need for a cake.

Now not only does he work for NCSU but he also is an alum. He is quite the fan of the university so it seemed fitting to create a NCSU cake with my new pan. I baked a butter cake with traditional decorators icing. The colors are NCSU colors and it was just the right size for everyone to have a slice. He seemed thrilled with his goodbye cake, but not as thrilled as we were with his imprint that he left on us during his seven months as our Interim.

Santa Needs Cookies

I realize it is after Thanksgiving and baking Santa's cookies might be a tad early. However it is tradition in our home that the day after Thanksgiving the tree goes up (it's artificial so no problem with it drying up by Christmas). Along with that a mass of elves descend and decorate the whole house for Christmas. The issue is that most of my Mom's stuff is still packed away so there are just a few things she has to get out at Christmas. One of these things is a Santa Claus cookie jar that she got last year at an after Christmas sale. Of course a cookie jar is in need of cookies.

Thanks to all the baking I was doing as part of Thanksgiving I had chocolate chips, eggs, sugar, flour, etc. In other words I had all the makings for chocolate chip cookies. You know, the toll house kind. The kind of cookies that everyone should experience, and usually does at least once in their lifetime. I baked about two dozen cookies (and of course tested a few along the way) for the famed Santa cookie jar. I'm not sure what happened to the cookies after I left, but it did mark the first baking assignment for the holiday season. Who knows what is next? Stay tuned for more holiday fun.

How Loud does a Peppermint Snowflake Bark?

I realize the title is just a bit corny but it has you reading this now doesn't it? Wilton put out a new candy kit this holiday season, a peppermint bark kit. The kit contains snowflake shaped cookie cutters, chocolate and peppermint candy melts as well as disposable decorator bags.

The cookie cutters are placed on a cookie sheet with a sheet of wax paper between the two. You start with the chocolate, melt it, and put a layer in each of the cookie cutters. I place the cookie sheet in the freezer for a few minutes to let the chocolate harden. Then it is time for the peppermint melts. After melting them you pipe a slightly thicker layer in the cookie cutter. Being impatient I place the cookie sheet back in the freezer to let this layer harden also. When I pull it out I carefully separate the bark and cookie cutter. Thus a really cute piece of peppermint bark is left with a snowflake shape.

We wrapped these individually and gave them out to family who came to visit after Thanksgiving. The cool, sweet treat went over well and travelled easily. It is a quick and fun gift that I plan to repeat for Christmas.

Who Lives in a Pineapple Under the Sea?

If you yelled out Sponge Bob Square Pants you are so right. Each year there seems to be at least one Sponge Bob that turns up. He is becoming a character like Scooby Doo and Bug Bunny, taking his own place in cartoon fame. So when my most incredible and wonderful secretary came to me and asked if I could make Sponge Bob for a relative I of course said yes.

This is a butter cake and feeds up to 20 people. Apparently he was so cute it was tough carving up this cartoon character. All children however know that cake can be eaten and the character will live on as does Sponge Bob Square Pants.

ACC Party the Sequel

Usually the sequel to anything is not as good as the original. However I dare say this would be the one time that this is not the case. You may remember the, I even shudder to type this, this Tar Heel cake I made about a week ago. Well the same friend and loving Aunt came to me and asked me to create a North Carolina State University (NCSU) cake. This time I did not hesitate to say yes. Of course I am still a die hard UVA fan so why did I not hesitate? My day job is actually working for N.C.State University as part of the Cooperative Extension Service, specifically as a 4-H Extension Agent. Although I do not root for the team I do not have a negative connotation for the school so making the cake was not a problem.

Once again I set out to order a pan and could not get one. Believe it or not they were back ordered. I had to be on campus for training one day and stopped by the bookstore to see if they had one, but no such luck. So my next plan was to carve the cake. It was not perfect but Stevie was thrilled and his big brother who likes UNC is still trying to determine which cake was bigger.

ACC Party

Imagine having a child with a favorite college. Now imagine that child's sibling likes the rival school and their birthdays are about a week apart. Can make the birthday bash interesting. So when a friend of mine came to me and asked me to design a University of North Carolina Cake for her nephew I did actually hesitate. As many know I am a University of Virginia fan and my father and I often told people that I am in North Carolina doing missionary work converting Tar heels into Cavaliers. So the decision to do this cake was difficult. But this friend is wonderful and her nephews are pretty neat in their own right so I agreed to do this.

I ordered a UNC cake pan. My issue with this (beside the school) is that it is a silicone pan and I am not big on silicone pans. Also, one could argue that it is healthier because you coat this pan with cooking spray rather than shortening and flour but I am concerned that cakes tend to dry out more. None the less, the cake was baked and decorated in traditional UNC colors. A little Happy Birthday message was added. The birthday boy seemed very happy to have possibly his future college, represented at his party.

Monkeying Around

I love monkeys. They are fun, funny, cute, and even the ugly ones have adorable features, and they tend to be rather smart. How could you not love a monkey. I have had a monkey cake pan for quite awhile and never had a reason to decorate a monkey cake until recently.
I eat lunch frequently with a group of professionals who have a tendency to turn lunch into a laugh-aerobics hour. We have a great deal of fun and great sense of humors are flying. Kind of like swinging from the vines sometimes. So when one of the group had a birthday it seemed appropriate to make a monkey cake. The cake was also the opportunity for one of my coworkers to try her hand at decorating again after a several year hiatus She did a great job of decorating and we had a good time getting the cake together. The chocolate fudge cake was a hit with the monkey as we jumped into it with both feet.
It is just a fun loving cake for any occasion, especially a birthday in this case.

The Top Reason for Cake is.....

Have you ever watched the game show Family Feud? The gist of the game show is that two families compete against each other and answer questions such as, We surveyed 100 people and asked them what is the top reason you buy a cake. The families then try to guess the top reason and get points in descending order based on their answers for example where and answer of desert might get you 10 points Birthday might get you 75 points. That's right if this were to be a real question Birthday would be the number one answer.

I say all of this to lead into the next cake. A wonderful co-worker came to me needing a cake to feed about 75 people. The occasion was her Aunt's 77th birthday (and sort of a family reunion). She really wanted to do the cake but did not have the time that week. So she asked if I might be willing to do it. Of course I said yes and looked for information about the Aunt. We decided on something traditional with spring colors. By the time we got done we decided on a 13 inch cake that is three inches thick. The butter cake was covered in traditional decorators icing with a basket weave design and various flowers coming out of the basket and poking through the basket weave. I understand the cake went over well and the 77th party was a success. I love my coworkers.

A Ducky Birthday

Often when people ask how I am I say ducky! They usually laugh and shake their head but every once in awhile I have someone who asks what I mean when I say that. What I actually mean is that I am calm on the surface and paddling like mad underneath. I tell you this to say I have a special connection to the duck. So when it came time to make a birthday cake for our new interim director what could I do but a duck? I say this sarcastically as I try not to push my ideas on others.

However after only knowing him for a few months coming up with a great cake was tough so I called the one person who I knew who would know, his secretary. She was wonderful at pitching ideas and said he enjoys duck hunting. I knew that I had a 3-D rubber duck cake pan that I had once used to make a chicken cake, so how hard could it be to convert it to a normal duck? I baked a butter cake and ended up with a great 3-D duck cake. A little carving of the head and neck (and a photo of a mallard up on my lap top) a mallard duck was created. To help decorate several candy ducks were made to decorate around the cake. He might not be perfect but he did let us sing Happy Birthday before he lost his head, literally. It did not take long to devour this cake. The birthday man (boy seems a little inappropriate especially for your supervisor) seemed pleased with his cake too.

Grass Skirts...a New Hot Trend?

Although I try to offer each cake as a separate story these two were so closely related and so similar I just have to tell the stories together (sort of like how I decorated them). Way back in December a little girl approached me about making a birthday cake for her. Her step mother very quickly reminded her that it was impolite for her to approach me to make her birthday cake and she needed to learn about patience. When I asked the first question about when was her birthday I suddenly understood about the patience part, her birthday was not until August. No worries, but she told me right there and then her cake had to be a dog cake, a cute dog cake, but not too cute because she likes eating cake. No pressure right? So as time went on the cake evolved. She was having a pool party, tiki beach theme, sort of Hawaiian. So as we went forward this chocolate fudge cake became a 3-D dog wearing a grass skirt. I actually used a lamb cake pan and did a little adjusting for my spotted dog wearing a grass skirt, and a flower behind the ear. It just seemed appropriate. Of course there was a cutout in the grass skirt for the tail (you can't keep a wagging tail down-just ask my dog). Apparently, this eight year old was thrilled not only with her incredible birthday party but with her cake as well. Apparently she tried not to let anyone eat it but eventually she had to have a little chocolate. According to reports the cake was just the right side and just disappeared.

About the same time we finalized this cake I received another Hawaiian themed birthday party cake request. This cake was for the same day (yes the same day) but for a 14 year old young lady. Her cake was a butter cake made in the shape of a young lady getting ready to enjoy a real beach party with grass skirt and flower lei. It is my understanding that this cake was also well received and this teenager had a great coming of age party.

It is just funny that on one day, two young ladies, years apart shared a theme displayed in very different ways on their cakes. Happy Birthday to you both.

Patriotic Salute

The Fourth of July makes one think of picnics, apple pie, hot dogs and the red white and blue. So of course when a friend said they would be hosting a traditional hot dog and hamburger cook out for their staff to celebrate the fourth I offered to supply the red, white, and blue. I could do this is a variety of ways, I could supply a flag, a jello mold with strawberries, blueberries and whipped topping or with a cake. Guess what I did?

I combined several of the ideas to make the holiday cake happen. I baked a golden butter cake, one layer in a waving flag cake pan. With a 16 star tip I decorated the red and white strips all the way across, and blue background for the stars which were size 18 white stars. The cake was devoured and the flag did not wave after this event. That's okay, it is much better for this flag to be eaten rather than burned.

A Retirement Special

After more than 30 years with one organization a person deserves a party with a really special cake. I have to give you just a little background to this story and this cake. You see our esteemed County Extension Director, Everett Davis, decided to retire from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. Now he didn't want a party, and well we (I believe there were three of us) did our best to twist his arm and he finally relented. What he didn't expect is that there would be almost 200 of his clients, friends, coworkers, and family who would show up to celebrate his incredible career.

Of course knowing Everett like I do (I have been his 4-H agent for the last eight years), I knew there were many things that could be on the cake. He has a crops background, sold tractors, was in the Navy. He loves to play golf, travel, and fish. He is a long time church member, member of the fair board, and loves N. C. State University and his family. Try getting all of that on a cake and come up with a saying that fit the fun yet bittersweet occasion was tough. Not to mention the cake had to be big enough for a growing guest list in the hundredsSo we started with a basic golden butter cake. To make the amount of servings we needed it had to be two tiers. However to allow for decorating the square cakes were stacked in a manner that allowed me to decorate the top tier and the corners of the bottom tier. We picked some of his favorite things to decorate the cake. One corner had a farm scene complete with tractor and a North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service sign (marketing even as he headed to retirement). One corner had a golfer, since I heard through the grape vine that one of his gifts would be a year's membership to a local golf course. One corner had a fishing scene since that is something he talked about frequently and was looking forward to doing with family members. The last corner had an airplane to represent the travel he enjoyed and the tours he was getting ready to put together as his retirement career as a tour coordinator. On top it was decided we should say Bon Voyage, since he was sailing on to the next adventure.

The cake was not the only feature, I made candies in the shape of the N. C. State University Block S logo. This decorated the side of the cake and we also had a plate of them for people to enjoy. All in all the cake was a hit. I promise after cutting it I did not bring any back home with me and Everett seemed pleased with the entire event, which was a proper send off for the man who lead us all these years.

'Tis the Season

Strawberry season that is. Who could resist fresh local strawberries? Especially when combined with cake. I must admit this is so simple I am almost ashamed to put it on here. However, not so ashamed to make not one, not two, but four of these delicacies in the last two weeks. All this is is a simple sour cream pound cake sliced in half. I slice the strawberries and let them sit making their own juice for a few hours and then lay the slices on the bottom slice of cake, and pour the juice in the bowl over them so it will soak into the cake. Then I layer some store bought whipped topping on top of that and of course some more strawberries. Next I place the top layer of cake and lightly smush (yes, that is a technical term) it down. On top of that cake I spoon more whipped topping and then some strawberries that I halved lengthwise. Any strawberries left over and juice are places around the bottom of the cake for garnish. Voila! It is finished and ready to be cut. Oh, on the last cake I swirled some chocolate sauce over the slices of cake and served it. I did not hear any complaints. Feel free to use this and adapt it...it is easy and so ugly that it appears elegant. Go Figure!

Blue Ribbon Cake for Blue Ribbon Families

As you may have noticed from some of my other posts, my career allows me the opportunity to enhance our programing with cake on occasion. One such occasion presented itself recently. Our final session of Strengthening Families allowed us a grand celebration with four families who completed the program.

Strengthening Families is a curriculum from Iowa State University that Christy Strickland, our Robeson County Center of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Family and Consumer Sciences Agent implements. During the seven week program the families have dinner together, then split into adult and youth groups (the youth in this program are 10-14), then come back together during a family session at the end of each night. During the program the parents learn about listening to the youth, setting limits, discipline, and having families meeting to allow the entire family to work as a group. The youth learn about the responsibilities that parents face, learn why it is important to follow rules and gain tools for dealing with peer pressure. As a family they work on their communication skills and find ways to talk about the tough subjects like alcohol, drugs, and sex. After completing the seven week course the families will be invited back in September for a refresher and to let us know what is working for them.

For the families that finished the program they received a certificate on the last night and celebrated with a blue ribbon cake. After all they are blue ribbon families and I could not think of a better cake to make for them. After the night everyone sat down and had one if not two pieces of cake and we were even able to salvage some, for someone important to our program to take home the next day. We just want to wish our families good luck in the future.

Flipping Out Over this Birthday

I love a special request for a cake and this one didn't flip me out but it did let me have all sorts of fun. I have had the privilege of creating several cakes for this young lady. Hannah turned twelve this month and I happen to know she would sleep in her flip-flops if possible. So when her mother requested a flip flop cake it seemed perfectly normal.

This cake came from the Betty Crocker web site. There you find instructions on size, baking and even a template that you can print out to create the flip-flops. The only change was to make sure flowers were edible (not fabric or plastic) and fruit roll ups and candy could be replaced with icing (after all there really isn't such a thing as too much icing). To keep with the theme I used licorice for the straps but bedazzled them with icing balls to keep with the color scheme of the cake.

I understand the cake was a hit with the tweens who attended the party and the birthday girl flipped, which is always a relief. After all we wouldn't want it to be a flop.

It Was a Moo-ving Experience.

It was an utterly wonderful experience, and there is no bull about it. I have a bunch of these, so I apologize now, it came from a story I did on Cow Patty Bingo, however I digress. This is the moo-ving tale of a livestock agent, a surprise, and a cow cake (great elements right?).

I was having an e-mail discussion with a group I work with about a meeting. In the midst of all the details it came up that one of our livestock agents was having a birthday the day of our meeting. From there were chewed on the information and determined a cake was in order. The only issue was how would the cake get there because I was not going to be able to go. So my counterpart who was coming over to drop stuff off offered to pick up the cake and get it there. In the back of my head I was milking the information, trying to determine how she would get the cake over there without the livestock agent seeing it since they were riding together, but what the hey? I knew she could handle it.

There was a quick decision about the cake. A livestock agent meant animals could be used, especially pigs, goats, lambs, and cows. After a little more thought we determined the cow would be the most appropriate and I some how milked the situation to create a diary cow, instead of a beef cow which is what she really works with. My colleague picked up the cake from me the night before and disguised it in a trash bag in the back of the van for ride over to the meeting. When asked by the intended receipt what it was she said casually, "oh just some supplies" which was accepted without hesitation.

After making the trip across three counties, and having lunch the meeting was getting ready to commence. For those like myself who could not attend, we were hooking up via computer conference to the meetings. The twist here is that the birthday woman was also the technical person. So, as the story was told to me, as she is working at getting it all set up and having technical difficulties they brought the cake in, candles, singing and all and red faced about the difficulties I believe she told me her thoughts were, " are you kidding? Thanks, but right now."

In the end the technical difficulties were grazed over, the cake was cut, and chocolate seemed to so the the tension and add a special sugar high to the meeting. I told you it was a moo-ving story.

A Party for Baby Boy Shooter

I love where I work because we are like a great big family. When one member of our family is celebrating we all celebrate. Recently our livestock agent, let's call her Michelle, found out she and her husband were expecting. Being avid outdoors people they were even more thrilled to find out that the baby was to be a boy.

So as part of our office celebration there was a baby shower complete with gifts, food and of course a cake. We have a committee that designates how such events are handled and when they came to me to do the cake I was excited. I knew I had the baby carriage and was thinking about an N. C. State theme. However I was later informed that the room had a jungle theme and I needed to include that theme with the cake. So I did what does not come naturally to me and decorated the cake in Carolina Blue....I mean baby boy blue. However to go with the jungle theme I add vines to the design and added a welcome baby Shooter to the cake. I must say this was not the only cake at this party. Two of my creative co-workers created two diaper cakes (tiered cake creations made of diapers-not edible but highly useful in the future), one that matched the cake, the other with an N.C. State theme. All in all it was a wonderful event.

The best part of this story however is that I can announce that Jackson, arrived a few days early and very healthy at 8 lbs 11 oz. Mom, Dad and baby are doing great and I just want to bake another cake to celebrate.

Oh Oh...Oreo?????

I have ever told you how much I enjoy the people I work with? This cake is thanks in part to them. For Christmas my mother ordered a sandwich cookie cake pan. The neat thing about this pan is that it is very detailed on the top and bottom cookies and then the icing goes in the middle. Takes no time to decorate. The present was back ordered and arrived after Christmas at my office. So I could not help but share my good fortune with my co-workers who suggested maybe I should start testing cakes with them. After all I would not want to sell a bogus cake (see how selfless my co-workers are?). So over the weekend I baked the cake which was a dense chocolate cake with butter cream icing in the center. How bad can it be for you, after all the entire project involved three sticks of butter. I consider it health because I used unsalted butter for this one. I believe one of my testers said she was going to spend the evening in a diabetic coma after eating a slice. A few testers from the health department came by to get sodas and I offered them some. They seemed quite taken with it. I think the official cookie cake will now be part of the cake menu.

Oh Deer Christmas is Over?

Every once in awhile I have to bake a cake just to bake it or give it to someone or someones very special. A very special family so deserved a cake, so I baked this one for them the day before Christmas. Delivery was not via the Santa express which made it very difficult to get it to them so I delayed on the decorating and keep the cake fresh with a little bakers secret...I kept it in the freezer until I decorated it today.

The family I made it for, in essence, has adopted me and I am in training as a plumbers child. I have already fixed toilets in three states and another country. Not to mention that their daughter, who used to be one of my co-workers, and is currently one of my volunteers (once you get into 4-H you never want to leave) is one of my best friends. When dad and little brother came and helped bail me out of the lake that had formed in my kitchen...the least I could do is bake a cake for them.

The cake is a butter cake and is supposed to be Rudy the Reindeer. I am guessing this is Wilton's way of making a Rudolph the Reindeer cake pan without infringing on copyrights or trademarks. I thought about stringing lights from the antlers to make it more holiday like but since it is the beginning of the year I decided against it. One of the designs shows the deer with a hat and making it a hunting deer which could be a great idea for an avid hunter in need of a cake. Just a few neat ideas to help round off celebrating the holiday.