A Candy Land Affair!

Today was the birthday of the daughter of a good friend of mine. She chose the Candy Land theme and asked me to make her cake and cupcakes...Of course I will!

The bottom tier is chocolate, the top strawberry.  The road is made from chewy jolly ranchers that I rolled out and cut into squares.  I then lined it with strings of pull apart Twizzlers.  The gingerbread men are homemade and dipped in jimmies, or sprinkles as they are known around here. No one ever knows what I am taking about when I say jimmies!  And then various candy all over! I got the inspiration from Parents Magazine a while ago and was so excited for the chance to finally make it!

And of course we needed cupcakes!  But, for a Candy land birthday, no ordinary cupcakes would do!  These were made with different flavors of cake. You just fill the flat bottom cones just above the line of the widest part. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or so and voila! You have cupcake cones!  I iced them in chocolate, vanilla and strawberry and sprinkled some jimmies (sprinkles) on top and that it!  Ice cream cones that don't melt! Well, they started to in the 95 degree, 105 heat index weather we had today!

A Scooby Cake fit for a 5 year old!

It is so hard to believe my son is 5! So exciting yet a little sad to me!  He wanted a Scooby-Doo party,so a Scooby-Doo party is what he got!

I made up some really cute invites.

Then I planned a big scavenger hunt!  When all the kids arrived, we took the presents and hid them in the back of the van. Then we did things a little different and decided to open presents first! Zoinks! The presents were gone and all that was left was a clue! We had 6 total clues that led us throughout the yard with various games and treats at each "station".  We eventually ended up at the van with my husband in an old lady mask trying to steal the presents! And he would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids!

The kids had a blast and got a kick out of all the clues that were left behind!  It was then cake time! And boy did they all love it!

The cake took me 3 hours to make! I took 2 bread pans for the cake. And then piped and spread all the icing on there. luckily, we already had all the figurines to put on the cake!

After all was said and done, I think Dylan had a party he will remember for a long time! Sure it was hot and muggy and I was exhausted but it was all worth it! I would do anything to make a happy, special memory for my children!

Blueberry Coffee Cake

It is blueberry season around here! The kids and the hubby love blueberries, I do not. Well, I love stuff with blueberries in them, I just cannot seem to eat them as they are!  I was getting ready to make some blueberry muffins and decided to make a coffee cake instead. I'll make the muffins another day!


Blueberry Coffee Cake

10 tbs  (1 stick & 2 tbs) Butter
1 1/2 cups Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla 
4 cups Flour
4 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 1/2 cups Milk
3 cups Fresh Blueberries

TOPPING:
1 1/2 sticks (12 tbs) Butter

1 cup Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 cup Flour
1/2 tsp Salt

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. 

In a mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla until mixed.  Add flour and milk until combined.

Grease 2 - 9 x 13 inch baking pans. Pour in batter.

In a separate bowl, combine topping ingredients and cut together using a pastry cutter or knives. Sprinkle over the top of the cakes.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes at 350 degrees, or until golden brown. 

Marble Fudge Cake

So, I had to make a cake a while back. It had to feed at least 30 people.  The hubby's Uncle was turning 50 and seeing I am affectionately known by some as The Cake Lady, naturally I would make his cake! 

To please everyone (or no one...who knows!) I chose an old stand by...Marble Fudge Cake.

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
  1 1/2 cups flour
  1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
  1 Tbsp baking powder
  1/2 tsp salt
  1 3/4 cups sugar
  4 eggs
  2 tsp vanilla
  1 1/4 cups milk
  
  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  
  Into a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
  
  Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined after each addition.
  
  Pour the mixture in your prepared pan, reserving 1 cup of the batter.  Add 1/4 cup cocoa powder to the reserved batter and mix thoroughly.  Spoon chocolate batter on top of whats already in the pan and swirl with a knife. 
  
  Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool for 15 minutes in pan.  Remove from pan and place on wire rack to cool all the way. Ice the cake with your favorite icing and enjoy!