Duck Cake

My office threw a baby shower for a co-worker today (Josh), whose wife is expecting their first child. 

I baked the cake.  It's simple (white/white - my co-worker's favorite), but seemed to be well received. 

Little Guy went shopping with me to pick out the duck.  It's not perfect, but I was pleased and it seems that those who tried some were as well.

Early Birthday Festivities

  

This was the poster that we hung
on the front door to greet out guests.

Little Guy will be turning three in late July. However, since we are expecting his younger brother to arrive in July as well…we decided to have LG’s 3rd birthday party in June.

Saturday was our big day.

We let him pick out the theme, which was trains. I made the invitations (though didn’t take a picture – oops). They turned out pretty cute, I think. I used scrapbook paper to assemble a train on the front, and put a vintage looking picture of Little Guy inside (wearing his engineer outfit of course). We decorated with balloons and bunting and a train poster for the front door.

We kept our guest list small, only inviting Grandparents, uncles and aunts. Little Guy chose the menu “Pizza and breadsticks”. We added salad to the offerings, but in hindsight LG had the right idea. The pizza was quickly devoured, but we’ll be eating salad all week.

I baked the cakes (two 9x13” pans, sat side by side) and then carved the 3 out. The cake itself was brilliant blue – per LG’s request. I froze the carved cake before decorating, which I will always recommend if you are frosting a carved cake. Those ‘crumby’ edges can be pretty frustrating. I topped the cake with Thomas the Train and his two coaches. I love using toys as cake toppers, since they double as décor and playtime fun. We ate our blue cake with a side of chocolate ice cream (another birthday boy request).



the 3 cake



He wanted to blow out candles this year, but I had
to hold his hands while he did that... he wanted to
grab the train off the cake before we got the pictures!



The party was a great success! LG had a wonderful time surrounded by those who love him most, and he was quite the entertainer. He gave everyone a tour of the house, showing off the baby’s room, and his own.

In addition to the outpouring of love and affection showered upon him by family; he received an array of wonderful presents and cards. There were (among other things), some toys, fun puzzles, little dishes (that he can really use in the kitchen), an art easel and accessories, and a Thomas the Train pillow! What a lucky little boy we have, and what a wonderful early birthday party.

When the last guests had left, he turned to me and said, “Aw Mom, I miss my family”. How cute is that??


Birthday Boy with his cake...  If you look closely, his
little brother is kind of in the picture as well.



Baking HITS and MISSES

Last week I was in the mood to bake. This isn’t anything new. I love baking. Pies, cakes, cookies, whatever – I love it all (the eating too, of course). Usually, I am pretty good at it too.

I decided on that particular day last week that I was in the mood for pie, but wasn’t particularly in the mood to make a double crust affair. I found a recipe titled “Impossible Coconut Pie” in one of my old cookbooks. It was super easy to make. All the ingredients were mixed in one big bowl, then poured into a cake pan to bake. During the baking process, the pie was supposed to separate into three distinct layers (crust, filling, and coconut topping).

It was not what I’d call a success.

Hubby, who will rarely turn away dessert had the following to say, “If that pie were on Facebook, I would deny its friend request.”

My Dad always says, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” That is what I’ve now written in the margin of the cookbook where that “Impossible” pie recipe is located. I won’t be trying that one again.

Over the weekend a Facebook friend (and amazing baker, and fellow blogger), posted a blurb about a cake she’d made. It sounded fabulous, so I asked for the recipe. I did something wrong…who knows what? The ending result tasted amazing (really and truly amazing), but it wouldn’t hold up like it should, and sort of collapsed all over my cake carrier and onto the table around it. I take full responsibility for the problem. I’ve been known to make wacko mistakes in the kitchen (and in life) when I’m pregnant. Baby brain drain, and all that. The picture below was supposed to be a triple layer 8 inch cake.

This time Hubby had only good things to say about my latest baking adventure, in spite of the cake’s oddball appearance. I scooped up weird looking hunks of cake onto our plates, and we both ate them happily. It was truly yummy, and I’ll definitely be trying that recipe again. It deserves to be attempted as many times as it takes to get it right.

The coconut pie?  Not so much.

Birthday Bash Recap

Our Little Guy celebrated his 2nd birthday on Saturday, surrounded by family and friends.  We had cake and presents and cards and lots and lots of fun!  We were all pretty tired when it was over, but we had an amazing day.  It was a lot of work, and there was a bit of a mess to clean up afterward; but it was so worth it!  My mind is already swirling with ideas for next year!! 

But until then...  Here are a few pictures from W's big day:

Welcome!!!!

Some of these photos are a bit dark, but here you can see the cakes & bunting I made for the party.  I felt that it all worked out nicely.

This was the cutest of the three cakes, I thought.  It was French Vanilla with vanilla filling and frosting.

Another one of the cakes - this one was lemon w/ lemon filling and vanilla frosting.  The best flavor of the three in my opinion.

The Main cake - Chocolate w/ chocolate filling and vanilla frosting.

It's a bit dark...but here is the Guest of Honor in front of his cakes.  Moments after this was taken, he reached over and swiped some frosting.  "Mmmmmm" he said. 

Here I am helping him to open one of his birthday gifts (Mr. Potato Head)

He spilled punch all over his first outfit, so after a quick change, he got down to eating some of that cake.  He loved it, and would have eaten much more if we'd let him.

Holiday Cake

I took this cake to a 4th of July barbeque. Nothing too major, but it was fun and festive.

The cake was lemon with raspberry filling and lemon frosting. I used a new recipe and was frankly very unhappy with the way it tasted. I was pleased with the look of it though. It wasn’t an extravagant design, but was fun to do – and didn’t take long, which was a bonus for this week!

Next time I’ll stick to the cake recipes (or mixes) that I know are fool proof. Otherwise, it was a good experience.