No More Cakes

So I made it through THE WEEKEND OF CAKES, but just barely. I don’t want to see another egg, stick of butter or cake pan until after the New Year. I know that’s not going to happen because I’ll most likely have to make a cake for the family dinner. I also want to attempt a red velvet cake (mainly because my grandmother thinks I can only make lemon cake).

I made a black bottom cake for Thanksgiving dinner. It was the easiest cake I’ve ever made…well, that wasn’t from a box. If anyone wants the recipe, let me know-lol.

Next, I had to make little Sophie’s 1st birthday cake. Kids cakes always stress me out because I want to it to be cute as well as taste good. I left the bag of Sesame Street toys in my stepdad’s car and he went back to Delaware on Friday so I didn’t have all the things I wanted on the cake. I made her a lemon flavored cake with lemon filling in the middle.
Now, there's something about the color red that NEVER comes out right for me. I used an entire bottle and a half of red food coloring and that was the darkest I could get it. My mother said they have a paste food coloring that will work better. I think I’ll look to it because I don’t want to have a pink velvet cake for Christmas.

She's just as cute as can be. This picture cracks me up because she looks like she's crashing from her sugar high-lol

Then on Sunday my aunt got married. It was a small ceremony with a reception and my other aunt’s house. So I made the cake to reflect the fall colors from her bouquet.

Pay no mind to the mess. Those aren't balled up tissues around the cake-lol-it's parchment paper that I stick under the rim while I'm frosting the cake so there's nothing on the white base, just something to keep it looking neat.

The cake was lemon with a lemon filling (see why my grand mother thinks it’s the only kind of cake I can make, but it’s what the people ask for so you gotta give ‘em what they want!). I colored the frosting a pale orange but it doesn't show well on the pictures even though it matched the highlights in the flowers perfectly. The reverend at the reception kept asking if the cake was pink and even after I told him the cake was lemon FLAVORED with orange COLORED icing, he insisted that the cake was pink and therefore had to be strawberry…"breath in--breath out, Karen." Had to repeat that several times during the night. Especially when a seven year old brat turned her nose up at the cake and said, "This doens't look like anything I'd eat."Breath in--breath out, Karen.

So, of the cakes I made this weekend I used 22 sticks of butter, 12 cups of flour, 10 cups of sugar, 8 pounds of powdered sugar!!, and 5 cups of milk. And people want to know why I don’t do this for a living, pa-leeez! The main reason is because I’m not that good. I mean, I’m better than the average person baking a cake and smearing frosting on it, but I’m nowhere near good enough to stand with the Duffs of the world. I’ve never had a cake turn out exactly how I pictured it in my head. That’s not a good think for someone who might be expected to replicate a picture or something like that. I can’t take the stress! LOL. Give me a blank document any day and I can sit and write for hours!

So lets hope I don't wake in a cold sweat from a nightmare of a giant stick of butter trying to whip me into a nice fluffy cream.