Easter 2012

I wish that I had better pictures of the girls in their Easter outfits that MawMaw bought them.  She took them shopping insisting on buying them new outfits and this is what they got.  They are so cute, you just can't see it too well. 

This is a cake that I made for each of us to take to our Sunday School classes on Easter.  Yes, that means I made three of these!!  I tried to get the brown icing to look like wood grain but I'm not so sure I was very successful :)  I don't think anyone cared though :)

I hope each of you had a wonderful Easter celebrating The Risen Savior !!!

Charles is 40 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Yes, that was 40 exclamation points)

I threw Charles a surprise 40th birthday party of Friday night.  I was surprised that I was able to keep it a secret until almost the end because both of the girls knew, and Leah does not have a reputation for being the best secret keeper.  Being the great detective that he is, he had figured out that something was going on, but I convinced him it was just dinner with a few friends.  Though he hates surprises and being the center of attention, he said he really enjoyed himself.  This is a picture of him with his cookie cake (his favorite)! 

The night before, on his actual birthday, the girls and I made him these cupcakes.  They were chocolate with a white chocolate rasperry frosting and sprinkles.  I have been wanting to try the new Duncan Hines Custom Creations Frosting where you start with a base and add a packet of flavoring to it.  They have all flavors from bubble gum to cotton candy to caramel and so on.  I thought the rasberry would be a good compliment to the chocolate.  Well, the flavor was good, but the consistency was yuck.  These make a much better filling than a decorator icing.  As a matter of fact, I used the caramel as the filling in the bottom tier of the Mickey Mouse cake (but I also mixed that with marshmallow fluff).  Either way, the flavor is good but I wouldn't recommend decorating cupcakes or a cake with it. 

Mickey Mouse Baby Shower Cake

The cake

This is a baby shower cake I did for my friend, Amanda.  It was a Mickey Mouse themed shower because that is what she is decorating the baby's nursery with.  The cake needed to be big enough to feed 80 people.  Wow!  So, this is what I came up with.  I was super excited because I had ordered a sleeping baby mold and was eager to use it.  This thing is so cool.  The detail is outstanding.  You see skin folds and wrinkles, little lips and ears, and even strands of hair.

This is a close up of the sleeping baby.  I placed him on a big Mickey Mouse fondant cut out and then covered him with a red fondant blanket.  I need practice painting the hair, but I felt like my coloring was pretty good with the flesh and pink cheeks, etc.

This is the top tier.  It was vanilla cake with a strawberries and creme filling.

This is the middle tier.  It was chocolate with Nutella filling.

This is the bottom tier.  It was vanilla cake with caramel marshmallow filling. 

I was unable to actually attend the shower because it fell on Charles' birthday, but I've had positive reviews about how good it tasted and what a hit it was.  That makes me happy.  As long as Amanda was happy, though, is what matters most!  

The Newest Member of the Roughton Family

This is Jack.  He is a 6 week old black lab puppy and the newest member of the Roughton Family.  Ever since Woody died, the girls have been begging for a new pet....They would take either a cat or dog, but Charles was absolutely against another cat but not so resolute about a puppy.  Ella has been praying God would change his heart and let her get one :)  Well, yesterday he finally gave the go ahead and I talked with a co-worker who had this one puppy left of the ones she was trying to find a home for.  We picked him up today after church.  He is precious.  He has big paws, soft fur, and puppy breath!  Missy is taking to him pretty well and I imagine after a few days they will be pals and Missy will be glad to have some dog company to play with.  This is a picture of him napping on the girls' bed.  Ain't he cute?

Chocolate, Chocolate, and More Chocolate !!

My friend Christy sent me an email last week with a link to a cake that she wanted me to make her for her birthday.  It was titled "Chocolate Wasted Cake."  This cake is over the top chocolate......probably more than one can really eat.  This is my classic chocolate cake (with the chocolate chips baked inside); frosted in chocolate icing; sides coated in chocolate chips; topped with chocolate chips, twix bars, kit kats, a reeses cup, and a hershey air delight chocolate bar; and glazed with a satiny chocolate glaze.  WOW!  Probably one bite is all you really need......along with a tall glass of cold milk :) 

She and her girls are watching my girls tonight so that Charles and I can have a date night.  So, this is my way of saying "Thank You" as well as an early "Happy Birthday!"

A Laptop and A Dose of Humility

I was asked by my neighbor to do a cake for her son who was turning 16.  I asked what sort of things he was interested in and she said computers and x box.  I immediately knew I wanted to do a laptop cake.  I began searching on the internet for some ideas.  Everything I found was pretty mediocre.  So, I looked at the examples and thought, "I can do better than that."  Well, guess what....I can't.  I allowed myself to get a bit prideful and I sure had to swallow a difficult pill.  I was so disappointed in this cake.  Then I was reminded that I cannot allow pride to creep in because there is no place for it in my life.  Don't get me wrong...I know I'm not an expert cake decorator, but I had this idea in my head and was sure it would turn out like I envisioned it.  I was served a dose of humility.  It's good for me though. 

I started with a 9x13 chocolate cake and iced it smooth with a gray buttercream.  I had a piece of paper printed with the Happy Birthday message and laminated.  I taped it to another cake board and outlined it in the same foil wrap I use to cover the cake boards.  This was now the monitor screen.  I hot glued it to the back of the other cake board that held the cake.  I used a fondant/gumpaste mix to make the keys on the computer.  I cut them out in squares and rectangles.  Then, I used an edible ink marker to write the letters on the keys.  For some reason, though, it didn't want to write on it.  Crazy.  It would write on paper but not on the fondant (what it is designed to write on).  So, I couldn't finish with the caps lock or shift keys.   I then placed them on the cake in keyboard order.  Once I stepped back and looked at it, again, I just shook my head.  I could not believe how mediocre it looked!  Certainly not what the picture in my head looked like.  Fortunately, I have great neighbors who did not appear nearly as disappointed as I was. 

The Cat in the Hat

These are some cupcakes (a cupcake pull apart cake) that I made for my my next door neighbor.  She is a school teacher and they are celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday in her classroom this week.  I really wanted to do the Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes where you use the blue cotton candy for the hair/topping but everything I read about doing that said to put the cotton candy on right before serving.  Well, since I won't be there tomorrow, that wasn't an option.  I couldn't really find any other ideas that I liked and she specifically wanted Cat in the Hat.  After much searching, I found this cupcake pull apart cake so I did that.  I'm not especially happy about the way the facial features turned out, but I don't much imagine that the kids will care too much :)

The finished product

The cupcakes before the frosting

I've been wanting to try one of these for a while so I'm glad I finally got a reason too!