Murder Cake!

 Have you ever tried a recipe that was in a murder mystery? 

I did! One of my favorite series is Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen Cookie Mysteries. 

The cake I made this week is from her book,  Key Lime Pie Murder.

Kitty's Orange Cake is so good! 

I made it gluten free, too! It calls for a boxed cake mix, so I chose this one: 

Yummy, yummy!

This week

 Luci helped me with the crossword puzzle today:

Yesterday, Luci found her doll cake pan.  I bought it for last year's cake (it was going to be a princess cake) but she decided on a wedding cake instead.  All day yesterday she pestered me.  I think she's more stubborn than I am (and that's saying a LOT).  I caved.  Here is the mermaid cake we came up with last night.  I did not have the correct tips for sea shells or the fishy scales that mermaids have, so here is my best shot.  I also made her more modest than the cake decorations asked for.  I used India Tree natural food coloring, and could not match the colors in the Wilton directions.  Luci was happy with our results, so that's all that matters.  She had fun helping me ice the cake.

At one point last night, I heard Luci tell her daddy, "I have mommy wrapped around my little finger!"

Yup.

iii SIX iii

Luci is six today, and so excited! Today is her first birthday party with friends. It has a Princess theme. Here she is in her Jasmine outfit, from the movie Aladdin.

Luci has on lipstick but that's it for makeup.  Gorgeous.  You can still see her tan lines from our time in Florida.

The cake request?  A wedding cake, but not a real wedding cake, Mama, because I am not getting married!!  It had to have three tiers.  The top tier is a cupcake.  And we are not pointing out the flaws, because I can see every one, thank you.  :)   I used India Tree food coloring for the pink and chlorophyll for the green.  The roses are from Wilton and have no artificials in them! 

Happy Birthday, JT!

We love you!  

We are proud of you!

You are one funny young man.

Here is JT's birthday cake.  He requested an "Eskimo Pie" cake.  No ice cream involved!  But it tastes soooo good!

Happy Birthday to John!

John had a birthday yesterday.  Lots of well-wishes, cards, and toys (I mean, tools) for presents.  John's making a stop at Lowe's Home Improvement Store on the way home tonight to spend birthday money and use the gift card I got him (bought because I could not figure out which vise he wanted).



Ah, the cake.  John requested a cake "like Baskin Robbins' ice-cream cake."  So I made an all-natural version with Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream and Duncan Hines' Dark Chocolate Fudge cake mix.  Chocolate buttercream icing (Wilton's recipe with my homemade vanilla extract) went on top, and the yellow decorations are made with white buttercream icing that has India Tree food coloring added to it.

Here's how the magic started:  Luci and I made one 9" layer of cake (the rest of the cake mix went into making cupcakes).  We made one layer of ice cream by spooning softened ice cream  into a cake pan lined with plastic wrap.  Both layers were frozen until solid, then stacked and frosted.

Luci wrote "DAD"

and then tasted the leftover chocolate buttercream until she proclaimed, "I am done with dessert!"  She had enough sweet for the day.



It turned out great.  The ice-cream cake was a big hit!

Luci, after having her cake with milk, with her "moustache like Daddy!"

Birthdays

Today it was my turn to have a birthday--and JT and Luci tried to fit the correct number of candles on my cake! JT made this cake for me while I was at the homeschool convention. He made it ALL BY HIMSELF! John only helped with keeping track of how long the cake was in the oven. I am so proud of JT--and thrilled to bits. I'm pretty sure the only other person who's ever made me a birthday cake is my Mom! (No, Feingold friends, it is not Feingold acceptable...but it was from his heart and filled with lots of love. Remember, he had Dad helping him pick stuff out. John can't remember Feingold when he's shopping.) After the birthday bash (I got a DVD, some books, and some chocolate!), we did something I've been wanting to do ever since we moved in to this house. I guess I was just waiting for a very hot, humid day to do it. This is in the garage.

I'll outline it with black to give it more definition, and I've already painted over the worst of the dribbles into the white stripes. The new flag is right next to our old basement door, the one where we measure kids and milestones. I love this flag! Since taking this picture, we signed and dated it.