After an intense and fulfilling week (hence the lapse in posts), I am taking a deserved and desired vacation! The hubby and I will be joining his brother, sister-in-law, and their awesome three-year old daughter for a week in Edisto!
I am really looking forward to being unplugged, enjoying nature, and spending quality time with family. Sadly, this probably means another dry spell for the blog, but rest assured I will come back refreshed and brimming with new ideas!
Until then …
Somehow, this blog always come back to food! At least this time I have a legitimate excuse: my hubby’s birthday! I really wanted to do something special and make him a cool cake. It gave me the perfect opportunity to try out this recipe for homemade fondant from marshmallows!
I have never used fondant or made fondant or really made any design cake, so what possessed me to try all three for the first time during the busiest work weekend of the year is beyond me. And here is the design I chose:
The Storage Cube from Portal 2
Crazy, right? This is from one of the hubby’s favorite video games: Portal 2. Of course, I planned to simplify the design and just go for a straight up cube, but still — way too ambitious! Needless to say, I have learned a TON.
Making the fondant actually turned out to be the easiest part. Simple recipe, just three ingredients: marshmallows, powdered sugar, and food coloring.
You get the marshmallows moist, pop them in the microwave for 10 second intervals until they are melted, and then add your dye of choice. Stir together with a greased spoon. I used the spoon to mix in the majority of the powdered sugar and finished incorporating with my hands.
Still in the sticky phase!
This is a messy, sticky endeavor, but it was fun. And let me tell you, I got a great upper body workout kneading and folding that fondant! I made four colors for the cake: white, gray, blue, and also a small portion of pink. You see, for Portal fans, the Companion Cube is really popular.
Companion Cube from Portal and Portal 2
But, I really didn’t want to make him a giant pink cake, so I took some liberties with the designs and combined the two cubes. It also saved me from having to replicate the Aperture symbol!
To make this cake, I used 8-inch square pans and two boxed cake mixes: red velvet and confetti, two of the hub’s favorites.
I dyed the confetti cake blue … or tried to.
I like to bake from scratch normally, but with all the decorating I had to do and my tight schedule, I went for boxed cake mixes. This was a great chance to try out some boxed cake mix hacks I had read about, and they really helped! I used milk instead of water, melted butter instead of vegetable oil, added one extra egg, and rounded off the butter by a few tablespoons. The cake turned out dense and moist and delicious!
Lesson #1 — Stacking requires the cakes to be level. I had to MacGyver up a solution of hiding caramel squares in the corners under lots of frosting to stop my cake from leaning and sagging because I just stacked them as they were without trimming.
Lesson #2 — Make the fondant the day you make the cake because it is tricky to store and a pain to re-hydrate after it has been stored. When I got ready to use the fondant a few days after I had made it, I basically had to spend 10 minutes on each batch, microwaving for 2-3 second intervals and kneading it back to the original consistency.
Once that was finished, I got my work area prepared:
Parchment paper and cornstarch puff.
The cornstarch puff is AMAZING. It makes the fondant easier to work with and smooth, and it prevents the fondant from sticking to the rolling pin or board.
Lesson #3 — Having the right utensils is key. All of my knives are serated, and that just doesn’t work well with cutting smooth lines in fondant. It also would have made my life easier to have more cookie cutters in different shapes to help in my design.
So much easier than freehand cutting!
I did make myself little paper stencils for the many components of the cake design. Even still, it took about four hours to roll out the fondant and cut all 75 pieces.
Each side of the cube had 14 pieces.
Lesson #4 — Don’t stack fondant when you store it.
After I had slaved over my fondant, I put it up for the night, thinking it was okay to stack them because they seemed dry enough and were dusted with cornstarch. My fatal mistake — forgetting I live in the South. Darn humidity! I had to scrap pretty much all of my white pieces of fondant because they got stuck together. 😦 And many of the thin gray pieces became so brittle that they cracked as I handled them.
If I had planned a little better, I would have had time to roll out more, but sadly I did not. The pieces that did survive looked good, though!
Not bad for my first time writing with icing!
After I iced the cake, it was time to place the fondant!
My Companion/Storage Cube from Portal.
I never know when to stop, so I ended up adding black icing to the edges. In hindsight, I think it looks better and more like the Portal cubes without, but it was a good exercise in icing.
Straight lines are hard.
This cake was a trial, for sure, but I learned SO MUCH, and bottom line — Bryan loved it! 🙂
Happy Birthday, baby!
This is another idea I saw on Pinterest. Oh, my sweet, sweet addiction to that website!
Anyway, I just happen to have two beautiful dusty blue vintage suitcases sitting around my house. Why? We used them in our wedding to hold our guest favors. See?
March 31, 2012
I snatched up these cuties the moment I spotted them in Ole Towne Antique Mall, but they have pretty much been sitting in a closet since the wedding. It’s a matching set with a large suitcase and a smaller one that fits inside.
Miss Penny modeling the larger suitcase!
When I saw this pin and read the full post, I just knew it was the perfect solution for my suitcases! I love them, and they have special meaning for the part they played in our special day, and now I have a way to incorporate them into our new home. Nifty!
Checklist on this project:
We already had the suitcases and drill, so we headed out to Lowe’s for my other supplies. Let me tell you, table legs are expensive. We needed four 16-inch legs and four 24-inch legs, and at $10 to $15 each, we were looking at $100 just for the darn legs!
Thank the stars I grew up with the handiest woman on the planet: my mother, Margie. I sat there in that lumber aisle thinking, “What would Margie do?” She would find a way to do it cheaper. Behold, my crafty alternative: $3 for a 48-inch dowel rod and $2.50 a piece for adorable, carved feet.
We had one dowel rod cut into four 12-inch pieces. By the way, they will do measuring and cutting for free at Lowe’s on wood you purchase in the store. Add on the carved 4-inch feet, and we had 16-inch table legs for about $3.50 a piece! For the taller legs, we bought two dowel rods and had them each cut into three pieces: 20 inches, 20 inches, and 8 inches. We ended up with four 20-inch rods and two 8-inch rods. I’m sure I’ll find a use for the leftovers someday!
Supplies
After we screwed the feet into the dowel rods and sanded things down, I spray painted them black. Remember, don’t try to get it all done in one coat. The paint will look much better if you build up the layers in multiple coats.
All in all, we spent about $35 in supplies (wood, sandpaper, spray paint, screws, and washers). We drilled holes into the bottom of the suitcases and also into the top of the table legs. Then, we secured them together with a screw and a washer. Voila!
They could be stacking tables!
I love my new suitcase side tables, and it was a fun project to do with the hubs. How great that we could re-purpose these sentimental items into something useful for our home — and only two weeks late for our anniversary! 🙂
I need better table toppers!
Suitcase side table!
It is finally here. Warmer weather, storms and showers, green sprouts and flowers — you can’t help but feel energized and renewed!
I seem to be more aware of spring’s arrival this year as I watch the season transform our neighborhood. There are azaleas of every color and wisteria hanging from the trees! Even the clover and wildflowers in the grass of our backyard makes me smile.
Wildflower sounds better than weed.
When we bought our home in November, most of the plants were in hibernation. We had no idea what type of flora our home had, if any. Luckily, we did have some beautiful fall leaves.
I didn’t even mind all the raking!
Our first Christmas in the new home was made even more special by the pine cones and sprig of holly I gathered from our yard to decorate. We have several lovely holly bushes that I think are beautiful. The red berries are festive in winter, but the rest of the year you still get to enjoy the rich green leaves!
Our second discovery came towards the end of winter — two giant bushes of pink camellias right under our main window!
Camellias in January.
I adore camellias! After that, I couldn’t wait for spring to arrive so I could see what else our yard had in store. Well, the wait is finally over! Turns out that we have four bushes of white double azaleas in the side yard. 🙂
White double azaleas in April.
I have just fallen in love with these sweet, little flowers. How is it possible that I have lived in the South for 16 years and never knew about double azaleas? All you ever see are the big ones!
We also have a pink Indian Hawthorne bush next to the front steps.
Pink Indian Hawthorne.
I have to admit, I had this wiry little bush marked for demolition in the summer — he looked so sad in the fall when we bought the house. Now, I think I will keep him around!
But the biggest surprise of all has been my miracle bulbs.
At Thanksgiving dinner with my husband’s family, right after we bought the house, I was given a very sweet gift by a family member: five lily bulbs taken from their beautiful garden.
In all the hustle and bustle of settling in to the house, I have to admit that my little grocery bag of bulbs was put in a garden bench and forgotten! We didn’t remember them until LAST WEEKEND! Four months out of the ground with no water or sunlight, and wouldn’t you know that they were still alive, growing right through the plastic bag.
So, I planted them in a hurry, and look how they have persevered!
I believe they are Trumpet Lilies.
I wish I had taken a before picture … they were such sad, blanched, starving little things. Just one week and a good rain storm later, and they are not only alive, but thriving. It is truly amazing!
To me, that is the real wonder of spring. Yes, it is dazzling when color blooms so suddenly from dead leaves and dormant branches, but the real beauty of this fireworks display is the very simple realization that no matter what, life always finds a way.
Back from my burnout! And it’s time to resume my 7-Day Microwave Mug Challenge! I am putting off Meatloaf in a Cup, once again. Let’s have dessert: Chocolate and Salted Caramel Mug Cake!
I have high hopes that the salted caramel aspect will set this mug cake apart. To be honest, the Brownie in a Mug and Nutella Mug Cake ended up tasting pretty similar. Delicious — but similar.
Ingredients:
1) In a small bowl, beat the egg. Add the milk and vegetable oil. Whisk until combined.
2) In a regular sized mug, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
3) Pour the wet ingredients into the mug. Stir until smooth.
4) Drop the caramels into center of the mug, one at a time. I didn’t have salted caramels, just plain old Kraft caramels, so I simply sprinkled a pinch of sea salt on top of the caramels as I added them.
3) Microwave on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds.
Here is the original from The Family Kitchen at Babble.com.
TheFamilyKitchen
And, here is how mine turned out:
ShinyHappyPeebles
Chocolate and Salted Caramel Mug Cake
The best part is the caramel. I would actually recommend adding 3 caramels to the mix.
Unfortunately, this recipe did not stand out as I had hoped. It was good, but not different enough. I must admit I am bored with mug cakes for now. Oh, well. It’s probably for the best. I’m going through flour and cocoa powder much too quickly!
Some recipes carry memories better than others. From the taste and smell to all the little steps and directions, this Caramel Apple Chunk Cake recipe reminds me of time spent in the kitchen with my mother — and learning how to make caramel roses.
As I scooted around in my own kitchen this Easter, listening to music and hoping my cake would turn out, I could see the story of this recipe making another loop. This time, it was just me cutting the apples and sifting the flour. I worked alone but confidently through the directions, with no second guessing or uncertainty.
Even so, as I softened the caramels and rolled them out into petals I could see my mother’s hands, beautiful and strong, showing me how to do it that very first time. I felt connected to her and grateful that she had taken the time to make those memories with me, because the most wonderful gift you can give to your children is your time.
I will always have that day and carry that piece of her with me. And it makes my heart so happy to think that in 10 years or so the story will come full circle, and I will be teaching my own daughter (or son) how to make caramel roses.
ShinyHappyPeebles
Caramel Apple Chunk Cake
Let me begin by saying that this is a decadent and rich cake — a destroyer of diets! However, in my own curvy opinion, it doesn’t hurt to indulge in some homemade goodness once in a while. 🙂
Ingredients:
1) Preheat oven to 350º and make sure the rack is in the center of the oven.
2) Peel and cut the apples into ½ inch chunks. You should get about 3 and ½ cups of apples.
3) Generously grease a 12 cup sponge cake pan. Coat with flour, tapping out any excess. I like to use a Bundt pan that I inherited from my grandmother. I love the shape and the weight of it!
Just think of all the cakes this baby has seen!
4) In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
5) In a separate large bowl, combine the vegetable oil, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat until thick and smooth — about 3 minutes.
6) Add orange juice to the large bowl, followed by the sifted dry ingredients. Mix completely.
7) Toss the apples and chopped pecans in 1 tablespoon of flour, then add into the batter.
The batter will be very thick.
8) Transfer the cake batter to your pan and smooth out the top. Cook about 1 hour. Let cool 5 minutes before glazing.
9) To make the glaze, mix the butter, brown sugar, and whipping cream in a small saucepan and bring to a boil – about three minutes. This is honestly the best part of the whole, darn cake!
You could put this on cardboard and it would taste like heaven!
10) Drizzle the glaze onto cake after it cools, reapplying as it drips down. Best served warm!
Caramel Apple Chunk Cake
The caramel roses are just a garnish, so if you don’t have the time or the patience, the cake will still taste fabulous without them!
Caramel Roses:
I use the individually wrapped Kraft Caramels, the same kind I use to make Caramel Apples at Halloween.
1) Unwrap one caramel and knead it between your fingers and palms until it gets soft. Roll the softened caramel into a small ball.
2) Coat the ball lightly in granulated sugar and use a rolling pin to shape it into a petal. Press the petal in the sugar and set aside. It usually takes 4-5 caramels to make enough petals to create a rose.
3) Jelly roll one petal into a spiral to create the center of your rose. Wrap the other petals around the center, pinching at the bottom to secure them. Adjust and open the petals as needed.
4) Use a knife to cut off the excess at the bottom and create a flat surface for placing the flowers on and/or around the cake.
5) Chill them before adding to the cake — and make sure to add them at the last minute or they will literally wilt!
Caramel Roses
Happy Easter! To celebrate, here’s another Pinterest Challenge I’ve been saving: Birds’ Nests. Check out the original recipe by The Curvy Carrot here. Her version makes 12 servings, so I just doubled the recipe since I have several family functions to attend!
Ingredients:
1) Grease the wells of a muffin pan with butter or shortening.
2) In a large pot, melt the peanut butter and the chocolate and butterscotch chips. The original recipe says to microwave, but I’m always wary of burning chocolate. Stir on low heat until smooth and completely combined.
It’s like the opening scene to Willy Wonka!
3) Add the chow mein noodles, stirring carefully until completely coated.
4) Using a large spoon, fill the wells of your muffin tin, indenting the tops slightly with the back of the spoon. Press in three cadbury eggs on each nest. The original recipe says to add the eggs at the very end once the nests are chilled, but I prefer them to be slightly secured to the chocolate coating.
5) Chill the nests for 1 hour, or until hardened.
Relatively easy instructions, but I will say this is definitely a messy recipe — though I didn’t really mind having to lick chocolate or peanut butter off my fingers!
TheCurvyCarrot’s Birds’ Nests
After tasting them, I think these are more appropriately catergorized as a candy versus a cookie.
ShinyHappyPeebles’s Birds’ Nests
ShinyHappyPeebles’ Birds’ Nests
Now, halfway through making these I realized I only have one muffin tin … so the last half of the batch looks more like nests for baby pterodactyls.
It’s the Easter pterodactyl!
Actually, these look even more like real nests.
Pinterest WIN on this one, for sure! I think this is the closest I’ve come to making something that actually looks like the beautiful picture with the original recipe. An Easter miracle, indeed!
Shiny Happy Peebles 