a paying gig!

Okay it is official, I have been the worst blogger ever!! I was in Texas for a week, and then last week was sick so I was hibernating.

No more excuses!! Corny made me a sign up sheet to sell cake slices at work and tomorrow I have 11 to deliver, and hopefully after today that number will have doubled! I will be up all night making 4 cakes, but that's okay by me. I hope this is something I can start doing every week, and word will spread across the airport. So when Corny gets home today at 3 he is in charge of the kids and I will be a slave to the kitchen. I think I might need to invest in a double oven if my plan of selling slices really works. Kim also called me last night and asked if I can send her some cake truffles for her class a church that meets Monday nights. Yay! My only concern is that they will ship okay and stay fresh. I will need to send them out on Friday, but if I get them to her on Saturday and she refrigerates them I am hoping they will hold up. This will be my test, and Kim will let me know.

I also have to practice practice practice Courtney's wedding cakes this week. Only two weeks until the wedding and I am getting a wee bit stressed. It will be my first three layer cake, and it has to be perfect. I am going to do one layer and decorate it tonight and hopefully it will make me feel much more comfortable. The design is not too difficult, it is just the time and work that really is stressing me out.

Well I promise tomorrow to post pictures and follow up with how my first night of baking for my first paying gig goes. It will be a long night......

Cinnamon Rolls

I really feel like I have been slacking off on the blog. Sorry to let you down! It just seems so crazy in my house at all times. Stella is crawling, and is everywhere. She wants all the attention. She never stops eating. So my life these days is trying to keep an eye on Stella (I found her halfway under the couch a few days ago), giving her as much attention as I can to keep her from screaming, and shoving carrots, cereal and a bottle down her throat. But we love her! She just has a very strong personality, people get places in life with with a personality like hers though. She is screaming as I write this because Corny is cleaning, Aiden is on a time out, I am having Shannon time, and she does not want to be in her exersaucer without anyone looking at her and telling her how wonderful and precious she is.

Okay so I got that off my chest! I need to find more time to bake. I need to practice wedding cakes. I am going to Texas for Easter, and then when I come back NO excuses!! Last night I decided we needed cinnamon rolls in the morning so I made some. I made the dough, let it rise, and then refridgerated it overnight. This morning I let it rise again and then baked them. Aiden told me the house smelled like that place in the airport where I never let him get a cinnamon roll (Cinnabon). I made a cream cheese glaze to put on top, and they were so good. If it was not an 18 hour process, and if they didn't have thousands of calories, I would make them everyday!

Fresh from the oven!

Cream Cheese glaze

Yum!

We all cleared our plates!

Hope everyone has a wondeful Easter!!

What to do?

Yesterday we had another beautiful day in Napa. I am squeezing as much of this in before I have to leave it! We went to Robert Sinskey of course, and then we went to the most fabulous winery ever Paraduxx. When we got there we were the only ones there. The tastings were pretty expensive ($20-30), so we decided to share one. They gave us a free tasting each of one of their white wines. Next 4 we tasted were their blend and we tasted the same blend just 4 different years. We sat outside on super comfy couches and chairs and sipped our wine, and ate off the cheese platter they gave us. Aiden was able to play in the rocks, and Stella crawled around the couches. The nice man who served us, Luke, came and sat down and talked with us almost the entire we were tasting. His wife is about to have a baby girl in June, so he was enamored with Stella. I personally enjoyed his company because he looked like Gavin Newsome, and as most everyone knows I kind of love that man (looks not so much politics!). After our tasting our friend Jaime decided since we were having such a wonderful time we should share the next tasting as well. Our new friend Luke decided to let us have it for free (taking my kids to Napa with me is the best thing I could ever do!). So we enjoyed some more wonderful wine and we decided since they have been so hospitable we were going to have to buy a bottle. The only downside is their wine is really expensive. $30 was the cheapest bottle, so that's what we got! Even after our second tasting he kept bring out wine for us to try. Luckily the three of us were sharing! While we were there the place completely filled up, so luckily we got there early and got extra attention. We spent almost 2 hours there and it was a wonderful experience. I plan on sending them a thank-you note and letting them know how much we enjoyed it. We will be adding that stop to our trip from now on.

Aiden has been eating with us every night. I have been very proud of him. He has had some throwing up instances, and a few crying spells, but no huge fits. He chose not to eat dinner last night (hamburgers), so he did go to bed a little hungry. Tonight is pork loin and baked potatoes, we will see how that goes. I decided I would make all of Stella's baby food and we are starting with carrots. I cook some and pureed them up last night. She has already had 2 servings today and she loves them. She starts screaming if we don't get it in her mouth fast enough. I am determined to make sure she has different eating habits then her brother has!!

Now on to my subject of what to do.....

I have been a little discouraged because no one is buying my cakes! I know its early, but I don't know if there is other things I should be doing to market them better. I do think once we move to Texas it will be much easier to sell them because I have so many more contacts, but I would love to sell some while we are here. I have decided for now to start selling slices at Corny's work. I am thinking I will sell them for $4 a piece. Corny will make a sign up sheet, take orders, and then deliver them. I am hoping that will be a little boost. Anyone else have any suggestions?? I know that it takes time, and I should be patient. Patience is just not one of my gifts! I will let y'all know how the slice selling goes. Hopefully I can get started on that this week.

Pictures of Disneyland!

I got around to posting pictures finally. But I seemed to be the one taking most all the pictures, so its most Allison, Aiden, and Shelby But that is okay because the few I was in were pretty rough. One day we decided to all wear tacky t-shirts, and I got an XXL because I wanted to tie it up and wear it with leggings, but Shelby and Corny told me I looked dumb. So I just wore it with jeans, and a huge t-shirt is super unflattering! So that's my excuse on why I left myself out!!

But before we get to the pictures I must discuss some baking! I made some cake truffles for Corny again yesterday. Forgot to take pictures though! I didn't know I was making any, he just came home Saturday night with what he thought was the correct ingredients to make them and he asked me to make some on Sunday for him. I had to make do with what he bought me, and they turned out okay. Not as good as the last ones though. I made a chocolate cheesecake truffle. He said they were still a hit though.

Last night began our quest to get Aiden to eat what we eat! He was really sad when I told him, but he didn't throw any huge fits which was a plus! Our plan is to continue to let Aiden eat what he wants for breakfast and lunch (for now!), but at dinner he sits with us at the table and eats what we eat. No more chicken nuggets and messy pizza for dinner!! Last night I made sesame chicken and sweet potatoes. He did what we asked and tried it all. He wasn't a fan of the sauce on the chicken so we scraped that off, which was fine. He ate the potatoes by putting them in his mouth and swallowing them down with a drink. At least he got it down! And only two gagging spells!! Today is the day I do my grocery shopping and work out my menu for the week, so I will definitely try to keep it Aiden friendly. I am not going to shock him right off the bat. We were so proud of him for doing his best though.

Okay now on to the pictures. We had so much fun! Even though it was a rough adventure for Shelby, Dad, and Allison we were so glad they got to be there!

All of us after dinner at the house of blues
Buzz!!

Stella refused to hang out in her stroller so all of us had extremely sore backs from carrying her.She is going to see the Disney princesses in her princess skirt because she already thinks she is a princess!

We had to wait for about an hour and the whole time had our fingers crossed that Ariel would be in there for Shelby!

California Micky

Universal Studios

I love this, I need some one who knows photo shop to get that lady out of the picture because I would love to blow this up and put it in his room.

Poppy, Aiden and Goofy!

She was there!! What happened was two people in front of us let us go ahead because they were waiting for there kids and after we went through the line they were swapping the princesses out. So we were the last people to see Ariel, it was meant to be!!

Mean face!!!

Aiden and Aunt Bobbi! He sure does love her!

Woody!!

Stella did not want to wear the 3D glasses!

California Adventure

Mrs. Incredible, she had on some amazing boots!

Disneyland!! Part 2

Where to start, where to start......
Shelp, Allison and my Dad flew on our buddy passes (stand by)which made this trip so exciting, here are our stories:

Saturday -

Shelby, Dad and Allison-They head to the airport at 5 am hoping to make it to LAX. They did make it to Houston, and that's as far as they got. They stay in a hotel in Houston and enjoy a lovely dinner of Jack in the box.

Shannon, Corny and kids- I am stressed to the max. On the computer constantly looking for ways to get them out of Texas. Flights are more packed then I have ever seen them. We have been flying standby for 8 years and only have gotten stuck twice, and people that have used our passes occasionally have a hard time but never anywhere close to what they are experiencing. My stomach is hurting, the kids are experiencing the wrath of stressed out mommy and all I want is to be at the happiest place on earth. Sunday is looking terrible too. Corny suggests they take the greyhound, I suggest they drive to New Mexico and have Corny meet them there and he would drive the other half. They decide to try again tomorrow.

Sunday-

Shelby, Allison and Dad - Arrive to Houston bright and early and make it back to Dallas, and then to Albuquerque and sit there and watch flight by flight pass them by and never getting there name called. They decide to give it a couple more hours then head to a hotel, we have a for sure flight that will get to LAX Monday morning around 9 so we just all plan on that and we are super disappointed.

Shannon, Corny and kids - I am super disappointed and still super stressed out. I feel really bad like this is my fault for suggesting they save money and fly on passes. We are all just sitting around, not packing waiting for them to call after each flight telling us if they got on or not. We finally decide to head down to Orange County around 7 and check into the hotel and we will see them tomorrow.

Miracle time- I am sitting watch the most fabulous lifetime movie texting Shelp asking her if they are going to get on the last flight when my dad calls: "We got the last 3 seats on the plane to LAX, the girls are freaking out we are all crying!!!" Me: 'Corny they made it made it on the plane!!!" They screaming, dancing, praising Jesus...Woo- Hoo!! We throw stuff in our bags an head to the airport. After 36 hours and over 15 missed flights they made it to LAX!!!

Monday- Great day at California Adventure. The highlight was Tower of Terror, Shelby and I scare easily so it was entertaining for Allison and dad. We watched the fireworks at Disneyland and saw the always exciting Captain EO!

Tuesday- Spent the day at Disneyland. Our highlight that day was Indiana Jones, we also watched the Pixar Parade. We enjoyed dinner in Downtown Disney at the House of Blues. Then we headed back to the park to ride a few more rides.

Wednesday - Our last day. We went to Hollywood, LA, and Universal Studios. We had so much fun. Casey met us for dinner at The Falcon (got a great discount at restaurant.com), we spent two hours enjoying dinner and talking about the highlight of our trip. Casey gave us the night time tour of LA, then we headed back to our hotel. Shelby, Dad, and Allison were getting ready for another exciting trip back home.

Thursday - Well, the day started okay. The main problem was during all there travels on the way up here the customer service people took too many of their tickets, so they didn't have any tickets to get back home. Corny is calling his boss and his boss is calling a manager at LAX to see if we can somehow replace the tickets. Since flights are so full we decide to all fly back to Oakland and Corny will help them get out Friday morning from there. Maybe it will be easier since he works there. We decide to go look for famous people in LA. We go to lunch at the magical secret place where Casey had taken us before where we always see the stars ( sorry I can't divulge the secret place!), and we saw one! We saw Busy Phillips. I know her from Cougar town, and the girls new her from Dawson's Creek. We didn't bother her, just kind of stalked her. That was fun! We board our plane to Oakland and I made big plans to go home and make margaritas for everyone. But then of course the plane breaks. We sit on the plane for over a hour and then finally make it home around 11. No margaritas just some In-n-Out and bed. We decided to just let everyone sleep in before they try to get home Friday.

Friday - Corny, Shelp, Allison and Dad head to the airport around noon with the plan to fly to Denver, then San Antonio. They would stay the night in San Antonio and then be home sweet home Saturday morning. Corny makes sure they get on the plane to Denver then heads home. They call us when they get to Denver and I start calling hotels in San Antonio to find them a room. Wait.......they get stuck in Denver! The plane to San Antonio sold out at the last minute. We try to get them back here, it won't work. They are stuck in Denver with several inches of snow, flip-flops and t-shirts. Crying. This sucks. Corny and I feel again like its our fault and feel so terrible for them. I know they are tired and want to be home, and its impossible.

Saturday - They decide to just give it up and drive home from Denver. And that is what they are doing now. Last I heard they are in New Mexico. Dad is wearing Shelby's Cheetah print sunglasses because his are in his luggage that is in San Antonio. Awesome. At least I have the most awesome family in the world and they have a great attitude about this. Maybe in a few months they can look back on this adventure and laugh. I am pretty sure Allison will never come on a Stone Family vacation again.

Pictures are to come. They are on my Dad and Sister's camera and they obviously can't download them yet.

Now we are back home we have big plans.
1. I am going to start really trying to market my truffles. Hopefully Casey will fly up soon and take some beautiful pictures and I will make cards.
2. I am going to start running a few days a week.
3. Aiden is going to learn how to eat grown up food.
4. I am going to start practicing cakes for the weddings I have coming up.
5. Garage Sale, need to start purging before our big move to Texas!
6. I am going to start writing acticles for our local magazine about family fun on a budget, any ideas let me know!

So I will have lots of exciting blogs on these subjects coming up over the next few weeks!!

Disneyland!!

We are supposed to head to Disneyland tomorrow with my Dad, Shelby and Allison. Those three are flying on buddy passes which means stand-by. It's usually not a huge problem, but it's spring break in Texas. It's rough. Flights keep leaving and they are not on them. I am just sitting at home hoping and praying that they will be on the next flight!

Let's move on to thinking positive. They will make it here tonight! We are so excited to have a mini vacation. We are going to spend Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday at Disneyland and California Adventure. Wednesday we are going to go to Universal Studios. Stone Family vacations are always super exciting. Flying all over the country and not getting to the correct destination is already exciting for Dad and Shel, but I have a feeling there is much more in store. Most of our past stories are inappropriate to share with the Internet world, and I will probably need my dad to sign a waiver before I could even considering sharing them. Anything that happens on this vacation is fair game though.

I won't be baking this week, but I have had lots of requests for Truffles. When I get back I am going to bake a big batch and send 3-6 truffles to anyone who requests them before then. Just send me your address and flavor request to firestarcakes@gmail.com. First few are free! If you like them, then please order some!!

Finally my most exciting part of the entire year March Madness!!! I will have to make a basketball or maybe even a bracket cake for the festivities!! I love love love March Madness!! can you tell by all the exclamation points!!!

Cake Truffles

I know it has been over a week since I have blogged last. Sorry! I promise to never do that again. This past week I took a quick trip to Texas for a couple of days and I was able to get some good rest, even though I am still playing catch up! Need to get all caught up because on Sunday we are going to Disneyland with my Dad, sister and Alison for 4 days. We are all so excited, and Stone family vacations are always very very exciting. I am sure I will have fabulous stories to share with everyone.

A couple of days ago I decided to start making Cake Truffles. They are a newer dessert treat, and hopefully I am jumping on the bandwagon before everyone else does. I made two flavors last night. I made a vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting dipped in a white chocolate ganache and topped with chopped pecans. I also made German Chocolate cake dipped in a dark chocolate ganache and topped with coconut. Corny took them to work today and people loved them. Everyone was asking how they could order them. This recipe I am keeping to myself because I am hoping this will help me start building up some customers. If any of y'all reading this would like me to send you a sample to share with family and friends (another good thing these will ship very well!) I will send you some for free as long as you promise to promote me! I want to still make a carrot cake one, red velvet, dark chocolate, and I am sure I will come up with some others. Send me suggestions. I am going to work on having some cards made up this month as well.

I will try out a few more flavors this week and let you know how it goes! I also need to get to work on practicing my wedding cakes. I will be making Courtney's wedding cake and groom's cake in May, and Shea and Tara's wedding cake and groom's cake in October. If I could just get some paying gigs I would be overjoyed!

If you want any samples email me at firestarcakes@gmail.com.

Three pretty ones in a box
The best was how quickly I could whip out 36 little truffles. Hours faster than decorating a cake!

They all come packaged in a box with FireStar cakes signature colors pink and brown

Corny sat up a little display at work. Best husband!

Lemon Doughnuts and more Napa with Kim!

Where to begin.......
Kim and I have been having the best time! We have stayed up late, enjoyed wine and girl talk, lots and lots of laughing, and some baking thrown in there! We went to Napa on Wednesday. I wanted to take lots of pictures of our tastings and all the different places we visited, but I forgot. I have a few pictures though. We went to four different places, and had a picnic lunch. The weather was absolutely beautiful. My kids even got us a free tasting at one place because the lady thought they were so cute. With our wine clubs, and the cute kid discount we didn't have to pay for a single tasting that day. It was great!!

Enjoying our picnic lunch!
Kim and Kate

Aiden doing his running class!

The vines A vine up close, no grapes right now!

Last night we decided to re-create the perfect meal we had at Robert Sinskey the other day. Corny was making steaks, fries, and the olive butter. Kim and I were in charge of the lemon doughnuts, with lemon curd and mint whipped cream. Corny was determined to find duck fat to cook the fries in. We searched high and low at the Asian market and never found it. But we did find a really fun Karaoke place where you have your own room and instruments and you can sing as long as you want! Okay back to duck fat, Corny had to give up on that idea and he was sad. He started working on the steaks while Kim and I caught up on some Oprah and wine. After the most wonderful dinner ever, Kim and I started on the lemon doughnuts.

Lemon Doughnuts

1/2 C water

1/4 C lemon juice

6 oz butter

1/2 t salt

1 t sugar

3/4 C flour

3 eggs

Kim squeezed all the lemon juice, while enjoying a glass of wine.

This is the lemon curd I made.

The doughnuts. Bring water, lemon juice, butter, sugar, and salt to a boil.

Remove from heat and mix in flour. Return pan to medium heat and stir until the mixture pulls away from the pan.

Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl. Mix for one minute to cool the mixture down. Then begin to blend in eggs one at a time. Make sure each egg is blended well before you add the next.

Scoop the mixture into a pan of oil at 375 degrees. Cook until puffed and golden.

Our doughnuts!!

Yummy doughnuts* We made the lemon curd, as well as the whipped cream blended with fresh mint.

Today we are going to go into the city and have lunch at Burger Bar, go to a wine (surprise surprise) tasting event, and then have a girls night. I have not had a girls night since before I found out I was pregnant so I am really looking forward to it. Corny should expect Kim and I to probably get into lots of trouble.

*So in reality the doughnuts were not yummy at all. Kim and I messed everything up, and destroyed the kitchen. Maybe it was the wine, who knows. The problem was I let the oil get too hot. And because it was too hot I melted Corny's thermometer (which goes over 400 degrees, whoops) so I could not tell how hot the oil really was. The inside did not cook. We were sad, Corny was sad, and Aiden was sad. We will try again. Having the correct oil temperature is really important. We feel as though we let Alec down (the chef at Sinskey who gave us the recipe). When we woke up this morning we were told to wash the dishes and clean the kitchen before we were allowed to have breakfast. Corny is mean.

Bread!!

I made my first two loaves of bread with my Kitchen Aid! I love the way baking bread makes my house smell. I didn't get to take to many pictures because I was so excited I forgot, and it only took me about 5 min to make the bread dough. I made a quick rise bread since it is my first time making a loaf. I basically just through flour, butter, sugar, salt, and yeast in the bowl and began mixing as I added in warm water. Easy!! Then it rose in the refrigerator for about 2 hours, and it was ready to throw in the oven. I can do that everyday! Corny has a list of all different kinds of breads he wants me to make, but I need to master the basics first.

About to go in the oven!

Fresh from the oven! Wish you could smell it!

Ready to eat!

I also made another Italian Cream Cake for Corny to take to work on Monday. Kim came on Sunday so she helped me. I was kind of distracted during the process because we were too busy discussing our exciting lives so I felt like I over cooked it a bit. But Corny said it received wonderful reviews!

We decided to take another trip to Napa today since Kim is here. She is a member at 2 wine clubs so we are planning on going to her 2 clubs as well as my club, so it will be a free day! Most likely we will go to at least one more place though! I will do my best to take lots of pictures and give a complete run down tomorrow.

T-ball-Wine tasting-Kitchen Aid.....Doesn't get much better!

This has been a jam packed week! I guess I will start with today and work my way back. Aiden started his first day of T-Ball today. He was so excited he woke up at 4:30 am and did not go back to sleep. So between him coming in and out of our room and Stella waking up every three hours to eat last night, Corny and I were dragging this morning. We made plans to go to Napa straight from t-ball so it was a chore to get up, get all of us dressed and out the door on time! Aiden did really well with the other kids, but his techniques will need a little practice! My favorite part was when he would turn and yell across the field, "I love you Mommy!". Someday he will be embarrassed by me, but not yet!!

Aiden is in the blue and white sweatshirt looking ready to play ball!

You always get bored in the outfield!! I know from experience!!

So next on the agenda was to head up to Napa to visit the winery we are members at, Robert Sinskey Vineyards. Besides loving the wine, we love them because they incorporate food pairings with their tastings. Every month we get 2 bottles of yummy wine, some type of cooking utensil or food product, and a recipe to make to enjoy our wine with. Every month they have a wine release party for their members where they cook food for us and serve us wine (and its free for us!). We always run out of time to enjoy this perk, and Napa is only 30 minutes away! I decided we were going to go today, and we were so glad we did. Even though we had the kids with us it was so nice to sit on the back patio and look at the hills and vineyards and just spend a hour relaxing. We ate the best food, and drank the best wine. We decided that from now on we will make an effort to go up there every month and enjoy the napa goodness!

Here is our menu. The wine is pretty expensive, but it is our monthly splurge. The wine is also well worth the price! I don't know if you can see what we got to eat so I will tell you:

Grilled Skirt Steak with House-Cured Olive Butter and Duck Fat Fries

Warm Lemon Doughnuts with Meyer Lemon Curd and Apple Mint Cream

It was so good, if I had not been at a winery I might have licked my plate! Here is Aiden. He gives the Gig 'em thumbs up in every picture these days. Makes Poppy and Uncle Shea proud though!! Me and a sleeping Stella, and of course Aiden tried to jump in!

Of course we had doctors appointments for Stella. Still no answers on what is wrong. The main problem is her weight. If it does not improve they are thinking about a feeding tube. I am not okay with this (well I mean if she needs it then of course I will be), so Corny and I have decided to take matters into our own hands! We are trying to get her to eat Soy formula, but she wants none of it. I guess compared to breast milk it is no good. I added a little Karo Syrup to sweeten it and add calories (I know I know I know this is not completely acceptable, but we are getting desperate and my aunt used to do it!!) and she does not want it until she is starving. I feel bad waiting until she is starving, but I am hoping maybe she is just extremely lactose intolerant right now and soy will help. Aiden used to spit up a lot too, and once he switched to soy he stopped. I am also going to start feeding her rice cereal, I need to fatten this girl up!! After one Dr appointment I decided I needed to go shopping for new jeans. All of my pre and post pregnancy jeans are too big (yay!!) so I needed a cheap pair of in between jeans until I hit my goal weight, and once that happens I am going to treat myself to the best jeans! I decided to go to Kohl's because it was right there. After I found jeans I wandered over to the cooking section to look at my Kitchen Aids. I do this regularly. I gaze, touch, and pray they will go on sale. That day my prayers were answered. I saw a sign that said 10% all Kitchen Aid products, so I looked at the price tag of one. It was regularly $300 for $150, half off!! I started yelling at Corny to get over here!! I said this has to be a mistake go get the lady. The salesperson came over and said the price was correct and I asked her why?? In her most sarcastic voice she answered me, "Because its on sale...". I had to have it. I am not the best at buying expensive things for myself but I found ways to justify it:

1. Since I died my hair dark I just do it my self at home, that saves a lot!

2. We have absolutely no life, never go out, never go to dinner, never go see movies, that saves a lot!

3. I have taking up the art of clipping coupons, researching the ads, and planning out weekly menus before going to the grocery store, that saves a lot!

and

4. If I can just sell 2 cakes it will pay for it!!! Buy my cakes!!

So I am the proud proud owner of a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer!!

So Pretty!!!!

Corny wants me to start making him bread (another way to save money!!), so that will be my first adventure with my new mixer.

Daisy Cake

Well we got through Valentine's Day! Yay! Our Walgreen's presents were fabulous. I hope they have personal shoppers there every year.

Last night I decided to make a cake. I have been feeling tired lately and spending my down time on the couch watching mostly the Olympics, and that is not okay! I probably should have cleaned the house, but making a cake seemed like more fun. I wanted to try out a few new things. I am really not thrilled on how it turned out, but I learned what I think looks good and what doesn't. I wanted to make a yellow and white daisy cake, because I love daisy's and I love yellow! At the beginning I thought it was going to be another cake disaster though. I was mixing my white cake and somehow got my spatula caught in the beaters. It broke my new mixer I got for Christmas, sorry Dad!! I am hoping it will be covered in the warranty though. I got mad, said ugly things, and probably slung cake batter everywhere. I kept going. As I was pouring the batter in the pans I realized there were bits of metal and plastic in the batter. Then I was more mad. Luckily, I was concentrating on decorating tonight so I was only using a box mix. I threw everything in the sink and rinsed and started over.

I made 2 white cake layers, and one lemon cake layer. I made a lemon curd to put between the layers, and just a whipped cream frosting to put around the cake. Then I made a fondant to cover the cake. I added pictures of the decorating I did.

I make my own fondant. I find it is easier to use than the kind you buy, plus way less expensive. You start with about 16 oz of marshmallows. Put them in a microwave safe bowl.
You will microwave them for about 2 minutes. You will stop every 30 seconds to stir the fondant.

I couldn't take any more pictures for a minute because my hands were to messy! Next you completely cover your hands in Crisco. It's gross but your hands are super smooth for the next few days! Then you take 2 lbs of powdered sugar and knead it with your hands into the marshmallow. Be careful because the melted marshmallows are hot.

You keep working your hands through it until you come up with a tough, elastic consistency. Work it into a ball. I have a fondant pad now that I roll it out on, but before I bought one I just covered my glass top table with Crisco and rolled it out there. Yes it is a mess!!

Back to the cakes. I made three layers, 2 white and 1 lemon. I used a lemon curd in between the layers.

I covered it in a whipped cream frosting. I wanted to keep the flavors light, butter cream would be to heavy for this cake. When you are using fondant it does not need to be perfect. Just get it on there, it helps the fondant stick to the cake. Oh and the wine is Concannon Petite Sirah, I love this wine. I can only have a little when I am decorating because I forget to drink it and wasting wine is not allowed in my house!

Next you roll out the fondant then drape it over the cake. You will just pull the sides down and then cut the excess fondant around the cake.

Then it will look like this. And you have a flawless canvas to work with. I love it!

I wanted to try painting on my design with food coloring for two reasons. First because using food coloring to dye the fondant is tough, it takes a lot of kneading to work the color through. And Second, because I need to learn new things. I diluted food coloring with an artificial clear vanilla extract to make it easier to paint.

Yeah, not really a fan of the painting. I was hoping to have more vibrant colors. Next time I will die fondant and lay across to make stripes, it would be so much more appealing.

I used fondant cutters to cut out daisy's and place on the cake.

I finished painted and I was not thrilled. I know I could have make this look a lot better. But it was 12 am and I was getting tired, so I just decided to learn from my mistakes and do things different next time.

I was however so so so happy with my icing technique at the bottom! See I can learn from past mistakes (ugly Southwest cake!). I decided until I can figure out the perfect consistency I would buy the Wilton frosting that you can use to decorate. It was so much thicker than what I had been using. It made piping out the design so simple. So that added a little more character to the cake.

Corny is going to take the cake to work and serve it in his meeting (where I am sure there will be a lot of discussion of Kevin Smith!!). I will be waiting on feedback! I am going to try and make a special welcome back to California cake for Kim this week. We will see how Stella does with her procedure this week though. I will appreciate prayers on Thursday morning. Please pray they find the problem so we can all move on from this, and most importantly so Stella can finally feel good!