Ideas Wanted!

So! I'm in need of your ideas! I would like to know if you all have any suggestions for little confections that I could make! Good or bad, throw them at me! I am taking on a huge challenge but I'm so ready for the learning and the adventure to begin!

Let me know if there is anything YOU would like to see!

I leave you with this...I might try it for the Super Bowl Party...I don't know yet!

Enjoy!

I'm Just Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man

So! There is much to be said about this Spiderman Cake! First piece of advice when baking a box cake...read all directions carefully! You would think that I know this because I make cakes all the time! However, not WHITE cake! 

So, my first battle was to get this out of the cake batter....

News to me that you do NOT use egg yoke in a white cake mix...I'll never forget that again! However I am very proud of my self for successfully getting that egg out of the batter without breaking it! Go me! :-)

So here is what it looked like before I mixed it...kind of boring...

I have to do this for my mom...Have I mentioned the fact that I LOVE my Kitchinaid Mixer?? Well, I don't think I have so let me say this now! I LOVE MY KITCHENAID!! And I have my mom to thank for that! This crazy lady gave me her mixer because she said, and I quote, "I've never used it, it just sits in the laundry room collecting dust!" WHAT?!?! I don't know where I would be with this mixer, it is the BEST and always gets the job done better than any hand held I've had! Altho, I do have to say that the Oreck Handmixer (yes, I'm right, Oreck, and no it's not a vacuum!) that Jerrod's parents gave us works good if I just need a quick mix for something! :-)

 

You know the drill, after you mix you put in the pan :-) I have way more to spill with you about this but I'll wait until just the right time to spill it to you! Here it is in the pan before hitting the oven for a 350 degree tanning session!

I said a little prayer and then stuck it in the oven! Please come out nice and easy!

While that was baking I decided to mix up the frosting, which I was a little nervous about because I had not used this exact recipe before.  My experience with frosting before has helped me to understand to always double the recipe, becasue 3 cups of frosting could NEVER cover everything that I need.  So, I doubled and here's what I got! Loved the colors I got from tinting with Wilton Colors!

 

 

About the time I was finished with the icing and coloring and all that fun (but stainy) stuff, the timer went off on my oven and time to pull out Spidey! How did he turn out?

WAHOO!! It looks great doesn't it!! Man o man are looks deceiving! So, here's the story I was hinting at earlier....

On the directions it says to use shortening in the pan so that the cake wont stick, however if you would want to use aerosol spray vegetable oil that would be fine too! It just warned not to use liquid vegetable oil...which confused me because isn't that what comes out of the aerosol can?? Anyway! I followed the directions, used Pam (off brand) and popped it in the oven, easy right? Well, it's not! The first one came out so bad, I was so upset with myself I just tossed it right in the trash! Did the whole thing again, this time putting flower in with the vegetable oil because I thought it might help to loosen it up! Well...here were the results...

Needless to say, I'm even more upset with myself at this point! I have no more cake left and I have to meet Jerrod in 20 mins to take the teens from church to see To Save A Life! Which btw if you have not gotten to see it, it comes highly recommended! 

Went to the movie, got back made a quick run to Kroger and it was back to the oven for round number 3! I put so much shortening and flour on the pan that I was actually kind of worried if it would bake correctly! Well all my hard work paid off because here's my 3rd cake of the day...

Ah! Looks great!! I was so proud and dead tired that I just decided to wrap it up and call it a night and decorate the next morning, the morning of the party! Talk about last minute!!

So, as you can see the web imprints did not come out on the cake! I had to freehand the entire detail because the outlining of the body! It was a lot of hard work, but I really enjoyed every bit of it! I was so proud with the way it turned out!! Would you like to see?? Well! Here it is!!

 

 

Tah-dah! Just your friendly neighborhood Spiderman to the rescue!! I was so happy with the way this turned out!! I could have done some things differently but kept reminding myself that this is only my second cake to ever decorate AND that I was doing things that I had never done before! I was quite surprised in myself! 

I had to get a picture with the birthday boy! Aden really enjoyed his cake! Although he's so shy it probably doesn't look like it in this picture, but he smiled really big when he saw his cake!! That made the whole experience well worth the effort!! Here's Aden! 

 

Well, hopefully I will learn from the mistakes that I made during this cake and make my other creations better than the ones before! 

Enjoy!

Spiderman, Spiderman

So! Here I am starting this blog about my year of baking cakes and other sweet confections! Why am I embarking on such a demanding endeavor? Well, I need all the experience I get number one! And number two, I thought it would be interesting to mark my progress and let other people critique and give pointers on how to improve on my work! This is totally a hobby for me and something that I really enjoy! I hope that along the way I can improve my skills while bringing joy to other people's lives!

Let me know if you have any suggestions for me to try! I'm up for it!

The first cake I'm making this year is a Spiderman cake for a birthday party! I'll be posting pictures each step of the way to keep you updated and me on track! Here is what the cake is supposed to look like:

Let's see if the end result is as pretty as the picture!! :-) Wish me luck!