Baking is the easy part

Welcome to my journey of a year's worth of cakes. A favorite hobby of mine is looking at recipes. I love to bake and can cook but neither is as fun as just looking at recipes with pictures of food. I used to share this hobby with my mom; we would look at recipes and talk about making them, but didn't make the time. As a tribute to her, I am challenging myself to use those recipes to make a different cake each week for a year.

I was about to have my 51st birthday so why not start then so my last cake would be on my 52nd birthday. Clever right? By the way, my 51st birthday was January 24th! This is proof of how good I am at procrastinating. When I don't see and understand every aspect, I am paralyzed and get stuck before I even start. I could have given up the idea, but luckily I had told too many friends so I couldn't. 

So where are these blog posts?  I have made a cake every week starting on my 51st birthday. 

Baking is easy.

         I know how to bake.

                  I don't get overwhelmed by baking. 

Technology is a different story. I have never written a blog.

         How do I set it up?

                     How do I insert the pictures?

I just kept thinking of other things I could be doing.

       Things I understood, 

                    Things I already knew how to do, 

Scroll down to see proof I have been baking by looking at the pictures my talented husband has been taking for me each week. Then, come back for the recipes which I promise to post as soon as I figure out how to get the formatting to look perfect. 

January 24th: Raspberry Lemonade Chiffon 

Lemon chiffon layered with a raspberry filling and frosted with 7 minute icing

The filling is made using frozen raspberries but what a great excuse to buy some fresh ones too.

Raspberry lemonade makes it easy to forget that it is winter outside. 

January 31st: Mom's Chocolate Cake with Boiled Icing

Mom's original recipe card which she never needed to use but was still well worn. 

                                      
My recipe card with a few more directions. I am not sure why there is more than one frosting recipe since using anything but boiled frosting on this cake would just be WRONG.

The best part of this cake and the frosting is that it uses ingredients that are always on hand. This was important growing up on a farm, because  we didn't run to the grocery store like I do today.

Have the first piece fresh from the oven with butter, then frost the rest.

February 7th: Cherry Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream

Frosting cupcakes is easier if you put the icing in a zip lock bag with the corner snipped.

I wonder what happens if the cupcake see its shadow. Way more interesting than a groundhog.

The hearts are made using product made by Wilton called Candy Melts. After they are melted and put in a small zip lock bag, you pipe onto parchment paper just like you are drawing hearts on paper.

February 14th: Hot Fudge Sundae Cake

 Fast, easy, and delicious.... This is the kind of recipe I love most.

As it bakes, the water from the top turns into hot fudge sauce and bubbles up from the bottom.

Fresh from the oven with a scoop of ice cream

Happy Valentine's Day! 

February 21st: Heart Healthy Coke Zero Chocolate with Cherries and Whipped Cream

These are the only 4 ingredients in the entire cake!

To save calories you can use fresh strawberries instead. 

It can be cubed and layered in a pretty bowl, 

put it in a mason jar

or layered in a fancy flute.

February 28th: Red Velvet with White Chocolate Frosting 

Mom would have been 80 years old today. Happy Birthday Mom! 

This picture of Mom and Dad with the grand-kids was taken almost 22 years ago. Time Flies! 

I made 2 long, narrow cakes. On one I decorated with cake crumbs and this one I sprinkled with shaved white chocolate. I need to work on my chocolate shaving skills.

 The sides of the cakes are trimmed to show the beautiful red color.
                       What do you do when you have lots of cake scraps?
                                          Make cake pops!
Just stir the crumbled cake into the extra frosting. Use a cookie scoop to make balls and push a lollipop stick into each one, Put them in the freezer for a couple hours then dip them in melted white chocolate.  The red is melted candy melts drizzled on after the white had hardened.

A friend raises chickens and gave me this dozen of eggs. What a great example of diversity. 

This picture reminds me of teaching the phases of the moon to 5th graders.