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Saturday, July 31, 2010

Super Savvy Saturday

Thursday I did a little shopping, and I found some really good deals! I'm going to start observing in the classroom this year for my next education class (which i'm REALLY excited about) but i have one problem.
I do NOT look like i'm about to be 21! So i headed out to the mall in hopes of finding some sophisticated clothes to help mature my look a little bit! I hadn't really planned to go to The Limited, but I walked by and saw that cardigans were 30% off! and i LOVE cardigans! So I went in, and turns out, the two cardigans on the top were 30% off AND students get an extra 15% off with your student ID! How great is that!Next I headed to Forever21 and found this adorable black and cream skirt for only $9! I was stoked! The black tank top I got across the street at target for only $8 and the dressy denim capris for only $20! I did need some accessories though, so before I left the mall, i went to forever21 and found those adorable bow hair pins for 1.50, and the earring sets were about $5 a peice! all in all, it was a great shopping day and now i'm super excited to go back to school and start observing at a high school! =)

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Chocolate Caramel Heath Cake

Today Ashley and I made a birthday cake for my mom! The ending result turned out great! However, it was quite the adventure getting there!
First, we set out to make a "tried and tested" chocolate cake! Thinking I was being super productive, I pre-measured all of the ingredients.



BUT I made one minor (that turned out to be MAJOR) mistake! I completely forgot to double the sugar!! Long story short, we had tiny layers that tasted like buttery cocoa powder! =(
Earlier, the dog peed on my foot, then i sliced my finger open trying to open a cardboard box! So today definitely wasn't my day! Needless to say, after i realized the cake mishap was ALL my fault, I was less than pleased! So the only thing left to do was to start all over and hope for success!



And the result....



SUCCESS! After a LONG afternoon of baking, it was finally time to start decorating! We decided to use a caramel icing as the filling, chocolate fudge on the outside, and crushed Heath bars on the sides! We topped it all of with some caramel dipped strawberries with fudge stripes! Here's our masterpiece!




If you would like our recipe (which was absolutely delicious) here it is:


½ stick of butter
2 tbsp cocoa powder
½ cup of milk
1 tbsp of Nutella
2 eggs
¾ cup sugar
1 cup self rising flour

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F
In a skillet, melt butter, cocoa powder, milk, and nutella. Don't try it in he microwave, it doesn’t work!
In a separate bowl, beat eggs until fluffy, 1/4 cup at a time; add in the sugar, beating each time until sugar is dissolved. Let sit 1 minute or so, and beat again until fluffy. Repeat as necessary. this step is very important! the fluffier, the better!
Fold in the sifted flour alternately with the butter/cocoa/milk mixture (make sure its at room temperature before folding it in.)
Pour into 9-inch greased round cake pan. We recommend Baker’s Joy with flour baking spray! It’s the best! My cakes came out stunningly perfect without the flour residue! And the best part.. the spray is fat free, unlike oil sprays!
Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes! Or until the top spring back when lightly touched!

*if making a double layered cake, we would recommend following the directions twice; without doubling the recipe! Our first attempt, we tried doubling and ended up in the trash!


Monday, July 26, 2010

Key Lime Pie with home made Whipped Cream



Ingredients:
PIE:
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh key lime juice(i used about 8 keylimes)
3 egg yolks
8 inch unbaked pie shell

WHIPPED CREAM:
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Place a bowl in the freezer(you'll use it later for the whipped cream)
Bake the pie crust according to the directions on the back.
Then turn the oven down to 325 F
In a medium bowl combine the condensed milk and keylime juice. Blend in the egg yolks.
Pour into the cooled crust and bake for 10 minutes.

For the whipped cream,
remove the bowl from the freezer.
With an electric mixer, beat the cream, sugar, and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Spread on the pie, or use a piping bag and star tip to create my look. =)

confusion, cakes, and cupcakes!

SO i was feeling pretty proud of myself for figuring out the template and background change! Then i wanted to change my font so it would look super cute like Lesle's (http://lifeinitsordinaryform.blogspot.com/) but, i'm stuck! I can't figure it out! =( so for now i'll have boring plain font!
Yesterday at church i showed Leslie a picture of my ladybug cake and i told her i'd post it! along with some other desserts! so here are some recent desserts i've made!




My Roommate Aliecia and I made this lady bug cake for our other roommate Katie! She LOVES lady bugs so much we call her Katiebug! =) The icing is just regular icing we died with wilton gel food coloring and the decorations are fondant also died with wilton food coloring.


This is the cake I made for my sister on her birthday last year! the icing again, is regular store bought lemon icing, died with "sky blue" wilton gel food coloring! And the daisies are a wilton fondant cut out! All supplies were bought at Micheal's =)




These are the cupcakes I made this easter! i piped the green icing to look like grass, used "robin eggs" candy for the eggs, peeps for the chickies, and the egg is an air head i cut with a regular knife!