Monday, July 9, 2012

Make Way for the Red, White, & Blue!!

It's been almost a week since Independence Day, but I've been a very busy girl.  However, I couldn't NOT share this cake!!
My first attempt at a Flag Cake!
I got the idea from Pinterest, and knew that the 4th of July would be the perfect time to make it!  For a first attempt, I think it came out pretty good!  Here's what I did:


The Cake:
I took a shortcut and used white cake mix.  Yep.  I bought whatever kind was on sale (I think it was Pillsbury with pudding in the mix and I made it will whole eggs).  I used 2 cake mixes, and split it between 3 cakes, one of which was died red, another blue.
Red, White, and Blue cakes - ready to be baked!
Cool the cakes, and then slice the red and the white cakes in half.  Take 1 half of the red, and 1 half of the white, and cut a circle out of the middle (I used a cleaned empty tomato can).  Also cut out a circle from the blue cake (1 to 2 rounds, depending on the thickness).
  
Next, start layering.  I used a "Fine White Frosting" recipe.


Stack a Red Cake, Frosting, White Cake, and then a Red cake with the hole and the white cake with the hole.  Frost the whole thing (yes, it will be awkward).


One layer of Red and One layer of White, both with  frosting!

The Red and White layers on top, both wit the holes!  Frosted and ready to go!
Next, take the blue circle, and fit it into the hole!
The blue cake, fitted into the hole!  Ready for frosting!
Next, completely frost the entire cake, and get ready to decorate!!  I decorated with strawberries and blueberries.  I wanted to pipe in a fun design, but unfortunately all my tips are packed away and my jimmy-rigged disposable tip in a sandwich baggie failed me!  But here is the finished product!
Happy 4th of July!!!




Enjoy!!

Fine White Frosting

This recipe is a favorite of my family's.  It's really easy, and really delicious.  It's not super sugary-sweet, but I like it a lot better than whipped cream.  My Aunt Theresa gave me a version of the recipe (which I will also share, it's very similar with a quick little change) and she called it "Poor Man's Whipped Cream."


My mom's version (which I used in the 4th of July cake):


Beat Together until Fluffy and the sugar is no longer gritty:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup crisco
1 cup granulated sugar


On the stove top, cook together:
5 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
Cook these until the mixture is thickened.  Stir continuously until it has a thick consistency.  Cool completely
The flour/milk mixture, nice and thick on the stove!


Add the cooled flour/milk mixture into the sugar/butter mixture and whip until it is like cream.  Add in the vanilla and mix well.  
Fine White Frosting - So delicious!


And that's IT!!  (note:  I doubled this recipe for the layer cake)


Now my Aunt uses a very similar recipe, except she doesn't cook it on the stove top.  Cooking the flour and milk on the stove can be very difficult, and it can turn lumpy very quickly (or as my aunt wrote to me in her last email, "it turned out to be a glutenous lumpy mess that [she] would end up throwing out.").  Here's her method:


BEAT TOGETHER TIL FLUFFY

1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup crisco
add 1/2 cup granulated sugar and cream together until the sugar is no longer gritty.
BEAT INTO THIS
1/2 cup flour
1/2  milk
BEAT UNTIL IT GROWS IN VOLUME AND IS SMOOTH AND CREAMY SORT OF LIKE WHIPPED CREAM.  ADD ANY FLAVORING YOU WOULD LIKE

I haven't attempted her version yet, but it looks like it would turn out delicious!  :o)
 
Enjoy!!!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Shopping Success!

We did some shopping this week!!!

We got all of the bathroom fixtures (We got those from Robinson Supply).  It was a lot of fun picking everything out.

We got the tile!!  Wahoo, I am SO excited!  We got it at Home Depot, and ended up buying one from the display board.  We were a little annoyed because we found one we loved only to find that the design tile was discontinued, so we created one for ourselves. 
The tile design we went with (with a different design piece)
We were the customers at Home Depot who caused two different aisles to close down so they could take a new stack of tile down from the top row.

Closing down the aisles to bring our tile down
The only thing left on the list to buy now is the doors and the bulkhead (I have a few questions for the contractor on those).

But we're ready to roll!  We've got the dumpster waiting!!  :o)
The dumpster is ready!  Can't wait to start the projects!!