Cake!

So, I don't think it's a big shock that I LOVE cupcakes...and honestly, I am not picky.  I am very happy with the 6 yellow cupcakes with butter cream frosting I can get at the grocery store...especially on Friday when they are offered at the reduced price of $2.22. Now, I do prefer if I can get a mixed pack of 3 yellow and 3 chocolate, but I'll still settle for the 6 yellow.

As much as I love eating cupcakes, I love decorating cakes even more.  I am by no means a professional, but I have been decorating cakes since I was young, learning tricks and techniques from my grandma and my mom.  I decorated a sheet cake to look like a folded western shirt for Father's Day when I was 12.  I carved and decorated cake to look like a giant glazed donut in my 20s.  I made a birthday cake in the shape of a beer mug for my father-in-law a few years ago.  I've even made some, ahem, bachelorette party cakes...  I've made countless bunny-face cakes for Easter, and tons of heart-shaped cakes for Valentines' Day (none from shaped molds). 
About a year and a half ago, my dear friends Lee Ann and Jeremy were expecting a baby for the first time.  While shopping with Lee Ann at one of our favorites stores (JoAnn's), we saw a Wilton Cake Decorating Toolbox (with 101 tools) on sale.  And Lee Ann had a coupon.  And she really thought I should get it so I could start really getting into cake decorating.  Especially since she had a baby shower coming up...I was roped in, and I thank her for that every time I make a great cake.

The first cake I made for public consumption after this purchase was, indeed, the baby shower cake.  I had an idea in my head of a bear on blocks and all kinds of fanciness...then I got nervous and decided to go with something a little simpler for my first attempt at using fondant on a cake...

The base and paci are cake covered in fondant; the paci handle is molded chocolate.

The result was a pacifier cake, and I was very proud of it.  I could see every tiny imperfection, of course, but I was still happy.  Luckily, my mom had made many, many things out of Candy Melts white chocolate while I was growing up, so the handle was easy enough to do.  The round ball was a cake mold and maybe a little more advanced than I should have tried for my first attempt at fondant.  Everyone was happy with it, and it tasted good.  Score!

I have made a few other cakes in the last year, but nothing too exquisite... until yesterday.  I made the birthday cake for our now one-year old Goddaughter - Jeremy and Lee Ann's little girl.  Lee Ann told me "ladybug theme."  I've been looking at photos of cakes online for the last several months.  I found one that fit what I was thinking of doing, and here is what I ended up with.



Ladybug cake!  It's all cake and fondant!



A close up of the topper.

The "smash cake" just for Analee to enjoy (and make into mush and get all over herself.

A ladybug on top of a two-layer cake.  Everything was cake, including the ladybug body and head.  I started with all white fondant and colored it myself.  The green border and grass is butter cream frosting.  The smaller flower "smash cake" was covered in butter cream with a fondant ladybug accent.

I am very proud of this cake.  I only cringed a little when Lee Ann made the first cut...then, we all enjoyed eating the cake, especially Analee:

Analee elbow-deep in her cake!

Recurring Nightmares

When I was young I had a recurring nightmare...it lasted for many years, and occasionally it will pop up again. It never changes. I can never keep it going, I can never stop it before it ends, and I can never manipulate it in any way.

That is different than some other recurring dreams I have. I have been able to start a dream again the night after the initial sequence so I can see the outcome. I can change somethings in a dream when I have it a second time. I dream in color. I can read in my dreams. I can have different points of view in my dreams. Some people claim those things are not possible. I disagree.

My childhood recurring nightmare goes a little something like this:

My family is going camping. I am very young...only my parents and my middle sister and I are in the dream, so my brother and youngest sister were not yet born. We have the tent set up, a campfire ready to go, and fishing poles set out. My dad has a conversation with the troll who lives in the zip-up window in the tent. Yep. A troll...we live amicably with the troll. My dad reminds him that the rule is, "We do not bother you; you do not bother us." Mom is staying behind to organize things and get the campfire started so that when Dad, Teresa, and I get back from fishing we can cook up the catch.

When the three of us traipse back to the campsite, I notice something weird. Mom is picking up some bread, and she has a blank expression with glassy eyes. I ask, "What's wrong?" "Nothing, Dear. Everything is fine. Just fine," she replies while slowly putting the bread on a paper plate and reaching for the butter knife. I freak out when I realize that is no butter knife. That is the troll from the tent window! He has transformed himself into the butter knife and put Mom in a trance! I scream it at the top of my lungs, "That is not a knife Mommy! That is the troll! Don't touch it!" She replies, "Everything is fine Dear. Nothing to worry about," in a sing-songy manner. She reaches for the knife, and I WAKE UP!

Every time. That is the point at which I am jerked awake. I have tried a hundred times to see the rest of the dream, to change the outcome, to get rid of the troll... he haunts me, and I have no idea where that dream came from.