My favorite kind of favor

My friend asked me some time ago to teach her to make the white chocolate raspberry cordial. He daughter practically demanded one for her birthday. OK, I can handle an enthusiastic fan.

We baked the cake as soon as they got there, then watched some Bill Engvall waiting for the cake to cool. Instead of making a no-cook jam version by hitting the puree button on my food processor, we decided to just mash the raspberries with the back side of a rubber spatula.Here is the birthday girl with her cake. I threatened to keep the cake if she didn't pose for a picture with it... apparently cake is very persuasive. I'm told she sniffed the cake the entire way home, and then rationed thin slices to the members of her family.

Family Birthday Cakes

Hubby and I took a vacation to NY to visit his family, see some church history sites, and camp on Lake Ontario. While we were up there, we celebrated his parents' birthdays.

For her July birthday, her favorite chocolate indulgence. This time I actually got a picture of the inside of the cake.Oooo, pretty slice. Tim was concerned that the full-size cake would be too much for the two of them, then I reminded him that we were traveling with friends of ours from church and their 4 hungry boys. When we left Sunday afternoon, there was the equivalent of this much left.This was for his father's March birthday. I know, it is late, but you can't exactly mail a cake like this through the US Postal Service.His first comment was that we got the colors right. For once, being obsessed with details paid off. For this we made yellow cupcakes with coconut milk for just a hint of flavor, white chocolate icing, and a circle of fondant painted to resemble the billiard balls (he's a big fan and plays often).

It was a nice visit; we definitely got to relax. I'm glad to be home. I have more cakes to do. :-)

At the Luao

This is what happens when you sign up to make a pineapple upside-down cake for a church function, and are asked to make extra because some of the others couldn't make cakes. These ferns and flowers all came from plants growing around the house, and the purple butterfly bushes smell heavenly! This was your standard recipe for pineapple upside-down cake, one 9x13 and one 1/2 sheet size. I used 4 5"-pillars and two 3/4" tubes for support of the upper layer, and green florist variety water picks for the flowers. I couldn't see spending a lot of money for the white ones when I could cut the spikes off of the green ones and work just fine for cheaper.