Rose Covered Raspberry Lemonade Cake

Mmm ... Doesn't it just look yummy? Sometimes you have an idea for a dessert and once executed it's not quite as good as you hoped. This one was perfect. And I have to tell you how it came about. I dreamed it. That's right. It came to me in a dream. I feel the need to give some background on that because I don't want you to think I'm crazy. I have VERY impressionable dreams. I'll dream about the craziest things, but also very day-to-day things. Sometimes I just dream an ordinary day. But most of the time it's crazy stuff. Anyway - last week someone had asked if I would bake a cake for a fundraiser and I guess I had pondered it a bit too much during the day, because my subconscious kept going that night. And then voila! Cake idea in the dream! A rose covered raspberry lemonade cake.

So you want to learn how you can make your own? I don't mind sharing!

Ingredients:

• 1 lemon flavored cake mix
• 1 WHITE "flavored" cake mix
• 2 packages Betty Crocker Raspberry Gel Cake Flavoring (or whatever raspberry flavoring you can find)
• 3 batches icing recipe*
• 2 packages Crystal Light Raspberry Lemonade Powdered Drink Mix
• eggs
• oil
• LOTS of baking spray
  

Directions:

• Mix the lemon cake mix as directed on the box and divide into 2-3 round cake pans. I like to use 3 so that the cakes cook more evenly, and plus you have more layers to put frosting on. :) Cook about 25 minutes or until done. Cool for approximately 5 minutes in the pan before inverting them on a wire rack.
• Mix the white cake mix as directed, adding the raspberry flavoring. Cook the same as with the lemon cakes.
• When your cakes are done and cooled to the touch, generously wrap them in a layer or saran wrap, and then foil and place them in the freezer until frozen. I usually leave them overnight. The good thing about putting them in the freezer is that it enables you to make the cakes in advance and then only have to decorate it the day of. And the crumb coat is so much easier!
• When you're ready to start icing the cakes, prepare your raspberry lemonade frosting. Take your 3 batches of frosting and mix in 1 packet of the Crystal Light Raspberry Lemonade drink mix. Taste it - see how you like it. If you want it stronger, add more. For my 3 batches I used 1.5 packets. It had a strong flavor but it wasn't overpowering. I wanted to make sure that it was a noticeable and distinguishable flavor.
  
• Take your cakes out of the freezer. On whatever plate or cake stand you are using, but a generous glob of frosting and smear it around and then put your first cake layer down. ALWAYS put frosting down on your plate first so that your cake doesn't slide around or shift. Crumb coat the top of the first layer, and then add the rest of the layers alternating between lemon and raspberry, adding frosting between each layer. Once you have them all stacked up nice and neatly, crumb coat the sides of the cakes. It doesn't have to be perfect since it's all going to be covered, but you do want a nice coat on there.
• To do the roses, you'll need a 1M tip and a pastry bag (you could use a ziploc bag, but pastry bags really do work better). Also, if you enjoy cake and cookie decorating, I would recommend getting some icing bag ties. They are brilliant at keeping the icing in the bags and not all over your hands. I followed the tutorial on I am Baker to do the roses. And it was SO EASY. The roses are a big impact, but they are quick and even if they are a bit messy, they still look great.
  

And that's all! Now you can make your own Rose Covered Raspberry Lemonade Cake! And when you do, invite me over for a slice. :)


*Basic Frosting Recipe:

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening (Crisco)
• 1/2 butter softened (1 stick)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups powdered sugar (approximately 1 lb)
• 2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

• In a large bowl, cream shortening and butter. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar one cup at a time scraping bowl often.
  
• When all sugar has been mixed, it will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy - this could take up to 5 minutes.
  
• Keep bowl covered with a DAMP towel until ready to use. Can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
  

Sprucing Up My Plants

So you all remember the movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days? There was a scene in the movie where crazy Kate Hudson makes this huge deal about their "love fern." Well, Britt and I have one of our own ... sort of. Right before we got married we were given a plant. Some sort of ivy. It's held on for five years, even though I am a plant killer. This past week I was looking at it and it just looked so sad with it's two little tendrils hanging down the side of my end table, so I gave it a face lift.

I started by putting 3 wooden skewers in the plant's pot in a triangular shape (like a teepee).


Then I hot glued the three poles together at the top. I wove the ivy around the poles and then I took a little green string and tied the end of the tendril to the top just to secure it a bit.

Ta-da! It looks so much better.
And I know - for a plant that is 5+ years old, it's kind of scrawny. But it's scrappy! And it has what it takes to make it through the lean times. :)

Working, working, working!

Look at me! I'm actually getting things done again! It's absolutely amazing. The list on my desk that's a mile long may just get done after all. :)

But sorry, I have no pictures to share because 1) I'm waiting for a big reveal on my most recent project, and 2) I didn't take any (which is probably the bigger reason).

Hopefully this weekend I'll have some time to work on some robes for the little girls and some Chinese dress up items. The dress up clothes are still in the planning stages and I haven't quite figured out if I'm going to have to make my own frog closures or if I'll be able to buy them. Of course it would be really cool to learn how to make them myself, and I found a really awesome tutorial, but ... maybe this week isn't the time to learn how.

I want these so bad!!

How cute are these shoes? And what kid wouldn't want to create all sorts of animal footprints? They are made by a Japanese company Kiko + Kids and they are called Ashiato Shoes. I think I partially love them because when I was in elementary school I read a story about a little Japanese girl and her square shoes and I just loved it. Since, I've always had a soft spot for them.

They aren't going to be available in the US for a while though. Do you think there's anyway I can make some for the girls?

Fall Wardrobe 2 - Refashioned Sweater Dress

This was once a sweater that I wore all the time in high school in college. But, as I'm no longer the same size, and I very rarely ever wear sweaters anymore, I decided it was time for it to find a new life. I have to say, that this kind of refashion is one of the easiest to do. I simply laid one of Charissa's a-line dress on top of my sweater, and cut along the lines for the body keeping the shoulder seams and the neck. So then I lined up the sleeves, keeping the hem of the sleeves (one less thing to do!). Sorry, this probably doesn't make sense, but it was so easy. Because I kept the neckline, the bottom hemline, and the two sleeve hems, I only have three seems to sew. can't beat that! And CJ has a new dress!

Fall Wardrobe 1 - McCall's M6154

I made the girls two of these dresses this week using McCall's M6154. Well, I feel like they may be more like tunics. They are so wide that they seem shorter. Either way, it'll be fine since I have a great love affair with leggings entrusting that the girls will be covered. (I feel like leggings are a bit more wearable for little girls than tights. They are a bit tougher so I don't have to worry about them crawling all over the place or being rough and tumbling at a park.)

ANYWAY - the pattern is super easy. I actually feel like the directions made it harder, so I ignored them and just made the dress on my own. Which really wasn't hard because there are all of four pieces (I didn't add pockets or bows or anything else). The only thing I had to alter was the yoke. I felt like it was just way too big. Looking at their pictures, I think that was the style they were going for, but I just didn't want the yoke going half way down their chest. I think I probably would have lengthened it a bit too so that I could get one year as a dress and the next year as a tunic.


This year as I work on the girls' wardrobe I'm trying to focus on serviceable items that Charissa can wear to school. We're not 100% sure she's going this fall, but if she is she'll need clothes that aren't super poofy and adorned with bows and bobbles. It's going to break her heart. I don't know what she'll do if she ever goes to a school with a uniform.

Sew Much Ado's Reusable Swiffer Cover Tutorial

I have long been a fan of the Swiffer WetJet - especially since I have wood floors throughout my entire house. It's light, it's easy to get in tough spots, and there's just enough spray to get those extra dirty spots where small people have left their mark. But I don't like the covers Swiffer makes because they aren't reusable. I tried just using a rag and sticking it on there with the existing velcro, but that led to less than desirable results. I really wanted to make a reusable cover, but I just never sat down to figure out how to do it.

Enter Sew Much Ado with her Reusable Swiffer Sweeper Cover Tutorial. Brilliant! It was so easy, a picture with every step, and I made 2 in about 20 minutes - using materials that I had on hand.

I did make a few *minor* changes:

• She used an old chenille sock for the sweeper part, but I didn't have a sock to donate to this project, so I just used some terry cloth I had in my fabric stash. Worked just as well.
• For the stretchy part on top, she used an old tshirt, but again I didn't have one I wanted to cut up so I used some knit from the stash. Note: if you use a 2-way stretch knit instead of a 4-way stretch, make sure the fabric stretches lengthwise so it gets around the sweeper.
  
• MEASURE YOUR SWIFFER! Her measurements were not the same for my swiffer. It turned out ok, as my knit is really stretchy, but it would have been easier to add an extra 1/2 inch in length.

I didn't really change anything ... just fabric choices. Hope someone out there uses this tutorial!