Tie Dye Birthday Cakes

The daughter came back from Europe straight into another year older.
I saw this Duff's Tie Dye  cake mix at Target and immediately had to make this cake for her.


The color dyes are fabulous. They bake nearly true to the cake box art.


I made the Camouflage Cake for the other child back in February.
These are simple cake mixes.
You divy up the batter into small bowls, color them, plop them in the cake pans.
A little messy. But easy clean-up messy.

Real simple Buttercream frosting.
Added some bling.

Found a setting on my smarty pants phone -making the cake a cartoon-like image.









Very tasty.
Very tie dye.

Although I can only taste the frosting because of my food sensitivities.

The plate was designed and made by my daughter. It is now the designated  cake plate.



In major marketing genious, Duff's made youtube videos if you think making the cake is difficult!

Cake Plates

 Haven't you always wanted a  cake stand?
With the lid?
I mentioned this to my friend last month and she gave me hers. The reality is no one hauls cake stands out anymore. No one bakes anymore. I only bake one cake a year around here. I can't eat them. It's easier to buy a few slices from the bakery when the hubby gets a hankering.
I still  wanted one.

The one she gave me looks very much like this one. A little taller on the pedestal. Small pressed glass rosebuds decorating the stand.
Last week when I was headed out to a sale advertised in the paper - which turned out to be a dud, I stumbled across an amazing estate sale.
Imagine my surprise when I found the stand - almost identical to the one my friend gave me. I asked the gals if there was a cover and they went back inside and found it. They hadn't been sure it went with this stand or another that one of the gals had.  We all laughingly decided it went with mine. The stand was two bucks but the cover made it three.

A weird coincidental deal.

 And the deals kept coming.

These Christmas pieces: made in Germany, with their boxes. The tree has that Swedish feel - not sure where it was made. Besides - those girls running the sale were loving me.

CD's at 25 cents a piece. Vintage John Denver. If you admit you like his songs - great on the piano- then I'll have to like you back. Christmas - country singers: Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, etc.

Kitchen gadgets.
I will sell the pampered chef teaspoon/tablespoon measure.
Give the whisk to my sis in St. Paul.

  Gadget box with Holland blueware miniatures. 

This goes to creative friend for her shop.

Saturday, I did some garage saling in an area that is hit or miss. I was headed in that direction for AT&T and Best Buy to get Smart.
I didn't find much but one garage sale had some sheet music out on the table that I was looking through. I found a couple of pieces but my eyes lit up when I saw the music for The Happy Wanderer. My mom & I share a love for kitchy songs, campfire songs, piano music.

I thought I would learn it and then play it for my mom, maybe give it to her.

Best part was these people were obviously not liking the whole garage sale thing. So he said,"Do you play the piano?"
I answered, "Yes".
"Why don't you take it all then."

I felt somewhat guilty at my 'score' and gave him a  dollar. It was probably the only dollar they made all day.

Val-De-Re...Val-De-Ray....hm,hm hee,,hm, hm, hay.. . . . my knapsack on my back.

The Happy Wanderer

 

I love to go a-wandering,
Along the mountain track,
And as I go, I love to sing,
My knapsack on my back. Chorus:
Val-deri,Val-dera,
Val-deri,
Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
Val-deri,Val-dera.
My knapsack on my back.
I love to wander by the stream
That dances in the sun,
So joyously it calls to me,
"Come! Join my happy song!"
I wave my hat to all I meet,
And they wave back to me,
And blackbirds call so loud and sweet
From ev'ry green wood tree.
High overhead, the skylarks wing,
They never rest at home
But just like me, they love to sing,
As o'er the world we roam.
Oh, may I go a-wandering
Until the day I die!
Oh, may I always laugh and sing,
Beneath God's clear blue sky!




I found the Muppets performing this song on YouTube.
In another odd coincidence, this is from episode 401 where john Denver stars.

***Dec 2014 update - sorry, the video apparently 'died'.

Gluten Free White Birthday Cake

Bakery Girl's Gluten Free White Cake

1 cup Butter
1 Cup Sugar
4 Eggs & 1 Yolk
3/4 tsp Hazelnut Extract
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/3 Cup Millet Flour
2/3 Cup Sorghum Flour
1/3 Cup Tapioca or Potato Starch
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp  Salt

Preheat oven to 350'.
Grease & Flour cake pans. I used 2x 8" pans.

Mix all flours, bak. pwd. & salt. Set aside.

Beat butter with electric mixer until light & fluffy.

Add sugar, beat again for several minutes until light & fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating 2 minutes after each egg.

Add extracts.

Fold flour mixture carefully so as to not lose the light softness that you spent several minutes mixing in.

Pour into/ fold into  prepared cake pans and smooth surface as best as you can.

Bake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out shiny but not sticky - around 18 - 20 minutes. (I needed 22 minutes -- 8" pans?)

Remove from pans after about 10 minutes and let cool.

Because of the double extracts, this smells devine out of the oven. Mmm.
Be sure to beat and beat some more. Goal is to incorporate lots of air into this batter.

When queried, the birthday girl requested chocolate frosting. I made a simple buttercream.
Loose measurements are:

1/3 cup softened butter beaten with mixer.
Add two cups of Powdered sugar and beat so butter sticks to sugar.
Add about 1 capful from the jug of milk (~ tbsp)
Add 1 -2 squares of unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled a bit.
Add several Tbsps of powdered cocoa.
Add 1 capful of milk again until it starts looking like frosting.
Add up to two cups more of powdered sugar
Maybe another capful of milk

To spreading consistency. Finger licking is necessary.

And then - because I don't stock birthday candles or other decorations anymore, be creative for the decorations.
I had little valentine colored sprinkles that made the chocolate pop. Cute.
You could also utilize some flag toothpicks by glueing a triangle of paper to the tips as a flag.

And here was the best deal: Gluten-free baking (whatever your reasons) is done well by the combination of select & certain flours. Of which you buy the entire bag from Bob's Red Mill and because you infrequently bake (my health problems go beyond gluten), you are stuck with the remainder - all these bags piled into the fruit drawer of your fridge. I asked for and got nicely, the precise amount of flours direct from bakery girl. Beyond helpful to me.

A moist, light cake.

Technically, the extracts are in an alcohol (grain) base. Feel free to substitute but be mindful of the liquid replacement value.
Those specialty bags of flour store longer in the fridge.
Since the butter has salt in it, I added just a sprinkle.
I had minimal problems eating this cake. Two slices over two days.

It Became A Really Good Day.

Friday.
The day of the garage sales. Work too - but we don't count that as part of really good.
This morning after finishing my am shift, I headed over to the next town to do a little garage saling. Along the way, I passed the field with the little lambs out frolicking - but as usual - no camera with me.
At the sale, I found 3 painted dressers that would be perfect for Lavender Hill Cottage , my creative friend's shop. Frantic texting back & forth - neither one of us owns a smart phone yet - produced an offer which was accepted. Before I even saw the dressers, I found a metal bathroom shelf which when queried, was only a dollar. Good vibes. No prices on anything but the prices continued to be fantastic.
My car would only hold two of the dressers so I will have to come back this afternoon to pick up the third dresser prior to going back to work.
What did I buy? A leather valise in great condition - perfect for storing some of my fabric - one of the smaller collections. I also got as a bonus, fabrics in the lower two drawers of one of the dressers which I split with creative friend.
Feeling smug about my good deal, I dropped off the dressers and headed home to bake a gluten-free white cake that bakery girl dreamed up. That's for my daughter's birthday cake.
I had time to check my etsy order page and pack up an order when I noticed an email from Best buy.
GIVING me a $125 coupon towards anything. Which means I am getting the IPAD for my birthday. Apparently part of my laptop deal from last fall.
Skip around the house. giggle.
I starting laying out the ingredients for the cake when I heard the unmistakable rumble of trucks outside. Running out to see  -- this--.

And this.

{{the shack}} wing parts

And this.

more wing parts

I picked up dog poop so no one would step in any but someone still managed to do so while pushing the fuselage back towards the hangar.
Then I ran back into the house to get that cake going so it would have time to cool and get it out of the pans before I needed to leave.

Meanwhile the guys unloaded all this.

Someday, it will turn out to look something like this.

One final pic.
Wait - I want you to know, bakery girl - your gluten-free cake recipe turned out stunning.
Out of the oven and it smells de-lish.
I'll post the recipe another time cause this day ain't over yet.

I get dibs on being PAT.

I Will Survive

I heard this on the radio this morning during break.





Or, my current favorite. I like the electric guitar solos.
At any rate, I like Cake's version better than Gloria Gaynor's rendition.




Thank you Suzi for some serious garage sale therapy today.