Mama's Birthday Cocoa-Nut Cake

September 30, 2010

After renewing my car tags, my mama and I headed back to Hot Springs for her belated birthday dinner. We had a wonderful time visiting and eating and sitting on the porch. Of course, I baked her a birthday cake. :)

It was a Cocoa-Nut cake (Devil's Food chocolate cake stuffed with coconut and chopped nuts) with cream cheese icing, mums in fall colors of burgundy, orange & goldenrod, and chocolate "dirt" crumbs. It was heavenly! Zach said he thinks it is the prettiest cake I have made so far, and my mama absolutely loved it.

Before dinner, my mama opened her present:

Here we are posing (in my new shirts from Erin and in her birthday sapphire scarf and pin from us) with the cake. Happy birthday, Mama! We loved seeing you!!

I cooked rice, corn & black bean burritos and stuffed tomatoes. The burrito recipe is a definite keeper, especially at 94 cents a serving!

I also added Hobie's name later because September 30 is the anniversary of when Erin and Zach found our fat boy. He's FIVE! :)

We waited for Erin and Josh to get off work and come home before we cut the cake. That's why Mama is in her pajamas. :)

Friday we visited with Momo and took Mama downtown to walk along Bathhouse Row and see West Mountain. On our way, we saw this locksmith. It's awfully nice of them to open your car for free when your kid is locked in!

"Happy birthday, Bobby" cake

September 18-19, 2010

I made my favorite father-in-law a birthday cake yesterday, which we surprised him with today after a birthday lunch at Cajun Boilers. If he happened to see it, we were going to say it was an anniversary cake for us, and I waited to ice "Happy Birthday" on it this morning after he went to church. I accidentally gave him my phone to look at some pictures after I had taken pictures of the finished cake! Oh no! But I said I needed it back because it had a picture Zach didn't need to see. *lol* "Anniversary" makes a great cover, even though he said he knew something was up. ; )

It was a really yummy cake, and I just love the icing tricks I've learned! Keeping the spatula moist definitely helps to get a smooth surface.

Happy (late) birthday, Bobby! We love you!!

Happy 90th Birthday, Momo!

August 9, 2010

Happy 90th birthday, Momo! We love you!!

(Momo had already blown out the candles by the time my phone took the picture. *lol* She's a go-getter!)

Presenting the Cooke's!

June 19, 2010 (The 19th is a sweet date!)
Yesterday we attended Zach's cousin Lindsey's wedding, where she became the bride of Sam Cooke at the Albert Pike Residence Hotel in Little Rock. :)

It was a lovely wedding.
I just loved Lindsey's dress and hair.

I really liked how the seats were arranged around the bride and groom and the four columns with the tulle-and-light arrangement overhead. I took lots of pictures of that!

Waiting to begin: family had to be there early for pictures. :)the balcony from which the bridal began begin the processional

The music was fun and personal--I mean, how can you not love a wedding with The Beatles?! It was especially sweet to see her sister Ashley, her matron of honor cry, while her husband Josh married them.
(I didn't get any photos of the ceremony because the flash would have spoiled the moment.)

Luckily my favorite sister-in-law borrowed my camera to get a picture with her cousin. I took pictures of Sam and Lindsey dancing, but you can't see them very well, so I decided to use this sweet picture on facebook. :)

first dance

It was also so great to finally meet Zach's cousins Ashley, Alexis, and Camille and their significant others and getting to spend more time with his extended family. They are all so sweet! I also was so happy to meet his dad's cousin, Linda Adams. (Zach said I was beaming when I met her, telling her how she taught me to cook. *lol*)

All in all, it was a great day! We've been married NINE months exactly!

Our best wishes and congrats to the happy couple, the Cooke's!

Here are some more pictures:

cousin Alexis cutting the bridal cake

so rich

father-daughter dance

Erin and Sayer boogies.

This groomsmen stole the show dancing to "Beat It!"

garter toss (Lindsey threw her bouquet from the balcony, so I didn't get any pictures.)

farewell with sparklers

wedding dress+fire=not safe=Run!=Ashley gets no pictures of the bride and groom= :(

They rode away in this carriage-sooo sweet!

"Monica, We knee-d you to get well soon!"

June 9, 2010

Wednesday I made Monica a get well present: a devil's food cake (with chocolate fudge pudding baked in) and homemade cream cheese icing! I made the icing delphinium blue and piped a border around the top and bottom of the cake and added daisies (the only thing I can make so far!). Daisies worked because 1) Monica is a hippie, and 2) they are her favorite flower (which I didn't know).
But I was also very punny: "Monica, we knee-d you to get well soon!" (Yep. I'm a riot.)

A few weeks ago when I started working on Erin and Nathan's birthday cakes, I just knew I had to make one after Monica's surgery since cake is her world. : )

Thursday we made it out to see her, Nan, Judy, and Jeff's dad Peter in Carlisle. We had a nice visit and enjoyed our cake thoroughly. : ) I only wish we could have stayed longer. : (


Monica, I am so proud of you and I have a great feeling about your recovery. Keep up the good work! AND I hope your present brings you tastiness through at least the weekend! (I know cake won't last long around you. :)

I'm now a Southern Cake Lady

May 30, 2010

LOOK AT WHAT I MADE!!

Josh planned a surprise birthday party for Erin and his friend Nathan, and Beverly asked me to help her make the cakes for them. I jumped at the opportunity to learn a bit more, especially since she's taken all the Hobby Lobby courses and surpassed them!

This is Erin and Nathan blowing out their "unity candle." (We didn't use candles on the cake because it would ruin them!)

She began by showing me how make the daisies and leaves out of gum paste, so on Friday and Saturday I made little daisies and medium daisies and all the leaves.

Then Saturday after Beverly baked the cakes, she showed me how to make the buttercream icing and color it and thin it and cover the cakes with a "crumb coat" and then ice them, all the while smoothing it out. (It is a PAIN to ice a daisy-shaped cake! :)

Sunday morning I got up before church and edged the cake with alternating daisies and make the bunch of flowers in the middle as the flower center and wrote "Happy Birthday Erin!" and piped the star edging.
I can't believe I wrote her name so prettily and neatly in cursive! AND I LOVED adding the little daisy and leaf on her name. It just makes me so happy.

I had no idea that I was going to end up being the sole decorator of Erin's cake! It wasn't perfect by any means, but I am very proud of my first "professional" cake. :)

Happy (early) birthday, Erin! I hope you liked your daisy cake. :)

For Nathan's cake, I iced the chocolate cake in white icing, and Beverly piped on a black mesh cage on the sides and placed a fondant fight glove on top. (Nathan is really into the UFC game. I learned sooo much designing this cake!) Finally, I added the words. I think he was impressed, too.

Zach is sooo impressed with my mad cake-making skills. He thought my daisies were purchased at the grocery store and said it was beautiful. Many people at the party said it was too pretty to eat!!

It's so much fun to make silly faces with my husby. This was my favorite of the night!