Let Them Eat Cake

My boyfriend's birthday is in September, but we always celebrate in late August before we go off to school. This year I kept it simple with a small 8 inch cake. I made a vanilla cake with a chocolate middle, and butter icing. It was just he right amount of sweetness for a summer night!

What really made the cake was this cake topper I made. All I did was cut triangles from scrapbook paper, write "HAPPY", and tape it to string. I also then taped it onto dowels. Using glue might have looked better, but I couldn't find my glue gun (naturally). Either way, it's a reusable cake topper for any occasion!

How do you celebrate birthdays?

Cheers,

Liv

Petals in Icing

Every year for my birthday, my father makes each of us kids a personalized cake. When I started playing violin, I had a violin cake. When I got my ears pierced, my dad actually made a cake shaped like an ear with a giant sprinkle-decorated earring. More recently I've had a world cake, a beehive, Italy shaped cake, iPod, and a ski! My brothers have also had some lovely cakes. Well, just one brother. One of my brothers doesn't even like cake (goodness)! Anyway, my younger brother just got his braces off, so my dad made a giant smile!

My mother also works at a bakery, and while she doesn't make cakes, everything else she makes is heavenly. Apple hand pies, tarts, whoopie pies, mm!

You could say baking is in my blood. I've always liked to bake, and had a lot of sweet successes! As I've gotten older, I've wanted to learn how to cake decorate so I can make amazing cakes for my kids someday too. While neither of my parents have had any official baking training, I knew I needed to read up before I started decorating with icing. My mom did once teach herself how to do cake decorating, so I was lucky to have a Wilton's Cake Decorating book already (which can be purchased at Michael's Craft Stores).

Here's my first attempt at decorating! I had a lot of fun, not to mention I was pleased with my start! I can't wait to learn more. And they were pretty yummy :)

Forgive the picture quality. I was in our kitchen at night, so the light was pretty harsh!

 I really loved doing vines! I think they would be lovely as a cake border

This one reminded me of a hydrangea! 

Hope you all enjoyed a sweet today!

Liv

Summer Brunch

It's not yet summer, but it sure is hot enough! This morning I made a quick, easy brunch for my boyfriend and I to enjoy on my patio. I made a favorite of mine: cinnamon toast. My dad used to make this for my brothers and I quite frequently growing up. Recently I remembered it at the school dining hall and was pleased with how easy it was to make! (It seemed so fancy as a little kid)

Here's all you do:

1. Generously butter some toast. I used some delicious homemade bread, mm! Why not try cinnamon raisin toast for a sweeter treat?
2. Put the toast on a pan and place in the oven for 10 minutes. Butter should be fully absorbed into the bread, and the bread will be a little golden.
3. Sprinkle on sugar and cinnamon.
4. Enjoy the easiest and sweetest breakfast food ever!

The whole brunch! 

Cinnamon toast

June means strawberries! My favorite way to enjoy them (besides right off the vine) is to cut them up and lightly sugar them. Nothing beats it!

Scrambled eggs and turkey bits

Not a bad way to start a Tuesday :)

cheers,

Liv

Sweet Summer Chicken

Here's an easy chicken recipe that's perfect after a tiring summer day. It was so easy to make, and allows for playing around with flavor.

Ingredients:

• chicken
• salt
• pepper
• parsley
• honey

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees. Put a piece of parchment on a pan and place the chicken on the pan. Marinade the salt, pepper, and parsley. I used more pepper than salt because I enjoy the flavor more, but that's my personal taste. Play around with it! Next put a generous drop of honey on the chicken. Again, more honey results in sweeter chicken. Cook the chicken for 35 minutes. Time may need to be adjusted depending on the oven, chicken, etc. 

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Liv 

Farm Fresh

There's nothing like fresh veggies in summertime. Here's the first bit of asparagus from the farm I'm working for over the summer! With a little butter and salt, it's just perfect. I can't wait until we're getting produce everyday!

Cheers,

Liv

Dining Hall Delights

Hello, Hello!

Today I had what felt like a life-changing dining hall experience. Let me start at the beginning. First, my school's food is really not that bad. It's pretty good, to be honest. Even though it's a small school, there are 2 dining halls and several other places to get snacks too. The company is going a great job incorporating local foods and being creative with their meal options. But of course, it's hard producing food in masses, so sometimes dinner is just...not that great. If you are, or ever have been, a college student...you know what I mean. You're starving after class and studying, and then you come into the dining hall and it's just....why are the carrots hard? Why is the pizza so greasy? Why is there NO food? And then you eat cereal for dinner.

Sad!!

But no more! There are ways people!

So here begins "Dining Hall Delights"! I've been trying to be more creative with my food, and I'd like to share it with you all, and of course, hear from you all!

This is a pretty simple thing, but SO good! I gave up dessert for lent which has been so hard for me because I love chocolate and sweets. Like, if I could bring one food on a desert island, chocolate is a huge contender. Tonight I just needed something sweet, and the school happened to have a "waffles for dinner station". I added blueberries, bananas, brown sugar (honey could have worked too), yogurt, and coconut, and mixed it all up. It was just delicious and hit the spot! I was also thinking this could be done using any fresh fruit, or using fruit yogurt instead. I'd also like to try adding a jam instead of fruit as well. The coconut was definitely an exciting thing and made it better. But a bag of coconut is not to pricey and can easily be smuggled into a dining hall. :) Also there could be other sweet things to add! Why not crumbling up a cookie or some sweet cereal?

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take a picture of it, but I encourage you all to try it!

Love,

Liv