I made an "Elsa" cake, and so can you!

Remember last year, when Lily turned 4 and I made this cake?

Apparently this is thing now in our family. 'Cause guess what Lily wanted for her 5th birthday cake? 

An Elsa cake, of course.

So, even though I had kind of sworn off the whole "doll in the cake thing". I did it. Cause I love her and she's turning 5 which is turning me into a sappy hot mess.

Thankfully, the cake didn't turn out a hot mess!

So... here we go! Your handy-dandy easy-peasy "doll in the cake dress" How To!

Step One: Make a double recipe of a cake. Any kind. Since this was an "Elsa" cake, we went with blue velvet, which is basically red velvet with blue food coloring. In the photos this cake looks chocolate, but really, it's blue. Ish. I used Martha Stewart's red velvet recipe, because of course I did.

I baked 1/4 of the batter in a round bowl, which didn't come out all that good. I think I have the wrong kind of bowl. Anyway, I ended up with 2 rounds and a small bowl-like shape (1/4 of the cake batter went to make cupcakes for another event.)

Step Two: Cut the layers of cake in half. I froze the cake after making it, which makes it much easier to slice. 

Step Three: Start layering the cake with icing. Cut a small round hole in each layer. Don't worry about the icing reaching the edge of the cake layer after the first one. It will be trimmed off later.

Step Four: Put your bowl-shape piece on top. Try not to fret too much about how crispy it is on the outside and gooey on the inside. Our doll is really tall, and wearing high heels (which I crazy glued to her feet because I am so sick of looking for doll shoes.) So I ended up adding a few stray pieces to the very top of the cake so the doll's bum would be covered up.

Step Five: Carefully trim around the cake sides so you have a "dress" shape. Then ice with your first layer of icing, helpfully called the "crumb layer".  I used simple butter cream (butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, a splash of milk.) Cream cheese icing works really well too. By the end I used three sticks of butter and about 1 1/2 lbs of powered sugar to make enough icing. 

Step Six: Stick the doll in! Position her like she's singing "Let It Go." This is very important, obviously.

Step Seven: Apply the final layer of icing, hopefully crumb free.

Step Eight: Decorate with sprinkles, cut out snowflakes, etc. A professional would have used marzipan snowflakes and had a tiny Olaf, but we're not professionals, are we?

Step Nine: Very carefully wrap your cake in plastic wrap and hide it in the fridge. Or lock the fridge, or whatever you need to do to keep your birthday girl from seeing the cake, or from anyone from ruining your hard work.

Step Ten: Log on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc to brag about how you made an Elsa cake. This step is the most important, obviously.

Happy Baking!

Fluffer-Nutters

We try to eat pretty healthy around here. I am that mom, after all. I pack carrot sticks, like, every where we go. (And I don't even like carrots.) But I have my weaknesses. Chocolate chip cookies. Macaroni and Cheese.  Cheese.

and Fluff.

Yes, fluff... that totally not even really a food, sticky gooey sweet food-like substance. A few years ago Andrew and I drove up the West Coast from San Francisco to Seattle, picnicking all the way. I discovered Fluff on that trip. Specifically, fluffernutters.  Man, those are delicious. Especially with a few very ripe sweet strawberries sliced up and stuck in the middle. (Like banana pb&j, only juicier)  Every time I pass a jar of Fluff on my way to pick up peanut butter, I remember that wonderful trip.

So this summer, I decided to give my kids a treat. I bought some fluff. I spread it on some oatmeal bread with some peanut butter. Yum, um, um. Lily loved it. Daniel loved it. I loved it. Andrew just shook his head at me.

Summer vacations are sometimes a good time to break the rules. ;)

What are your favorite summertime treats? 

Easy Peasy Mac n Cheesy

We (the children and I) decided that this was the summer to teach Daddy how to cook. (A true Italian boy, the man cannot boil water.) 

First on the menu: Mac N Cheese. This is Daniel and Mommy's favorite food.  Lily won't touch it, but we keep putting it in front of her because who doesn't like mac and cheese?! One of these days she'll wake up and realize the error of her ways. 

Here is what that Daddy cooked today, which huge success!

Easy Peasy Mac N Cheesy

Boil up a box of your favorite pasta. We usually use shells or elbows.

Once the pasta is done, drain off the water, keeping the pasta in the pot. Most of the time, I turn the burner off, but on really cold days I might keep it on low.

Toss into the pasta pot: an inch cube of butter (about 2 tablespoons), a heaping tablespoon of flour, a cup of milk (we use whole), and about 2-3 cups of grated or cut up cheese. We usually use cheddar, occasionally tossing in some Parmesan or cream cheese or whatever mild cheese I have in the fridge. 

Stir, stir, stir til everything is melted and gooey and looking delicious. Eat immediately. 

Tonight we had ours with a side salad and some crunchy bacon. Heaven. (Lily ate a piece of bacon and some pear slices. Silly girl!)

What should we teach him to cook next!?