Cake Slice: Pina Colada Cake, and an Award

This month, the Cake Slice Bakers made the Pina Colada Cake, from the book "Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes", by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne.

My Pina Colada Cake took a wild ride through three airports, two planes, two taxi rides, and several rental car rides before making it to it's final destination atop a lovely cupcake tower at my sister's wedding. (The cupcakes were done by Be My Cupcake in Cedar Park, TX.)


The Pina Colada Cake was made up of a lovely rum-soaked brown sugar cake with a pineapple-lime-vanilla filling, all wrapped up in a coconut buttercream. Since I knew this cake would have to hold up to the rigors of air travel, I opted to ice it with my sturdy cream cheese icing and then cover it with fondant. I wasn't sure how the coconut buttercream would fare and decided to play it safe. Bummer, though. I was anxious to try the buttercream since all of the icings in this book have been wonderful so far.

And how was it? The cake was delish! My sister and her new hubby really loved it.

Feel free to stop by the Cake Slice Bakers Blogroll to see how everyone else fared this month. For the recipe, click ---> here.

I also want to give a shout out and thanks to Chris from The Mixed-Up Files of... Me for giving me the Kreativ Blogger award. Thanks, girlfriend!


The RULES of this award are:

(1) Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
(2) Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
(3) Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
(4) Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
(5) Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
(6) Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
(7) Leave a comment on each of the blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.

I'm going to nominate Vibi from La Casserole Carree and Natashya from Living in the Kitchen with Puppies for this award. Girls, feel free to do what you want with this award. Post it or not, it's up to you.

Aaand lastly, seven things about myself (ugh)... OK...
1. I'm embarrassed to talk about myself.
2. I never really got South Park.
3. I can't think of anything interesting to say for #3.
4. I think high heels are a conspiracy against women.
5. I rarely watch TV. I've never seen Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, American Idol or most of the other hit shows.
6. I'm 43 and I'm still waiting for the real adults to show up and manage this household.
7. I still have a thing for Loverboy.

Rainbow Cupcakes and some Awards

We're on the homestretch, folks! One more day of school and then (sing Alice Cooper style with me, now) ... "schoooooool's out... for.. the sum-MER!". Three months of not getting kids ready for school, not supervising homework, and not getting up so early.

Of course, there's also the flip side of "not having a moment's peace" for three months, but I'm sure it will be at least a week before I notice that.

I thought I'd share some cupcakes I made for one of my son's school parties.

There's really not much to them. I piped a circle of white icing onto a cupcake using a large star tip. (I think it's a "1M" tip.) Then comes the spray color. If you're lucky enough to have gone through a serious cake decorating phase like me, you might have an airbrush (by far my all time *favorite* cake toy). If not, you can pick up the canned sprays wherever Wilton products are sold, plus I think maybe Betty Crocker makes some sprays, found in the baking aisle at the grocery store.


To make them, you first line your work area with newspaper or a plastic tablecloth to catch the overspray. (Seriously, don't skip this step or you'll be cleaning food coloring off your counters for weeks.) Next, arrange your cupcakes, kind of scrunched close together without actually touching. Then you get busy with the spray color. I sprayed in wide lines that that covered maybe half the cupcake, but you can do whatever suits your fancy. Don't get too close with the spray or you'll blow holes in your icing.

While these colorful treats might not be your first choice when entertaining your country club friends, they're easy and a big hit with the elementary school set.

.................

I also wanted to give a shout-out to a couple of really sweet bakers, Marthe and Carly.

Marthe of Culinary Delights shared not one, but two awards with me.

Thanks, Marthe! (Lucky girl is in Paris right now.) Marthe lives in The Netherlands and always shares such interesting recipes and history too, be sure to stop by and give her a holler.









The rules for both awards are:
1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

Carly of Carly's Kitchen was nice enough to pass along this award:


Aaaw, thanks Carly!

You must stop by Carly's site. Besides being a serious sweet tooth and passionate baker, this girlfriend's got some great travel photos to drool over.

The rules for this award are: "These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

I'm going to pass each of these awards to one person. Awardees, do with this what you will. If you want to pass them along as instructed, please do. If not, don't worry about it. As you can see, I'm not much of a rule-follower myself.

I'm giving the "Friends" award to Megan at My Baking Adventures.
Uber Amazing Blog to Wendy at Pink Stripes.
Triple Awards to Avanika at YumsiliciousBakes.

The rest of y'all, please pay these three wonderful bloggers a visit, they all have lovely yummy-filled blogs.

September & October Recipe Roundup and Awards!

Whew! its' been a blogging marathon this week! Before I forget (like last month) I wanted to post my favorites for the month.

September was a good month for desserts. Lots of winners here! In fact, I had such a hard time deciding which was my favorite, there was a two way tie for first.

1. Chocolate Whopper Malted Drops
1. Creme Brulee
2. Pink Grapefruit sandwich cookies
3. Chocolate Chunkers
4. Peanut Butter Cookies

October was an interesting month... not as many home-runs, in my opinion, but a few stars shone through.

My favorites for October were:

1. Lenox Almond Biscotti
2. Lemon-Lime Meringue Tart
3. Chocolate Chip Cookies, from Operation Baking Gals, round three

Lastly, but definitely not least, a number of very sweet bakers have given me some awards. I can't tell you how much these please and humble me. To be thought of by talented and generous bakers really makes my day.

Lucy from sweets, savories, etc. has given me the Excellent Blog Award. Lucy recently posted her pizelle cookies, which seriously look like they belong in an art gallery. They're gorgeous! Thanks so much, Lucy!

Cathy at The Tortefeasor has given me the Kreativ Blogger Award. Cathy is so funny, she always makes me laugh and lightens my day. Thanks, Cathy!


Pamela from Cookies with Boys and Nancy at The Dogs Eat the Crumbs have given me the Premio Artey Pico award. Thanks so much, Pamela and Nancy! I love Pamela's often playful take on her food, and she's got some seriously adorable boys. Nancy always has such interesting discussions on her blog. I go there and come away having learned something new.



The Excellent Blog award, I'm giving to Heather at Cakes, Kids, and a Lens. Heather is an awesome cake decorator, a really nice person, and she makes a mean pot of jambalaya!
The rules for the award are:

Find 5 blogs, of any kind that you love to read.
Write a post about the blogs you picked, linking back to them.
Make sure you let them know you gave them an award.

The premio artey pico award, I'm giving to Rebecca at Ezra Pound Cake. Rebecca doesn't know this but she kept me on this side of insanity today with her timely post about PMS Wrangler cookies (a.k.a no-bake chocolate cookies).

The rules are:
This award was created in Uruguay by a fellow blogger who makes dolls exclusively from recycled materials. Her blog can be reached by clicking here. The rules for this award include the following:

Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award, creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language. Advertise the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone. Each award-winner, has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
Award-winner and the one who has given the prize has to show the link of “Arte y pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

The Kreativ Blogger award has a "meme" attached to this award, in the form of lists of sevens. OK, I am going to have to think about this one, LOL. So I will get back with the lucky recipient of this award. And my list... my brain is plumb tuckered out right now, so I will get back to this also.

Here is the list to be filled out by the recipients. If you want to give this a go, just let me know... LOL, I'll give you the award!

7 things I did before

7 things I do now

7 things I want to do

7 things that attract me about the opposite sex

7 Favorite Foods

7 things I Say Most Often:

7 Tags (and award too; pick one up)

Aaaw, I got some Awards!

I am overdue in thanking several people for awards they've bestowed on this blog. I am honored and truly appreciate them.

Thanks go out first to Michelle from "Something New is Cooking". She has given me the "Just Nice Photos - Beautiful Site" and "2008 Best Blog Darts Thinker" awards (these came as a sort of package deal). I love how Michelle's family and friends play a prominent part in her blog. Thank you, Michelle!



Secondly, Michele from Alwayz Bakin', has given me the "I love you this much" award. Michele has the cutest site and is an accomplished baker and cake decorator. She is also going back to school, which takes a lot of hard work and guts. Good luck and many thanks, Michele!!


Lastly, Matt of Matt's Kitchen has given me the "E for Excellent" award. Matt always prepares such delicious-sounding dishes. I really admire his way with words and how he always has something interesting to say. Thank you very much, Matt!


In turn, I am going to give the awards out to a few people. I believe you're supposed to acknowledge the person who gave you the award, and then pass it along to a certain number of people, but I, being somewhat of a rule-breaker, am giving each to one person. I think it takes away from the spirit of awards if too many rules are attached. I say, if you think one person or 25 people deserve the award... go for it!

Vera, at Baking Obsession, has the most beautifully photographed and fantabulous sounding desserts. (If you're ever looking for recipe tester, Vera, please call me!) I am giving her the "E is for Excellent" award.

Sharon, at SugarEd Lagniappe, is a dear friend and extremely talented and creative cake decorator. If you look up the word "perfection" in the dictionary, you will find her picture alongside. I am giving her the "I Love You This Much" award.

I am going to give the first two awards out separately, since that's how they were originally (see below for some random blabbing by me on that subject).

Chocolatechic has a knack for documenting her baking progress with beautiful photos and witty discussion. She always manages to make me chuckle. I am giving her the "Beautiful Site" award.

Barbara, of Bungalow Barbara, is a knowledgeable baker who took the time to share many great pie-baking tips with me following my cherry pie crisis. I am giving her the... OK, I'm just going to call it the Darts award (the first one).

Now for the random blabbing... those of you with more meaningful things to do are now excused, lol.

Do you ever wonder where these awards come from? I do.

Out of curiousity, I tried to trace the first set of awards back to it's origin and became hopelessly lost traveling the side streets and back alleys of the blog world. For some time I found myself navigating my way through Indian food related blogs. Somewhere along the line, it appears that these two awards were originally separate but were then combined.

I believe the first one started out as the "Premio Dardos (Darts Award)" but now has the title "Best Blog Darts Thinker" award. I have to assume something has been lost (or added, as the case may be) in the translation, lol. Tracing it back, I made it to a site that looked like it was a cross-roads to Brazillian, Spanish-written blogs. That blog's author had translated the award's intent and came up with "This award is for bloggers who distinguish themselves for showing cultural values, ethics, great and fun writing skills, as well individual values, through their creative writing". There was also a set of rules that included sending it along to 15 people! No wonder this award has been so prolific and hard to trace to its origins.

I'm curious, what are your thoughts on blog awards? do you follow the rules attached to them? do you post them in your sidebar, and why? Do you chose not the post them, and why?

OK, until next time... night, night!

I'm in Love!

or at least I'm spreading the love...

I am beyond flattered that my first award is from Farida of Farida’s Azerbaijani Cookbook . Farida has one of the greatest blog entries ever with her zebra cake. Isn't that fantastic?

She gave me this totally adorable award...


And I'm going to pass it along to a few of my favorite blogs:
Gigi Cakes
She's Becoming DoughMesstic
Whisk: a food blog
The Food Librarian
Ezra Pound Cake

Please go check them out and I'm sure you'll see why they're among my favorites.

Thank You so much, Farida! Mwah!