I also thought it would be a good idea to test it out a few times before the shower, just in case. We hosted Mother’s Day lunch and I thought that was a perfect excuse for my first attempt. The directions on the pan weren’t very specific so I searched online to find out more about using the cake pan. I ran across this site that had the most amazing tutorial to make this cupcake cake even better. What could possibly make a giant cupcake better you ask? How about a chocolate shell “cupcake liner”!!! SQUEAL!!

How cute is that?! I used the leftover red melting chips I had from a dish I made for Kim’s Twilight Party. I wasn’t sure I had enough, but it worked out fabulously! What do you think?

I did, however, learn in this experience that the bottom cake needs to bake quite a bit longer than the top. I only had one cake mix on hand so I just used it and baked it all at the same time, deciding I would try something different next time. It was good, but the top was a little over-baked. So, my advice would be to either bake the pieces separately or put the bottom in the oven for awhile first, then add the mix to the top after the bottom has baked awhile.

The cake was a hit at lunch so when my company sent out an e-mail asking for contributions for a bake sale we were having to raise money for the City of Hope of course I thought I had to try this again, with two cake mixes! I had already bought pink melting chips for the baby shower so I used them. I got strawberry cake for the top and devil’s food for the bottom. YUM! I also baked the pieces separately, first the bottom and then the top. I should mention that I also learned you need to level the pieces by cutting off the bulging top that cakes usually get. Not a big deal. Although, as I mentioned when I made a barrel cake I never let the cake cool long enough. Same deal here, a chunk of the top got stuck to the pan. What do you do? Simply fix it with frosting and nobody will ever know. This baby scored a $20 donation for our bake sale:

I can’t wait to make another for the baby shower. I love making cakes. (Especially when I don’t have to eat it all myself!) And just think of the other things you can do with this pan – you can make the candy shell to fill with candy or other goodies. I decided I love using the melting chips because the colors are so vibrant, and there’s no mess like when trying to use food coloring. (People thought the chocolate shell was a plastic container!)

Have you used this Giant Cupcake Pan? Do you have any fun tips or tricks to share?

Photo by DMC43

* * * *

My family traditionally makes the rounds to decorate graves around this time of year. We most recently lost my Dad last August and my Mom didn’t have it in the budget to get a headstone up this year. (Let me take this opportunity to get on my soapbox and encourage everyone to get some sort of life insurance policy, no matter how small, believe me, every little bit helps!) I felt bad he’s in an unmarked grave not knowing how long it will be before the headstone will be put up (hoping by this time next year) so I made a temporary grave marker for him but didn’t have a solid frame or anything to keep it from just being set on the ground.

I scoured the internet looking for some sort of sign frame, thinking there MUST be something out there. Well, a couple hours of searching resulted in nothing that would suit my needs. I mentioned this to my handy husband who promptly said, “No big deal…I can make you one.” Have I told you how much I love this guy?! So we took a trip to Lowe’s, bought some steel, and here is our creation:

Hopefully that will suffice until we get a real headstone up.

My thoughts go out to everyone who is remembering lost loved ones this weekend.

At first I thought it would be funny to do some kind of boob cake (Drew hearts boobs) but then I decided to go PG rated. I somehow fell upon a blog that had a basic tutorial on barrel cakes. (Wouldn’t you know I cannot for the life of me find the link now!) I was immediately drawn to the fact that this blogger pointed out how easy it is to make a fantastic looking cake even if the cake has lots of flaws. Perfect.

I bought a regular Chocolate Devil’s Food Cake mix and tried to find peanut butter frosting to go with my Kit Kats and Reece’s Pieces I planned to use with the cake.

I couldn’t find PB frosting so I bought cream cheese frosting instead. But then, when I got home and started making the cake I thought, “What would Alton do?” And I made my own peanut butter icing – delicious!

1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter (I used Skippy Natural)
2 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 Stick Butter
3+ Tablespoons Milk as needed

Cream together the PB & butter. Gradually add the powdered sugar and milk as necessary to keep it thinned out, then beat the heck out of it for 3+ minutes. I kept adding milk (maybe up to 1/4 cup??) to make it really creamy so it wouldn’t tear the cake.

So, I baked my two round cakes (even though I think one is an 8″ pan and on is a 9″ pan – I figured this would be a flaw I could cover with frosting!). I hate letting cakes cool, but I suppose it’s pretty important when trying to layer cakes nicely, and, by the way, this is my first attempt at doing a layered cake.

Yes, my layers were slightly flawed because I didn’t let the cakes cool long enough. Oh well! If that happens simply place the chunk back on the cake if you can, or leave it off and fill the void with frosting. I frosted the cake with the (delicous) peanut butter frosting and you can’t even tell the layers are not exact!

Then I placed the Kit Kats around the edge. NOTE: Six Kit Kats is NOT enough for a 8-9″ round cake.

Off I ran to the grocery store to buy more candy. This particular cake took 9.5 Kit Kat bars. (Baby Kayden had the other .5 Kit Kat bar.) Then I tied a ribbon around the cake.

Finally, I dumped the bag of Reece’s Pieces over the top!

 To better transport the cake I got a plain cake box and dressed it up a bit with some scrapbooking paper. Voila!

Andy’s body has been growing more lean and muscular while mine has been growing large, round, and squishy – See evidence below:

I would show you Andy’s photos but I don’t think that would make him very happy. =) Maybe when he’s all ripped he’ll let me post some.

Andy keeps telling me “It’s okay…you’re growing a person, don’t worry about it. When you have the baby and you’re ready to get back in shape I’ll be right here with all the tools and motivation you need.” Easier said than done…I already know I have no desire to spend 2-3 hours a day at the gym like he does. But, I have no problem eating healthier and making a fair effort to get more physical activity in my daily routine.

Although I could go to the gym and stuff now I’m going to play the pregnancy card and bow out for now; I’m too swamped at work and putting in long hours so when I get home I just want to have dinner and relax.  That being said, what I CAN do is get my eating in check. I’ve been lucky to not have any seriously bad cravings, and although I’ve hit the drive-thrus a little more frequently since being pregnant, I can’t say my eating is out of control.

I’m game for trying to eat more lean proteins and less carbs and fat, and watch my sugar intake. (I don’t just have a sweet tooth, I’ve got a mouthfull!) I’m not going to be as strict on myself as Andy is on himself, but it’s not so bad. He’s big on eating meals consisting of some kind of meat with a bunch of veggies and salsa. Tastes much better than it sounds.

He’s really good about preparing stuff for me to eat so I don’t have to whine about how I don’t want to make something “good” to eat and it’s much easier to have a frozen pizza or something. And, our new routine is to plan our meals and do most all the prep work on Sunday so we’re packed and ready to go for the week. We bought a bunch of single serve containers and stocked the refrigerator:

Lots of fat free cottage cheese, Greek yogurt with fruit, eggs, beans, lentils, and nuts (in the other yogurt containers). I’m not a big meat fan, but I am a huge fan of Smart Dogs soy hot dogs.

The thought of real hot dogs grosses me out but these babies are delicious and pack in 15 grams of protein in one jumbo dog! The downside is they are expensive. And that’s what we’ve found with healthy food, which is unfortunate. However, I think we can get by on less food since a lot of what we eat is full of fiber and filling.

Andy says our kids are going to have the best brown bag lunches ever. I said they are going to be begging their friends to trade their soy dogs for cookies. Maybe not. I was into eating healthy when I was younger but at that age you deal with what your family gets and my family was all about convenience and sweets. At least we’ll be setting a good example and starting early.