Crazy busy and baking

I can't believe how busy life gets some times!  From the first of June I have had my daughters high school graduation, a week of taking care of her while she had a flare up of her autoimmune disease (the worst one in a long time!), dress rehersals for her dance recital, her 15th & final dance recital itself, a week of vacation - her senior trip & visiting my oldest daughter, the 4th of July holiday and finally the same daughter's 18th birthday!  Wow, now that I write all of that out, no wonder I'm tired and I've spent alot of time with Audrey! 

While all of this was going on I was still baking and taking care of the nonprofit that I run - www.freecakesforkidsspokane.com I still have some pictures to download and I'm almost, almost, caught up but here are some from all the activities I liste above. . .

yellow cake with strawberry filling & whipping cream frosting

part of the 4th celebrations

Blackberry Grunt

It has a funny name, but it was next on the list so I had to give it a try!  Apparently the berries make a grunting sound while they bake in the oven - thus the name.  It is kind of like chicken and dumplings but with fruit!  The dumplings were moist and chewy but not dense.  They were fluffy almost while still being full of berry juices.  It is a beautiful dessert worthy of serving any time - it does require the oven, so in my opinion it makes a better breakfast in the summer than an evening treat.  I am of the thought process that pretty much all desserts are good for breakfast.  I think that's why it is my favorite meal of the day! 

I had some fresh raspberries to use up too so I didn't think anyone would mind if they were added in.  Then they were just boiled down with some sugar & ginger, which was a nice touch I thought, until they were a bit thicker

the dough which is very similar to shortcake but without kneading or rolling

after dropping in the dough, it just went into the oven to brown up

the dumplings plumped up and the berries soaked into them for utter berryliciousness

Can you see the steam?  This was a bowl of perfect breakfast heaven!

Shortcake for Fathers Day

It was kind of handy that my next project coming up was shortcake just before Father's day because it is a dessert that my Dad is very fond of!  So I held off for a couple of days and invited the clan over for dessert on the special day.  Usually strawberries get to be the star of the show and in "I'm just here for more food" Alton Brown suggests using blueberries, but I decided to go with a mixed berry medley of blackberries, raspberries and blueberries for mine.  Of course a dollop of fresh vanilla whipping cream was final touch too. 

The process for the shortcake was fairly easy and whipped up pretty quick too.  I've made this before with a recipe from Betty Crocker but it has been a long time.  I didn't have time on the holiday to do a comparison, but I think that might be necessary in the near future.  I thought I would show how I interpret the "hound dog ear" method of mixing in the cold butter.  It is like massaging a hound dog's ear - thus the name. 

about 1/2 mixed well with the other 1/2 left in pea sized chunks

After the wet goes in and a short time of kneading

I thought they'd get "puffier" but the tasted soft & fluffy without being too sweet

Add the berries. . .

and voila!!

Graduation cake pops

chocolate with cookie dough

I was all set to make an elaborate graduation cake for my daughter. I had it all planned out and we were going to have cake pops also.  Then as it grew closer we decided to go with only the cake pops and save the elaborate cake for her birthday that is coming up in July (and it will be a doosey!).  She decided on 3 flavors - red velvet with cream cheese, chocolate with cookie dough and chocolate with coffee buttercream.  We went with all white to dip them and then used the blue in different ways to distinguish between the three.  I also decided to add a "surprise" to the coffee ones

Biscuit Method Scones

I've graduated to the Biscuit method - yeah!  Scones are always a hit with my family so I was anxious to get to these.  My oldest daughter was home from college to go to her sister's graduation and I definitely wanted to make these before she left.  They turned out great but the method was very different than what I've done in the past.  I've always used a pastry blender to mix in the butter and

cookies, cakes & cakes & cakes

cookies for a 17 year old friend who broke her back on a trampoline

These are all a few of the other baking I worked on while the computer was inoperable! 

Gummy worms done girly style!

Turning 3 is fun!

This was time consuming but such fun results!

I used a piece of parchment paper wrapped around my finger and used a spoon to gently place the sprinkles. 

since I mentioned it

This is the cake that I made for my brother last year.  I wasn't as happy with it as I had hoped to be.  Definitely one of those moments where the image in my head didn't translate as well onto the cake board as I'd hoped, so I was disappointed in it.  Everyone else was happy with it though.  I used my airbrush to make the coloring and a paint brush for the spots.  I was almost done and spilled a little green color on the bottom of the "belly" which really pushed me over the edge of thinking I'd done a good job.  But I will say, this is a carved cake - a carved carrot cake.  Anyone who has ever tried to carve a cake that has shredded carrots and nuts in it must be as crazy as I am.  So in that aspect I thought it turned out really well.