Is it just me, or is this hardest month to spell?

Sound it out, as long as you say it right. February, really? Who says it right? I know I don't, I'm country. "Febyouwary". I really don't like this month, and here's why; Valentines Day!! I know, I'm a crappy husband but I seriously don't like this day! Why is it ok for someone to tell me when to express my love for my wife? Are there women out there that only need to hear " I love you" once a year? I hope not. I remind my wife all the time that she is the most important woman to ever walk the earth, or atleast to me. Mary, the mother of Jesus? yep. She's got nothing on my BakerWife. Mary might have delivered and nursed our Lord and Savior, but she didn't live with me. That's a miracle in and of itself! I am hands down, the most difficult person in the world and she just strives right along. Champ material, I tell you. I will remind my wife that I care for her, and that I can't do this alone, but I will not buy her flowers or a card. I will teach our children to shower mommy with gifts and cards randomly from time to time, but not this day. I want to kick cupid in the junk, not for making me meet my wife (like he had anything to do with that) but for being an adult in a diaper and shooting people. Love isn't random people!
Sorry about my venting, but if I can't talk to you guys, then who can I talk to?
We have a lot of things going on this month. We have some serious cakes to make, like difficult serious, and we never tell ahead of time so DON' ASK! BakerWife made a brief mini paragraph about out trip to Haiti, but I want you to all know what is going on!
We are going to Haiti Feb 27-March 4. It's not the worlds longest trip by any means, but I guarantee that we will be busy those 6 days! We are going as a Medical team, and a support team. I am going as a Medic, and will be going into the medical side of the island to do what I can! Katie will be at an orphanage, trying to figure out how to successfully smuggle children out of the country. She has a big heart like that, and she will cry tons. She's what you might call "emotional". She cries at comercials, like boo hoo's. It's quite funny actually. I've heard that the first team that went down there, delivered babies all day! Woo Hoo! I've also heard that people are amputating with hacksaws. HACKSAWS! The don't even medicate these people, just give them some headphones, and a stick to bite and go to work. CRAZY! This blog isn't our religious blog, its our cake blog, so I will keep it short. JESUS ROCKS! He has a mighty work to do to the people of Haiti, and BakerWife and I are blessed to be a part of it. Can't wait!

A Few Firsts

This is the "a whole lot of us" portion of our blog. See, we haven't had many cakes lately so really it's just been...us. Us in our busy non-stop, pick up, drop off, kiss hello and goodbye with only one kiss exchanged kind of way. Anyways, enough of my complaining :)

So, the other day Little Man asked me to color with him. Which really just means, he's going to ask me to write someone's name and he's going to try to tell me which letter is which. However, this time he was really focused. He asked me to write his name first. He pointed to the first letter and said, "I can do that one Mommy, see." and sure enough there was a big 'G.' But, I knew he could get that much of it, because he's been practicing. "What's that one?" Every letter I told him, I walked him through how to "draw" it. Then the tears. Mine. I'm emotional. Actually that is the one word I would use to describe myself. Some people find that odd, but emotional doesn't always have to be a bad thing, right? It's kind of like the word attitude. You can have a good attitude or a bad one, but if someone says "Sally has an attitude," all of a sudden the world hates Sally. Poor Sally. Oh yeah, the tears. He wrote his name. His whole name. So there's a first.

Tonight was another first...but this one was for me. Here's a little bit about the Cake Lady. The reason I like baking is because I like recipes with measurements. Not just a handful of this and a scoop of that, but actually measurements! Is that so much to ask for Rachel Ray? I'll never forget when Baker Man and I first got married, my mother-in-law gave me a Rachel Ray cook book. She knew I couldn't cook. Well, she thought I couldn't cook, I didn't let her think any differently. I'm a good daughter-in-law like that. This cook book had lots of pictures (I like to know what I'm striving for) but NO measurements?! In the front of the cook book was a "dictionary". What Rachel Ray meant when she said a pinch or a handful. A pinch = 1/8 tsp. A handful = 1/4 cup. REALLY?!? What if I'm Andre the Giant and my handfull equals an entire cup? I could be a she-man! I don't want to use a translator when I'm using a cook book. Come on Rach, the reason I needed a cook book in the first place is because I want it to taste the same way the first time as it does the second time, and if I really like it, the third. I only want it to be different because I whoops-ed and used salt instead of sugar. Baking...not like cooking,. There's a science to it. An exactness. If one "secret" ingredient is left out, the whole thing caves in. Cooking...it's a guessing game. There is uncertainty about what might happen, but it will turn out edible 90% of the time. If you know anything about me (and if you do keep reading pretending like you don't) you know that I don't like walking into the unknown. I like to know what's coming and when it's going to hatch. So, the amount of times I've cooked without a recipes...I could count on one hand and not even need my thumb. Mostly, recipes from my Grandmother. I'm pretty sure she doesn't even know what a recipe is. Well, tonight, Baker Man is at the fire department. If I didn't have kids I would eat cereal. My FAVORITE food group!! But, I do have kids, and every third night serving cereal would probably not go well. I had a thought today. I'm going to try and make some orange chicken. How hard could it be? Turns out, not hard. I used the Wok (a first for me as well), tossed a few things together, and SHAZAAM! Chicken with a whole wheat pasta tossed in a delicious orange teriyaki sauce. I liked it so much, I saved the left overs. Little Girl, ate everything on her plate (not a first), Little Man even said, "Mmmm, yummy Mommy," (might not be a FIRST but it doesn't happen often). Yessssssss, successsssssss! When your dinner gets approval from your two year old...you know you have arrived! Look our Rachel Ray, you've got nothing on me!

Now for Little Girl! We were getting ready for bath time and I, being the brilliant one that I am, sat her on the potty since she always pee pees on the floor while the bath is filling up. She's sitting there and...tinkle tinkle. "Yeah, pee pee potty," Little Man and I started clapping and cheering. Her face lit up with her crooked little smile. She's ready for potty training but I'm not. The diaper stays, for now.

A first for me and Baker Man, we will be going to Haiti on a mission trip with our church. God is good and proves it more and more every day! My passport is in the works, the paper work is ready to go, and we're trusting that God will help us come up with the rest of the money. $1200 per person and we're more than half way there. I have never been on a mission trip. Baker Man on the other hand, spent a month in Panama and came back blue. The tribe accepted him as one of their own, and died him from the eyes down...smurf blue. I wish I could've seen it. This was long before my time. Now we get to go together. I can't wait!!!!!!

Upcoming cake:
MSD - You want to know what that stands for? Stay tuned...

Where have I been?! Where have you been?

Someone stopped me today in church and asked me, "Where have you been?" To which I responded, "Where have I been?!?! Where have you been? I've been here the whole time!!!!" No really, I've been here, but underneath a mountain of clutter, chaos, and dust! And oh how I've missed you (if I really have followers, and I don't mean in the white cloak kind of way). So, since it has been a while, I'm going to keep this one simple and give you some of the latest (however we are missing a couple of pictures because I went out of town and Baker Man was stuck caking on his own, what a trooper! Although I do still bug him for the pictures). The line up:

Flower Cake.

Butterfly cake

"Turkey Cake Balls" (this was just for fun for a "kid friendly" dessert, we made 2 1/2 dozen, they were gobbled up) :)

Hot Dog Cake

1st birthday cake

Barbie Princess Cake

We are missing pictures of the Slumber party cake, the Horse silouette cake, and the "Sour Patch Kids Cheerleader cake" (sounds weird but it turned out really cute, you know 16 year olds, like strange things).

Well, that sums up the latest cakes...I think, but there is something else I want to share...I went the the World's BEST Cake shop EVER! The Cake Art Store in Tucker, GA. WOW! First I was in heaven, and then my bliss quickly went to overwhelming fear. What have I gotten myself into? I asked myself. The answer...the most expensive hobby ever. Not to mention the fact that most people don't want to pay for the BEAUTY that is Cake Art (did you catch the pun). So, I have realized that this is not a way to make a living, but it is still something I love doing. Anyway, back to the store. It was aisle after aisle of nothing but cake...stuff. Molds, edible pearls, luster dust, pearl dust, and petal dust (I didn't even know there were so many kinds of edible dusts!?), cake pans, candy making tools, cup cake paper wraps, cake boards, and well, I could go on and on and on. Lets just sum it up with WOW oh WOW! So now, the dream, I not only fantisize about owning a bakery, but now opening a Art of Cake...I think the name needs work, but we'll see. Tata for now :)

Where have we been...right here!

I know this is late. Some of you think we've given up on this blog like our other one. That is not the case. We have just been here...so busy...unable to update the blog. I tell myself that some of you wait for this to post. I wish that was true...so I will continue to make myself feel good, and pretend I have fans. So, now having said that, if you follow us on facebook you know our latest cakes were the Pumpkin cake and the Where the Wild Things Are cake. Here is the pumpkin cake-

This cake was for our niece Logan...thus the vine spells Logan, some people noticed and some people didn't. That's what I was hoping for :) Now to make this cake we baked two cakes, one chocolate and one vanilla. We baked them in a bowl that was oven safe. Once we baked the two cakes, we let them cool. Then, stacked them on top of each other like you would if you were using the Wilton ball cake pan. Then we iced it with a buttercream icing. We let the icing crust over for about 15 minutes. Then used a cornstarch confectioners sugar mix on our hands to press the lines into the cake, giving it the pumpkin look. Then we made the stem out of a dark brown and a light brown fondant swirled together. I doubted Baker Man on this, but he was right. I thoughted it turned out great...very whimsical....then we added the vines. Then after the cake was cut and served up...since the birthday party was on Halloween, it was only appropriate to turn it into a Jack-O-Lantern.

We also had another cake last weekend. When we were first asked to do this cake, we weren't sure it would be possible. Where the Wild Things Are. I keep having to ask Baker Man whether it's Where the Wild Things Go or Are. He corrects me every time. It's ARE WOMAN! Ok, ok, I get it. Gamebox, XCube, Playtendo. All the same to me :) So, we did some research, and found some ideas. And Baker Man executed beautifully, with help from his Cake Lady of course ;) So, the finished product...

Now, that's what we did last weekend. Recently, my sister got me addicted to Bakerella. She makes these things she invented called "Cake Pops." We have been dying to try these, and since I like to use the people I work with as my guinea pigs...we did. Although, they were someone elses idea, so we felt the need to put our own spin on them. They are a work in progress but, here they are. Chocolate cake strawberries on top of a chocolate cake...

I hope this was as fun for the three of you as it was for me. Until next time. Cake Lady out.

The latest...

I'm going to keep this one short...

So, there are a few of the latest...there is another one...but we didn't get a picture. So, we're hoping someone will send us a picture...we'll keep you posted!

"I Cannot Believe it"

When I was asked if i could make petit fours the answer was, "I've never done them before but I would be willing to try." Then I was asked for 100 of them. What in the world was I thinking?!?I googled tons of recipes, looked for youtube videos for a few "How To's" asked a couple "cake masters" (both of which said, "I won't do those, their too much trouble"). I started to get worried but the people on Youtube made it look so easy. So, Chris baked the first two sets. They came out perfectly! I was thinking things were going well. Then came time to ice the mini bites of goodness. So, you're supposed to mix the icing in a double broiler, constantly stirring to keep it from burning on the bottom. Don't forget it can't get too hot because it will burn and it must be warm enough to "melt" into itself. But none of the recipes gave a temperature of course. Just a "you better do it perfectly or you're screwed." Well, there was definitely a learning curve to these things. Then the next batch of baking for Christopher. These didn't go so well. And I'm starting to was to curse this icing! The baked 6 total batches. We only need about 3.3. If we had more time, I might have said, try baking one more batch. The things kept falling apart. Crumbs everywhere, lopsided mounds of mess! Finally I got 100 I was willing to let leave my kitchen with my name on it. By this time it's only 4:30 in the morning so I might just not be seeing clearly. Regardless, I don't have any more petit four energy left in my body. So, I bosed them up and stuck them in the fridge. Now the debate is...do I go to sleep? Or just stay up? Oh, I'm staying up blogging because I keep telling myself "You have to please the fans." Yes, that's right, I tell myself that I have fans. And even if no one is reading this...at least I make myself feel good about staying awake makng petit fours. So, will I ever do them again you ask...sure why not. There was so much more to this week that I need to fill everyone in on...but...I'm feeling as though this blog is getting a bit lengthy so to sum it up: Chris's niece asked us if we could do a cake for her and take it to S. Carolina (that's where his family lives), so, he made it and left this afternoon, I also did a cake for someone I work with. He wanted to surpris his wife with a cake and make it something she is passionate about. She is an artist, so I did a cake that looked like a paint pallet...spelling? I have no idea how to spell that. I will post picture later this week. Also, I wanted to make a correction to a post that Chris wrote...Linda, the one that recomended us to Kristen for her castle cake...has had our cake. Chris just didn't know because he wasn't there when she was able have a taste. Just wanted to clear things up :)

Our first compliments from our first legit client.

We stay fairly busy, but until recently it has been for just friends. We had our first legit client when someone wanted a medieval castle for a "Medieval murder mystery" party, awesome concept by the way. We were referred to her from someone who hasn't even had one of our cakes, she had just seen our work! When we got the phone call, and made the cake, we had some serious butterflies. We delievered the cake, and the client's mom said she liked it a lot, and it was better than her "wildest dreams". To be honest, I didn't whole heartly believe her, I am my own worst critic. I would soon be proven wrong. Not only did the mother love our cake, but the daughter did also! She liked it so much, that she took time out of her busy work day to send us an email!! That is just awesome! I am so humbled by this whole experience. It really is something when you can be such a positive part of someones special day. Here is the email.

Hi Katie, the cake was AWESOME! The girls loved it and it was delicious. I gave out almost all the cards you left me so hopefully you will get some business from the party. We took some pics of Kristen with the cake and send them along later this week.



My youngest daughter has a b-day coming up in November so you can expect another order!!



Thanks again! Lynne


Wow. We are blessed, and very thankfull. Lynne, if you are reading this, thank you soo much for trusting total strangers with your daughters birthday cake! We will forever be blessed.