Ace of Cakes

I have recently become enamoured by the idea of homemade from scratch cakes. I really like Betty Crocker cake mixes so I never really cared to make cakes from scratch, but one sunday I was thinking about the movie Pollyanna. To me Pollyanna and Anne of Green Gables are 2 of the ultimate Sunday afternoon movies. I don't know why but they are. In Pollyanna I always loved the cake the kitchen ladies were making for the fundraiser fair. It always looked so nice and pretty.


I decided to flip through my Betty Crocker cookbook until I found a cake like it and try it out. Sucess! it was just the right amount of sweet and moist. Here is my adaption:


2/3 cup butter crisco
1 & 3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla (the real stuff is oh so much better)
2 & 1/4 cup flour
2 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 & 1/4 cup milk



Heat oven to 350 degrees. grease and flour to 9in circular cake pans. Beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat for 5 minutes on a high speed (I know it seems like forever but it makes a world of difference). On a low speed alternate adding milk and dry ingredients mixture. Pour into pans and bake for 35 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean).

Frost with French Silk Frosting:

2 & 2/3 cup powdered sugar
2/3 cup softened butter
2 oz melted chocolate (I only had hershey's kisses to melt and I just made up a measurement and melted 8 kisses in a small tupperware for 30 seconds, stirred, and then an additional 30 seconds in the microwave).
3/4 cup vanilla
2 Tbsp milk


Blend all ingredients together until fluffy.

I was to busy enjoying the cake to actually show a cut piece in a picture.

So since then I have been craving more homemade from scratch cake and decided to take a cue from Bakerella and make some Red Velvet Cake. It's baking right now so I will followup with pictures and the Cream cheese frosting I made instead of Bakerella's frosting (which I am sure is delicous but I didn't have enough powdered sugar on hand for it).

Happy me from A to Z

This past week on Write.Click.Scrapbook there was a mystery challenge, and I decided to play along. After gathering all of my supplies and making my list I ended up with a "Happy me from A to Z" mini book. I love this because it will be fun to look at when I need a pick me up, and it is a quick glance at my personality.

Here is my list:

A- Aggies
B- Boys
C- Chapstick
D- Disneyland
E- Entertainment
F- family and friend time
G- Gospel of Jesus Christ
H- Holidays
I- Ice Cream
J- Jeans
K- Kitchen gadgets
L- Light
M- Magic
N- Never-never land
O- Organizing
P- People in general
Q- Quiet time in the morning
R- rock music
S- Scrapbooking
T- T-Rex
U- Utah
V- Vacations
W- Winter wonderland
X- eXtraordinary things
Y- Yummy food
Z- Zoo animals

When my computer isn't virus ridden I will update with pics of the actual project.

Valentine's Day 14

Spread the love with those you love and find a way to serve someone else today. Visit a nursing home, make some blankets, shovel snow, donate items to a local charity. there are a million different ways to help someone else today.

Valentine's Day 13

It's the weekend...go on a date.

Need some different date ideas? check out this article at Make and Takes.

Valentine's Day 12

Heart attack!!

Remember doing that in jr high and high school. well do it of your kids, significant other, neighbor, friend, etc. It's a fun and super easy way to make someone smile. Just a bunch of paper hearts and maybe some candy or a gift taped all over someone's room or door.

Valentine's Day 11

Remember the old school valentines boxes you made in elementary? They were always creative and fun. Well as a family make some for the month of February to leave love notes, treats, etc in for each other. A fun creative art activity and a way to spread some good feelings around. I remember one year I even made mine out of legos. the sky's the limit!

Valentine's Day 10

Giant kisses

Make rice krispie treats and form in plastic wrap into the size of a giant kiss. Tap on cute paper tag with message. Wrap in aluminum foil. A cute, easy, and tasty surprise.

Valentine's Day 9

It's monday night which means it's family day in the Mormon culture. Emilie the brilliant creator of emilie handmade has another wonderful and resourceful site of FHE (family home evening) ideas. Her lesson for this week is about love in the home and she includes a delightful recipe for conversation heart fudge.

Check it out here.

Valentine's Day 8

Since it's Sunday I would just like to encourage people to read in the scriptures about Love. There are plenty of good ones to go around but my favorites are in 1 John. I love all of 1 John but chapters 3-4 are especially about love.

Week 5

29. my true colors, Yellow and Blue.
30. Go Aggies! I love the blue A, it is something that always puts a smile on my face.
31. After barely making it through a snowy, foggy sardine canyon alive, I got to Brigham city and it was so foggy you couldn't even see the freeway entrance. I ended up forced to check into Day's inn at 1 in the morning. not my favorite way to spend $73, but better than having an accident.
32. First fortune of the year. I love fortune cookies and actually do like to think they can make a difference. plus it's almost Chinese New Year...year of the Tiger.
33. TV and cookies. a winning combination.
34. Before Allan heads to Slovenia for the next 5 months we decided to head to Logan for the USU vs. Idaho Basketball game.
35. Got a new hair cut, and it was also my first day orienting to be a charge nurse.

Valentine's Day 7

Do a secret act of service for a friend or even a stranger....do an extra chore, give someone else the right of way, etc. just have fun with it!

Valentine's Day 6

Make a fun craft from Family Fun.

They have a lot of easy, creative, and relativly cheap ideas.

Another fun idea is homemade heart crayons as found at Emilie Homemade.

Valentine's Day 5

To go with all of those movies, you should make some tasty and fun popcorn...
2 poppers of popped popcorn (1/2 cup unpopped) OR 3 bags plain unbuttered microwave popcorn
1 1/2 sticks margarine or butter
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup karo syrup
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 big bag peanut M&Ms (valentines edition)

Boil butter, sugar, and corn syrup for 4 minutes. In a large bowl mix popped popcorn and marshmallows together. Pour sugar mixture over popcorn. Stir thoroughly and add M&Ms. You can add food coloring to the sugar mixture for added flair.

Valentine's Day 4

Brownie Hearts

Another easy treat from Martha. Make your brownies and then using a heart cookie cutter, cut them into small hearts. You can use these to top cupcakes like the chocolate filigree hearts, or throw a couple in a bowl of ice cream, or it's just a fun lunch box surprise.

Valentine's Day 3

Some fun ideas for Valentine's movies for families:

Aladdin
the Little Mermaid
Princess Diaries
The Parent trap
Lady and the Tramp
Hairspray

Some fun ideas for Valentine's movies for couples:

Pillow Talk
Sleepless in Seattle
Win a Date with Tad Hamilton
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Much Ado about Nothing
10 things I hate about you
Top 10 Valentine's Movies for the Lovestruck

Or if you are feeling S.A.D. (single awareness day) instead...

Top 10 Valentine's Movies for the Lovelorn

Valentine's Day 2

A fun way to make a "heartfelt" breakfast...

Make toad-in-a-hole (toast with a hole in the middle for an egg to cook) but instead of making the hole round, make it heartshaped with a heart cookie cutter.

Butter a skillet, cut heart into bread, lay bread on skillet and crack egg into heart-shaped hole. Cook until egg cooked and bread toasted.