Adventure Boy

Last weekend, Adventure Boy had his 6th birthday.  I can't believe it's been 6 years since he was born.

Anyway, for his birthday, Adventure Boy requested a cake.  A chocolate cake with strawberry filling.  Well, he started with Chocolate cake with strawberry frosting and I helped him change his mind...because he also wanted his cake to be in the shape of a scarab.

Yes, I did say a scarab.  I looked at a couple of pictures and breathed a sigh of relief.  I could make a scarab cake for Adventure Boy.

I think the end result came out pretty well.  There are things I would have done differently but there are always things I would do differently when it comes to cakes!

Adventure Boy and his scarab cake

Adventure Boy, well, he looked at it and said "It's good."  When his friends started commenting "hey, it's a beetle!" he was quick to correct them.  "No," he would say, "it's a scarab."  That meant, job well done.

Monday evening dots of randomness

• Little Miss P turned three this past weekend.  Of course Auntie B had to make cupcakes and cake pops.  She had the best look on her face as people were singing "Happy Birthday" to her.  She had a good day and ate three fishy cupcakes.  Hard to believe it's been three years since she was born!
• I am very, very grateful for Papa Bear.  Last night when I arrived home after the drive from Tahoe, I wished Papa Bear was home as the rat trap had been activated.  This evening as I dealt with the dead rodent, I was really grateful that Papa Bear usually deals with this stuff.  The rat trap will go un-baited until he gets home.
• There are certain things that get me riled up.  Men denying the validity of rape turns out to be one issue.  I have spent the whole day stewing and being pissed off about the whole "legitimacy of rape" comment by a certain Missouri Representative.  I hope the women of Missouri wake up and refuse to vote this man into office.
• Monday night TV really stinks.  I refuse to watch Bachelor Pad, The Closer went off the air and NCIS re-runs don't run on Monday nights because of WWE.  Maybe I should just go to bed.
• One of the office coordinators in my office building came into my office last week and asked for change.  Her car was running on fumes, she had no more money in the bank and was just trying to get home from work (there's so much more to this story).  I gave her $5 and I thought she was going to cry.  Later, talking with Papa Bear, it occurred to me that when you have nothing, you don't need much to be grateful or happy.  I think that's a lesson that those in political power need to learn.
• This morning as I was waiting for the bus, there was a college student doing a practice run before school starts on Wednesday.  I made sure to tell him not to get on the wrong bus and how to know which one was the right bus.  I will NOT be one of those bus people who don't help out newbies!
• And that ends the dots of randomness this Monday evening.  Have a good week!

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• I thought I was done...Tonight I declare war on ants.  The swarm that made it's presence known in the kitchen in less than an hour has been eliminated.  The dishes are washed, there is no food on the counter and honest to goodness I will kill every single ant that I see.  That is all

The Ninja cake

Creative Guy turns 7 in a week or so.  His birthday party was today.  It was a Ninja party.  He requested a Lego Ninjago cake.  Specifically Kai, the red Ninja.  I believe I have created a monster.

So I did my research and found a site where someone had created a great Kai cake.  Then found a site that had an outline of a Lego Man.  Awesome.  Then realized that if I was going to do this cake right, I needed to use fondant.  It's not a super easy material to work with, it's expensive to purchase and many people don't like the texture or taste of it.  I had found recipes online for homemade fondant using marshmallows and so last week I made my own.  It was super easy to make.  I waited until there was no one home so they didn't see the complete mess I made of all the counters with powered sugar everywhere.  But it came out well, if a little sticky.  Still have to work on that.

I was going to bake the cake on Thursday but the power was out and I had the boys with me and it just wasn't working.  Friday I schlepped all the stuff down to Old Church and used their kitchen to bake the cakes and then put it together.  I made a yellow cake from a recipe in the Betty Crocker cookbook circa 1970, with the addition of a box of vanilla pudding to add some moisture.  It came out sooooooooo goooooooodddddd.  Then I found a recipe online for a strawberry whipped cream filling.  Yummmmmm.  I had to ice it all with a buttercream frosting to make the fondant stick, but I think I will see if I can figure out something else for that.

Anyway, long story, many hours later the cake actually came out well.  I had red and black mottled hands for a little while after mixing in the coloring and some of the fondant tore but overall it was a huge hit.  Not perfect but awesome.  Creative Guy was really excited about it too...which makes all of the project worth it!  I am especially proud of the star/fire guy on the sash.  That was all freehand...I sweat over that one.