Reading the Bible in 1 Year

The Nation of Israel - Reading the Bible in 1 Year

Showing posts with label #turkey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #turkey. Show all posts

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Fears, Flops and Total Fails

Barely a Bear
I usually only post my best work. I mean who wants to post their worst failures--but, believe me, I've had my share of flops and failures. See, the little bear (above) who literally collapsed before I could even frost him? Or, the sad turkey below that shouldn't have been so afraid of Thanksgiving because he looked so sorry, no one would want to eat him.

Super Sad Turkey
 Or what about the time I'd seen one too many episodes of Cake Boss and Ace of Cakes , so I thought I could carve a cake into the shape of my brother-in-law Bo?
Bo Knows but this time Bo Blows
Or the time I decided to make cupcakes when it was about 100 degrees outside and my frosting kept melting?
Dragonfly Frosting Fail
Or the time my homemade marshmallow fondant was a complete flop?

Fondant Failure
I could go on and on, but the one thing I'm proud of is the fact that I haven't let my previous failures stop me. Instead, I push the fear of my next failure to the back of my brain and simply try to learn something from each of my (admittedly) horrible flops and failures and move on.

And, by letting go of my disasters, I've had some really happy moments. Such as:

Fatina's Graduation Barbie Cake - Because You're Never Too Old for Barbie
The graduation cake I made for my daughter-in-law, Fatina.

And, the Hello Kitty cake I made for a friend's daughter's birthday.

Hello Kitty
Or the wedding cake I made for my friend (with my daughter-in-law's help).

I Do Instead of iDud

My point is, sometimes we need to laugh at ourselves and pick up our wounded pride and simply strive to be the best we can be. And--of course don't be so silly as to compare yourself to the Cake Boss or the Ace of Cakes. Instead, simply have fun with your friends and family and learn to laugh with them when things go wrong because that's the best way to make it through to another day.

Family Laughing at my Flops


Sunday, November 24, 2019

Thanksgiving is Almost Here . . . Be Brave!

With the holidays coming … I'm getting ready to do some serious baking. But before I pull out the rolling pin and flour, I'm trying to remember some of the cakes I've made in the past. And, maybe by taking a moment to remember, I won't make the same mistakes.

But believe me, I'm going to be trying some new things (this is where I'm trying to be brave) so there will undoubtedly be a few fails, flops and hopefully even a few things that turn out.

I know they can't all be winners and my family will be sure to tell  me which ones are the failures.


But, I thought I'd share one fun Thanksgiving cupcake and one fantastic flop of a cake I made one year. Of course, I think it's almost okay that this failure looks so miserable, I mean after all we're all getting ready to eat him. And even though he didn't turn out as cute as I wanted, he still tasted okay...at least if you can tell by how quickly he disappeared.







Anyway, I hope you have some fantastic baked goods for your holiday feast. And, if you do, please share a link to your blog or a photo in the comments, so I can take a peek - I'm always looking for inspiration to create more delicious goodies. 

And, I wanted to wish you all  a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 



Sunday, April 1, 2018

Cake Fail for Easter

Everything doesn't always turn out.  We all have failures in life and this can apply to writing, working or even baking. And sometimes I have absolute fails and I've had my share when it comes to making cakes. I like to think it's just because I tried to do too many things in a day. But that's just an excuse because after putting in the time to bake a cake and  attempting to decorate it...well,  let's just say it's not fun to have a fail. But it happens.

The last two cake fails I had were because I tried to add something to the recipe and obviously it didn't work out. The one above was because I cored out a portion of the inside to add a pudding filling for that fun-family surprise. But the hole damaged the "structural integrity" (yeah who even says that when they are talking about cake...I guess just cake nerds--like me) and the cake started to implode. Of course my son said,  "didn't you learn from the last time you did this?"

I guess not.

He is right. There was another cake fail where I added pumpkin to the batter...and not just a little but a LOT. That extra-added pumpkin damaged the structural integrity of my bear cake...(see below).

Not so pretty but he tasted just fine.

Still I had to remake him because he was for a birthday party.

But that's not the only cake fail I've had. There was also the sad turkey cake for Thanksgiving.
He sure didn't look happy for our festive family feast. So I had to take another do-over. This time with cupcakes because they sure cook a whole lot faster than an entire cake.

Luckily, those little guys turned out pretty cute, at least in my mind. 

But there are still more fails in my past. Like the time I saw something on the Food Channel and  thought, "hey I can do that". 

"Not!"

Sculpting a person out of rice krispies sounds EZ Smeazy but, take it from me, those people on the Food Channel are there for a reason. They have talent. Something I must be lacking because look at this sculpted figure of my brother-in-law Bo.

Yeah,  it doesn't look anything like him. At least I had the Bee and the Hive cake as backups and they turned out ... sort of. . . so we still had a party-with cake--for his birthday. 
Plus he was interested in the Beekeeping book, so that took his mind off the horrible fail...I hope.

I'm not saying all my cakes have been horrible fails. Some have actually turned  out. 




But it's always the fails that keep me striving to get better. Like this cake fail, where I tried to make my fondant out of marshmallows...yeah marshmallows - what was I  thinking?

Okay maybe it doesn't look so bad from  far  away but let's  get a  close up shot so you can really see.
Okay,  so maybe this one should be called a "fondant fail" because at least the cake  tasted good. And that cake in the background really did turn out...so 1 out of 2 isn't so bad...I'm hoping.

So, what is the point of this post? I just wanted all the homebakers out there to know that you aren't alone in your burnt, botched or under-baked disasters. We all have them...at  least I hope so. Otherwise, I'm the only one who has those disasterous moments in the kitchen. But just to prove that the motto "If at first you don't succeed,  try-try again," is a good one to keep in the back of your brain anytime you're testing new recipes at home, I wanted to show you that I took another do-over to make my little Easter penguin (yep, Easter penguin) cake and he actually turned out--at least  I like  to think so. (Okay the nose is a little large, but so is mine, nothing wrong with having a BIG nose... right?


And, if you want to see  how I  made him,  just keep on reading.

First I baked the cake in a pan shaped like a sphere

Then I cut off all the excess and used it to cut out little feet and wings ... and that BIG penguin nose. I used some frosting to glue the two halves together then I started frosting the ball.
And I kept frosting...
And frosting. . . until:


Plus it doesn't hurt (at least that's what I think) to throw those white chocolate penguin pops on the table,  to prove sometimes things turn out for me...even if the penguin cake does have a BIG nose.

(And, if you want to see how I made the penguin pops...come back later this week to see how EZ those little guys are... and, if you like to bake, or write,  or read you might want to think about subscribing to my blog so you will get notified when I have a new post ;D )

Thanks for taking the time to read about my Easter Fail. I hope it gave you a smile.