Cakes and Closets

Every year, just before Christmas, I do a thorough closet cleaning. This year was no exception, and Snake's room was the one I really had my eye on. The kid is growing so fast I can hardly keep him in clothes(hint to a OK friend...need more 12's and 14's?) Anyway, I tortured him and required him to try on EVERY pair of pants...which of course is pure misery for an 10 year old. I finally wittled the massive pile down to just what was needed and even made him give up all but four pairs of shorts for the winter.
The best part about the whole closet and clothes ordeal was that the following weekend, my husband was volunteering at a local ministry and as he was leaving someone was unloading a BEAUTIFUL maple dresser with matching mirror that the manager said he could buy for $60 bucks!!!!....did I mention that Jake is the only one without a dresser???? He has had a 3 drawer Rubbermaid on wheels in his closet for underclothes and jammies but everything else was either hung up or on shelves in his closet.
It was perfect timing since everything was cleaned out and gone through...I couldn't be happier to say that all the closets are cleaned out and toys gone through...that is always such a huge undertaking and to have a checked off my pre-Christmas list is a weight off my shoulders.

Now to cakes. I make cakes as a hobby. It is very relaxing for me and I love the creative part of it. This month I had a bunch of cakes to make and even had a Wilton character cake in the mix...which I have not done in years. In addition to the following cakes I also made two cakes and 4 plates of gourmet jumbo cup cakes for a cake auction that our church has every year. My Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cake went for $75 bucks and a Red Velvet Crumb Cake similar to the one below went for $65. Each plate of (4) gourmet cupcakes went for between $20 and $35. I was super excited...mine didn't catch the highest bid(that was $120 for a cheesecake) but they were highly sought after which made my day.

Red Velvet 4 layer Crumb Cake....it was suppose to have five layers but in the middle of making-baking-frosting 5 different items...I misplaced one of the layers...I found it after I had frosted the stupid thing!!!!

My Niece, the Beast turned 2, and we celebrated with a Wilton Dora Cake. The recipe called for a different color for her skin, but it was super orange....so I altered it and ended up with a Caucasian version of Dora...I was cracking up...totally not a politically correct thing to do..but it was so funny to me after a late night and cramping hands from icing the darn thing.

Well, that was not so bad. I knocked two off of my list...more later.