Cakes, Cupcakes, Cakes and more Cakes!

This month has been a crazy month for cakes. I am working on graduation cakes right now with diploma decorations, graduation hats and graduation themed cupcakes -- a novel item for a small village but best to make the graduates parties a fun thing which can bring lasting memories. I also have settled on making specialty cakes, since my forte is in fondant, buttercream icings and I also bake my own cakes.

Sugarccraft.com, wilton.com and the bakerskitchen.net are some good sites to find tools of the baker's trade that come to mind as well as Amazon.com!

But there are definitely trials and tribulations of living in a small town. Grease resistant cake boards have been difficult to find as have cake boxes, so I have been forced to go online to order them as I have had to do with the specialty cake pans -- as there is not a good baking supply store in a town of 11K people. I know, I know it IS a travesty to not have adequate supplies! So, I must say that I am making do with what I can find and an occasional trip down to the nearest big city always leads me to look for baking supplies as well as ingredients for my Vegetarian Cookbook testing.

But enough of my digressing, I am in search of more "trinkets" to place on my cupcakes, and CAKE BOXES before Saturday!!!!

May weather is fickle

This is a very strange year as far the weather is concerned. I think I am amazed at how we go from 60 degree weather one day. To the next day -- a mix of rain, sleet and snow all in the same day. The temps today are supposed to hit 32 and as I look out now, I see icy accumulations and wonder once it goes below the temp it is now 39 how long will it take to actually stick?

Brings me to the thought of what I just picked at the local grocery store, and what I will be making for dinner tonight. I have found TVP (texured vegetable protein) and trying to find out how to use the stuff...more research for my vegetarian cookbook recipes. Also, I am wondering where in the world can I find SOYRIZO (a vegetarian version of Soy and the spices that go into chorizo which allows for all the benefits of using chorizo but in a vegetarian form.

More on this later as well as how my carrot cake turns out.

May is here, spring has sprung but it has yet to really take hold in the mountains :(

I can hardly believe SPRING is here. Dust storms have been raging for most of the week. Now the temps are back down to 40's - 50's during the day and appears to be a dusting on the mountain now (probably tonight too).

As for the writing of cookbooks, been busy painting with acrylics, writing short stories, taking pictures of scenery and food photos and finally got my laptop set up (came with a Memory card slot). I went to the State convention for the Federated Woman's Club last week to which I belong and had a good time. Working on english to Spanish translations for a couple of folks, and working on the pics of the penne dish I published in this blog a month ago and have been working on pulling together some cake recipes and helping a follower with her frosting skills. Nice when you can share your knowledge with others.

A photo of the latest cake I made for my daughter's birthday. Devils food 3 layer cake with white chocolate frosting.

This picture below was taken while on a walk with the dogs about  1/2 a block from home.