Cakey

That's how I felt after last weekend.

That's how my kitchen counters and floors felt, too.

First off, on Friday, I made this cake for Madge's surprise birthday party/pitch-in at the  office:

Neopolitan chocolate, raspberry and white cake, 

with chocolate ganache and raspberry preserves in between the layers.

I had a teensey little problem with the icing for this cake -- when you are making an icing with white chocolate, be sure to scrape the bowl well.  I didn't, and ended up with little bits of hardened white chocolate all through the icing; the icing just didn't want to pipe out, as the chocolate bits plugged up the tip.  I knew I had to strain the icing somehow, but couldn't find the package of cheesecloth I know I have stashed somewhere.  I tried a little strainer, but the icing wouldn't pass through the mesh.  So, I squeezed the  icing through an improvised bag I made out of a clean knitted dishcloth. Success!  (What?  Too much information?)

Nina and I can't figure out how food stylists and bloggers make their cut cakes look so good -- the cake plate was such a mess, but even so, by the time I thought to take a picture of the inside, this is all that was left:

 I made 70 cupcakes for a graduation party Friday evening, but forgot to take a picture.  Chocolate, peanut butter/chocolate, strawberry, lemon and white.

Then, on Saturday, 40 cupcakes for sweet Ali.  I even forced myself to make cute little IU chocolate discs for the top of the red velvets:

Rosie-swirled white cupcakes, especially for Rob (Ali's dad), who is a very white/vanilla sort of guy:

Sunday, we delivered these cakes for Amber's grandparents' 50th Anniversary:

Chocolate and white sheet cake

Obviously, a strawberry cake

A small cake for the couple

From the side -- ribbons and gold sugar pearls

I'm baking cookies this morning, but no cakes for awhile!

Peace.

I almost forgot to blog about my sweet friend Laverne's 50th birthday.  She didn't want a party, so our friend Jennifer had the genius idea to get Laverne's friends to shower her with "50" gifts throughout the day.  She received 50 pencils, 50 flowers, 50 Hershey kisses, 50 straws, 50 tea bags, candles, drink umbrellas, etc., etc., etc!  Great fun, and I know she was surprised.