Cake Making Simplified

This past weekend, I made a cake for our neighbor's birthday party. She turned four and loves flip flops. It was a pool party, so I found a version of this cake online and recreated it as best I could -- but I have found some great secrets to easy cake making.

1. Buy your frosting at Sams Club -- they have a buttercream frosting that will not melt in the 90 degree heat and humidity. It can be tinted and is "stiff" enough for decorations. It does not have to be refrigerated and this is a really good thing since you'll have 28lbs of it!

2. Buy your 10" cakes at Sams Club - they will sell you eight individual layers for just $13. This doesn't keep you from baking the other layers, but boy, what a time saver and they are especially dense for carving. I don't have a picture, but I also made a Florida cake.

3. Make a batch of simple syrup (sugar and water) that will keep indefinitely in your fridge and brush your cake with it to lock moisture in.

4. Avoid eating all of the left over cake!!!!!hahaha -- impossible for me.

All Done!

Jen B: Goal - under 2 hours, Finish - 1:29:02.
Betsy: Definitely went swimming in Lake W. TWICE! It was gross, but we didn't get sick, so hopefully that says something.
Sarah: We had a whole training plan and I can pass it on to you -- I'm going to try to e-mail it, but you are already a superstar and the Fort L tri will be EASY BREEZY for a champ like you!
Lindsay: Couldn't and Wouldn't have done it without you!
Lara: You are not off the hook for next year.


You may have noticed a brief absence from the blog and from my commenting elsewhere -- it is mostly because I've spent a good part of the past three and a half months training for or worrying about the CB&I Sprint Triathlon that we completed last Saturday. My friend Lindsay and I put our minds to the task to complete a 500m open water swim, 15 mile bike ride and 5k. We both exceeded our expectations, we made ourselves proud and along the way recognized greatness in friends and family. Some thanks are in order and I tried to write them all down, but seriously there are too many people to thank. I hope these people know who they are. You can see some photos of me looking a bit like a wrestler in a unitard on my sis-in-law's facebook page!

Lindsay said she'd recommend it to anyone -- I second it. Although there were times when I thought I might have underestimated the task, I did something I never thought I could/would and next year you can find me there looking to improve! Visitors welcome --- train and come participate in one of USATs premier Texas Tri's.