Boxed Cake Mix Magic

I absolutely LOVE to bake!!

There is just something so satisfying about bringing over a beautiful cake or dessert to a family dinner, having everyone swoon over it, then remark that it tastes as good as it looks.  It brings me such joy and turns my domestic needs up a notch every time.

I usually love to bake from scratch, rarely using boxed cake mixes at all.  However, these days leave little time for that kind of baking, but I still have that need to make and bake something pretty.  

About a year or so ago, I was having some ladies over and I knew I wanted to serve them something pretty and sweet, but no time to make it between cleaning and making other snacks.  And buying some pre-made cookies at the store would have just killed me.  Thankfully, I am a Pampered Chef consultant which has allowed me to stock my kitchen with neat gadgets and pans that help make cooking easier and prettier.  

So I pulled out one of my favorite products (who am I kidding? Everything in the catalog is my "favorite" product.), my Silicone Crown Cake Pan.

And bought a box of Butter Golden Cake mix, some rum extract, some confectioner's sugar, and a pint of fresh Louisiana strawberries.

I made the cake mix according to the directions on the box; however, I added about a tablespoon of rum extract to the mix and blended it in.  **You can use more rum extract if you like...  it's all according to preference.**  Then I coated my Silicone Crown pan in Baker's Joy and baked my cake according to the directions for a bundt pan on the back of the box.

While my cake was baking, I washed my beautiful strawberries and let them drip dry.

As my cake was cooling, I cored and chopped up my strawberries.  **I kept my strawberries chunky for my own personal taste, but if you prefer slices, try using your egg slicer for pretty strawberry slices.**

After my cake had cooled about 10-15 minutes, I turned it over on a pretty platter.  I put all my chopped strawberries around the cake and in the center.

Now, I love to bake, but I'm not the biggest fan of sweets.  So cake icing is always too much for me, so I wanted a different option.  Besides, this recipe is supposed to be super easy and trying to frost a cake and keep it pretty is not always that easy for me.  So I decided to sprinkle the cake with confectioner's sugar instead.  This task is the easiest part, thanks to another one of my "favorite" Pampered Chef Products; my Flour/Sugar Shaker.

Once the cake is dusted with the confectioner's sugar, it's beautiful and ready to serve!

I had my reservations about doing a post about a boxed cake mix, but I just had to share this simple treat with you.  You see, everyone absolutely LOVES this cake.  I've already made it several times this spring since strawberries have been in season here, and I've never come home with left over cake.  I even love it because the butter rum cake with the strawberries just seem to compliment each other so well!  

Let me know if you try it and how you like it!

Happy Spring,

Angel






Linking with

Easter Eggs

So.. thanks to an ear and sinus infection coupled with an allergic reaction to mosquito bites, I did not get one picture from Easter Sunday.  My sweet redhead was running fever and he had a mosquito bite on his left eye lid of all places... so he had a crusty nose and an eye that was swollen completely shut.  Not a great photo opportunity.

Thank goodness this Mama shamefully did not buy him a new Easter outfit so there wasn't that much to be missed out on.

I did, however, manage to get some Easter eggs died a few nights before Easter.  This is the first time, we've dyed eggs with Jude.  And I got a cute idea from here and here on Disney's Family Fun website.  I thought it would give a twist to traditional egg dying.

So I gathered my supplies and set up my work space.  My hubby brought me some pipe caps which made great egg stands, and I didn't have the heart to melt beautiful Crayola crayons to eggs so I went to the dollar store and bought the cheapest box of crayons.  **Hindsight is always 20/20, but I should have just went with the Crayola brand because the pigment in cheap crayons is, well.. cheap.

I followed the instructions and starting coloring on the eggs after they had cooled for about 5-10 minutes so that they didn't burn my redhead.  Another tip... only boil a few eggs at a time because the cooler they are, the less the wax will melt to them.

I got my redhead to all ready to scribble on some eggs.  However, he seemed more interested in "Papa" with the camera and watching me doodling on the eggs.

Even Papa got involved with the egg dying party...

Tip number three, if you want a more tie dyed or abstract look to your egg, start with an egg fresh out of boiling water.  The extra hot egg will cause the wax to run making it eggstra eggciting... I'm a nerd, I know, my hubby tells me all the time.

Then once your done with your art work on your eggs... let them cool in the bottle caps, or pipe caps in our case, for an hour.

Next, place the cutest redhead you can find behind the decorated eggs to take some pictures of your artistic work.

Dying eggs with my redhead was wonderful and it was a total bummer that he was sick for Easter Sunday, but as I mentioned on my Facebook:  I would have been sad if Easter was only about egg hunts, candy, bunnies, and new spring outfits.  But Easter is really about celebrating the resurrection of our Savior and the fact that He is ALIVE with us today!  So there was no point in being sad over missing some Easter Sunday festivities.

I hope you had the happiest Easter!

Angel

THIRTY

Today is a special day...

My 3oth Birthday!! 

It can be a BIG scary number for a woman.  We are supposed to hang up the skinny jeans and put away the pumps for slacks and clogs. Our childish moments of silliness should be behind us with proper and demure composure taking their place.  And we are supposed to be done with being beautiful and attractive.

Well... not this girl!

I wear pumps with my maternity skinny jeans!  I can’t remember a time in my life when I have smiled or laughed more.  And I finally feel confident enough in who I am to truly feel beautiful.

I will admit that I am not completely thrilled with turning thirty.  It’s not the idea of being thirty that bothers me.  It’s the realization of how good life is and how fast it’s flying by.  It seems like just yesterday I turned 15 and my mom took me to get my first driver’s license.  Now here I am... 30!

  

The happiest times in my life have occurred over the past seven years of my 20's.  Meeting my best friend at the age of 23 and marrying him at the age of 25 is where it all began.  Having his son at the age of 26 added to the bliss.  And now I have the honor of carrying our second miracle baby at the age of 30!  Me and my sweetheart, loving Jesus and raising the children He loaned us to love and honor Him.  What a wonderful birthday present!!  I know I could not ask for more than these gifts from God!  

On top of those three blessings, I have been given the wonderful gift of family and Godly friends to support and love my little family.  I am so grateful for the group of women the Lord has placed in my life over the past five years!

Today, I'm going to celebrate my special day with my three blessings!  I couldn't imagine spending the day any other way!

If it took thirty years for God to mold me into who I am today, then 30 is a wonderful age to be!

Time and tide wait for no man, but time always stands still for a woman of thirty.

Robert Frost