Let Them Eat Cake

When you're going through the holidays after losing a loved one you may find you are really just going through the motions.  That's been my situation this season, so to find inspiration and Christmas spirit I turned to a great source for a lot of women.  Pinterest.

Nothing says lovin' and promotes healing like something from the oven. At least that's what I told myself.  Pinterest is full of beautiful pictures of cakes, so I perused it's electronic pages for ideas.  I've always loved to cook, but baking...not so much.  There's all that flour and sticky stuff to contend with, isn't there?   And so,  due to my unfamiliarity with baking, I decided to keep it simple.

Next day my shopping excursion was to find the right cake pan; I'm a great believer that equipment is half the battle.   I found a wonderful Nordic Ware  pan that promised to produce two gift box cakes that I could decorate or simply sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Knowing how quickly my enthusiasm can wane that seemed like a good option.

To jazz up the display a wee bit I found a "pin" on how to make plates from peppermint hard candy.  I grabbed four bags of star mints, the ingredients for a drop-dead-delicious chocolate cake (also a Pinterest find) and I headed home.

Once I got into it my cake baking filled the house with delicious smells.  My first effort I used a Christmas tree shaped pan I had bought years ago.  I remembered why it got pushed to the back of the cabinet when I tried to remove the cake, which  produced nothing but delicious chocolate goo. After it cooled I delivered the tasty (but ugly ) reject to near by neighbors who pronounced it delicious in spite of it's unrecognizable shape.  Waste not, want not.

Whipping up another batch of cake, I filled the new gift box cake pan.  As I pushed it into the oven I sent  up a little prayer that this would go better than my first attempt.   It was getting late, and I was running out of hungry neighbors.

While I waited I heated the other oven and started unwrapping mints,

which is the most difficult part of making the candy plates.  I arranged the candy on parchment paper, plopped it onto a cookie sheet, and stuck it into the oven.

  By the time the cakes were done the plates were on cooling racks.  Then it was time for the moment of truth....I flipped the cake pan over and out popped two perfect little gift boxes. I may not know what I'm doing, but I know when it goes right!

It looked to be impossible to ice them, and I thought powdered sugar would be boring, so I simply painted the part of the cake shaped like ribbons with icing, then dusted that with sparkling candy sprinkles!

Once they were decorated and sitting on their colorful candy plates the cakes were really pretty.

So pretty, in fact, that I had to convince my family it was okay to cut them.  At least I like to think it was because they were too pretty to eat.  In truth it may be they were just being cautious because of my lack of baking experience.   Either way they eventually disappeared.

I've always found being busy to be the best way to deal with anything that's bothering me; I guess I have to work through my pain.  We all missed my mom this holiday season, and i know that won't end when the holidays are over.  So....I guess I'll be looking for more projects on Pinterest.   I just hope my neighbors are up to it!!

                                                           Life is Good