Hey there!
So happy you are here!
If you are new here this is my son Jaxon who just turned 15 and for the past mmm 7 or so years he's been challenging me with new cake ideas and designs for his birthday.
I am always excited to see what he will come up with!
This year he decided he wanted a cake shaped like a Strawberry. 
His birthday theme was "Dance Gavin Dance" and Strawberries are a main theme throughout their music.
Just to give it a fun twist he decided he wanted the cake flavor to be...
Carrot Cake.
So. Here we go. Let's dive into this Strawberry sculpted Carrot Cake.

Usually when I do my cookies I create a sketch so I have references to go on. This time I had some strawberries on hand and what is better reference than the real thing? 
Plus it was a good reminder that strawberries aren't perfect shapes so I did have a little leeway with creating the Strawberry shape.

I made 3 6 inch cakes.
They came out BEAUTIFULLY!!
Jaxon requested Carrot Cake and there are about a thousand recipes so I asked him what he wanted in it and he wanted it with just carrots... nothing else.. no nuts or raisins or whatever, there's a million versions...
This is one is just a simple carrot cake with shredded carrots.
And yes I hand shredded the carrots as is recommended.
I used a recipe from the internet somewhere.

So I baked the cakes.
I cut the tops off and saved the scraps to use for sculpting some of the cake.
I also cut the cakes in half because they were thick enough to create some good layers.
I used 5 layers and saved one layer to use for cake sculpting.
I made a Cream Cheese/Buttercream Frosting that was absolutely awesome. It wasn't too sweet it was perfect. I used some of that and the cake scraps to create some cake pop-type dough to use to sculpt some of the cake. 

So funny story--- I watched ONE video on how to sculpt this cake and I decided that was the one LOL. 
Seriously though, it was done with 6 inch cakes which is what I used so I didn't see the need to flood myself with more content because it just becomes extra noise that clouds up the creative process.

So this is the crumb coat. 
As you can see I used the cake pop dough to create the Strawberry shape and I did also add some on top to create more of a round shape.
Once covered I put it in the freezer to harden a bit before adding another layer of frosting.

{Mistakes were made}
​

Oh boy, here we go. 
Haha this is where things almost went horribly wrong.
I did still make an oopsie but I was able to recover..

So I took the cake out of the freezer after the coat of frosting was able to harden a bit.

The day before (it's good to let the fondant rest for a day if you can) I made my normal Homemade Marshmallow Fondant because Jaxon loves it and the amount of hatred that Fondant gets leads me to believe store bought fondant is not worth putting on anything you want to eat.

So I made my fondant and it came out nicely... Red is really hard to deal with but Jaxon informed me that the strawberry on the album cover he was referring to wasn't super super red. 
Either way it came out red enough in the end... I was going to paint it but Jaxon assured me that I didn't need to do that so I left it.

At this point I've taken the cake out of the freezer and I'm rolling out my fondant... after about 10 minutes I finally get the right size to cover the cake.

So the next morning most of the fondant had "dried" but it was brittle...
The moisture had definitely melted the fondant and the fan just hardened it.
These are all purely aesthetic issues... the fondant is totally fine...
It's marshmallows and powdered sugar so it's hard to actually ruin it I just destroyed the outer structure. 

With all that being said the cake still came out pretty good and it tasted even better.
I will definitely take on another sculpted cake in the future and I will even take on basic fondant covered cakes.. I will just remember the proper order to cover it... hopefully.. 

And once the fondant dried the red was RED...

Jaxon was completely happy.
He loved that it looked like a strawberry and the Carrot Cake was delicious.
If you look at the slice of cake you can see the layer of fondant was really thin so it just adds a little bit of marshmallow sweetness to the cake.
Not bad at all.
Those layers are beautiful too. 

I hope you enjoyed this food-venture!!
Stay tuned for more!
Much Love,
Amanda
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Hey hey!
I'm going to share with you how I make Marshmallow Fondant!
I've made it a few times and it's not that hard. It is a little messy so be prepared for that, but it's not hard.
I watch A LOT of baking shows and frequent A LOT of Facebook pages and groups and Fondant is kind of controversial because most bakers only see it as a decorative item.
I've never tasted premade, store-bought fondant but it must be terrible because I've never seen anybody say anything good about it.

​I happen to think that marshmallow fondant is pretty good.
To my own surprise I actually really like it on my decorated cookies. 
I didn't expect to like it at all. I always thought the idea of fondant cookies was kind of silly but I was wrong. I tried it out and it was surprisingly delicious.

If you do like to bake, I think you should try it out for yourself at least once.
​So here's how you do it:
Empty a bag of mini marshmallows into a microwave safe bowl with 2 tsps of water and melt in the microwave in 15 second intervals.
Once melted, add vanilla extract (or extract of your choice) and add powdered sugar and mix until dough forms.
It will need to rest so wrap it in plastic wrap and allow it to rest until it cools.
Use extra powdered sugar to roll out fondant if needed.
Use powdered sugar in molds to keep it from sticking.

Store in plastic wrap and ziploc bag at room temp for several months.

It takes a little practice but as you can see this fondant works great with molds! Even very intricate ones!

Coat your hands or gloves in Vegetable Shortening and the food coloring will not transfer to your hands!!

I hope you enjoyed this Fondant Adventure!!
Much Love
Amanda

Hello!
So this post is going to be huge. Looking back I can't even believe that I took on this project while pregnant but there's really not much I won't do for my kiddo and he was turning 13 so it was a big deal. 
I realize it's almost a year later but I was busy being pregnant and exhausted and then I had a baby and I was exhausted so here we are. 
All that matters is that it makes it up in case some other mother (or father or auntie or whatever) wishes to recreate this. 
I learned a lot of things that I can pass on to anyone else wanting to do this and it will save some frustration.

Without further ado let's get this show on the road. Buckle up.

Yes it's odd for me to used boxed cakes and tubbed frosting BUT I was 6 months pregnant and this cake is a HUGE undertaking in itself.
Do I PREFER my homemade cakes and frostings?? Yes.
But I made the fondant from scratch and the chocolate ganache from scratch so all isn't lost.

That checkerboard cake set has come in more handy than I could have imagined. Flashback to 2016 and I made Jaxon's Mario cake with it and I've used the 3 pans for multiple other cakes. It's a really great set to have and I highly recommend it.

I made that cake for his 6th birthday... hard to believe I'm working on a cake for his 13th birthday but AHEM here we are. 

Jaxon decided he wanted to have a neopolitan cake... strawberry, vanilla and chocolate... so I decided I was going to make it checkerboard... 
I also decided to do a bunch of mini cakes and make them checkerboard on the inside as well (the minis weren't really worth the hassle of checkerboarding just FYI)

The only thing about these checkerboard cakes is that they are a lot of work because you have to mix up all 3 of your batters at the same time and I don't have a ton of counter space so it was a bit of a challenge but we got it done. Also. Since the cake was square this checkerboard thing didn't really work that great. It works great with round cakes but once I cut the cakes down it kind of ruined the effect. 
It worked with the mini cakes but only in the very center because the cakes were so small. But. You live and you learn I suppose. Now I know.

I made A LOT of cake. We had so much cake... I ate cake scraps for like a month LOL. That is not a complaint, I was 6 months pregnant so cake scrap snacks were more than welcome.

I cut all the tops off the mini cakes to so they would form squares.

I ALWAYS make homemade marshmallow fondant. Everybody always talks about how gross fondant is but I wouldn't know... because homemade marshmallow fondant is pretty good. It's really good on cookies. 
It's only gross if you don't like marshmallows because it's literally just melted marshmallows,  powdered sugar and some vanilla extract. You could sub whatever extract you want. 

Maybe it was the pregnancy brain but I had a really hard time trying to figure out how many squares I needed. Eventually I figured it out. 
In my first run I also didn't consider that I would need an actual Rubix cube to get the colors correct because there are rules!! Certain colors touching etc so I had Jaxon mix up a rubix cube and I used an actual Rubix Cube for reference on all the mini cakes and the main cake.

No matter what I'm coloring whether it's icing or fondant if it's white and I need black I always add cocoa powder first and then add the black. 
For one, literally no one has complained that it changes the flavor to chocolate and for two, I get to black much faster without having to use a ton of black food coloring or whatever other party tricks people use to get to black. I always get a nice solid dark black and it tastes fantastic.

I never truly know what I'm getting into until I start doing it. I think that is true for a lot of things. It always seems easier in theory. I'm glad that I decided to do a test cube. For the test I used frosting to cover it just like you would any other cake. But it kind of failed to offer me the really clean lines I needed for that cube shape. To top it off I decided to try to cover the cube in one go with fondant. That also failed to deliver that sharp cube shape that I was after. 
So trial one gave me a lot of things to reconsider.
It looked good but it could still be better. Also the frosting was just WAYYYY too sweet with the fondant. So. I had some troubleshooting to do.

After scouring a few Facebook groups and airing out my concerns some lovely lady in one of the groups suggested that I use Chocolate Ganache to cover my cakes instead of the frosting. AND that I should use panels of fondant instead of a whole sheet at once.
So that's what I did.

I've never made Chocolate Ganache before but holy jeez where has that stuff been my whole life? It is SO EASY to make and it's delicious!!
It also tasted better with all the elements of the cake believe it or not. 
It added a little bit of bitterness and help break up all the sweetness from the cakes and the frostings.

They're not perfect but for my first time making square cakes, and mini cakes at that, they're pretty darn good.
​Jaxon was happy and that's all that matters.

So I didn't get a ton of pictures of the final cake because... reminder... I was 6 months pregnant.. I also had company at the time AND it was the night before Jaxon's party and I was kind of to the wire. 
I still had cookies to flood so I was starting to feel the crunch.

As I said, not perfect but acceptable. 
I had one side on my cake that was kind of funky but I'm really not a Cake-ologist y'all. I'm more of a cookie-ologist. But I came through for my kiddo.

It actually worked out that all the grandparents that came got a mini Rubix Cube cake to take home as a party favor. I got to keep one as well.
I still have it in my freezer. LOL. I kept the solved mini cube.

It's not perfect... and it killed me.. of course I wished I could have done it over a thousand times BUT I remind myself that my kids don't need me to be perfect they just need me to show up and I did. 
The fact that he asked me to do a Rubix Cube cake actually speaks for itself. He believed that I could do it and didn't even hesitate to ask. 
That is a huge compliment.
He had an epic 13th birthday party complete with Rubix Cube cakes, Cookie Tiles and My Chemical Romance Cookies. 
There is a separate post on his cookies you can check that out HERE.

That face made all the work worth it.
I learned a lot, which is priceless and Jaxon got the 13th birthday he wanted.
Honestly I can't ask for more than that. 
I hope something in this post will help someone else who's just trying to bring happiness to someone they love. 
Until the next adventure!
Much Love
Amanda

Add a Tablespoon of Corn Starch to the remaining half of the broth.

I reserve 1/4 cup because after you mash the chicken it tends to get a little dry. It soaks up most of the liquid so you just need a little bit to finish it off.

My son doesn't like the texture of "shredded chicken" so instead I mash it.
It just makes it easier to fit into the taco. Once mashed, add the rest of the broth to finish.

I think everyone's favorite thing about taco night is the variety and how we're all able to customize our own tacos. 
Hubby likes his with Guac. I like mine with Avocado Salsa. My son likes his with Jalapenos. We all like something a little different but they're all delicious and we look forward to them every week!
I hope I've improved your taco night and I hope you try out the taco broth.
It definitely makes a difference in the chicken and it keeps it consistent and good every time!
Thanks for stopping by! Printable recipe below.
Much Love
​Amanda

I know you're sad about it, but I don't have a big long story about a cold day or anything..
Just got the recipe... So. Enjoy!

Main Ingredients

2 cups Shredded Chicken
1/2 cup Corn
1/2 cup Pinto Beans
1 cup Cheddar Cheese
1 cup Chicken Broth/Bouillon
1/2 cup Cream
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Cayenne
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Chipotle Peppers

I hope you enjoy this recipe!
I didn't take a ton of pictures but it's kind of a dump and go recipe so I think it'll be fine.
Please let me know how you like if you've tried it AND if you like the Campbell's version how do you think mine stacks up?
Feel free to leave a comment and let me know how it went for you!
Thanks for stopping by!
Much Love
Amanda

I have another recipe for you!
Something I created looking for a new "Taco Tuesday" dish. 
I LOVE enchiladas and I wanted to try something new.
These actually came out really good. Next time I will probably add black beans and corn.
I love the Tex-Mex vibe and that usually just means add beans and corn LOL. 
​Anywho. Enjoy!

I would LOVE to know if you tried my recipe and how you liked it!!
Feel free to leave a comment or let me know how you made it your own!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Much Love
Amanda

Hello and welcome!!
Yup more sheaningans. That's what I do. 
 I got some new pans and of course I had to TRY them out immediately!
I was super nervous of course because uhhh LOOK at these things.... 

Day 1- Here I am. So full of hope and optimism... haha okay. So yeah, I'm all setup...
I decided to SPRAY the pans with some non-stick spray but as you will see very soon it didn't go well and it ended in disaster... for a few reasons... 

Sigh... #1.
Did not spray the pans well enough AT ALL. 
These pans or I'd say any pan with these types of curves need to be sprayed thorougly...
I mean almost dripping... in my opinion...
I tried the spray and flour thing and I could not get that to work... the flour just clumped all up in the tiny lines and it was just a big nope. I tried that method twice and decided it was a big no for me but if you can figure out how to make that work that's awesome. All the power to you.
​
I'm aware they also make a spray with flour in it... I'm undecided on trying it at this point.

Mmm oh boy mistake #2...
Ha silly me... well so... I mixed up the dry ingredients for the topping but never added the melted butter... SO... I added DRY topping into the pans first... 
NOW... had I properly sprayed/oiled/buttered my pans perhaps they still would have come out however, the topping would have still been all dry and they wouldn't have been right... 
I could have saved them IF they came out full but I still messed up a bit and could have made it more difficult... so just gotta address that little oppsy haha
So the results of test #1 were... disaster... 

Okay so this time... literally the next day... 
I got my pans all cleaned and ready to go AND I'm adding an extra LOL. 
Because why not? Maybe I'll have better luck with bigger cakes??
Hahaha I don't know just go with me here because we're going... 

OH BY THE WAY.
We're also doing Science now... Hahaha yeah so since my cakes stuck sooo bad I decided I needed to try out all the methods in which to properly grease these amazingly wonderful pans so that my cakes can benefit from their awesomeness and come out nicely. 
Yeah I know it was a long walk but I wanted to take it. 
So anyway I decided to try non stick spray, butter and Crisco. 

I completely slathered them... all of them. 

And I also apparently slightly overfilled them but ehhh I'll live with that if they just come out of the pans this time LOL. 

So meanwhile......
I know I didn't show the bigger bundt pans... I sprayed both of them down with the non-stick spray and I didn't end up with as much extra batter as I thought I would so I only ended up with one extra cake... BUT... it came out!! 
And I was OBSESSED with it LOL. 
Trust me it had a FULL photoshoot LOL. I was so excited!!

Now although this wasn't the original set, I had some success, so that definitely helps things in my opinion. Sometimes you need a win and that was a definitely a win.

LOOK how beautiful this thing turned out... omg.. and delicious..
Once I decorated this one it was gone very quickly.
Highly recommend. 
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You can find the recipe I used by clicking here.

Okay and we're back to the Science.
So right off the bat the two that I used
*surprise*
a truck load of non-stick spray, popped right out...
I mean EASY PEASY!!!
Okay well... I wasn't expecting that, but I was happy to see it!! 

Okay so both of the Crisco flowers, I guess we'll call them, haha-- popped out okay... 
And one of the buttered stars came out but a piece did break off the top... not a big deal..
​but still notable for Science purposes.

Yes I got carried away with decorating them... I made a huge mess but that's part of the luxury of being a hobby baker. I can make all the mess that I want--- to clean up-- haha.. 
But look how pretty they are...
I even got to box some up for my MIL to take with her on her way to work...
They looked amazing in the little treat boxes.... 

Look at that, can you belive it came out that good?? 
Well I guess you don't really know the damage I thought I was putting it through but it eventually did come out okay.
However... I will probably stick with the non-stick spray for these pans and lots of it.... 

Look how cute and gorgeous they are...
They were definitely worth the work to figure these pans out... 
And this recipe is absolutely phenomenal...
Even if you skip the filling and the topping the cake just by itself is ... AMAZING. 
Probably one of my favorite cakes to date and I'm going to be using it as the base for lots of my recipes. 

Oh yeah I know...
Decorating these little cakes is a lot of fun!!! I loved it!! 
You don't really have to do much and they still look really pretty. 

They were amazing with strawberries too...
This is how Hubby, Jaxon and I finished off the last 3 cakes... 
I didn't think Jaxon was going to like this cake but he absolutely demolished it. 
(Idk do most 10 year old's like coffee cake?)

Well.
Thank you for stopping by I hope you had fun!
What did we learn? I guess when in doubt, lots of non-stick spray!!!
LOL idk. 
​
I know I plugged this recipe like 3 times but it's not mine so I just want to make sure it's clear that I'm not taking credit for someone else's recipe. 
Hope you guys understand and I hope you enjoy the cake as much as we did! 
See you next time!
Much Love
Amanda
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I definitely thought I could make dinner and pie within an hour but ehh I was off by like 30 minutes... not a huge deal. Major success I say lol
I peeled the apples and mixed them with all the spices and butter. Then I made the crust in the food processor (I always make my pie crust in the food processor works great). Lastly I made the little brown sugar oat topping... it was actually hot when I put it on the pie. 
I let the apples cool for a bit because I didn't want my pie crust to be soggy (it wasnt!).

And here we are! Lol yes that escalated quickly but I wasn't exactly planning to do this as a blog post it just came out so delicious that I thought I would keep it up here on the blog!
So I do love hearts... 
As I mentioned I was running low on time and I had already decided I was going to make a blended topping I just wasn't sure how I was going to about it yet. 
After making the crust... which I rushed and it didn't go as well as planned and I had dough left over... aside from the dough I already set aside to make the top...
So I decided to just roll that dough out and that's where the hearts came from. 
It wasn't the prettiest topping ever buuuuuut it wasn't ugly either... because hearts... 

Filling:
5 Granny Smith Apples 
1/3 C Water
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 TBSP butter

Peel apples. Cut apples into slices. 
Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add water, cinnamon & nutmeg. Stir. Add apples.
Combine and cook on low for a few minutes (depending on how soft you want your apples)

Crust:
1 C cold butter
3 C Flour
1/3-1/2 C Cold Water
1 TBSP Sugar

1/2 tsp Salt
(I use salted butter so I omit this)

Combine flour and sugar. Cut butter into cubes. Mix butter into flour until you get small peas.
(I actually use my food processor... works every time) Add water until dough comes together.
This is enough for the bottom and top of a regular pie. I only needed to use half. You can freeze any extra pie crust for later. Make quiches or pot pies or more fruit pie! 

Topping:
Pie Crust cut in hearts
1 C Old Fashioned Oats
3 TBSP melted butter
2 TBSP Brown Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Combine oats, melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
If it's too dry just add more butter.. but it shouldn't be watery or anything it should mostly just seem like coated oats. Cover the top the of pie (notice I didn't cover it completely just randomly-you may need to double if you want full coverage...
Then add whatever crust shapes or whatever dough pieces you want. 


Spray a nonstick I think I used 9'' round pie dish.
Add the crust.
Add the apples.
Top with the crust pieces and toppings.
Bake at 375 for like 30-35 minutes. 
​
Egg wash is optional I did not end up using an egg wash. 

Yeah it's a mess... but it was delicious and I love it all the same! 
The ingredients were spot on so with a little time it could be a much more beautiful pie.
Thanks for stopping by!
Much Love
Amanda

Hello hello!!
It may be against my better judgement but I decided to go ahead and repost this recipe.
This post is from 2016 which, according to the cool kids, is like, a whole different time period so please excuse the rough pictures.
I was younger, cell phone cameras and digital cameras were basically trash. You know, the good ol days LOL.
I do intend to revisit this post and try these again with some leftover tart crust I have so maybe that will happen.
I'd like to make some homemade jam too.
ANYWAY.
I'm reposting these because the recipe is solid AND I loved making these with my little dude who isn't so little anymore.
This is definitely something to try with the kiddos though.
Highly recommend. You won't regret having the memories of making homemade Pop Tarts together I promise you that.
So let's get on with it.
There's a printable recipe at the bottom of this post.

Let me be clear.
We're basically making hand pies... kinda.. but they're still more "healthy" than the box of whatever you get at the store. And they're delicious.

At this time I was very much into trying to make everything super healthy so I used half wheat flour and half AP flour.
Use whatever flour makes you happy.
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Step 1 make a pie crust. Mix all the dry ingredients. Add in the butter with forks or a pastry thingy or your hands... until you get a bread crumb type of consistency. Then add the water and corn syrup and form a dough.
Roll the dough out and cut an even number of rectangles.
From the looks of my pictures I got somewhere between 8-10.
Put some jam in those babies and seal them shut.
I didn't use the fork method with these but it's probably the better way to go to keep them sealed.
I also didn't poke holes in the top but you should do that so the filling doesn't ooze everywhere.

They kinda resemeble McDonald's Apple Pies...
I bet apple filling would be a good option to try.
Sprinkle a little cinnamon sugar on top with some butter... YUM.
Anyway here they are fresh out of the oven.

Now that you've done all the boring stuff it's time to call the kiddos in and let them do the fun stuff ;)

Jaxon enjoyed adding the sprinkles. Very serious work.

Even more serious was the taste testing but he handled it well.
**Don't freak out Jaxon's thumb is not broken it's just double jointed LOL.

And here they are! Not perfect but kid approved.
They also freeze well AND toast well in the toaster.

Freeze them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and then transfer to a freezer bag. They keep for 6 months.