It's In My Blood

So I was originally going to make this blog only about the twins, and life with twins, but then I realized that they do a lot of the same stuff on a day to day basis which would make for a pretty boring blog. I have decided to just write about whatever I feel like! So tonight, as the babies dream their sweet little baby dreams, I am going to talk ahout cake decorating! :-)

I have been licking star tips off my fingers since before I can remember. I have waited excitedly for the cake to cool so the rounded part could be cut off (to make it completely flat) and I could eat the cake scraps! I fondly remember the red tool box filled with every color of dye you could ever imagine. Closets filled with cake pans and bookshelves stacked with the latest Wilton cake decorating books! Every year, starting in October, I would browwe through the decorating books and careful select my favorite cakes. i would take some time to think about which one be be perfect for my birthday party and I would finally make a decision a couple of weeks before my birthday. There is one person, one VERY special person I have to thank for all these memories-Nanny. And because of that, I can proudly say that master cake artistry is in my blood!

She was in amazing woman in so many, many ways but she was also one heck of a cake decorator. She owned her own shop in Ellsworth for about 15 years but made cakes on the side for 30 or so years. She made so many kids happy with the PERFECT birthday cakes and so many couples happy as they ooh'd and ahh'd over their wedding cake! I had a cake made for me, by Nanny, ever year until I was 18. (And because of that, I vow to make every single one of my children and grandchildrens' cakes!)

I spent countless nights sitting at her kitchen table, watching her decorate and storing what I saw and suggestions she made or questions she answered, so when it was time for me to try, I would know exactly what to do! Which brings me to my latest cake! As many of you probably know, our best friends Nick and Nikki have a little girl named Abby and her current love is Doc McStuffins (from the Disney channel). I wanted to make her a Doc cake! I love cake decorating because it brings me to such a happy place, with memories of Nanny flooding my mind the entire time. I should know her buttercrean frosting recipe by heart, but I dont because I would call her up ever single time I needed to make a cake and ask her for the recipe. She would laugh and say "Why dont you write it down?" to which I would tell her that I looked forward to calling and chatting about my latest cake idea and her thoughts on how to go about bringing it to life. (I still dont know the recipe-I now call my mom for it each time I need it-Its sort of a tradition now!)

I dyed the cake batter two different shades of purple and swirled it together so Abby would have a surprise after she cut into it! I cut the top off (Paul and I ate the scraps-I cant wait till the boys are old enough to make this memory with me like I had with Nanny) and then I put a crumb coat on. I boiled some water and smoothed out my top coat and went to town with mixing all the colors I would need. Then I piped out the picture and finished it off with a pink and purple border! I always eat way too much frosting whenever I make a cake-but I cant help it-so yummy!! The final result was Doc McStuffins, Stuffy the Dragon, and Lambie the Lamb! I delievered it to Abby and she knew who it was the moment she saw it! Thats all I cared about.

I look forward to many, many years of cake decorating in my future and using the tricks and tips I learned from Nanny-afterall, she was the best!!      
  
* Love and miss you every day! <3 *