You know what they say… when you don’t like your frosting job, just cover it with more sugar. … right?
This cake isn’t quite finished, but it has to travel this afternoon (wish us luck) so I couldn’t add the upside-down ice cream cone spires to the tops of the towers to make it a proper castle. We will have to make do with imagination this morning.
My sister-in-law sent us a bundle of hand-me-down clothes for Charlie and tucked in this marvelous book of kid birthday cakes. I was so delighted — I’m pretty sure my family had the same book growing up and I recognized a couple cakes and gave my brother memory vertigo when I sent him a photo.1
Anyway I’m sure my SIL might have thought I would use the book to make Charlie some rad cakes, but this “Dream Castle” was calling me and so here we are, at 29, with a Strawberry Lemonade Cloud Castle cake.
Beside tweaking the construction to use round cakes instead of square, I used yellow cake and buttercream recipes from the book and added almond extract to the cake, mixed strawberry jam with some frosting for a fun filling, and added lemon extract and zest to the frosting. The beads are wild berry skittles and the bricks are mini-marshmallows. Can’t wait to have a slice tonight!
I’m writing now because after this I am going to pick up the kiddo and start packing for our river weekend and thank god, but there is still no internet at the river. I am so excited.
Weekly Round Up:
Monday: Tedded hay and thought about swearing off dusty farm work for ever
Tuesday: Went to the driving range and then found myself back in a tractor raking hay
Wednesday: Started the Rubber Stamp Project and knitted and watched Sanditon
Thursday: A do-everything go-everywhere errand day
Friday: Assembled my birthday cake!
On my reading list:
I am fully in a summer mood, so my TBR stack is mostly rom-com beach reads. Here’s what’s on my night stand:
Abby Jimenez: The Friend Zone, Part of Your World, Yours Truly, Just for the Summer
I haven’t tried Abby yet but Kendra Adachi has been raving about her so I got a 3-for-4 deal on wob.com
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
I haven’t loved an Emily Henry like I loved Beach Read, but I read Beach Read three or four years ago at the river so maybe if I do it over this weekend she’ll have some of her magic back
Beauty and the Beach by Gracie Ruth Mitchell
I think this is an indie book — not sure but I learned about the Kindle deal from an indie author friend. I started this a couple days ago and so far, so delightful.
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry
Still working on this one — it’s a slower book, I’m not in a rush (although now that I think about it I think I should renew it before I get library fines)
The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav
A dear co-worker gave this to me as a going-away present and I only just started it but with prefaces from Oprah and Maya Angelou, I’m interested to get deeper into it
Eat, Pray, Love by Liz Gilbert
I read this ages ago — since then I have read a couple of Liz’s novels, listened to her on Tim Ferriss’ podcast, and devoured her book on creative spirituality, Big Magic. I found EPL in a little free library so I’m having another go. I love the way she writes and thinks about re-finding her way in the world
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Okay I hope I am not the person that outs this and ruins it, but if you get an eBook from Libby delivered to your Kindle, and then you put your Kindle in airplane mode, the book sticks around even after Libby returns it. So The Way of Kings is hiding out until I find the time/energy/mood to start this 26+ hour read
Next week:
Will be a short week what with the holiday and another trip next weekend, but I’ll be sure to share it here. Have a great weekend and a lovely holiday!
Thank you Emma!!!