What a terrific memorial day weekend!

My daughters birthday always falls on memorial day weekend since it is the 27th, well this year I asked her what kind of cake she would like and she said a 'princess cake'. So, I got to thinking about how I could make her a princess cake, especially how I am not a baking queen lol. I love baking but I lack the skill in fondant, sculpting etc. I did not let that stop me though, I remembered buying the Big top cupcake a few years back and using it for Irelyn's first birthday.
So I decided this was how I was going to create Violets cake.
I used 2 boxed of cake mix, which made a TON of cake mix but I wanted to fill the big top cupcake molds a little more to get a bigger cupcake.
Violet wanted pink cake so I got the deluxe moist supreme strawberry cake mix. Probably lucky that I did that because I may have overcooked the top a little since when I did go check on them (an hour after I put it in the oven) they were both done, the top and the bottom molds. Supposedly the top should come out 10-15 mins before the bottom - whoopsie. So I guess the moist cake helped me out because it was very good!
So I let it sit overnight in the fridge so I could trim it and ice it the next morning.
I of course had to trim the cake because it comes out rounded on top so you cut it flat to get a nice fit. I also trimmed the edges so they did not come to a point where the top and bottom meet (making it look like a giant cupcake) and instead gave it more of an oval shape. Then I put icing in between the top and bottom to get a good seal and a little icing in the middle never hurt no one.
I then just put strawberry icing all over it as smooth as I could. Then I had to snap Belle's legs off (eek!) and shove her into the top of the cake. Then I just used the decorating tube of icing they sell in the store and the X tip to create a little design on the top around Belle's waist and at the bottom of the cake.
I then just put the white sprinkle globes and pink sparkle sprinkles all around the 'dress'.
And WALA We have a 'Princess cake' - Slightly traumatic when you pull the doll out with no legs lol but you just move past that lol there is no way she could have kept her legs with this cake, she was wayyy too tall.
See my pics! I am so proud!

When you run out of tomorrows

Well, for quite some time now I have been tossing around the idea of starting something on my own, like my own home business. The issue has always been the fear of losing my time and money that I rarely just have in excess and really the fear of failure.
I know myself well, I can totally admit my short comings and at the same point I recognize my strong points. So although I have a million ideas of things I would love to own and grow - none of them seemed to be just right. They either required a huge leap of faith, a ton of money, or something else I just do not have and cannot come by too easily.
So, I had messed around with the idea of child jewelry, hand crafted personalized etc. But I find that this has been something many people have done and that would make it harder to get anywhere with - does that mean I won't do it? No, I will do it but not right now, not my first venture.
If you know me personally, you know I am majorly indecisive, I can make decisions for everyone else but not for myself. Probably because I rarely like to hear good advice lol
You also know, I am a perfectionist with things I do. When I start something I must finish it as soon as possible and it must be perfect.
So starting this project is a major step for me, because I know how I am and how hard I am to deal with - even if I am only dealing with me lol
After much thought, I settled on an idea that I am very passionate about. I am going to start with chocolate lollipops. I can make them to order for birthday parties, as characters etc or I can make them for baby showers, or gift arrangements.
I took a nice little online course on how to make chocolate candy, I am super excited at all the ways I can expand this and grow the business and be able to be very creative.
I plan on using a high quality chocolate and going from there.
I will definitely update with photos and hopefully my friends will want to sample some of my treats and help me spread the word.
I have put this all off for long enough, I am not getting younger so I feel like now is my time.
Wish me luck!