Things I have learned this weekend

Dear Internets,

I have recently decided the following:

1. White chocolate ganache is not as delicious as it sounds
2. I am much better at baking and decorating cupcakes than full-sized cakes
3. This might have something to do with me being better with details than big-picture stuff
4. It probably doesn't
5. Four weeks (29 days) without a day off work doesn't do wonders for my mental health
6. I need to get my rear back to the gym
7. High school reunions stress me the eff out
8. I'm kind of glad no one I know actually got invited to my high school reunion. This meant no one could tell me where it was, so I didn't feel guilty about not going
9. It is nice to mend fences (figuratively, anyway)
10. I think my liking a television show is an indication it will be canceled before its time (Veronica Mars, Arrested Development, Pushing Daisies, Undeclared, etc, etc.)
11. Unfortunately, there probably aren't any studio executives out there willing to pay me to watch television pilots to determine which ones are destined to be brilliant but canceled
    
12. My luck is so bad that it's actually mathematically improbable that it could get any worse
13. By luck, I mean my ability to win big prizes in drawings and things. Seriously, I have lost many drawings where I represented 2 out of 3 of the entries
14. I know the mathematical improbability of my bad luck because I have tracked it on a spreadsheet
15. I am a nerd

I guess I knew that last one before this weekend. But that's OK.

Love,
Jane

P.S. I made some fondant this weekend. It turned out well, and doesn't even taste nasty. However, the cake I baked turned out funky, so unless I put the fondant on the cupcakes I made for my nephew, I don't know what I can do with it. I hear fondant keeps well in the fridge, though.
P.P.S. The idea of putting fondant on a cupcake just seems sort of wrong to me. It makes me think of these two little girls I saw this weekend selling lemonade from a fancy (clearly store-bought) lemonade stand.
P.P.P.S. I mean, really. A store-bought lemonade stand just seems like an affront to childhood and introductory economic theory. I mean, how many glasses of lemonade will those little girls have to sell at $0.15 each before they recoup their start-up costs? It does seem like a great way to introduce the girls to the joys of multi-level marketing schemes, however... Hmmm....

Spiderman Cupcakes

Dear Internets,

My nephew thinks of me as the cupcake lady. Any time I talk to him on the phone, he says something like, "You bring me Spiderman (or George, or WALL-E/EVE, or Batman) cupcakes?" Of course, he's way too cute for me to say anything but yes.

Here are some Spiderman cupcakes I made him this weekend. They're devil's food cake with cream cheese icing. (Cream cheese icing isn't the best for decorating, but I haven't yet managed to find a recipe for a buttercream icing that I can stand to eat.)


I forgot to take pictures until I was outside my sister's house.


It was 105 degrees outside (not hyperbole), so the cupcakes immediately started to melt.


My nephew, marking the cupcakes as his. He was excited and jumping up and down, so every picture I took ended up blurry. You can sort of tell that he's wearing a Spiderman t-shirt in this picture.

Charlie was a little disappointed that the designs were not made out of candy (Aunty is not that good yet), but I think he still enjoyed the cupcakes. I made a Lucha Libre mask cupcake for Achilles - I'll try to remember to upload a picture tonight.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Love,
Jane

Sir Cakes a Lot

Dear Internets,

Here are some pictures of my practice cakes. The first pictures are of the cake I decorated in my first cake decorating class. The last picture is some cupcakes I made that no one except Achilles ate because no one else loves me.





Yes, deep down I am a 12-year-old girl who likes to doodle. Yay pink!

Happy weekend!

Love,
Jane