Star Spangled Galette

Just wanted to share what I made for Fourth of July this year. I used the same blueberry galette recipe from earlier and used a cookie cutter and red sprinkles to make the stars.  Everyone at our neighborhood block party loved it =D  And this was much easier than last year's flag cake... recall the dog incident.

A Fabulous Foodie Birthday

I haven't had much time to blog lately (read: senior year is intense) but I just had to share with you what a fantastic birthday I had!!  It was such a fun afternoon. The weather was mild and was perfect for my customized "geocaching" present hunt in the park! (I'm sure my sister and I looked ridiculous digging through the bushes.  )

We ate this entire "cake"....guilt free!!

Its a veggie birthday cake (areal view). Such an awesome idea!! Made with love by my mom and sister. : )

Hidden in the bushes I found the cutest little gifts 

Cookie Sheet & Rolling Pin Charm

I have been collecting charms for my charm bracelet since I was 16. I love how each charm has a story. This charm is a little baking sheet with a rolling pin, cutter and cookie dough on top. I think I'm going to start an entirely different bracelet just for baking charms ;) Isn't this little standing mixer charm adorable!!

A tiny egg pan and mini spatula

Perfect for 1 egg + 1 egg white for breakfast (or for making a mile high mini crepe stack for your roomies birthday - I hope to post that soon ..it was awesome!)

Speaking of eggs, how ironic that the very first of my one year subscription to Food Network Magazine is all about eggs! So exciting! So far there have been articles about making trick foods for April fools day, how to make your own sushi at home and lettuce growing in the produce isle at the grocery store. Shweet!  (Thanks Theresa!)

I also got a cedar grilling plank. Cool!

These are are paper thin bunny shaped wafers - SO cute!!

It was a fantastic foodie birthday!! (yes, I got a few other things not relating to food )  

Ps. I wish I had a better camera so I could share with you the sushi that I had for birthday dinner. We went to Room 112 in Charlotte. Strawberries + cinnamon sauce over sushi = delicious!! 

Flag Cake

Where to begin? Two sisters, two trips to the grocery store, two batches of cake, two crazy dogs and two very long days later.....finally, a Flag Cake!

I went home for the Fourth of July, and my sister and I wanted to bake something for the occasion. Strawberry stripe cakes with Blueberry stars: cute but expected. Cutting into this cake: a flag, unexpected. Perfect! And if the pattern isn't enough to impress, a hint of almond flavor in this cake is guaranteed to pleasantly surprise your taste buds.

Because this recipe would be extremely long to post I have provided links instead. The process seems intimidating but is really quite simple. I used this recipe for the cake base. Full instructions and cream cheese icing recipe can be found at 17 and baking.

Here are some tips:

When you are cutting the circles, make sure to cut in a completely vertical fashion. Otherwise your blue ring of cake will not be wide enough and there will be a gap between your red and white layers. - if this happens just use the left over blue cake to stuff it into the gaps.

I used the cream cheese frosting suggested by the original blogger although mine did not turn out fluffy like in her picture. It was almost transparent and covering the bright red and blue cake was difficult. I would suggest making a buttercream instead.

Dogs + Car = Disaster:

So I bet youre wondering what two dogs has to do with this cake? We slaved for two days (baked one day, decorated the next). My sister had to drop off our energy surged dogs to my Mother's house before she joined her boyfriend's family for festivities. She did not have time to return home for the cake so she carefully covered it with foil and placed it on the floor on the passangers side of the car. Our dogs (both vizslas) are quite full of life. And to cut to the chase of a long and painful story, Reka (the female) somehow managed to sit on this cake!! FURIOUS! Luckily the cake was salvageable and was re-iced. I now have my dog to thank for the thin red layer at the top. >:-| Despite the mishap the cake got great reviews (there was only one slice left the next day!)

The cake as it was originally decorated: