LOTR/Hobbit Cake

Hello Lovelies! 

 

Today's a fantastic weather day and I'm finally finished with my literature class which means that I'm officially done with school! It's such a great feeling to know I don't have to worry about registering for classes anymore. In celebration, I wanted to share with you a cake that I made recently for someone's birthday. They gave me a picture of a LOTR/Hobbit cake from the internet, so I basically recreated that with my flair put in. Down below I'll include the recipes or products I used.  

 

 

 

It's a two tier high-ratio yellow cake with buttercream frosting and a buttercream fondant over it. The grass is all piped butter cream frosting and all the  figures are made from marshmallow fondant. The figures were all molded by my boyfriend because I'm very uneasy with my modeling skills, but since he's had multiple art and modeling classes in college, I felt it better with him to do those.  

One product that I purchased was the Buttercream Fondant. It's Duff's brand from Charm City Cakes. It's the second time I've used his fondant and I have to say I really prefer this fondant over Wilson's fondant because it's really easy to work with and it tastes quite nice. You can find a lot of his products at Michaels in the cake decorating aisles, but I really urge you not to buy things from them unless you have one of their coupons!  

 

High-Ratio Yellow Cake 

 

Yields 2-3 9 inch pans        Baking Temp: 340 degrees F 

 

Cake Flour                            1 lb 4 oz 

Granulated Sugar                1 lb 5oz 

Emulsified Shortening            10 oz 

Salt                                              .5 oz 

Baking Powder                           1 oz 

Dry Milk Powder                        2 oz 

Light Corn Syrup                        3 oz 

Water, cold                               18 oz 

Eggs                                            10 oz 

Lemon extract                      .25 fl oz 

 

Combine flour, sugar, shortening, salt, baking powder, milk powder, corn syrup and 8 oz of the cold water in a large bowl with a paddle attachment on a low speed for 5 minutes. 

 

Combine remaining ingredients in a separate bowl. Add these ingredients to creamed-fat mixture in three additions, making sure to scrape the bowl down after each addition. 

 

Beat for another 2 minutes on low speed 

 

Divide out the batter in a greased pan. only fill the pan up half way. Bake in at 340F until a toothpick comes out clean (usually 12 to 18 minutes but varies on your oven so make sure to keep checking it!) 

 

 

 

Butterceam Frosting 

 

1/2 cup Shortening 

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter (1 stick) 

1 tsp Vanilla Extract 

4 cups Sifted Powdered Sugar 

2 tbsp Milk 

 

Cream together Shortening and butter it's light and fluffy. Then add in vanilla extract. 

 

Add the powdered sugar in. It's best to do this one cup at a time, let in mix in, then scrape the bowl down to make sure nothing's stuck on the bottom. 

 

By this point the frosting will be a thick. Just add in the milk and mix it together. You can also add a little bit more milk if you need it a thinner frosting.

Makeup Haul

Hello Earthlings!

 

I wanted to make a quick post about a few items I picked up yesterday. I was pretty impressed with myself on how much money I had saved purchasing these products.

The first place I stopped at was Nordstrom Rack. Originally I came here in hopes of finding some Topshop scarfs that I had seen on there website. I've never been to one of these stores, but I can safely say I think I'm in love. I didn't want to go overboard in there because I knew I had another place to go. With no luck on finding any scarfs, I did have luck in some clearance bins. I picked up two Stila Countless Color Pigments in Melody (purple and pink shadows) and Light Show (blue, yellow, and green shadows) at $5.50 USD (originally $22 USD). I was going to purchase these at Sephora or Ulta, but could never bring myself to doing so. I have no idea when I'll be using these, but I could not bring myself to pass these up for the price. They even had some Smashbox and NARS products here that weren't on clearance. I'll definitely be coming here again if I want some new products before heading to Sephora or Ulta.

 

 

The second place I stopped at was Great Lakes Crossing Outlet Mall in Auburn Hills, Michigan. If you are ever anywhere near Auburn Hills, just head to this mall. You can find some pretty great things at a discount. I came here specifically to go to Saks Off 5th for theri makeup department. I stopped there a few days ago for the first time to pick up a Clinque product for my mother's birthday and ended up saving $10 USD on that product. I picked up two MAC products since I wanted to start adventuring into their brand. The first item I picked up is MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Adored for $21 USD (Retail price around $32). I loved the look of the product on skin and it's extremely pretty in the packaging. Also, after some research when I got home, I discovered a lot of the products Saks Off 5th carried were limited edition, like this skinfinish. They even had some products still from MAC's Archie's Girl Collection. The second product I picked up is yet another eyeshadow. It's their Matte Eyeshadow in Copperplate for $10.50 (originally $15). Its a gorgeous muted grey brown color. All I did in the store was swatched it and I knew I have to find a MAC counter in the near future to pick up more of their matte colors. It felt amazing, blended out well, and had strong staying power.

 

Now I know where to go to find high end cosmetics or past limited edition pieces for cheaper, I'm really happy with my purchases. I should have paid $91USD (plus tax) for these four products, but instead I got a steal by paying $42.50USD(plus tax). So whether you're heavily into makeup or wanting to start growing a collection, Check out some outlet shops! You'll be pleasantly surprised.

Mini-Vacation

Hello Earthlings!

It's been awhile since I've been able to come on my blog for anything. I've been busy the last week and a half juggling my internship, literature homework, and making a cake. While I'm currently being distracted from my literature homework from Michigan's gorgeous (yet terribly humid) weather, I figured I'd post some of my pictures from my mini-vacation up north.

Burt Lake State Park

We stayed at Burt Lake State Park in Indian River, Michigan. I've been coming here with my family for around 15 years now, I believe. This is literally my favorite place to come in Michigan and it's become my home away from home.

 

My Dogs Gus (one on the right) and Ellie (one on the left) patiently waiting in line to get back on the boat.



Mackinaw Island

One of the days up there wasn't fantastic boating weather for Burt Lake, so we decided to head up to Mackinac City to take a Ferry to Machinaw Island.





At the top of the walkway going towards the cemetery.

 One thing I love doing while on the Island is visiting the cemeteries. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the cemetery and the main street this time, but I did manage to capture this gorgeous view from the top of the hill heading towards the cemetery.

Park by The Iroquois Hotel

After walking around a lot by the cemetery, Skull Cave, and Lookout Pointe we headed back towards the main part of the town to rest a little bit. You get an amazing view from the park that's located right next to The Iroquois Hotel. Once we rested up a bit, we continued walking and going in a lot of shops, where I almost bought myself an Ugly Doll (I was so close this time!). Before we left, of course I had to buy some fudge. I stopped at Joann's, as it's generally my favorite out of the fudge places up there (Kilwin's is a close second). I picked up Chocolate, Butterfinger, and Salted Caramel Chocolate. All of them are very delicious and unfortunately the Butterfinger fudge is already gone.

 

Sunset at Burt Lake State Park

I wish my mini-vacation could have been longer, but we had to get back to the real responsibilities of our life. I'm really hoping to visit Mackinaw Island in the fall because I'm always hearing how beautiful it looks. I hoped you enjoyed a little sneak peak into my vacation!

Until next time!