Hobby Lobby

We have a hobby!  It all started back when I was living with Luke, Trisha, Chail, and Philly.  Back before the days of Rocky came along.  Back when Chuck and I were only good 'ol boyfriend and girlfriend.  Actually, I believe we were engaged.  I'm getting off topic.  Thinking back on the days when we began is such a happy place.  But anyway.  

When Chuck graduated from Grad school and received his Masters degree, his family threw a big party for him.  I wanted to make him a special cake for the occasion.  At the time I was under the impression that carrot cake was his favorite kind.  (Later on once we were married I found out in a large group of people that carrot cake was NOT, in fact, my husband's favorite cake!)  So I made this absolutely fabulous Paula Deen recipe with butter cream icing.  To die for.  Absolutely to die for.  The only problem was, I had and still have zero decorating skills.  Chuck insisted that decorating his own cake would be totally fine.  I felt funny about it, but it was going to be the main dessert in front of his whole family and I wanted it to look great.  

That's when our hobby began.  I bake, he decorates!

A few weeks after the big Grad party, it was Chail's first brithday!  Who better to make my Little Love his very first birthday cake than his adoring Auntie?!  At the time, Chail was crazy about the show, "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" so Mickey became the party theme.  Again, I baked and my faithful sidekick decorated.  I'd have to say the Mickey cake is probably my favorite we've done.  Chail got part of Mickey's ear, the cupcake, to eat all by himself.  YUM!

Then for Rocky's first birthday, and Chail's third birthday, Chuck and I again tag-teamed it and made a cookie cake decorated with a monkey.  That one looked awesome, but we forgot our camera.  Boo.  Sadly, it tasted really bad because I over-cooked it.  Double boo.   

I decided to redeem myself and perfect the cookie cake.  We went to our friend's house for dinner last week and tested our skills again.  Voila!  The cake turned out fabulously!  Chewy, gooey, chocolately, and definitely chippy.  Oh yeah!  My Mom sent us a new frosting recipe that worked really well for decorating.  We also bought cake decorating tools which helped us a lot.  Up until the new tools we were just using plastic bags with not-so-great taped in tips. 

Our friends have 6 kids with another on the way, so we wanted to make the cake with each member of the family represented.  The kids loved it!  There may have even been arguments over who got what piece.  ;)

This week we made a Spring themed cookie cake for our small group.  It was a big, fun hit.  Now we just have to wait for another excuse to keep on baking and decorating!