The Beach Cake

I loved this cake! Not only was it right up my ally being pretty simple and yet impressive looking, it tasted fantastic! I'll be the first to admit that I typically go overboard with my son's birthday parties, but I did make an attempt this year to keep myself in check with everything but the cake.

Our decor consisted of a few inexpensive banners and one beach bucket full of snacks, some paper plates and napkins and we were set. We did go in with most of the family and get an inflatable water slide for Alex's birthday present this year. Throw that in with a regular kiddie pool, and the inflatable soccer goal Alex got last year for his birthday, and my backyard became a kids inflatable land dream. :)

Then there was the cake. My brother joined our decorating team this year and made such notable contributions as the teddy graham chicken fight, and the bouy. My sister carefully crafted a kayak, helped with the bouy and served as general managing director of the decorations, and I was the brains behind the surfer, the beach babes, the lifeguard and the tree. All together we got a nifty cake that served the 50 or so people who came with very little leftover.

I used 3 boxes of funfetti cake mix to make the 11 x 15 cake, a thin 8 inch round and two cupcakes so I could test the results before the crowd. :) Once both cakes were cook, I put them in the fridge over night to lock in the moisture. The day before the party I brought them back to room temp, arranged the 8 inch round in pieces to create the beach and added a crumb coat to make frosting it easier. Once the crumb coat had set for a bit I tinted store bough whipped white frosting with orange extract (colorless) and did a white layer over the entire cake. I quickly added finely blended graham crackers (they were powder like consistency) all over the beach by patting them into the icing. Then I tinted another can of whipped white frosting blue for the water and mixed it with the white to create white caps in the water. Then came the fun with the teddy grahams and gummy drops rolled and cut up into shapes. Here see for yourself!

Twinkle, Twinkle

This time of year you see twinkle lights everywhere. As I sit here typing this up I can see my neighbors lights winking through my front window and if I crane my neck I can almost see the gorgeous LED lights across the street. We decorated last weekend, when it was still warm enough to be outside in tee-shirts, and it brought back memories of decorating for my wedding several years ago. I wanted a fairy tale outdoor wedding in April so in preparation we purchased thousands of lights at after Christmas sales. Not only did we get them for a fraction of the cost, but after the wedding we boxed them back up and our first year of marriage we were all set to decorate the whole street in white twinkly lights. Now we wrap the front porch columns, decorate the house roof line and even wrap the trees. I won't even tell you how many strands I have left over! Believe me it will be many years before I ever need to buy lights again.

If you're planning a wedding in 2009, and want to decorate with lights, hit the after Christmas sales next week and stock up! If you're not planning a wedding, grab a few boxes anyways and turn your deck into the outdoor entertaining hotspot among your friends!