Puppy Birthday Cake

I had a lot of fun this weekend making a birthday cake for a puppy’s first birthday.  I normally make cakes for people who are looking for something very specific, but this time I got to come up with my own ideas.  I decided to make a dog dish out of a two layer round cake.  I covered the whole cake in marshmallow fondant and then cut a hole in the middle of the fondant on top.  After cutting away the fondant I added a layer of frosting and malt balls to look like dog food.  I used a different color fondant to cut out the letters in the dog’s name and attached them with royal icing.  For the cupcakes, I piped the paw prints with royal icing on waxed paper and added them the next morning.  I had a lot of fun making this cake and I love the way everything turned out.  Happy first birthday Truffles!

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Gifted and Talented Education

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

This Albert Einstein quote was spread all over facebook last week and it caught my attention.  It’s a great quote, but what caught my eye is that this is truly the philosophy being used at my girls’ elementary school.  I have always been in favor of public education, but my oldest daughter’s kindergarten experience made me start to doubt that we had made the right choice.  After homeschooling for almost two years we decided to take another look at the public schools in our area.  We were incredibly blessed to find one, not far from our home, that seemed to have everything we were looking for.  We took a leap of faith and signed up both girls.

We have been with this school for a month and a half and I am so excited by everything I see happening there.  The philosophy is that all kids are gifted and talented.  Don’t we as parents feel that way already?  We all believe that our child is special and we are right.  The school’s job is to find those gifts and talents and teach the kids how to make the most of them.  The amazing thing is that our school is actually doing that!  The kids are evaluated on so much more than Math and Reading.  The teachers know who loves computers, who is a great artist and who likes to perform.  They have also assessed learning styles including who likes to work in a group and who works better alone.

I am so excited about the way this school is reaching out to each student.  I think they are making a difference for these kids and hopefully are reducing the number of fish attempting to climb trees.

Funny Search Terms Part Two

Yesterday I wrote about all of the funny things people have searched for that brought them to my blog looking for cake decorating ideas.  Or at least I think that’s what they were looking for.  Since I do have posts about things other than baking I thought I would share some other funny search terms today.

I have written about some of the fun activities I do with my daughters, so I assume that’s why my blog came up when someone searched for “girl home fun”.  While it’s fun to imagine the possibilities of what that person might have been looking for, a more specific search of “mall girls” is just as confusing.

My favorite searches are the ones that convey emotion.  “How to scrapbook all the preschool” is top of the list in this category.  Anyone with a preschooler can relate to the enormous amount of artwork that comes home from school.  I posted about a strategy I have used to help conquer the mountain of construction paper, paint and glitter.  I hope it was helpful to the person frantically searching for “how to scrapbook all the preschool”!

Then there are the searches that I just plain don’t understand.  I am sure the people who searched for these terms were disappointed when they clicked on my blog. The phrases “route tree football” and  “football routen” mean nothing to me.  Sorry.  And the best confusing search would have to be “what year wilderness the great debate”.  Wow, I have no idea what you were looking for.

My final search term that I would like to share is the one that prompted me to write these posts in the first place.  It’s something I have been thinking about ever since I read a similar post on The Pioneer Woman‘s blog, but this search was the final push to actually record these crazy searches.  So, for me, the search that takes the cake is “female with long brown hair. twin boys a baby and a girl”. What?

Funny Search Terms Part One

One of my favorite things about checking the stats page of my blog is reading all of the search terms that people have used to find my blog.  Most people come here looking for cake ideas.  I have had hundreds of searches for Rapunzel or Tangled cakes.  That cake is by far the most popular one that I have posted.

Most search terms I understand, but someone searched for “baked airplane” and I am just assuming they were looking for a cake in the shape of an airplane.  Another transportation cake search was “half house/half cruise ship cake”.  That sounds interesting.  I may have to Google that one and see what comes up.

Some poor parent living with a Lemonade Mouth fan must have been a little confused while searching for “lemonade teeth cake”.  Hopefully my Lemonade Mouth post was able to clear up some things for her.  My favorite cake related search has to be “show me butterfly theme cakes for baby shower”.  Sometimes it is frustrating searching for things on the internet and you just have to be stern.  Show me the butterfly cakes!  And while we are on the topic of butterfly cakes… “eating the butterfly cake” and “butterfly eating buns” are two searches that brought to mind some fun images.  I have no idea what those people were looking for, but I don’t think they found it here!

Cake decorating is an elaborate hobby these days.  I have started playing around with fondant and gum paste which add a lot to the look of the cake and open up endless possibilities as far as details that can be added.  The best search along these lines has to be “gumpaste pregnant women”.  That phrase is just funny.  And last but not least, I would like to thank the search engine that identified my blog with the search terms “nicest cake design”.

Tomorrow I will write about all of the funny, non cake related, search terms that brought people to my blog!