Happy 4th of July!

Red, white, and blue: Strawberry, butter, and blue velvet cake to celebrate!

 Original idea (with directions) from "17 and Baking" here.

Edit (02/19/2012)-- Since this picture has been shared on Pinterest recently (hello, pinteresters!), I thought I should add some tips for this cake: 

1. Don't do like I did and try to make each layer a different flavor. It was a bit over ambitious, and it didn't taste right. People were more impressed with the design than the flavor. Stick with a good white cake recipe, and you're good to go.

2. If you can, use gel food coloring for better and brighter colors. I used liquid, which was fine, but I had to use A LOT of the food coloring to get bolder colors. With liquid coloring, it also took some experimenting to get the colors right, which led to over mixing the batter, and a tougher cake.

3. I always love baking, but this cake was one of my funnest (?) projects. Please make this cake, and please credit Elissa at 17 and Baking for her idea.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you'll share your experiences if you make this cake!

Blog Barf

I realize that I'm posting a lot. I've had a lot of posts planned for a while now, but just haven't had the time to update. Until now, apparently. Anyways, this isn't one of those planned posts...

I was sitting here & downloading exercise videos online (when I should be writing cover letters for my resume), and came across this cake from 17 and Baking:

This is totally her picture--I haven't made the dang thing (yet)!

Isn't it beautiful? (You should totally check out her other stuff on there. She's a Seattle-ite, too!) So I was thinking that maybe I'll make it for Cinco de Mayo. No? I guess I'll have to wait until July, then. Anyone else find it funny that I stumbled upon this beauty while downloading exercise videos? Yeahhhh.

Edit: I forgot to share this link with y'all...Ghettoblaster. It has a tv and straps for your shoulders. How convenient. My Lycheeyum bought a Ghettoblaster today at a church yard sale. He got it for $5, was totally excited with it, called me about it, and I made fun of him. "What are you going to do with a Ghettoblaster stereo??!!" I laughed. Oh, how I laughed. And judged. I guess he got the last laugh.