Daily Archives: April 13, 2012

Happy Birthday Beautiful Disasters!

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It’s been a whole year! Seriously can’t believe it. One year ago from today I posted this. “y’all”…really? Who do I think I am? Woody from Toy Story? I’m from the Midwest. I live 30 minutes from Chicago. Y’all and I don’t mix. Anywhoooo..

There are a couple things that have gotten better (as an addition to my improved word choice-I’m no thesaurus, though!..yet). One of the things that have stuck out the most to me is the improvement of my photography. I’ve never taken a photo class. I do not pay for some fancy schmancy photo editing program (although, I am thinking about it for in the future!). But I do have a wonderful mother who allows me to borrow her big, nice Nikon camera.

With that Nikon camera, a few tips from other blogs, and a little bit of help from photobucket.com, my pictures have gone through a few changes. Let’s look at the progression…

oh yeah, and there of course have been several DISASTERS. Capital D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R-S! Somehow I managed to once totally mess up a boxed brownie mix…?

Dum Dum DUUUUUM.

And then there was a pretty nasty looking first attempt at making toffee.

trying to spread chocolate on the separated butter and sugar, can you say FAIL?

So clearly I have learned a lot along the way. I’ve learned that going to bed before midnight, is a real accomplishment, foodgawker will cause you to literally want to eat your computer screen, REAL sunlight is the best way to take a picture, eating too much cookie dough will make you not even want to think about eating a baked cookie, some bloggers are just unbelievably amazing and I have NO idea how they do it (like Jess or Jenny), and that commentors can truly make your day.

You readers are one of the biggest motivations EVER. I love you all, and I feel like I truly have gotten to know a few of you. It’s amazing to see what incredible people you can meet through blogging. It’s always fun to connect with a fellow baking nut. You can never have too many baking buddies!! Or cooking friends, I like cooked food…occasionally. Like mac and cheese. Yumm… anybody wanna comeover and fix me some? I got cake.

Funfetti cake, in fact. It’s adorable. It’s delicious. It’s sweet. It’s got sprinkles out of the wazoo. It’s food blogging on Beautiful Disasters at its finest.

So here you go, a mini funfetti cake to thank all my wonderful readers, family, friends, and supporters for making this first year of Beautiful Disasters possible. It’s been a fun first year and I’m ready for the journey to continue! Now let’s eat cake.

Mini Funfetti Layer Cake

1 box cake mix, prepared**

1/4 cup oblong sprinkles (“jimmies”)

  1. Prepare cake mix according to directions on box. Preheat oven to temperature suggested on box. This is usually 350 degrees F or 375 degrees F. (Maybe I make cake too much.. this isn’t normal information for an average person to know)
  2. Bake in small, greased cake pan. I used a 4 inch oven-safe ramekin. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  3. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack for an additional 20 minutes. Stick in fridge to make cutting in half for layers easier.
**NOTE: I poured the amount of prepared cake batter into my ramekin and then put the rest (which was a LOT ) into a plastic baggy and popped it in the fridge. This is perfectly safe. Whenever you want to bake a cake or cupcakes, you can just put the bag into the fridge and let it soften and get to room temperature, snip off a corner of the bag, then pipe into cupcake molds or into a cake pan! Bake as you would according to directions on back of box.

Funfetti Whipped Cream Frosting

1 cup heavy cream

2 Tablespoons powdered sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons oblong sprinkles (“jimmies”)

additional sprinkles, if desired for decoration

  1. In mixer, whip heavy cream with powdered sugar for about 5 minutes, or until stiff peaks form. It should take on the look and consistency of regular whipped cream (go figure!).
  2. By hand, fold in sprinkles.
  3. Cut cake in half, to form two thinner circles or disks of cake. Spread whipped cream on bottom cake layer. Top with second cake layer. Spread remaining whipped cream on top and on the sides of the cake to frost. Sprinkle additional sprinkles, if desired.

that up there is just so you can see how tiny and adorable this little cake is!

Random Fact of the Day: The first cell phone call was placed in New York City in 1974 on a Motorola Phone that weighed over 4 lbs.

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