Earthquake Cake

I made this cake for company recently and the cute twenty somethings said, "Oh my goodness, this is amazing...did you get this recipe from Pinterest?" And I proceeded to tell them a story about the olden days (also known as the 90's) when I clipped this recipe from ...the newspaper. Shocking, but true. As a newlywed I had to rely purely on my Betty Crocker cookbook, the newspaper and calls to my mother for recipes and tips. Somehow we survived.

This recipe has been a staple in our family since I tore it from the newspaper all those years ago. (And it's easy!)
!


Earthquake Cake

1 cup finely shredded coconut
1 cup chopped nuts
1 package German Chocolate Cake mis
1 stick butter
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese

Place coconut and nuts in a greased 9X13 pan.



Mix cake mix according to package directions and spread over nuts/coconut



Melt butter and cream cheese in a saucepan. Add powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Pour over cake mixture or drop by spoonful onto batter. Don't try to spread, stir or mix. It doesn't have to look pretty.



Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. The cream cheese layer does some funky stuff in the oven that I can't explain (hence the name earthquake cake) The cream cheese layer somehow ends up on the bottom, mixing with the nuts and coconut for a moist and yummy frosting. It's a delicious mystery and fun for the kids to watch with the oven light on.



So all you newlyweds who are happily pinning recipes, take a minute to thank your ancestors for feeding themselves in a world before Pinterest. And make some Earthquake Cake.

InstaFriday

It's been a while since I've shared my InstaFriday.  So lets catch up with a few highlights!

I'm linking up with Jeannett:

The highlight of my spring was when my sister's family came to stay at Easter! 

 These cousins love each other soooooo much!

I also did more spring cleaning than ever this year!!!  

I routinely get rid of things, but I still find myself disgusted with how much crap I have!  I had a sentimental moment when I came across my old sticker collection that I had been saving for my daughters.  It was time to get rid of it, but a quick picture will let me remember it forever (without becoming a hoarder).  Did you know Instagram can help you spring clean?

This silly little incident was from a random Sunday morning when I challenged the fam to a "crepe presentation contest."  Relaxing Sunday mornings are the best!  Sunday afternoons are the best too.  

I just really love Sundays, because we do things like this...

So here's my new favorite piece of milk glass.  But also, I've been obsessed with photo-editing apps.  I have downloaded at least 20, took a class, and basically waste a lot of time messing around with pics.  I think my fave (and many other people's fave) app is a beautiful mess.  It's so stinkin' fun!

This pic is from my Mother's Day breakfast in bed.  The hubs used my stuffed french toast recipe. 

If I could marry a breakfast, it would be this one.    

Here is a pic from the last day of school.  I posted about these speech bubble cookies here. 

And the last piece of important news is: summer is off to a GREAT start!

If you'd like to be instafriends, find me here.  

Leave me a comment if you'd like me to follow you back!

Baseball Cookies... (again)

And another baseball season has passed.

And some more cookies have been eaten.


This batch of baseball cookies was of course for my little guy's team.  If you're looking for my recipes or instructions on using royal icing, go here!

Here's the low-down on this particular batch though...The baseball cookies were about the size of a 50 cent piece so I did the detail with an edible ink pen instead of royal icing (like I did here).  The wood grain on the bat was done with a paintbrush and watered down gel food coloring.   The rest of the detail is just royal icing.


I know this little guy can't fully appreciate the effort that goes into these, but he WAS rather excited about them.  He thanked me several times that day and told me I'm a really nice mom.  I would say that handing out his cookies was his favorite post-game moment, but it's hard to compete with a participation trophy.



Yep, the participation trophy beat out my baseball cookies on the coolness scale by far, but I'm okay with that.   I don't expect to be cooler than a trophy any time soon.

This Year's Teacher Gifts: Speech Bubble Cookies

My kids and I had a lot of fun with these cookies last week!


It all started in the dollar aisle...
Let's pause for a moment just to be grateful for Target's dollar aisle!
...
Aren't these sticky notes adorable!?


I grabbed a handful for a simple gift for my daughter's middle school teachers.  Then of course I needed a treat to go with it.  My typical way of saying thank-you is with a cookie.

I didn't have a cutter for these, so I rummaged through my collection to find an oval.  Then I looked for something with a point.  I grabbed a little witch hat cutter and cut a piece with that.  I pieced these together before they went in the oven.  By the time they are baked and decorated, you can't even see the line!  Easy!   Go here for my cookie dough recipe and royal icing recipe.  It will also give you all the tips you need to decorate!  Just outline with a stiff black icing (#2 tip) and fill with a thin icing!


I let these dry overnight before I did any writing.  I could've written with black royal icing and a thin tip, but I chose to use edible ink pens.  It was faster and easier for my kids to do!

If you're just saying thanks, feel free to use these tags.


My kids sat down and messaged away on their little speech bubble cookies.  We had plenty, so they gave several to teachers and office staff, then gave some to their friends!  They wrote up their own tags, and bagged them up!  Yessss, they are old enough to package their own cookies now.  (Awesome!)


I made the cards for the teachers.  First, I personalized the post-it pads with a sharpie.


Then I used glue dots to adhere the post-its into the cards.  I actually had this cute speech bubble scrapbook paper (made by American Crafts) already.  But if you find these post-its and you'd like to print the inside of the card, download it here.


The teachers got a card, some cookies and a gift card.  Their friends just got the simple cookie.  Sometimes I take one idea and try to stretch it to meet all of my gift giving needs.  As long as I'm making speech bubble cookies, I might as well make a lot of them!  :)


My messages were full sentences, but my preteens filled their cookies with text messages like Miss U, KIT and HAGS!  Yes, the texting generation even shortens their speech bubble messages!


These don't necessarily need to be a teacher gift, you can use them to say anything you want to!

Oh how I love a cookie with endless possibilities!

Father's Day Gifts and Mini Pizookies

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of World Market.  All opinions are 100% mine.

Cost Plus World Market is a store I know and love!  I'm a huge fan of their furniture and unique decor.  It is also one of my favorite places for gifts and my absolute favorite place for serve ware.

Normally, my husband isn't game for shopping.  But he doesn't protest a trip to World Market.  He wanders right into the candy aisle for his favorite candy (fizzy gummy coke bottles).  He even makes special trips (WITHOUT ME) for those things!

But it's not just about the candy!  There's so many fun "man gifts" there, perfect for Father's Day!

They have some of the COOLEST grilling accessories I've seen!  I may or may not have bought some and tucked it away for Father's Day. Check out some more Father’s Day Gifts here!

There was something else I just couldn't pass up for my husband.  He is a true believer of cast iron pans and we have been collecting several sizes for some time now.

We've always wanted a good set of little cast iron skillets for entertaining purposes.  Think of the awesome ness of individual servings of fajitas, deep dish pizzas, sautéed veggies, or even corn bread!

And the individual dessert possibilities... cobblers, mini pies, brownie sundaes and pizookies!!!

We put our new pans to use right away, (couldn't hold out till Father's Day).

Pizookies are a great make ahead dessert.  I made my cookie dough, put it in the pans and pressed some parchment on it.  These babies chilled in the fridge until it was party time!

Eeeek!  My mini pizookies were really cute!

Entertaining is our favorite, so we're both pretty happy to add these to our collection.

Our friends enjoyed them, the kids were happy to share them, and my husband was pretty stoked about his gift!  He's been experimenting with blonde brownie sundaes and I think those will have to be the next up in his new cast iron!

I can think of some fun possibilities for a Father's Day breakfast too!

Individual breakfast scrambles?  A personal sized German Pancake?

I just need to go back to World Market and get a great breakfast tray to serve it on!  :)

Cost Plus World Market is celebrating Dad this year with a Dad's Day Sweepstakes!  Facebook Fans can enter for a chance to win one of 4 Weekly Grand Pize Packages: $1,000 gift card for you and $1,000 gifr card for your Dad! Nominate your Dad here