Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes!

Well we just competed a huge task!! We put a new patio in, in our backyard and when Jason's brother and Dad came over to help I knew that I needed to make his brother his favorite dessert. However, since we were so busy in the yard and since I didn't have all the ingredients I usually do (I did not want to go to the store as that would leave us a man down and we had lots of work to do.) I busted out a box mix (don't even start with me OK! I know I know but sometimes they are useful, quick, easy and reliable!) I had just gotten a new pan at Walls Bargain Center for a bargain price of $6.99 and I had been dying to use it and my idea was to make personal size Pineapple Upside Down Cakes! This happens to be my brother in laws favorite (mine too!) SO I quickly got to work made my batter so I could get to baking and then back to digging!!
Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cake


Here is the pan ready for the cake... Gosh after I got the butter and brown sugar and pineapple in there wasn't a whole lot of room for batter and room to rise! Oh well good thing my first go at this is just with a box mix!


Hot out of the oven here these cutie cakes are...




Survey says? Yummy cake... perfect for freaks like me that like an equal amount of pineapple to go with each bite of cake! They were so yummy and too cute! I can't wait to use this pan to do my pleasantly pineapple cake (hint hint it will be coming next!)

I thought I would show you all the patio with the new furniture since it was the inspiration for the post and since I blabbed about it. If you are anything like me and hate hearing a story and then getting no visuals then you will enjoy these!

Here is my cheese ball husband the night before when we had dug the patio out and did all the frame work!


Here is the gang working on the pathway... Hey I was helping too but someone had to document the project


Ta Da!! The best part? The candle chandelier on the umbrella!


Here it is just one more time (sorry I am just so proud of us)


Well Happy First Day of Summer everyone!! Hope your summer is going well! I also got a great new BBQ cook book at Lowes this weekend... so expect some yummy new recipes that we will be enjoying on that new patio furniture!! (OK OK OK I will stop finding a way to bring up the patio!)

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Peace Love & Softball Cake

Well I am sorry it has been so long since I have posted last!! I got an order two days ago for a 16 year old birthday cake! She wanted three tiers to this cake! I have never done this before but I am always up for a challenge so I said sure! She also wanted this cake to have the theme of "Peace Love and Softball" since she is very into sports and softball. The kicker was that she wanted the cake tie dyed!! So I decided to tie dye the inside of the cake and frost the outside in her favorite color TEAL!!

Ok so here we go with the pictures...
I separated the batter into 5 bowls to drop in the pan randomly so it will look like tie dye when you cut into it. It looks more like doing Easter eggs then cake baking!

That is not too blues either... clearly my camera is not up to par (although I already knew this) so my purple looks a bit like a darker blue...

Here it is in the pan ready to bake!

All done... only 5 more cakes to go!!

I did not take any photos during the assembly of the cake because... well to be completely honest I had a melt down twice. I was ready to toss in the rag and vow to never cook again! And at another moment when my husband offered help clearly the look on my face showed that his help was better spent with him back on the couch in the living room!! Well once the frosting (Swiss Meringue Butter Cream- White Chocolate flavor YUM) was on the cake and the supports were in I came back down from my "I hate cake cloud" and remembered why I love cake! and baking! and called said husband back in the room to help me put on the candy melt decorations and make him admire the fact that I did in fact not kill the cake or myself!!
SO here are the pictures from the assembled cake... the lighting is not up to par on that side of the kitchen so I am sorry for the darkness of the photos.




On the top I did "peace love softball" she got the idea from a tie dye t-shirt that she has.

Well I was pretty pleased with the results especially with this being my first round with this massive of a cake. I lined a wooden board with a bright pink vinyl table cloth for the presentation.

Once the cake was delivered I proceeded to go outside in the backyard and enjoy my new toy!

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