Tidbits of Life

Whew!  What a couple of weeks it has been!  My father-in-law was in town for 2 weeks which means we had the older kids more so they could visit with him.  We are so grateful that he is able to come see us and spend life with us for awhile.  However, this also means more mouths to feed, clothes to wash, and homework to check.  Not leaving much time for myself between diaper changes, helping my little guy waddle around the house, and interrupted sleep caused by 3 teeth that are making their way in all at once!

  

Remembering some of the lonely evenings pre-marriage, I feel blessed that my life is so full right now.  Although I haven't had much time to breathe the past few weeks, it hasn't kept me out of the kitchen!

We celebrated a special guy's birthday with this wakeboarding cake!

Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Last year, I made him this tennis cake!

Sorry for the lousy Instagram filtered photo...
believe me, I searched high and low for the original but couldn't find it. :( So, this will have to do.

I love showcasing the kids' current interests on their big days.

We also hung out with friends and enjoyed these Crimson & Cream little darlings during an IU football game!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Additionally, I recently tried out some corn fritters and blueberry vanilla bean muffins but will have to experiment with other recipes before I share them with you all.  They were good but not quite the flavor I was anticipating.

Hope you have had a great couple of weeks!  Talk to you soon! :)

Mini Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes

Who knew Saturday, April 20th was Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Day?!
Who knew there even was such a day?

Actually, not me until after I made these cute little cakes on Friday.  This is another magazine tear-out recipe from my husband as was the Strawberry Roll.  These turned out a little better looking than that did...don't get me wrong, the Strawberry Roll tasted great but didn't look so hot!  Check these out for a sweet spring treat!

Mini Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 eggs

2/3 cup white sugar

4 tablespoons pineapple juice
2/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:

1/4 cup unsalted butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 can pineapple rings or pineapple tidbits

6 or 12 maraschino cherries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray muffin tin with non-stick spray.  No need for cupcake liners.  In a mixing bowl, add eggs, white sugar, and pineapple juice.  Beat for two minutes.  In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add to the wet ingredients and mix for two minutes.  Set aside.

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter and add the brown sugar.  Stir on low heat for one minute.  Spoon a layer of the warm brown sugar mixture into the bottom of each muffin tin, then place a pineapple ring or tidbits on top.  If using regular muffin tins, you will need to cut down the rings to fit or use pineapple tidbits, which I did here.  Add a cherry in the middle of each pineapple.  Pour cake mixture over the top to fill each 3/4 of the way full.

Makes 6 jumbo cakes (jumbo muffin tin) or 12 mini cakes (regular muffin tin).  Bake jumbo cakes for 25 minutes or mini cakes for 20 minutes.  Immediately run a knife gently around the edges to loosen.  Place a serving plate or cutting board on top of the cakes and flip over.  Gently lift off the tin.  It's important to do this right away; otherwise, the cakes will cool and the brown sugar topping will harden and be very difficult to get out of the pan.  If you're lucky, they will fall out perfectly and the brown sugar topping will melt down over the cake!  Good luck!

Happy Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Day! :)

Recipe from a Naples, FL real estate brochure