Finding Nemo Birthday Party Bash With A Splash!

 DIY Nemo Cake

I know we've all heard it before..."Mommy, for my birthday I want a _____cake!!" Our little 4 year old filled in the blank with, "NEMO!" My first thought was, "Where's Nemo?" No joke. But, where on earth do you find Nemo in 2014? Ebay? Amazon? Goodwill? Well, I checked all 3 of those and did come up with some cute, inexpensive items. But, I was falling short for the "Ta Dah!" factor in the cake. Every place in town could attempt to make a Nemo cake...but, that is $25 +! So, my husband and I put our heads together and came up with our own Finding Nemo birthday party cake for a whole $6.00! :)

Finding Nemo DIY Cake Directions

First you need the pans!! Ahh...the pans. I used a 10x2 and a 6x2. However, I think you can have the same results with 2 8x8's.

 

Next, make your cake from scratch OR make one box of cake mix as directed and stir in 1 Cup of chocolate chips to add some excitement to your cake.  Pour batter into lightly greased pans and bake as directed. I picked a moist cake, as it would be more pliable to work with.

When your cake is done baking, let it cool completely in pans on a wire rack. About 1 hour. When cakes are cool turn pans over on a cake plate and lightly tap pan to remove cakes. Once your cakes are free CUT where the lines are in the picture above.  When you have your 2 curved pieces simply flip them to make fins. One on top, one on bottom. You have your fish! Decorate with Orange, black and white butter cream frosting. Click here for buttercream frosting recipe. You can use sprinkles if you like, to enhance the colors!

 Enjoy! They sure did!

 

I was also able to find Clown fish inflatables at Dollar General for $.25 a piece! There were only 2 left...but, it made a fun Finding Nemo Wall!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

My Favorite Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

 

Who doesn't love chocolate and peanut butter? Seriously, one of the best baking combos! This cake is super moist, taste just like a Reese's peanut butter cup, and is overflowing with chocolate! You can find the recipe here. Make it! Love it! Eat it!

Fresh Raspberry Breakfast Cake

Raspberry Breakfast Cake

Fresh Raspberries sure make a wonderful breakfast cake! I used "The Pioneer Woman" recipe for Blackberry cobbler. Click here for recipe. I'm calling it a cake because it tasted more like a cake than a cobbler. I also used raspberries that were frozen. This cake turned out absolutely delicious! Everyone loved it! Even the people that do not like fruit desserts!

 

House Blessing P A R T Y

House Blessing Brownies!

 

 We bought a new house and for the first time had a house blessing! So, I decided to make lots of "houseE" things for the party. These brownies are so simple and would be great for a house warming party! I made 3 boxes of 13x9 brownie mixes and added 1C of chocolate chips to each batch. They were delicious and looked super cute!

Directions:

 Bake brownies according to box. Once brownies have cooled cut into rectangles then, cut two triangles off of each rectangle so that you are left with a "house" shape. :) So cute. When you have your house shapes all cut out, make your favorite buttercream icing. I used This buttercream recipe. When icing is done add your choice of food coloring and decorate with a 12 tip. I also used the grass tip by wilton #233 on the edges and stuck flower candies on the bottom. You can do SO much with these. Add any kind of flower candy for easy landscaping on your houses!

Valentine's Day is Approaching!

 Make your cookies now!

One of my favoriate things about Valentine's Day is baking goodies that you can give to friends or neighbors to show them the love! I found this VERY simple recipe on pinterest for sugar cookies.  Click for sugar cookie recipe. 

It's great! You do not have to chill the cookie dough. They tasted absolutely delicious. Everyone at our church loved them! The icing recipe has a nice buttery taste. Not too sweet and it does not taste like powdered sugar like so many icing recipe tend to do. 

 

I used Wilton Valentine's Day hearts to decorate the cookies. But, you can use any of your favoriate Valentine's Day sprinkles! Red M&M's would look great too! Wrap them up and send them on their way!