Marshmallow Mishaps!

For the longest time I've wanted to make Homemade Marshmallows! It has been at the top of my daring baker checklist forever. So, when this past weekend I decided to make my own, and they turned out amazing, I was super excited to get out and roast them over a fire.

FINALLY, I GET TO MEET MY GOAL!

I used a recipe I found in Gourmet a while back. So, with a nice fluffy batch of marshmallows, a stick, some good company and a lot of laughs, I began to sense the anticipation of a fresh, warm marshmallow...

Hmmm.. the above marshmallow looks a little wet... hmm...

Wait... WHAT! It is melting!

Me sensing all is not as it should be....

Nope! These marshmallows are great to eat from the container, but are none too good for fires. I went through 3 Marshmallows trying to find a way to roast them that would not produce melting, but was ultimately defeated by the mighty Marshmallow Mishap.

My friends and I had a good laugh at the whole thing. It was so awesome when they saw the marshmallows, but when it started to melt away, we all laughed quite a bit. With the cool fall weather, we all enjoyed the fire and the fun, and at least each other's company.

Oh, and the swimming! Hubbie and I got into the water, which was surprisingly nice once you stayed in for a minute or so.

I hope you all had a great long-weekend, and good luck to all those who are back in school... like me. CHEERS TO MY CLASSROOM!

Fail Cake... with love

One of my other projects for the end of the year celebrations was to make a cake for the K-Class, or special education kids. They are a fabulous group, and I was thrilled to make them a special treat.

The cake itself was designed by one of the kids: A multi-layered rainbow cake (4 rainbow layers) with a butterfly on top. The kids designed the cake (or rather, each designed a cake) in art class, and I decided to make the best one come true.

This is where things get tricky!

When your heart is in the right place, and you really want something to come out just right, you almost certainly will come up with troubles. That was this cake!

It seemed that everything went wrong all at once. The cake was floppy in the middle (Don't have any good pictures of that). I believe that my oven was cooking unevenly as well!

At that point, I should have just given up and made more cake, but it was late, so I soldiered on! Next.. HUMIDITY! It wrecked the icing. It was an awful mess. On the top and on the sides! I still kept rolling... But as you can see... this is very uneven.


The only thing I did liked was the butterflies. I made modeling chocolate butterflies, then hand-painted each. I was hoping for a smoother coat on the icing, but that too was not to be... still, they are pretty. Rather than do one like the original design, I made several so that the kids could share! They are yummie!



Honestly, this was the worst disaster I've made in A LONG TIME! but the children loved it. Which makes me happy. The girl who designed the cake recognized it right away, and figured that the layers were rainbow and got very excited! I guess even a fail cake can have a rainbow on the inside.