week 1/52 and 2/52 cakes

So I'm off to a good start with the weekly cake baking so far.  It all started with the cake platter Andrew gave me for Christmas.  I hope it's the start of a great collection.  We hosted a little birthday celebration for Nora and since all the ladies in my family love carrot cake it seemed to be the best choice.  I doubled a Better Homes and Garden's recipe and changed a couple things.  It did not disappoint.

Carrot Cake

4 eggs room temperature

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

3 cups shredded carrot

3/4 cup cooking oil

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup raisins

1 cream cheese frosting recipe

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease two 8x1 1/2 inch round pans and line the bottom with wax paper.

2. In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.

3. In a smaller bowl eggs, carrot, oil, pecans and raisins.  Add to flour mixture and pour evenly into pans.

4. bake 35-40 minutes, cool on racks.  Frost and add extra pecans on top.

This chocolate cake was a last minute, feeding the elders, type cake.  Delicious and fast.  One of the things that I like about this recipe is that it doesn't call for any special ingredients like buttermilk or sour cream.

Busy-day Chocolate Cake
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3 Tbs cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbs vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbs white vinegar
1 cup cold water

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a bowl whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
2. Add vegetable oil, vanilla extract, white vinegar and water.
3.  Pour into 8 inch pan and bake 35-40 minutes.  Cool completely, then frost.

I made up the frosting on the spot so I can't give measurements but if you watch the video she shares her frosting recipe.

December snapshots

We did it!  We made it through another great year and I wonder what is in store for us in 2014.  I have two main goals for this year - to make a cake every week, and to be more reverent.  What about you?

Merry Christmas!

So far this month has been filled with joy and happiness.  I'm taking a few minutes to update you from this busy Christmas day to say that all is well.  The Savior was born and I am so grateful for the blessings it has brought in my life.  I love my little ones.  They make this holiday extra special.  I'm grateful for a loving husband.  We have a great life and I can't believe how lucky a girl I am.

Merry Christmas!

DJ and Sara family photos

Last time I took pictures of DJ and Sara's family my favorite lens was in the shop and the pictures weren't what I was hoping for.  This shoot was my chance to redeem myself and they turned out great!  Not that I can take all the credit.  Those are some cute kids!

Nora Maternity shoot

Nora was born to be a mother and now she has the sweetest little baby girl Maggie who is already a few months old.  But Nora was adorable pregnant too.  It's funny seeing her hair long here because after Maggie was born she chopped several inches.  New life, new hair.  I did the same thing after Avery was born.

Julie maternity shoot

Lately I have been blessed to take pictures of some of my favorite people!  Here are some of my beautiful sister before Jason was born.   It's hard to believe Jason is already 5 weeks old.  He was a surprise gender and also the biggest grand baby.  At 37 weeks Julie is just glowing.

November snapshots

Today is Andrew's birthday!  He turned  33, which sounds like a good number don't you think?  This is going to be a great year!  In November I turned 28 (yay!), we went off sugar, again, until Thanksgiving, I made my first lattice pie, Ruth and Ammon announced they're expecting, us sisters threw Julie a baby shower, Maggie had her baby blessing, Elliot's teacher called and said he has better handwriting than her (awesome!), we celebrated Guy Fawkes Day, and Andrew learned how to tile.  The kitchen has been a big focus these past few weeks and will continue to be for a while.  It's looking great though!