cake!!!

I have a gently simmering desire to learn cake decorating.

This is partly because I've become addicted to WE's "Amazing Wedding Cakes". It's also because I would really like to be able to make up an awesome cake for my parents' 25th anniversary in 2011. And really, who doesn't love a well-decorated cake?

When I was a kid, my mom--for what reason, I know not--purchased a Bugs Bunny cake mold. For about 4 years straight, I insisted on using it for my birthday cake. What's more, I usually insisted on decorating it myself. The first time, I covered it in lots of little stars, like you see in all the cake mold posters. After that, I would generally have my friends "help me decorate," which generally meant that poor Bugs became a multicolored smear and we got frosting in our hair.

Now I find myself surfing cake websites, trying to find local bakeries, and being annoyed at local schools for not offering courses in frosting. I suppose I could just muddle through on my own--once you're got the technical bits, all it really takes is an artistic bent, right? I'm artistic. Sort of.

Now I have this intense curiosity as to what my mother picked as her wedding colors...

Snickerdoodles

I love baking. I think it's loads of fun, and I do it fairly regularly. My husband has become accustomed to me throwing myself dramatically across the bed, moaning that I want to bake cookies and don't know which ones to make. Generally he'll make a request, which I will fulfill, and then make chocolate chip cookies like I wanted all along.

To that end, I give you... Snickerdoodles!

Cookie Dough
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
-2 large eggs
-2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-2 tsp ceam of tartar
-1/4 tsp salt
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Topping
-2 tablespoons sugar
-2 tsp ground cinnamon

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
-Cream together shortening, butter, and sugar until lightened in color and texture. Add eggs one at a time.
-Sift together remaining ingrediants and add to creamed mixture.
-You may wish to chill the dough at this point, to make it easier to handle, but it's not required.
-Roll dough into 1 to 1.5 inch balls and rolling in the topping mixture. Place 2 inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet.
-Bake 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned but still soft.

-Photos to come!!