Confections Of A Mad Housewife

168 days until SPRING. We got this!!!
🌹🪻🌸🌺🐣🐰

Today, grandbaby #4 turned 2! His mom and I worked together to decorate this cake for him. It was 2 layers of super fudgy chocolate cake, covered in a vanilla silky buttercream. My daughter did the road in fondant. It was super tasty!!

Cupcakes made this week for a fundraiser auction.

If you don’t have plans tonight, State Representative Brooke Boden’s fundraiser is out at Burkhead electric feom 6-7. $25 at the door. Brenna Bird is speaking. The auction items are AMAZING!! Crouse pies…FIVE OF THEM…amazing wooden signs…gift certificate for Sweet Treat Den by Mitzi Gezel, an AMAZING bundle from Milo Locker, LLC, Jan Rozga’s autographed book, and cupcakes from yours truly ALONG WITH many other great things!!! GO! GO! GO!! (Formerly Philips floors)

It is 30 degrees here!! I have some soup on the stove, and I believe I’ll make this to go along with it!!

THIS bread recipe turned out PERFECT!!! We enjoyed it very much and this just might become the new "go to" for homemade bread! This is for your pampered chef deep covered baker!
I used the kitchenaid stand mixer.

5 cups flour
2 Tbsp quick rise yeast
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp white sugar
2 C hot water
2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Knead in mixer for 5 minutes

I used crisco to oil the deep covered baker AND the inside of the lid.

Shape into big oval...cover with towel and rise 30 minutes. Punch down and reshape. Rise covered 30 more minutes. Then with a sharp knife I made the slits (in the risen loaf not the punched down loaf). Cover with lid. Place in oven (cold) and turn on to 400 degrees and bake for 45 minutes. Turn it out IMMEDIATELY onto a cooling rack!

Happy birthday to our oldest! (Tomorrow) He always likes just a plain ole (but oh so yummy) lemonade cupcake.

Have you seen the recipes and TikTok videos for depression cake that are trending everywhere? I finally made one today! Links to the cake recipe and frosting recipe are in the comments. This was delicious!! Even toddler approved!!

I’m not sure how time is going faster with grandkids than it even did with kids. Our sweet girl had her 11th birthday party today. Last year she wanted everything giraffe. This year, she wanted zebras!

So I won a cake!! I haven’t been so excited in ages!! It’s fun to try things from other local bakers!!
Mitzi Gezel owns the Sweet Treat Den, and is celebrating her 5th anniversary in business. If you haven’t followed her, you should!
This cake was decorated beautifully. The flavor was FANTASTIC!! We were highly impressed here in the mad house!! She also makes some beautiful cookies and cupcakes.
If you are local to Indianola/Des Moines area…you need to follow her and join her group. Also…place an order!! 😁

Grandsons chose a spooky party this year. One wanted a Jack-o-lantern cake. That’s 4 very thick layers of black mocha and orange dyed vanilla. This cake is about a foot tall!
The other one wanted a cookie with some character called TV Man. I have never heard of it or seen it, but I had a picture to work with at least.

Iowa State Fair fans!!! I found a lady who made a really close mock of that famous little state fair cookie!! I followed her recipe exactly. I even used a melon baller to scoop these.
To be safe…because these are FABULOUS…I put most of the dough in the freezer for later! 😂🍪
Link in the comments!! The Gingham Apron

I learned how to do some canning today. My friend and I canned spiced peaches. Then we boiled all of the peels with cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and sugar…it made the most AMAZING peach simple syrup. We both 110% approve it in iced tea!
I’m going to see if I can come up with a spiced peach cupcake with peach cream cheese frosting. 🤞🏻

Happy Birthday to my son-in-law, Skip!! Enjoy your giant mocha cake!!

Some super quick and easy baseball cupcakes for my grandsons and their teammates to enjoy.

I did not carve the dice. It was so much easier in my head. At least it tastes great! Happy Birthday, Will!!

Listen! I know when to say “I gave it my some!” and quit!!! 😂 We can all laugh together tonight…after Will gets to have the 2nd laugh. I had the first. 😜

So it took ONE CUT to convince me…this is a BAD IDEA. I put the cake back together, frosted over it again, and back to the freezer. I decided to draw the triangles on with a toothpick. That worked. I’m thinking “I’ll outline over those marks with a darker shade”. Well…it’s been a really bad asthma week here. REALLY bad. Albuterol makes a person very shaky. Drawing thin, straight lines with mass amounts of albuterol in my system…also a BAD IDEA. BACK to the freezer so I can scrape off those squiggly lines and try again. If this attempt fails, I pull out the fondant. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Stay tuned. I’m trying something brand new today. My son is 22 today. He loves playing DND with his friends (and his dad). I have never carved any cakes. Today I’m going to attempt to carve this half circle dome into the top half of a D20 dice. I make zero promises on success. The cake is freezing now. Wish me luck! 😂 🎲

2 toned roses from our baby shower last weekend

Valentine themed baby shower this past weekend!

The “baby” of the mad house turned 16 today. He is not a huge fan of cake, so nothing fancy!!

The chicken pot pie stuffed potatoes turned out pretty good. We agreed they need a little more seasoning, but they were eaten! 😂

This is on the menu in the mad house tonight! I cannot wait! Potatoes are baked and cooling.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie Potato Skins Get your chicken pot pie fix without all the work! These chicken pot pie potato skins are easy to make and the ultimate comfort food appetizer!

I interrupt this Christmas baking season to bring you my husband’s birthday!! I tried this new technique of ombré marbling on his cake. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out!
Happy Birthday to my best friend and my rock!!

We have moved around the USA quite a bit. Every state seems to have their unique food. In Iowa…ham balls are the most unique food I have found. I don’t make them. (Hubby isn’t a fan). My daughter has perfected them, and she made me some last night! I love them, even if the name makes me giggle like a 7th grader.
What food is unique to where you live??

Today I made a lot of freezer cookies for Christmas trays! One of my FAVORITES is the pecan balls, or snowball cookies!
You can find the recipe here

Snowball Cookies Recipe - Sally's Baking Addiction I love making snowball cookies, also called Russian Teacakes, during the holidays because they are prepared in only 1 bowl!

Today I made these AMAZING and EASY crockpot peanut clusters. These have been a favorite here for years! You can find the recipe at:

http://kristisrecipebox.blogspot.com/2011/12/crockpot-peanut-clusters.html

What do ya know? After posting about Mama Rid’s, I was lucky enough to get her cookies today at Milo Locker, LLC! They always sell so fast. These are peanut butter with chocolate gnache! They are super peanut buttery and soft!! YUM!!

If you are in the Des Moines area…can I just URGE you to get some sweets from Mama Rid’s
Her whoopie pies are not only beyond delicious, they’re HUGE!!
You can always find her at various farmers markets under the beautiful pink tent! She’s amazing!!

Sweet decoration tips It is a sweet way to start the week…in the kitchen! Megan Ridout from Mamma Rids recently shared pro-tips to decorate your cookies and more this holiday season. You can follow Mama Rid’s LLC …

The grinch stole my life and made me feel so bad.

Add yours in the comments!!

Today was a “1st trip around the sun” party. Galaxy cupcakes and a moon smash cake. These were a lot of fun to make!

Cakes from last week for my grandsons.

Based off of these colors, any guesses as to what cake is about to happen in the mad kitchen?

Son-in-law had a birthday today. He got the “famous” 😜 mocha cake!

SO MUCH sugar has passed through this kitchen in less than a week! THANK YOU! From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU! Mani is going to make life so much easier for Brayden…and the whole family! He’s one smart pup 🐶