Baking – Barefoot Lily Lady

Dad’s Birthday Gift

Crunching through the leaves on my walk this chilly fall morning, I realize it is the 27th of October – my dad’s birthday. This year I would not be making my customary trip to Milwaukee bearing my dad’s favorite gift of all. I find comfort in thinking that my dad is in heaven today and perhaps he is celebrating his birthday.

My birthday gift for dad wasn’t something wrapped in manly gift wrap and tied with a bow. Nor was it something with a gift receipt enclosed just in case it didn’t fit. For as long as I can remember, it was always the same gift – a home-baked pumpkin pie delivered in my beat-up Tupperware pie-taker along with a pint of real whipping cream.

My dad loved pumpkin pie and would broadly hint that I should bring it any time of the year when my mom wanted me to bring dessert. Mom doesn’t care much for pumpkin pie; so on those occasions when dad was hinting, I would sometimes bring two desserts. Something mom would like and a pumpkin pie on the side for dad.

When my daughter Elisabeth was in 4th grade, I taught her how to make pumpkin pie. Her grandpa would brag up and down about his granddaughter’s pie. I gladly passed the rolling pin baton to Beth and, from that point on, Beth was often the bearer of the pumpkin pie at Boyles family gatherings.

Did I tell you that my Dad LOVED pumpkin pie? I remember one occasion when dad unexpectedly stopped by my house one afternoon bearing a paper grocery sack. First he scolded me for not having the back door of my house locked, then he set the bag on my kitchen table. Peering into the bag I giggled when I saw the VERY broad hint…the ingredients for a pumpkin pie. Dad was pretty sneaky…he knew I was going to bring something other than pumpkin pie (at my mom’s request) for a family gathering. He wanted to make sure that I had all the ingredients that were necessary for the REAL dessert.

The week before my dad took up his heavenly residence, I baked my dad’s last pumpkin pie on this side of glory. He took three little bites and told me it was delicious. Mom said it was the last thing he really ate.

Today, as I walk, I remember Dad and I pray.

Lord, I really miss my dad today. I miss making his pumpkin pies and I cry like a baby whenever I make one for my family. As much as I miss him, I am so thankful that he is enjoying this day in heaven without the cancer robbing him of the enjoyment of life. Lord, I am eternally grateful that Dad placed his trust in You as his only hope of salvation. I would guess that the pumpkin pie celebrations we enjoyed here on earth are nothing compared to the angelic celebrations over those who place their trust in Christ, but if your heavenly bounty includes pumpkin pies, Lord, could you make sure that my Dad gets a big piece with whipping cream on top? And, please tell him that Cindie is celebrating his birthday in her heart.
As posted on Facebook October 27, 2009

Dino Dig Birthday Cake

There is probably no boy on earth who enjoys the pleasures of a birthday celebration more than Henry. He loves birthdays almost as much as he loves squirrels!(And that’s sayin’ a LOT!)

Henry’s birthday always begins in his uber-creative mind a few months before the actual date arrives the week of Thanksgiving. Somewhere around the beginning of the school year, Henry told me he knew what he wanted his birthday cake theme to be this year. The conversation happened after church one Sunday at Culver’s where we usually take my daughter and her family for lunch. As we waited for our meal to arrive at our table, Henry sidled up to me for a chat. As he described the cake he envisioned, he enthusiastically gushed words like ‘Velociraptor’ and something about ‘Indominus Rex’ and other Jurassic World dinosaur-ish lingo. Henry had obviously set his heart on a cake that looked like a “paleontological dig site”—he wanted me to make the cake and said he would help decorate it.

So began my Pinterest search for ideas and inspiration. There was no shortage of ideas. I knew right away that I wanted to figure out a way to make dinosaur bones for the dig site. This educational site offered some freebie coloring sheets, so I chose two dinosaur skeletons from their site and resized them to fit on his cake. I laid a sheet of wax paper over the printed dinosaurs, then melted some cake decorating white chocolate candy melts, put the melted white chocolate in a Ziplock® baggie, then cut a hole in the tip of the bag to create a frosting bag and traced the outline of the dinosaurs to create the bones for the dig site. I also had enough white chocolate left to write out Henry’s name and the number 12. I let the designs set for a day to harden up nicely before peeling them off the wax paper and gently placing them on the cake. (I actually made two sets…just in case there was breakage.)

Meanwhile, I baked the Schultz family’s favorite chocolate cake recipe in a 9×13 baking pan.

Meanwhile, I baked the Schultz family’s favorite chocolate cake recipe in a 9″x13″ baking pan. I also made a half-batch of another chocolate cake recipe in an 8″x8″ baking pan for a second half-layer. The first cake is super-dark and very moist; the second layer is less chocolate-y, and a little more dense and less fragile. I frosted the entire cake with my daughter’s favorite recipe for cream cheese chocolate frosting. I kept my frosting job a little rough and dirty looking – after all, it is a dig-site.

Cream Cheese Chocolate Frosting Recipe

1 stick butter, softened

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. cocoa powder

4 1/2 c. powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 Tbsp. milk (I used a little more)

Here’s the frosted cake with the white chocolate elements in place.

I found some chocolate-filled cookie wafer tubes at our local Dollar Store, cut the tubes to various lengths, then added them to the edges of the second layer to resemble a retaining wall. The cookie crumbs were saved to be scattered here and there like clumps of dirt.

On Saturday morning, Henry arrived excitedly carrying a little treasure box of Lego Minifigs and other cake-topper elements for his dig site. Henry and his big brother Charlie worked together at putting frosting grass on the top layer of the dig site.

I dug through my box of ribbons and found an orange one to use as a rope to cordon off the dig site. The fence posts would be the 12 birthday candles. Charlie helped construct and place the fence around the dig site. Henry finished the decorating by placing his Lego creations wherever he felt it was best.

The birthday boy was happy. Very happy. Over-joyed, really.

We had to light those candles and blow them out, of course!

I fully realize that Henry is on the threshold of becoming a teenager and there will come a year when he will no longer request a decorated cake from his Grandma Cindie. That year isn’t this year, so I will bask in the joy and blessing of this happy birthday boy and his cake.

A few more pics of the fun details Henry added to his paleontological dig site birthday cake:

I Spy Pie in the Pantry

There are benefits to cleaning out the pantry…

I’m not quite sure why, but a “clean out the pantry” whim hit me today. Armed with cleaning rags and my spray bottle filled with vinegar water, I spritzed and wiped dust and the sticky whatever-that-was off of the shelves. Jams and jellies tucked here and there got moved to the same proximity, as did an amazing collection of salad dressing bottles. Good thing we really enjoy salads at our house. A couple of savory items had migrated over to the sweet (baking) side of the pantry, so they were sent back to their own side. I checked things for for their “best if used by” dates and organized things by date with the oldest in the front. As I sorted and rearranged, I discovered a few slightly past-dated canned goods.

I won’t tell you how old the can of pumpkin was (lest you worry about me), but we now have a pumpkin pie cooling on the countertop!