another cake

I suppose this is becoming an obsession of mine. My mom even told me that my aunt used to make cakes for people's birthdays and weddings and stuff and made pretty decent money doing it. I don't know if I'm that talented (I know my friend over at the Notes from the Pacific Northwest is), but it would sure be fun, right?

Last week our young women at Church had a fund-raiser to earn money for girls' camp. We put on a dinner with an admission, but the main $$$ for the night comes from a dessert auction. Last year I did some wimpy brownies that probably weren't all that impressive (note: you can substitute applesauce for oil in cake mixes, but NOT brownie mixes), so this year I wanted to do something better. I saw an idea in Parents magazine a couple months ago for this cake... so I had to try it.

First, you bake a cake mix in a pyrex bowl and invert it onto a platter. Decorate as desired.

Next, you make a rice krispie treat in a pie pan or round cake pan. My mom is a pro at rice krispie treats, so you'd think I would be, too, but I'm not; I've always had trouble. But I had my wax paper and my big pan on the stovetop and my rubber spatula, and I did my best. The instructions for this cake told me to tint the marshmallows with orange food coloring AND add melted white chocolate to the mix. Hmmmm yummy.

As the rice krispie treat cools, melt white chocolate in a small bowl and use it attach varied candies to decorate the rice krispie treat. The magazine suggested runts; I used dots. Use brightly colored cupcake liners and dum-dum lollipops to create "seats" and "passengers."

Finally, with the magic of wooden skewers, attach the rice krispie creation to the cake. Voila!

So there is me and my awesome Ferris wheel cake.

Some things the magazine DIDN'T tell me:

• Travel to and from is tough. I was worried the whole way to Church it would tip over. Oh geez. I recommend taking a passenger and having them hold it, as opposed to putting it on the floor of the passenger side and leaning over to gently reinforce it at every stoplight.
  
• The rice krispie treat, somehow, started to disintegrate as the evening wore on. It was awful. I was so upset and sad and frankly, embarrassed! I managed to fix it, put it in the freezer at Church, and bring it out again just before the auction began. So for some reason, unless you know how to make a rock hard or stale rice krispie treat, you'll have to be mindful of it falling apart.
• Plus, as you adjust and readjust the rice krispie treat, the very top of the wheel becomes a bit mushed, as you can see in the picture below. The whole thing kind of "sinks."

In any case, it was a fun night. The "Carnival Cake" was auctioned for a respectable $36. All the desserts were SUPER impressive... the almond-lime cheesecake went for $150! I got an AMAZING peanut butter pie for $40. It's the first year I've actually bought something. I'm usually a pushover at auctions but this year I decided, no, I want something and I'm gonna get something. So I did! Yippee! (And for those of you thinking, Angela, your last post was on eating more healthy and you're buying a pie for forty bucks? I ate one piece and the rest is in the freezer awaiting a special occassion!)

Hmmmm desserts.

So, look forward to a post on my next project: Wesley's birthday cake. Oh baby! (I like the bathtub or the caterpillar.)