Tie Dye Cake

Alright, people! I know this is wayyyyyyyyyyyy late but I finally have the time and productivity to finally blog about my tie dye cake that I made for the WCB Luau. I’ve seen this recipe before (http://www.omnomicon.com/rainbowcake) and I couldn’t wait to find the best time to make it. And what better time than a colorful Luau party on the beach?

Tie Dye Cake

-          Cake Mix (white or yellow)

-          Oil (or apple sauce), Eggs,  Water 

-          Food dye (4+ colors)

-          Toothpicks

-          Bowls

-          Icing (vanilla or cream cheese)

-          Cake pan

-          Pam or shortening

-          4 color mixing bowls with 4 spoons

I can’t think of anything else but the pictures should be informative enough. I hope… One quick note would be that I substitute equal parts oil for apple sauce. Also, I made my own homemade cream cheese icning.. I'm not gonna go into detail on what it involves because that's not the point of this post so if you want to make you're own go here - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/cream-cheese-frosting-ii-2/detail.aspx

I used two 8in round pans for my cake. I figured I would just stack them instead of trying to fit the batter in a rectangular pan and the tie dye pattern might not turn out right. I hope that makes sense. So anyway, I took the 2 8in pans and sprayed them with pam. I love pam... it makes my life so much easier and I dont have to worry about spreading NASTY shortening.

I then started to mix the cake batter. 

After the batter is mixed, I laid out my separate color mixing bowls.

I divided the batter up evenly into the four bowl and added the food coloring until the colors looked right. 

Look at these beautiful colors...

I started pouring - LITTLE BY LITTLE - the colored batter into the round pans. It is important to pour the next color right in the center of the previous color. It will not mix, and will spread out evenly.

Like this...

Until you see multiple colors like this... 

Next step: take your tooth pic and pull your colors around. I made a flower looking design. Don't pull the colors around too much because you will loose the colorful aspect and start making giant brown spots. 

The other cake looked like this... Before

Bake the cake as desired on box instructions. Easy, right? 

Now for the set up... Place the cake you want to be on bottom on the serving dish and generously layer the top of the round cake with icing. This will hold the cakes together.

Place the top round cake on top of the icing. 

Take the rest of the icing and separate it into four mixing bowls.

Add the food dye until you get the colors you desire.

Start experimenting and just throw the colors on the cake. That's what I did. Just make some blobs of color. 

Then when your cover the top and sides of the cake, take the back of your spoons and just lightly pull the colors together. Again, don't do this too much or it WILL turn brown.

My finished cake...

I'd like to say it was a hit, but I kinda just cut it up, placed it on the dessert table, and danced the night away in the rain with some of my favorite friends and family. You'd think having a dance outside in the rain would be crappy... but it was so refreshing and fun! Everyone came and told me the cake was awesome and really cool looking and that was all I needed to hear. I didn't make it for the taste, and Better Crocker is not one to mess with ;)... 

In all honesty, I had no time to head to the store and get ingredients for a home made cake. I had just came home Thursday from not being home all week and was leaving for the beach Friday afternoon and still needed to pack. It was going to take forever to decorate it, so I just made the cake and decorated it at the beach Saturday, a few hours before the dance.

Sorry most of this post is a lot of pictures and one liners. I really have nothing more to say and the pictures explained it all. Sorry this is so late. 

Enjoy! xo

Serafina Outside Dining!

This week I had the pleasure of staying a few days in Philadelphia for two reasons: Spend time with my boyfriend, and interview with PECO! And let me tell you, I was so excited/nervous for that interview. Since I arrived a day before the interview and wanted to clear my head before my "Interview Preparation" (as I say...), Matt and I went out to eat for dinner. We wanted to try this new restaurant that just opened up Serafina! (http://www.serafinarestaurant.com/serafina/)

We arrived there around 6 pm and there was seating available outside so we opted for that. It was a nice day.. not too breezy so hopefully we wouldn't choke on city dust. We had a pretty good view of the city from where we were sitting.

We started out with the Tartare Di Sofia (MENU: "A selection of the best tuna and salmon marinated in a special sauce, the Italian ways") as our appetizer. It was so fresh and tasty. The display was unique, though I didn't understand why they only gave us three pieces of toast. It wasn't symmetrical and that bugged me I guess. Regardless, it was very good.

 Matthew got the Grilled Steak & Fries, of course! His dish came with some grilled zucchini and a basket of french fries. French fries were pretty plain and not that special and his steak was not medium rare, but a little more well done. (I didn't get a picture of his because he "dug in" right away!)

I got the LE CRESPELLE DI SOFI (MENU: "Fresh spinach & ricotta crepes with tomato, Parmigiano & basil sauce"). I must say, I normally don't like to mix tomato sauces with spinach but it was really good. I couldn't stop eating it! I've never had pasta crepes before, but it was really enjoyable. Reminded me of Spinach & Ricotta Raviolis. The sauce was chunky (in a good way) and I could taste the herbs in every bite. I even showed my Italian side and cleaned my plate up with some leftover bread in the bread basket. Matt told me the french word for it during dinner as he made fun of me, but I can't remember it right now. :)

Overall, Serafina was very nice and the service was great. Our dinner (with one beer) was more than $50 dollars, which I think is a little over-priced, but I would return there.

Okay, that's all for me. Keep an eye out for my next blog early next week about my Tye-Dye Cake! The cake is all made, but I'm waiting for Saturday to do the Tye-Dye icing and put it all together! Hopefully it will be a hit at the Luau!

Enjoy! xo