I love making cakes but I cannot bake. I have never made my own cake mix from scratch. Now, my mom....she throws down on homemade cakes.  One of these days, I will try my hand at baking a cake from scratch. Memorial Day was just not the day to start.

What I like about making cakes is that the possibilities in decorating and taste are endless. While I may not be a master piper or be able to make fondant toppers, I like using common things to make cakes look kinda cute, funky, different.

I saw a cake on pinterest of a peanut butter cake topped with caramel popcorn. I was like, whoah. Yes.

This cake is not one that comes with a recipe, it is just an idea...something that you can easily recreate at home and believe me, although it looks less than the way I wanted it to look, it did not make it past an hour of cutting into it. Everyone LOVED it.




The filling is premade Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cheesecake Filling. The topping is a fresh ganace I made.

For the ganache, 1/2 cup of heavy cream with  1 cup chocolate chips...slowly melt on low heat until smooth in a double boiler. I did not have a double boiler so the pyrex measuring cup over a boiler worked just fine for me.

Being  a single and divorced mom of four means Mother's Day is usually spent with me doing all the cooking. Of course, I don't mind at all since cooking is something I love to do. I like to feed my family, plan something for them and the smiles on their faces knowing I made just a little extra effort is all the Mother's Day gift I need. That and of course the handmade cards from my kids...priceless.

To all the mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day!

We are strong. We are fierce.

Next weekend will be one busy one for me. I am headed to Chicago to teach a photography workshop with another amazing photographer and featuring some fabulous young ladies and one of a kind high fashion costumes. Excited for two reasons....photographing editorial style, teaching--yes!  The other reason...fooooood! Oh Chicago how I have missed you and your delicious Italian beef sandwiches drenched in peppers and au jus. How I have longed for your deep dish pizzas and Chicago-style hot dogs. I can. not. wait.

I will be working on posting the steps and recipes for these dishes. Simple, quick and perfect for the upcoming summer nights.

Yeah, any excuse to eat ice cream is a good one, right?

So the weather is nice, the sun is shining bright and bold and my kids need a treat. I do what any other mom would do....I head to pinterest.com and eye photo after photo for some ice creamy inspiration. I found it...boy did I find it. I saw a photo of an ice cream cake that took me all the way back to the late 80s when my fifth grade (highly fashionable with my lopsided ponytails) self knew what it meant to be cool and have the coolest birthday party. You could not be cool and awesome without an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. So there it was. My inspiration and what I would make. Nevermind I had never made one before. Who cares about that? You gotta try.

I tried it and I loved it. Man, oh man, did I love it. The kids loved it and my friends loved it. Let's just say, last year was the Year of the Popsicles but this summer will be the Year of the Ice Cream Cake.

While it is not perfect, my first attempt....Death By Chocolate and Peanut Butter...