Joey at the bottom of the World

Just in some new photos of Joey today. So, I figured he had to make a guest appearance on the cake.

The Antarctica OCD Continues

I'm recently obsessed about ice, pengiuns, Antarctica, etc. I wonder why...

This was my firt foray into a fondant cake. It turned out good, but I can't see making more than one fondant cake per year. I would definitely like to try a 3 tier cake some day. It made a kitchen such a mess...I hate recipes that require kneeding and a rolling pin.

I found a dense pound cake recipe. I used it because a firm cake is what I needed to support all the stuff on top.


Sweetened Condensed Pound Cake Recipe
2 1/2 sticks butter
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 (12 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
6 eggs
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions
Coat pan with shortening and flour
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Beat butter and sugar at high speed until soft and smooth
Add condensed milk and beat until well blended
Add eggs, one at a time
Add flour one cup at a time
Add vanilla and beat well
Bake 1 hour, 30 minutes

I just realized I forgot the baking powder. I guess this will be a dense cake. Oh well, it's cute.

Where the Wild Things Are

Now I'm really psyched...Spike Jones is coming out with "Where The Wild Things Are"....the movie! See my last posting about this book.


It's coming out in October, so it will be totally appropriate to do a little scene based upon this book. One of the coolest parts is that the wild things are not all CGI...they are guys in monster suits. Now I wanna be one for halloween too.



...Speaking of Halloween. I have been researching how to decorate the outside of the house using styrofoam and my new hot wire knife. I found this adorable photo at http://hotwirefoamfactory.com/.

Since our house does not have this same shape, I will use this as inspiration...I won't just copy it.

Progress on Antarctica Scene

John wasn't happy about me using the electric knife (wedding gift). I didn't birn it out though. It took me forever to do this carving with the electric knife. I got smart and went to the craft store to get the hot wire knife and it works awesome! It's like an ice pick that heats up to 400 degrees...literally.



So, Mt. Erebus is coming along. I used all the scrap pieces of polystyrene foam to make little mountain ledges for the village scenes. I carved little stone and gravel stairs into the sides...I'm LOVING this hot wire knife!

So, in other news, I was web surfing and ran across some themed cakes that were thousands of dollars. They were beautiful! One was Fraggle Rock and the other was Where the Wild Things Are. I think I'll make a small themed tree of WTWTA. Don't know what to do about Fraggle Rock yet.

copyright 2009 danielle copeland..........my idea!

Developed the South Pole Scene More

I've done more thinking about the south pole scene for the 09 display. It will have My Erebus and McMurdo Station. It will have igloos, creabeater seals, penguins, and maybe whales. It will have Ivan the Terrabus, cargo planes, an icebreaker ship, and of course, the south pole and the flags that surround the south pole. All the people will be in orange parkas and it'll have lots of glaciers. It'll have a dock in the icy water.

I know that technically, McMurdo Station is like 800 miles from the geographic south pole, but in my make believe scene, they will be 15 inches apart.

Here is McMurdo Station. The scene I create for the display will have the reallity of this picture mixed with the whismsy of a regular Christmas snow village scene.