If you think you can, you CAN!

WHETHER YOU THINK YOU CAN OR YOU CAN'T, YOU ARE RIGHT!

I saw this unattributed quote engraved on a paperweight and realized that this is true in every area of life. I am pretty much self-taught. Years ago when my kids were little and I wanted to decorate cakes, I did not go to classes, I stood in front of the bakery viewing window at Venture's and watched the cake decorator in action. Every holiday when my children are gathered at our house, they reminisce about how they had to stand for hours (never more than ten minutes) watching the department store cake lady decorate cakes.

My first attempt, I went home, baked a cake, frosted the top, put some frosting in a sandwich bag, snipped the tip of one corner in two directions, filled it with tinted frosting and made a fluted border on my cake. I added green food coloring, made grass and put two Easter Peeps and Jelly beans in the grass. That was the beginning of a labor of love. Over the years people often told me I should go into business. I did it for fun, friends and family, not for profit. My cakes rival the professional's. I sometimes personalize them with photos: a grandson driving a dump truck; a granddaughter in her pink prom dress posing as one of the Disney Princesses; a grandson as a pirate (I found a cute pose from the photo album, and I cut out a paper eye patch.) Were they ever thrilled to see themselves on their cakes! If you click on each cake you can get a close-up view.

I made Bill a cake for his 55th birthday and decorated it with his likeness and that of all of our grandchildren. Since then there have been four more grandbabies. Where has the time gone?

I have improved my decorating skills over the years, and I now have professional decorating tools, but I have never taken a class. IF YOU THINK YOU CAN, YOU CAN!

Someone gave me this frosting recipe and told me it was Miss Hulling's. She was a former, local restauranteur, famous for her cakes. It is scrumptious.

Beat together until fluffy:

A two pound bag of powdered sugar
2/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/4 cups Crisco shortening