12 Days of Christmas – (pseudo) Day #12 – My Holiday Happenings
Hello friends and Happy Holidays!
Christmas has come and gone in a flash of silver, gold, and ribbon. I don’t see why people rush this holiday, selling Christmas on Halloween, decorating in November, and now it’s gone it was like holding your breath in a way. I love Christmas, but it makes me a little sad to take down my decorations little by little.
Enough of my holiday rant (LOL) I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the time with friends and family. I’ve been taking a little time away from the laptop just to be present and in the moment because the holiday was a little sad for me and I understand the loneliness felt during this time (very) well.
So let’s do a little rewind for my pseudo Day #12, which was originally to be posted the day after Christmas.
WHITE CHRISTMAS SPARKLE CAKE // RECIPE: HOW SWEET EATS
What I’ve learned:
- My oven isn’t a true 350
- Sometimes you have to do things twice
- The difference between cake flour and AP flour
- Overmixing
- Bringing all ingredients to room temp
- Mix eggs one at a time just until incorporated
- and last but certainly not least …hand mixers make a big ole mess
Trial and Error: I made this cake twice, the first time it never cooked in the center, but the outside was perfect. So the 2nd time in order to make sure the center was done, the edges got overdone, so I shaved that part off.
End Result: While the cake taste good one layer is denser than the other, but I didn’t realize that because I frosted them frozen as suggested in the directions.
Notes: The icing (however) was absolutely perfect. I also could have made the boxed cake version and added extra vanilla and it would have been less of a hassle, but I had my mind set on making this (entire) cake from scratch. I never did the sugared cranberries or rosemary, because I was just too tired.
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OTHER CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES
We finished the “Dashing All the Way Puzzle” in 3 days. Granted it was a 550-piece puzzle and not a 1000-piece, and because there were color variations it went quickly.
I was gifted “From Crook to Cook, Snoop Dogg’s Platinum Recipes“, “The House Across the Lake, by Riley Sager”, some Qveen Herby Lip Stains, and the biggest of all, a gift card (half) for a new MacBook Pro which made me cry y’all because I don’t expect these things so it was really a surprise. I also got a new game for the house …Golden Girls Clue which is hilarious and will be so much fun to play.
Well friends I’ll end this post here, it’s been such a wonderful Christmas and I truly enjoyed a few libations, good food, movies, and games. Since this was the last day in the 12 Days of Christmas, I’ll be back soon with highlights from 2022. Thanks so much for visiting. — Peace
