Romy's Baking and Cake Decorating

Snickerdoodle Basketball Cake! Bubby's has really enjoyed being part of a basketball team this winter.  Ever since he was 5 years old, he's said basketball is his favorite sport, but up to now has never had a chance to be part of a team. When the opportunity arose we hesitated a bit because it seemed like an ideal place to catch Covid. But ultimately he has to live his life, and we encouraged him. And he had such a great - and healthy - season! For the team's end-of-season party we were asked for contributions and I knew immediately a cake was in order. I was very happy no one else volunteered cake, either.  I needed to think of a flavor that everybody would like so I went with Snickerdoodle cake.  I like  this recipe  from Preppy Kitchen because it tastes great, doesn't require special ingredients, and makes for a tall cake that is more fun to decorate.  I used it for Bubby's graduation cake last year and it was a hit. Initially, I thought of making a 3D b...

  I'm always busy in the kitchen - too much so for my taste - but with having to shop and cook dinner so often, and clean up afterwards, I haven't done much baking aside from regularly baking bagels, and the odd banana muffins or olive bread.  So it was that much more fun to spend a few hours in the kitchen recalling my skills, using my equipment, and trying a new recipe to make something delicious and pretty. St. Patrick's day is one of those little holidays we enjoy celebrating because it breaks up the routine, is festive, and is an excuse to decorate and eat something different. This year we went with simple cube steaks with mushrooms and onions, colcannon, and my dessert.  I decided to make a roll cake with shamrock decorations. I used  this recipe  from Haniela's. I've seen her amazing cookie decorating videos, but had never made one of her recipes.  Honestly I chose it because it came with a downloadable PDF for the shamrock decorations. I made the ba...