Chocolate Crazy Cake
with Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

Aug 312011
 

2 years old!We’re in the midst of a row of very pink birthday parties here at the little pink house for a little girl who just turned two years old!  When I mentioned on Facebook what we had for dessert, everyone demanded the recipe (if not actual pieces of the cake mailed promptly to them). 

So, here it is.  The church/family recipe for “Crazy Cake” topped by an easy and delicious raspberry frosting recipe I found yesterday on myrecipes.com. 

The combination was very, very sweet—so I’d recommend cutting down on the sugar in the cake if you don’t like it too sweet (I know, cake is supposed to be sweet—but maybe that’s the reason I don’t like cake, because it’s always too sweet?).  Also, the recipe made more frosting than necessary for a 13×9 cake, unless you like it really, really thick.  But the best part about the frosting was that you didn’t have to juice or strain the raspberries—just blend them right in, seeds and all!  (And did I mention you don’t even have to grease or flour the cake pan?  Talk about an easy birthday solution!)

chocolate crazy cakeChocolate Crazy Cake

Sift:

  • 2 1/4 c. flour
  • 1 1/2 c. sugar (or less)
  • 1 1/2 t. soda
  • 4 1/2 T. cocoa
  • 3/4 t. salt

Add:

  • 1 1/2 T. vinegar
  • 1 1/2 T. vanilla
  • 1/2 c. cooking oil
  • 2 c. cold water

Mix thoroughly and pour quickly into an ungreased 13×9 pan.  Do not beat, as that will destroy part of the leavening.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes at 350 degrees, until toothpick comes out clean.

 

Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

(recipe from Southern Living on MyRecipes.com)

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup fresh raspberries (washed but dried enough that they’re not dripping wet)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar (one 16 oz. package)
  1. Beat first 4 ingredients until creamy.
  2. Add powdered sugar gradually, beating at low speed until smooth.

raspberry buttercream frosting

letting peace rule

Aug 292011
 

Sometimes, the stress creeps in and overwhelms.  Like the smoke from some far away fire that’s enveloping our valley today, it fills every corner with its smell, its taste, its power.

And when it does, I have to slow.  I have to stop.  I have to take my Bible out to my chair and listen to the stillness of His presence. 

I read that I was called to peace.  I’m to let it rule. 

And? I’m to give thanks.

I start with that nap yesterday (#432).  The longest stretch of eyes-closed-snoring-restful-sleep I’ve had in a long time (or at least so it feels).  #433. The chair I’m sitting on—a gift from the man who loves me and loves to surprise me and who loves to see me stop and rest and listen a while.  #434. This little man who’s growing so big and chunky I already need to sort his outgrown clothes again. #435. The way he folds his chubby little hands in delight and contentment.

#436. Seeing my cousin again after she was two years in Africa. #437. Introducing her to my two youngest in person, and not just via Skype. #438. My aunt fixing my drapes so that they open and close so very much easier. #439. More company coming and filling up the rest of September with visits to look forward to. #440. The way my girls love everyone who loves them, even if they do complain about missing their Grandpa and Grandma a dozen times a day.

#441. Our Ergo and our wrap, which make everything—but especially the fair—so much easier. #442. Seeing people again and realizing that I have so many acquaintances and people I’ve known a long time here now as opposed to just back where I grew up.  #443. Fellowship.  Hugs and fellowship. 

#444. A second birthday party coming up. #445. The way she’s been “missing” her birthday for months now.  #446. Candles and cakes and cobblers and pink birthday things and three parties in a row coming up just for her.

#447. Snuggles and all five of us piled in bed of a morning.  #448. The wind in my hair as I sit, reminding me of His power.

And soon?  Peace rules so completely there’s no part of stress left.

Life has that vertical perspective, pointed towards the Cross once again.

image

your blog’s thumbnail on Facebook

Aug 272011
 

It’s happened to all of us.  We’ve clicked the Facebook like button on a spectacular blog post.  Only to view our own Facebook profiles later and seen the strangest thumbnail image next to the “so and so liked this link” blurb.

Or maybe we clicked “share”, because we really, truly liked the post, and wanted to do more than just “like” it.  Only to scroll through two hundred and fifty seven thumbnails before finding one that applied to the blog, let alone the post.

It’s annoying.  I know—for the longest time, it was some guy’s strange Twitter icon that was the first image to come up when sharing pages from ylcf.org.  It will cut down on sharing and clicking.  I’ve clicked “no thumbnail” or even cancelled the share altogether sometimes.

But it’s a really easy fix for hosted WordPress bloggers, thanks to a plugin from WPBeginner.  (And if you don’t have a blog but you’ve run into this issue on your favorite blog, why not pass on the post link to that blog’s author?)

If you use the Facebook “like” or “share” buttons on your blog, you need this plugin.

Continue reading »

techie-ness

Aug 272011
 

My boss’ wife called them her “computer recipes.”  I told her that as long as she didn’t put the computer in the oven, we’d be okay.

I often typed out step-by-step instructions, complete with screenshots, for the more technical aspects of our office, so that she could perform the tasks without me there to help.

These days, I find myself doing the same for my blogging friends.  Explaining something here.  Tweaking something there.  Logging in to their dashboard to install a plugin for them.

Even when blogs aren’t involved, I’m explaining Pinterest and setting up Windows Live Mail from afar.

So I decided to make it easier for all of us.  You ask the questions.  And when I can, I’ll provide the answers in the form of “Tech Tips” posts. Click here to subscribe to the RSS or get them delivered right to your inbox.

For you regular readers, who care about neither WordPress dashboards nor Pinterest how-to’s, never fear—the techie posts won’t appear in your feed after this.  But you can always see them when you visit littlepinkhouse.net, just in case you missed something you really would like to hear about (like when you finally decide to try out Pinterest).

And while we’re on the technical announcements, I might as well mention that I’ve switched from Google Reader’s Shared Items to Delicious.  You can see the links I’ve shared recently in the sidebar (under “Letters to Share”), visit my Delicious bookmarks, or subscribe to get my Delicious links in your feed reader.  (Importing your Google Reader Shared Items to Delicious will be another tech tip post as soon as the author of the GreaseMonkey script I used updates his site with it.)

imageOne more thing—if you can’t see the BlogHer ads in our sidebar, may I humbly ask you to change your ad blocker settings?  Every little cent helps.  Thank you!

Now, back to your regularly scheduled pink programming…

older

Aug 262011
 

“Mommy, who’s in that picture?”

“Don’t you know?”

I’d cleaned the bathroom this morning, and the five by seven photo frame was moved from its usual place on the counter.

“No.  I can’t remember.  Is it Grandpa and Grandma?”

I laughed.  The frame contains a shot of a much younger me, holding the hand of my little sister, who was just a bit older than my oldest daughter is now.  Next to us in the photo is the little guy who is now my brother-in-law, standing beside his brother—photographic proof that my husband was once much taller than his younger brother.

My husband and I met when we were just a few days past our thirteenth birthdays.  We’ve watched each other grow up, and grow older.

I’m not sure why my daughter thought I looked like her grandma in that picture. Maybe the sunglasses or the longer hair made me look older.  But I can still remember how young I felt on that beautiful summer day, wading in the river with that oh-so-cute brown-eyed boy.

Maybe it’s a funny picture to keep on the bathroom counter.  The comparison from the face in the mirror to the face in the picture shows how much older we’ve all become. 

But I can easily get lost in the depths of the memories it holds.  And I emerge feeling older, yes, but with a bit of that youthful spring in my step—and in my love for him—once again.

Five-Minute Friday Prompt: “older”

mud on memory lane

Aug 252011
 

This month at YLCF we’re walking down memory lane and re-posting some articles from the print YLCF Journals.  It’s been quite the walk down memory lane.  And it’s been fun, even if it has give me ample opportunity to laugh at my former self when I find a bit of “mud on memory lane” like I did the time I re-read some of my own journals…

IMG_2857originally written May 24, 2005:

I suppose it’s good to read through old journals once in a while, just to remind yourself of how very little you knew at 13, and how very little you know now. But it’s still disgusting to get an up-close and personal look at one’s former self. I was so “courtshiply correct” (instead of politically correct, you know :) ) at the age of 13. In my normal, every-day journal entries I was using courtship jargon that could top Josh Harris himself! “It’s so nice that he and I can have a friendship that’s attention without intention,” I wrote of one poor fellow.

The scary thing was, I thought I knew it all at 13 years old. Now I’m nearly 21, and I realize that I don’t know a thing. A single thing. Every little “box” I had created for my future, every little ideal I made back then—it’s all the furthest from my wishes now. Maybe I’m rebelling against the perfect and idealistic world I used to live in. But at the same time, I’m realizing that God never works in a box—or works the same way twice.

Of course, I can’t help but laugh at some of what I wrote. I don’t know if it was the books I was reading, or the thought that someday maybe someone would publish my journals, like Elizabeth Prentiss’ Stepping Heavenward, but I journaled in this high-falutin’ way that sounded more like 50 than 13!

After all these years, some things are still the same. But most are very, very different, thankfully. Please be patient—God’s not finished with me yet!

The Waiting Place

Aug 242011
 

IMG_3646

It wasn’t what I expected in a book of essays about waiting.  But it grew on me.

Eileen Button takes us, semi-chronologically, through different times in her life where she’s been waiting for one thing or another—waiting to get married, waiting for her godfather to die, waiting for her son to breathe, waiting in a WIC office, waiting for her husband to come out of depression.

With a wit and humor that nears irreverent at times, she speaks candidly of people and church and life, all with the theme of “learning to appreciate life’s little delays”.  I laughed and I cried as I identified with everything from the author’s worry over her infant son’s surgery to her indecision over Hallmark cards.

Overall, The Waiting Place reminded me of several blogs I read (and don’t read).  (And why is it, lately, that books are reminding me of blogs instead of the other way around?)  I’ll probably put it on PaperbackSwap to exchange for something a bit more my style (a bit more uplifting, perhaps?). 

But it was well-written, and a fun late-night read you could pick up and put down easily between chapters.  So I think I can give it three stars over on BookSneeze where I got a free review copy (and was obviously not required to write a positive review).

We can wait all our lives for the next stage to come.  Or we can choose to see the waiting place for what it often is: unexpectedly magical and holy.

-The Waiting Place by Eileen Button, pg. 174

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