Brandy524

I know you all are just hanging on my every word, on the edge of your seat in anticipation of learning to make fondant, right? So let's get right to it. I could have saved a lot of time, and made a lot less mess, by buying pre-made fondant, but really, what fun is that? Not to mention that it's more expensive, and not really very tasty. So I'm making my own fondant. I found this easy, inexpensive, and actually quite tasty, recipe made from marshmallows. We're going to be making two batches: one white and one black. See on the bottom tier of the cake I'm going to do a chess board consisting of covering the whole tier in white, than adding the black squares. I prefer to work with fondant over icing. It's like playing with play-doh, and you can eat what's left over. The ingredients: 1 lb. bag of mini marshmallows, 2 lb. bag of confectioner's sugar, and some shortening just to keep things from getting too sticky. Believe me, this stuff is very sticky at first! And finally, my hands after coloring the black. Thankfully it wears off after a few hand washings! Tomorrow's update: Baking the cake and covering it with our newly made fondant! The mess I left on our kitchen table. There was also confectioner's sugar in the floor all around the table. Sealed up and ready to use! Here's the finished black. It started drying out a lot while I was trying to knead the color into it. But I think I got it a pretty good shade. And I got it back into a workable consistency. Now to color it black. Coloring fondant is not easy anyway, especially dark colors; coloring it black is a nightmare. A friend of mine who is a chef (seriously, she went to culinary school) told me that if I was having trouble getting it dark enough I should add purple. And really, she was right. Here's what the chocolate fondant looks like during the kneading process. I also added two tablespoons of cocoa powder with the confectioner's sugar. For the black fondant we're making it chocolate. I reasoned it's easier to make brown fondant turn black, than it would be to make white fondant turn black. So I added 1 oz. of melted chocolate to the original recipe. I used unsweetened chocolate, but the recipe doesn't really specify. I figured between the marshmallows and the sugar it's enough to send you into a diabetic coma, so unsweetened chocolate would be wise. We're storing it for the night because I'm not making the cake to put it on until the next night (tonight actually). So to store it, coat the ball with shortening, wrap it with plastic wrap, and put it in a freezer bag, making sure you get as much air out as possible. Knead the mix like you would bread dough. Add sugar as you go, kneading it well in between additions. Keep at it! It takes a few minutes to get stickiness out of it. Re-grease your hands and the table as needed. You probably will not use all of the sugar. I made two batches and didn't even use the whole 2 lb. bag. This is how it should look when you're finished! Pour about 1/4 of the bag of sugar into the bowl of melted marshmallow and stir just a little, then dump it all out onto your greased work surface. This is where it gets really messy. But admit it, doesn't the child in all of us like to make a mess every now and then? Grease your work surface with the shortening. Grease it well! Grease your hands too. If you don't, you will have marshmallow sticking like crazy. Melt your marshmallows in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring between each, until they are completely melted and smooth.

Wow, thanks! It was my first attempt at flowers so it makes me feel good to hear that!

^ That's awesome! Great job! I'm learning as I go; doing a lot of internet searching in the process.

Thanks, guys! Keep in mind I am a beginner. I have no training whatsoever. I've thought about taking the Wilton class at Hobby Lobby, but I just don't have the time. I, too, love to watch all the cake shows!

Oh, they work! Trust me. And they're really good, too. I was skeptical the first time I tried them, but they really do work. I've made the ice cream bread with different flavors. I've made vanilla, chocolate, and butter pecan. The butter pecan was awesome! I've only done the cobbler with peach.

And here's one more really easy one! Fruit Cobbler Can of pie filling (and fruit) Half of a cake mix 1/3 to 1/2 of a stick of butter melted Spray a 9 x 9 inch pan (I use glass, but I'm not sure it matters) with cooking spray, mainly just the bottom. Pour in the pie filling. Sprinkle the cake mix over the top. Do NOT stir! Pour melted butter over the top. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.

This awesome and super easy recipe was my father-in-law's. My husband could eat the whole thing by himself. Chicken Pot Pie 1 lb. boneless chicken breasts. 1 Can Cream of Chicken soup 1 8oz. pkg sour cream 1 Pkg. frozen vegetables 2 Pie shells Boil chicken until you can pull it apart. Mix cooked chicken and all ingredients together. Place in pie shell, cover with second pie shell. Bake at 350 until shell browns.

This sounds crazy, but try it, it's really good! It's sort of a breakfast bread. You can use any flavor of ice cream. Just make sure you don't use low-fat or fat-free ice cream because it won't work. Ice Cream Bread 1 pint (2 cups) ice cream, softened 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour Stir together ice cream and flour, stirring just until flour is moistened. Spoon batter into a greased and floured 8x4 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of bread comes out clean. Remove from pan, and cool on a wire rack.

So you may not know that I decorate cakes as a hobby. Usually this just consists of me making birthday cakes for my daughers, but recently I've decided to start doing cakes for other people on the side. So a friend of mine from high school asked me to do a Twilight cake for her daughter's birthday. She's picking it up on Saturday (Nov. 7) so I'm working on it a little bit each night this week, since I work a full-time job during the day. I'll update the thread as my work progresses. Only a few photos at the moment. I'm doing the cake with elements from each of the book covers. I, myself, am not a Twilight fan; I've never read them. But I'm sure everyone knows what the covers look like. I mean, they're everywhere. If you Google Twilight cakes, this theme is very popular. So I'm running with it. Stay tuned for more pictures as I get more work done on it. And the completely finished flower. I am very happy with the way it turned out! The assembled flower, minus the red coloring. This was my first time working with gumpaste, so I was a little unsure how well it would turn out. Gumpaste flower petals drying on baby bottles. Since my daughter no longer needs the bottles, I've found a way to put them to good use!

Here are my girls!

I thought Paranormal Activity did a great job of creating a creepy atmosphere and mood. Every time it switched to the bedroom at night it made me tense in anticipation of something happening. I agree with dammie16 about the acting. They were trying to create a feeling of realism, like they were just two regular people with a camera, so of course they're acting wouldn't be flawless.

You're very welcome! Hope you enjoy the show! Let me know what you think (but go easy on us, we're not professionals by any means).

Those are two that I would like to see, actually. As to the ghost hunter shows, I don't know if I take it seriously either, but I think some strange things do happen that can't be explained. Whether that's science or something else, who knows?

I didn't think Paranormal Activity was amazing or anything, just that I like that type scary movie (more suspense than horror) better. Exorcist I may try; Poltergeist I've seen bits and pieces of, but probably should watch; seen all the Halloweens and they didn't interest me, much less scare me; don't care anything about seeing Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Nightmare on Elm Street, too horror-esque for me. I like the anxiety type of scare in the unseen stuff. Does that make sense? The dread that it creates not knowing what's lurking just beyond the light. I find a movie like Signs, for example, scarier than Halloween. That clicking noise they made creeps me out to this day. My husband does it to me every time we pass a cornfield.

I am currently listening, and have recently become addicted to, Big River. My husband bought it a long time ago, but I didn't think I'd like it so I never gave it a try. I was wrong! I love every song; can listen over and over. Would love to see it done.

I saw Paranormal Activity this past Saturday night and I thought it was extremely creepy. I'm not a fan of gore or horror movies; that stuff just doesn't scare me. The things that I find really scary are the unseen. A man in a mask chasing someone with a knife is not scary to me, nor is seeing people chopped up and bleeding. What's scary to me is not seeing what's doing it; not knowing when it's there and when it's not, or what it's going to do next. In that aspect, this movie definitely delivers. It has quite a few jump scares that had our audience screaming. I love paranormal stuff and watch all the ghost shows (Ghost Hunters in particular) so this movie really intrigued me and I walked away from it very satisfied with my $9.25 spent.

Wow, that's sounds like a really immersive experience. I love that you get to interact and have a mission, instead of just walking through and observing. Still, it would probably scare the crap out of me!

Big Mike has the power, Big Mike has the heat, Big Mike has the spirit, to knock you off your feet! Hope you're having fun in Florida!!

Hope you're all having fun in Orlando! I'm so jealous!! But, Go Team!

Come on, Team Big Mike, let's see you win, You've done it before, so do it again! You have the power, you have the moves, Put it all together, there's no way you can lose! *Just doing my part for the day. I have no idea when anything football related happens!!

We are going to meet for sure!!! You are my captain, I will find a way!!! Peace, Big Mike Yay! I hope so! My husband and I haven't even gone to one park this year. Things just didn't work out for us to make it anywhere. So sad.

Looks like you had fun! I wish I could meet the Road Show in person sometime. But it doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon.

This would be the only reason I would want to go to HHN. I absolutely love Ghost Hunters! Steve and Tango are my favorite. Would love to meet them. Although I do love reading all the TRs from HHN. The theatrical aspect of it fascinates me, I just don't like being scared! I'm a big 'fraidy cat.

Watch out, step back, Big Mike is on the attack He's strong, powerful, dominating and bold All you others remember only champions wear gold!

So sad to see a park go, especially one specifically geared towards kids. Glad you made to the park though. Great to have it documented so thoroughly!