The girls and their July birthdays....

July is the girl's month.  Both of the girls have birthdays in July.  Sydney's birthday is the 8th and Audrianna's was yesterday.  I made two new cakes this month that I haven't ever made before.  So, it was definitely an exciting month.  Who doesn't love cake?? 

On Sydney's 15th birthday, I made an Angel Food cake from scratch.  It turned out very yummy, but not very pretty.  Here is Sydney with her angel food cake. 

  
Here is the recipe that we used for the angel food cake.  It came from my Better Homes & Garden's cookbook.  The only thing that we adjusted is that we make our own powdered sugar.  Powdered sugar that you buy contains cornstarch, and with corn allergies in our family.  We make homemade powdered sugar, which is very simple.  
 

These pictures were taken in the afternoon of Sydney's birthday, when had a photo shoot to capture her at a new age.  She was excited, which is always helpful.  

My beautiful Sydney on her 15th birthday!  

On Audrianna's birthday, she requested an ice-cream cake.  This wasn't exactly a simple task, but I made it work.  We are completely dairy free, which means that we are making our own ice cream from coconut milk products.  We started the day off, with make a new batch of ice cream with a recipe that I adjusted to make it dairy free from my Better Homes & Garden's Cookbook.

Vanilla Ice Cream 

4 Cups half & half, light cream, or milk(we use 2 So Delicious plain coconut creamers)

1 1/2 Cups sugar

1 T vanilla

2 Cups whipping cream(I used the thicker part of 2 cans of coconut milk)

In a large bowl combine light cream, sugar, and vanilla.  Stir until sugar dissolves.  Stir in whipping cream.  Freeze cream mixture in a 4- or 5-quart ice cream freezer according to the manufacturer's directions.  If desired, ripen 4 hours.  {basically-to ripen means to put mixture in another container safe for the freezer for 4 hours and then put in ice cream freezer}

I then made a carob cake(my children have chocolate allergies), per the directions on the back of the carob powder container.  Here is a link to Grandpa Snyder's Carob Cake.  You can find the recipe under the recipes tab and then Grandpa Snyder's Carob Cake.  This cake taste like chocolate cake.  I wouldn't have believed it, if I didn't taste it.  It was very delicious and definitely something we will make again.   

So, I experimented this time with this Ice Cream Cake that Audrianna wanted.  I didn't follow this example exactly, but I got the basic idea from this recipe.  It is a little difficult to follow it exactly, when we make our own ice cream.  I used two semi-square containers to freeze the ice cream into a flat shape.  I baked the cake in a rectangular pan smaller than a 9x13.  I cut the cake in half after freezing it for a bit, so that it would be a little firmer.  I was able to easily turn my containers over that contained my ice cream and managed to get the ice cream out in one big square with rounded corners.  I carefully place the ice cream on the bottom and then the first layer of cake.  I had put the cake/ice cream back in the freezer in between each set of layers, to keep the ice cream from completely melting.  After the ice cream and cake had set up together, I started trying to make the edges match.  I did this by using a sharp knife to cut away the extra pieces.  This was a little tricky, but seem to go over pretty good.  I will know next time not to do such thick layers, but I was excited by how well my first experience with a ice cream cake went.  The cake was a big hit.  Everyone loved it....even the littlest, who said he doesn't like chocolate cake.   

     

Audrianna also had a photo shoot on her birthday.  She is wearing her new dress.  She was so excited to get this new dress, because it is her favorite colors and she couldn't stop grinning the whole time she was wearing it.  She took many spins, which you can imagine little girls doing in a pretty dress.  She is getting so grown up, but she will always be a girly girl.  

My beautiful Audrianna on her 11th birthday! 

 

July has been a great month overall.  Dad has missed all the kids birthdays this summer, but we are hoping to have a big celebration for all of them, when he returns in a few weeks.