Health, interrupted. Racetrack cake tutorial.

This is where my conflicting worlds collide.

I like to eat healthy stuff. I like to bake cakes.

Sometimes you've got to put down the broccoli and pick up the butter. This time it was to make a 5th birthday cake for a friend of ours, who wanted a racetrack cake for his birthday party.

I like the process of planning and decorating a cake as much as I do eating it. The kids and I huddle around the computer and scour the Internet for a cake that is both cute and do-able. I pick up a few tips from the online tutorials, then I pick up my materials and away we go.

Since this was a racetrack cake, we decided to do two round cakes side by side. Then the track could make an "8" shape.

Couple notes on the cake itself. I use box cakes and add one box of instant pudding (in a flavor that matches). It makes the cake a little more dense and moist.

Initially I thought I'd cut both cakes to join them, but one of the handy tutorials showed me this was a better way to do it. 

Then I made my green frosting and put a coat on the two cakes. The track was to be made from crushed up chocolate wafers. I was sure that would be a mess, so I made a ring of black icing around the outside, and stuck two glasses in the middle to keep the wafers from going everywhere. It worked perfectly!

I have this cool tip that makes frosting look like grass. That was the next step.

I thought it would be cool to add some Oreos to the side to make it look like tires on the outside of the track. So I put a small dime of frosting on each Oreo, which helped it adhere to the side.

Another note I saw said that it was incredibly difficult to get frosting to lay down in a straight line for the stripes on the road. So I used Good & Plenty candies, instead.

OK, I can't go a whole post without getting on my healthy high horse. How gross are Good & Plenty's? I mean, they're black licorice, yes. Disgusting! But also let's get a listing of some of the ingredients:

• Resinous Glaze
• Carnuba Wax
• Ferrous Sulfate
• Sulfur Dioxide

"You put wax on your car, not in your body." - Zach

Final step was to put the finishing touches on the cake: cars, a traffic cone, and some black checkered flags I made out of toothpicks and paper printed with checkers.

Here's another view:

Loved the way this turned out! The five-year-old was happy, and it tasted pretty good, too. All in all it was a success!

Back on the broccoli wagon tomorrow!

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Workout of the Day

Les Mills Pump: Pump & Shred

More about the Pump workouts in coming days, but long story short: this is a FANTASTIC program. I am liking it so much right now! This is totally different than any workout we've ever done before. And yes, Zach's doing the program too, even though it seems a little chick-y....And I wasn't going to say anything, but there was quite a bit of gasping and groaning going on behind me during the workout this morning. Pump is no joke!