MmmmmCoca-Cola Cake

I went to a potluck dinner at a friends house on Sunday and wanted to bake.  Since I am currently on a pretty strict diet that says no caffeine or chocolate I decided to share a recipe with everyone else that has a little bit of both!

This recipe was found on The Southern Plate and is oh so good! (yes I cheated and had a tiny taste)

You will need:

1 package plain white cake mix

4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

8 Tablespoons (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted

1 cup Coca-Cola

½ cup buttermilk (Or substitute 1/2 C whole milk with a T of lemon juice stirred in)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 ½ cups of marshmallows

Icing:

8 Tablespoons (1 stick) butter or margarine

4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/3 Cup Coca-Cola

4 Cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted   

1 Cup chopped pecans (I didn't use these as I don't like nuts in my baked goods)  

I didn't plan very well and my camera battery died while making this cake so I didn't get step by step photos.....

But look I did get a good shot of the fabulous mixer I got for Christmas doing it's job!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly mist a 13×9-inch baking pan with vegetable oil spray.

Set the pan aside.

Place the cake mix, cocoa powder, melted butter, cola, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides with a spatula.

Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes.

The batter should be well blended. Fold in the marshmallows.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Place the pan it the oven bake for 40 to 42 minutes

Remove from oven and prepare icing while cake is still hot

Put the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat.

As the butter melts, stir in the cocoa powder and cola.

Let the mixture come to just a boil, stirring constantly, and then remove it from the heat.

Stir in the confectioners’ sugar until the frosting is thick and smooth.

Now would be the time to fold in the pecans if you are using them.

Pour the frosting over the top of the cake and spread evenly if needed.  Since I didn't use pecans mine spread and covered the cake all on it's own.

 

Here is the cake after it's been cut into....mmmmm it was tasty, worth a little cheat!

Friday Fix-Jewelry Organizing

I like jewelery A LOT!  I have a ton of it that I have purchased, made, or recieved in swaps.  I had to find a way to organize it all so that things weren't tangled and I could easily see what I have. 

So I hung a curtain rod on the wall in my bedroom and hung all my necklaces on it.

Underneath the rod is my bookshelf which has a jewelry box which holds bracelets and some of my earrings.  Next to the jewelry box is an earring display that I made.  If you look closely you can see it on the lower right hand corner of the picture below. 

I am starting to run out of room on the rod.  I don't know if this means I need to scale back on the jewelry or get another rod!

Awards

Megan over at coffehouse awarded me with the Stylish Blogger Award!!  Thank you so much Megan!!!! It's so nice to find another reader that I didn't even know about :)  Did I mention that I am so jealous of your job??? 

I was given this award in January (so flattered to have gotten it twice!) that I am going to link back that post for you so you can learn a few things about me and see the blogs that I passed this on to. 

1X1 Works of Art

 Ahhh Inchies.  They are a pretty low stress item to make but can also be rather daunting.  All of a sudden that blank 1X1 inch canvas can seem huge!  It can also be hard to translate an idea into such a small space. 

I haven't made any inchies in such a long time and when an inchie swap came around I just couldn't resist.  Besides I really needed to add to my collection so that I can finally get going on my inchie wall art.

I had two partners in the swap and decided to make set of four based on some of their likes.  After some stalking I decided on

Trees...

Swear Words  

Birds 

Mario Bros. 

Owls 

Bugs 

And Sea Creatures 

As always I have some favorites and some were harder to do than others.  Overall I am happy with each set and hope that their new owners are too!

Zippered Wristlets

As I get better with my sewing machine I am wanting to try more things.  I really want to make a purse at some point but figured I should start a little smaller :)  I wanted a wristlet to wear while I chaperoned one of the kids field trips so that I didn't have to carry my purse all around.  I used a tutorial for a pleated pouch on Skip to My Lou and just added a wrist strap.  The bags are fully lined and have a zipper closure.  The red and yellow is the first one I did and I of course like the second attempt much better! 

The Zoo

We visit the zoo pretty frequently since we have a membership and it's the perfect weather! Seems like everytime I have been in January or the beginning of Febuary we have the best experience. We get to see so many animals and the weather is always perfect! 

It's so funny how I seem to get pictures of my kids in the same spots year after year.  One day I may have to gather them all and print them up for an album!  Also we were laughing that they both act like they have never seen any of these things before even though they have seen them over and over again.  It's nice that they still have a great time even though we really have toured this zoo so many times. 
Adia took over the camera and got some GREAT shots of the animals.  In all the years I have been going to the zoo I don't think I have EVER seen the cheetahs up and around.  It was pretty awesome!

Stencils Again! I know I am boring...

I have made five stenciled items in the last week and have one or two more planned for the next week.  These are the first shirts I have made using Yudu screen printing paint and plain old acrylic paint mixed with a textile medium to make fabric paint. 

Both of these paints are much softer than the usual "puffy" fabric paint that tends to crack. 

 Another Robot!  I have made so many robot shirts...

 A little something for the Harry Potter nerds (like me!)

And Audrey!

I am mad that I forgot to take photos of the Valentines day shirts I made for my kids.  I guess those will have to get posted a day late!

Friday Fix-Stovetop Cleaning

I love having a flat stovetop.  It looks so much nicer and cleaner.  Except that is gets dirty so easily and it can be hard to get that cooked on stuff off!  I mean if the water boils over the pot, I am in trouble, from water!!!!  So I saw this tip somewhere on the blogosphere and decided to try it.  To clean your flat stovetop just use the spray oven cleaner!  I spray it on the top, let it sit for a while then wipe it off.  I will then use a wet cloth to wipe it again to make sure all the cleaner is off.  It works like a charm!!! 

Matchbox Mania

Altered Matchboxes made for a Matchbox swap.  I chose to have two partners this round and am quite happy with how these boxes turned out.  Here they are wrapped in covered button hair ties and tiny cards.

 The first box has an owl that was hand drawn by my friend Kristin.  I just colored him in an glued him on.

 Inside the box there are lots of little goodies.  Including some earrings, beads, sequins, buttons, etc

 The second box was done by applying eyelets in a random way then I glued on a gear looking thing for a steampunk vibe.

 Again I filled the little box with all kinds of tiny bits and bobs.  This one even included another tiny box that I received from a previous swap a few years ago.

These boxes really are tiny once you start filling them up.  Both of mine were stuffed completely full.  I think I may have been able to fit a little bit of glitter or some seed beads in but that would have been messy!

I can't wait to get my boxes in the mail!  If you are interesed in seeing the other boxes please check out the gallery of goodness on Craftster