I hope she doesn't mind me sharing this but my sister Gretchen also wrote a funny blog post about the cake we made for Easter, and it has some great pictures including a reaction shot. =)
So, I'll try to keep this brief, because the pictures really tell the story better than I could. In a nutshell:
I was going to my Mom's for Easter dinner. I decided to use this as an opportunity to bake a new recipe.
I made an easy but impressive recipe that I found here.
Something went wrong with the icing... I followed the recipe to a T but apparently it needed to set up longer before I used it to ice the cake. It gradually melted and slid right off the cake.
I had gotten an awesome book from the library called "Hello, Cupcake!" which included instructions for making some cute candy butterflies. I thought it would be fun for my sisters/mom and me to try making the butterflies and put some on top of the cake for extra decoration. See a successful execution of those butterflies here.
Once we realized how unsophisticated our butterflies were turning out, and that the cake was melting away into a puddle of ugliness, Gretchen and I got the idea that it would be funny to just go all out and stick butterflies all over the cake, thus making it the gaudiest Easter cake ever.
It actually tasted ok. I will probably make the recipe again but do it right. =)
I love to cook and bake. My style in the kitchen is definitely "recipe follower." As much as I would love to be able to just whip up a new concoction from ingredients on hand, or taste a simmering sauce and think "hmm, needs more oregano," that's just not me. Therefore I appreciate a good recipe and love finding them online and in cookbooks.
I don't always cook the most health-conscious recipes, but I believe in eating whatever you want as long as it is in moderation. I also have a picky husband whose chances for disliking a recipe seem to be directly proportional to the number of ingredients used, so I won't be cooking any elaborate gourmet meals.