11.17.2009

Volleyball Tournaments and a Birthday.


My sister-in-law, Catie, attends Hope where she is on the volleyball team. This past weekend we were lucky enough to be able to travel up to MI with my in-laws to watch her team compete and eventually win the NCAA Division III Regional Championship! So now they are off to Ohio as one of the Elite 8 in hopes of becoming the next National Champions. Unfortunately, Brad and I won't be able to make it down there however we are planning on watching online. Let's Go Hope!

During the tournament, it was also Catie's birthday and I wanted to make her a birthday cake. I'm not sure where exactly I got the idea, but somewhere down the line I decided that I wanted to make her a Volleyball birthday cake since volleyball has been such a big part of her life, especially the last couple of years. I then discovered that Wilton makes a sports ball pan set and immediately set out to buy it. On Thursday, the day before her birthday, I baked two boxes of cake; one for the ball, and one for the rectangular base. Brad and I then debated whether to leave late that night when I got out of work for Michigan and finish the cake on Fri or wait until Fri morning to leave for MI and finish the cake here in Chicago Thurs night/Fri morning. We finally decided to leave Thursday night so that we didn't have to worry about me not finishing the cake in time before our 3 hour drive or risk us being late to her games.

Let me tell you, I am sooo happy that we decided to leave Thursday night because let me tell you, it took for-ev-er. I got up Fri morning around 8:30 to begin working and did so until around 3:00 I think. Yeah, crazy long, I know. The main culprit was that I kept running out of icing so I had to stop and make more and then at one point even had to leave to go to Meijer's to buy more butter. I also took a quick lunch break because by 1pm, I hadn't eaten anything that day but frosting and pieces of cake :op


Anyway, it didn't turn out exactly the way I had wanted (the ball ended up looking a bit bumpy rather than smooth- but hey, it's my first cake) however I still had a lot of fun making it and we all had fun eating as well (funfetti cake, homemade butter cream frosting, strawberry butter cream filling...I don't mean to toot my own horn but doesn't that just sound delicious?). But the best part?
Is that Catie LOVED it.


*cake pictures courtesy of my father-in-law

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