Austin Westbrook

Meet Austin Westbrook.  He's the adorable 11 month old you see in the picture above you.  To you, he may be just another cute baby on the internet, but to over 10,000 members on facebook, and many more in person, he's much much more.  Austin was shaken as an infant, only three months old, and thrown onto a couch by a babysitter.  His parents and his sisters world was turned upside down. Through surgeries, stays in hospitals, and lots of medical treatment, we are fortunate to have him here, today.  

I first heard about this story on facebook, when my friends were sharing his facebook page "Prayers for Austin Westbrook" and talking about how sad it was to see such a little cutie in pain.  My heart strings were instantly pulled because my own baby was only a couple of months older than Austin.  I felt sad, concerned, angry, hopeful...and since the family was in Abilene, there wasn't much more I could do but "like" the page and pray for them.  Months of updates full of sweet pictures, holidays, indictments, treatments, one stuck out to me when his mother posted that they were moving to the Amarillo area.  I felt like celebrities were moving to town ;)  

So, where does Sugar Rush tie into this whole story?  Well, as I stated above, this little angel is 11 months old and will be celebrating a birthday, soon.  Now, if you know anything about me and my kid's birthday parties...you know I love to go all out.  When his mother, Jennifer, posted that people were inquiring about what they could donate on behalf of the party, I jumped on it and am happy to announce that Sugar Rush by Lauren Sadler will be donating the most amazing batman cake, along with 5 dozen (or more!) cupcakes to match!  My good friend Cathy Pruiett will also be making the biggest, most amazing cupcake and cake stand to match.  Needless to say, this birthday party will be epic!  

Jump-n-Jive has graciously donated bouncy houses for the kiddos

Games 2 U Amarillo  will be set up for the event

There will be food, drinks, CAKE, and lots and lots of fun for everyone!  Bring your kids and show your support to the new family in town!  It's only by the act of God that Austin is still with us today to be able to celebrate this milestone and I am more than happy to be a part of his special day! :)  Show your love and support and like their facebook page, send his parents a word of encouragement and show that baby some love on all his pictures!  

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change"

James 1:17

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!  For a sample menu and idea of what I can do, check out www.sugarrushamarillo.weebly.com   

Thank you all for your support!

Email me here for any questions, concerns or inquiries!

Who wants free cake!?

Who: Sugar Rush by Lauren Sadler

Jade Carrasco with Scentsy Wickless Candles

Megan Haas with Sassy Zebra Boutique

Photography by Jenny Taylor

When: Saturday, October 15th, 2001

Time: 3:00 PM

Admission is FREE for everyone, and kids are welcome :)

There will be free cake pops, cake balls, cupcakes and a cake for display and as a prize for a cake walk, samples of other products on display and DOOR PRIZES!  

Visit our facebook event page at 

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=241237789260124

See you all there! :)

LS

Halloween Cake Pops/Cake Balls Tutorial

I had intended on doing this tutorial with the actual cake balls and cake pops I plan on making for Halloween, but it was brought to my attention that some of you are interested in learning how to make some, for yourself!  So, here ya go, a little present from me...to you! :)


Before I start, let me tell you the difference between a cake ball and a cake pop.


Cake Ball - cake and icing rolled into a ball, dipped in candy coat or chocolate 
Cake Pop - See above, but add a stick :D


Step One: 
Bake you a nice cake.  


Now, this can be any kind of cake you'd like, but my personal suggestion:  If you plan on coating a cake pop in, say white chocolate or white candy coating, I like to try to stick with either a white cake or a very light colored cake, because the cake color can show through.  You are allowed to double dip, if you would like a dark cake and light coating!  You can even color a white cake to try to match a colored candy coating, if you'd like! (Coloring the cake to be orange before dipping it into orange colored coating)


You can make your own cake mix, if you wish, but a boxed cake mix is just fine.  Please note, a standard 18.25 oz box of cake mix will make 48 cake balls. If 4 dozen cake balls is too many, remember that each 1/4th of a cake will make 12 cake balls.  You can opt to either make 1/4th of the mix, or you can freeze the other quarters for another time!


Step Two
Crumble the cooled cake into a large mixing bowl.  The easiest way to do this is to take two equal sized pieces of cake and grate them together until it's nice and fine.  Add 3/4 of a container of frosting and mix it into the crumbled cake.  The mix should be moist enough to roll the cake into 1 1/2 inch balls and still be round.

Step Three
Roll all of your cake balls and place them on a cookie sheet, lined with wax paper (this step will take you a while).  Place the cookie sheet in the refrigerator for several hours, or the freezer for about 15 minutes.  You want the balls to be firm, not frozen. 


This is your basic cake ball and cake pop recipe.  From here, you can create anything you'd like using many many different treats and candies!  I will be showing you guys how to make pumpkin shaped cake pops


Jack-O-Lanterns


You'll need:
48 uncoated basic cake balls
48 ounces (3 pounds) orange candy coating
Deep, microwave-safe plastic bowl
48 paper lollipop sticks
48 green Tic Tac mints or similarly shaped candy  
Styrofoam block or cake pop holder
Black edible-ink pen




Melt the orange candy coating in a microwave-safe plastic bowl, following the instructions on the package.  The coating should be about 3 inches deep for easier dipping.  Working with 16 oz at a time typically seems to work best.


When you are ready to dip, remove only a few cake balls at a time from the refrigerator, keeping the rest in there.  Taking all of them out will make them too soft to dip when it's time for them!


One at a time, dip about 1/2 inch of the tip of the lollipop stick into the melted candy coating and insert the stick straight into the cake ball, pushing it no more than halfway through.  Dip the cake pop into the melted coating and tap off any excess coating
(Note: you'll want to tap very easy, because the cake ball can start to split and will fall off of the stick.  The easiest method in doing this is to tap the wrist of the hand holding the stick with your other hand, while slowly spinning the cake ball to let the excess candy coat fall back into the bowl)


Immediately insert a Tic Tac on the very top of the pumpkin pop.  Hold in place until set, and let dry completely in the styrofoam block.  Repeat with the remaining pumpkins until they all have stems.


Draw on jack-o-lantern faces with a black edible-ink pen and let dry completely.  


Halloween Themed Cake Balls


Using the exact same method as before, substitute dipping with a lollipop stick by placing your cake ball in a big spoon and dipping it into the bowl of candy coat.  Try to get as much excess candy coat off of your spoon and then gently lay the covered cake ball on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.  

To decorate: Place any extra candy coating into a resealable plastic bag (and snip off the corner) or into a squeeze bottle (Walmart has these in the party supplies section with the fondant for cheap) and drizzle over the tops of the cake balls in a zig zag motion.  If you happen to find some cute halloween candy decorations, adding those to a mix of cake balls can make a very elegant easy treat! 

(Note: cake balls can be made ahead of time and stored in an air-tight container on the counter or in the refrigerator for several days)

Little Pondering Thought

Happy Tuesday!


I contemplate God's thoughts when making man a lot when I am making bread.  For, when making bread, we take ordinary ingrediants: flour, water, yeast, salt....and we create something that looks NOTHING like what we started out with!  Making bread is making life...we carefully measure, carefully knead, and we must be patient and wait for the dough to be ready and risen for us to bake it to perfection.  


God waits on all of us patiently, after he creates us in His perfect image.  We just have to RISE to his calling!  How awesome is He?  How I long to be as forgiving and patient as He is!  


I hope you all have a wonderful week!  Cook, bake or create something amazing and give thanks to all we have to be thankful for!  


"Wait for the LORD; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD"  Psalm 27:14

Man cannot live on bread alone....but it sounds good, right?

Sweet Yeast Rolls
(Much like Texas Roadhouse Rolls)
 - Feel SOO sorry if you have no idea what I'm talking about!-


Making bread and rolls is NOT HARD!  Sure, it's tedious, isn't an immediate satisfaction, but after you make your first loaf or dozen rolls...you'll want to never buy from the store again!


Ingredients: 
1 package of active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
8 cups all purpose flour
2 TBS melter butter
2 whole eggs
2 tsp salt


Step One: Add 2 cups of milk to a small sauce pan and place it on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.  This is scalding the milk.  

Meanwhile, dissolve one teaspoon of sugar in 1/2 cup warm water and add a packet of yeast.  It's not necessary to stir the yeast because one it starts coming alive, it will all dissolve itself, anyway.  You'll want to let that soften until it looks foamy

before

after

Once the milk begins steaming and tiny bubbles begin forming along the edges of the pot, remove from heat and place in a sink full of cold water to bring to lukewarm quicker.  

Add the the remaining sugar and the milk to the yeast mixture and enough flour to make a medium batter, about that of pancake batter (it took me 1.5 cups)  Beat thoroughly.  Let it sit until it becomes light and foamy.  While its sitting, melt your butter, if you haven't already.  (If you choose to wait until now to melt it, place it in the freezer right after it's melted to get it cool).  Once the mix is foamy, add the cooled melted butter, eggs, and salt.  Beat well.  Add enough flour (about 3 cups worth) to form a soft dough (so it doesn't run all over your kneading area in a minute!) to look like this:

Sprinkle flour onto your surface and begin kneading, adding one cup of flour at a time until the dough is smooth and satiny and not as sticky as it was (where it will stick to your surface).  Grease a big bowl and place your dough ball in the bowl

(here's a good video on kneading)

I've found the best way for my dough to rise is to cover the bowl with saran wrap and a warm, damp towel and place in a (not running) microwave.  Let it sit and rise to double its size.  In the meanwhile, bring your oven to 450 degrees.

This next step is very very important.  Possibly one of the most important steps there is to this whole process.  

You ready?  

Okay, close your eyes.  Find the deepest frustration you have today....find it?  

Okay.  Now PUNCH the dough.

That's right, I said punch the dough

Now, take the dough out and put it on another surface that it won't stick on and lightly knead it out to look like a long french loaf of bread.  Then, cut that into 4 equal pieces using a dough cutter.

This step makes it easier to manage.  Now, this recipe says it makes 5 to 6 dozen, but my experience has been to maybe get 2 or 3.  I like my Texas size rolls! ;)  Cut your rolls down to size, pick one up and put it on the table with your hand over it like it's a computer mouse

You don't want to roll the dough like you would playdough.  You want to kind of rock it back and forth and around in this motion to give it that rounded edge.  The bottom, however, should look like this if you've done it right:

You don't want to leave it looking like that or it won't bake like it's supposed to.  You want a tight seal.  So, grab the edges around the hole or "rip" and pinch them closed, like this:

Finish rolling them around and place them on a well oiled cookie sheet of some sort

Now, this is where your oven comes in.  Loosely cover your rolls, turn your oven OFF, place the rolls in the oven and leave the oven door cracked.  Allow to rise until doubled in size (or in my instance, till they can't rise anymore!)

(NOTE: I made my rolls a lot bigger than normal so I could use them for small hamburger buns, later.  Yours can be as big or as small as you'd like them!)

 Once they've risen all they'll rise, take them out, uncover them and set your oven to 375 degrees.  Bake the rolls for 10 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and let them finish baking for 10-15 minutes, depending on how brown you like your crust.  Take them out, butter the tops while they're hot...and enjoy!  Yummmmm!!!

 

I hope you enjoy these rolls as much as Zach and I do!!!

LS

Trick or Treats!

Oh, man, Halloween.  Don't you remember when October would finally get here (back when the years took FOREVER) and you just couldn't wait till Halloween?  The thought process of just figuring out what I wanted to be was amazingly extensive.  And then, of course, came the halloween parties and dances.  I don't know what it is about dressing up as something you aren't and being around people doing the exact same thing, but it seemed like more fun than just a regular party!  


I remember Aiden's first halloween.  He was only a couple of months old, but I disregarded the "He won't even remember it" comments and dressed him up, anyway.  To me, it's the fact that we did it that's most important.  


I think people have strayed away from the social and fun aspects of things.  I know I don't see as many halloween parties, or entire families dressing up for halloween, or any of that fun stuff, anymore, and I don't know why.  I know I just feel better when I put effort into something.  


So this is where I do a plug in! haha!


Halloween cake pops.  Yeah, no joke!  

How cute are these?  And the good thing about it is, they're kid friendly (of course), but adults love them, too!  They're the perfect bite of cake without having an entire cake on hand!  Since cake pops are a lot easier to keep, and ship....I will be taking orders for cake pops (of all kinds, not just halloween) from anyone, not just in Amarillo, Texas!  And, from now until September 30th, I'll even throw in free shipping costs!  

I'm also doing halloween cakes and cupcakes, too! :D

So get your orders in in time for Halloween! 

LS