Of Cake and Other Guilty Pleasures

Two stories:

1.  I'm creating a cake for a friend's second birthday party, and decided to throw together a practice cake 

(Practice Cake [prak-tis keyk] noun- a bad habit I have of subjecting my husband and children to an identical version of a cake they will be enjoying at an upcoming occasion (and because I'm a stellar planner, this bright idea usually strikes no more than 7 days in advance of said occasion- see also: kids cracked out on loads of sugary frosting)).  

As it turns out, this particular cake is stressing me out, as the buttercream to marble cake ratio is tricky. Dense cake + Super sweet icing = weirdness- You care, I know, stay with me... So anyway, I baked (another!) cake this weekend and decided to pawn it off on a few poor souls that aren't related to me... enter the second (and more relevant) of the two stories.

2.  About a year ago my best mommy-friend forced strongly encouraged me to start watching trashy television programming-  My apparent lack of "reality" tv consumption was not only troubling to her, but it seriously hindered our ability to make excuses for random mid-week wine drinking.

So, yeah, The Bachelor.  Here's the thing- We watch.  We drink copious amounts of wine.  We snark.  And on occasion, we find reason to do so at each others houses while the hubbies tend to the kids.  I was easily sold.  

Last night was The Bachelor Finale-  What better reason to set up a dessert buffet, invite the girls over and trash talk the night away.  It turns out that half the women I know (and their MEN, btw- Patton!) watch the show- so again, easy sell.

Below: the breakdown of empty calories I force-fed my beautiful skinny friends

I call this masterpiece "What television program is complete without marble cake" Makes perfect sense, no!?! 

"Dearest girlfriends, please indulge in Chocolate Ameretto Mousse shooters topped with cakepop roses, you are looking fab and I've been baking practice cakes- let's level the scales, shall we?"

Chocolate covered-strawberries, Chocolate Wine (yea- you heard me!), champagne... I hear that if you haven't given these things up for Lent that the calories AND guilt don't count.  Score.  

 And Lastly, please forgive the gratuitous iphone photo of the open (and enjoyed) second bottle of chocolate wine- Now may be a good time to reiterate the stellar planner bit- or catch up to that wagon I've fallen off.