Lollipop Garden Cake

We celebrated a second birthday last week (where did the time go?!) and I attempted a more elaborate cake than I ever have. The cake is from this recipe. It was delicious, but extremely difficult to frost as it is a VERY moist cake and basically disintegrates upon touching. In spite of the hang ups I ran into I think it turned out quite cute. I got my inspiration from a couple Martha Stewart creations.

GF Amish Antisocial Bread

I've been dying for some cinnamon lately. Amish friendship bread is an all-time favorite and I've never attempted a gluten free version. There are recipes for GF starters and breads, but I didn't want to mush for 10 days. I think we nailed it on the first try with this one. I combined 4 or 5 recipes and it worked out pretty well. (I'm ashamed to tell you how much we ate... while we watched The Biggest Loser).

GF Amish Bread
Fake Starter
3/4 C Sugar
3/4 C Milk
3/4 C GF Flour (1/2 C Rice Flour, 1/4 C Corn Starch)
Bread
1 C Oil
1/2 C Sour Cream
3 Eggs
1 t Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 C White Rice Flour
1 C Sugar
1 1/2 t Baking Powder
2 t Cinnamon
1/2 t Salt
1/2 t Baking Soda
1 t Xantham Gum
1 Small (3 oz) Box of Vanilla Pudding
Cinnamon and Sugar Mixture (1 C Sugar, 1 t Cinnamon)

Preheat oven to 350°. Mix the fake starter. Add oil, sour cream, eggs and vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients (leaving aside sugar mixture). Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well. Grease two 9 x 5 loaf pans and sprinkle some sugar mixture to coat. Divide batter between 2 pans and sprinkle remaining sugar mixture. Bake for 45-55 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean).

Before & After

She arrived a week earlier than scheduled and she's perfect. We're enjoying every moment with our new little treasure.