Dad's Birthday

My dear Papa Bear has turned 80!  So I thought I'd make him this fancy pants cake along with one of his favorite meals to celebrate.  The meal turned out great!  I mean how can you mess up ham, potatoes and carrots?!  Anyway, the cake came out wonderfully except the ganache frosting didn't harden up the way it was supposed to...the recipe indicated if I chilled it, it would thicken and I could spread it like a frosting.  It didn't thicken in time and when I poured it on top I had already seated the cake on a cake plate.  So the ganache pooled around the base of the cake.  It looks messy but it tasted fantastic!!!  So I guess I can chalk it up to experience and now I know what NOT to do :)

Here's the photographic evidence:

Cooking the cranberries for the buttercream filling

Successfully baked chocolate cakes

Remains of the cranberry buttercream filling

The filled cake

Finished product with happy Dad :)

Inside and messy outside - amateurish but getting better!

Next time the filling won't be as thick and the ganache will be poured when the cake is on a rack.  Then I'll cool it down and pour another layer of ganache so it will be thicker.  Either that or I'll chill the ganache down overnight so it thickens up enough to frost the cake.  It was my first experiment with a fancy pants cake and overall I'm very pleased!!!  And everyone really enjoyed it :)

On the knitting side, here are some finished objects sans the hubby sweater!  I can't catch him with it on long enough to photo it!  I may have to have him don the sweater with the express purpose of getting some nice shots :)  Here we go:

Double bump dishcloth - pattern from Ravelry

Nate's mitts - the color is off - they are deep red and dark gray

Current knitting and reading

Ponytail Hat - improvised and fiddled with and my very first design!

I can't wait to see if the ponytail hat is what my friend's daughter is looking for.  The button unbuttons and goes under the pony tail to fasten on the other side.  Took me a while to figure out button placement and how long to make the slit for the ponytail. 

I'm loving my current project - I've modified the Palindrome pattern from Ravelry to make myself a buttoned neck warmer!  I love this pattern and have made several scarves out of it.  It's nice to have something that looks good on both sides :)  I had only a little bit of this gorgeous yarn that's now discontinued, Reynolds Caviar - less than 150 yds) and decided I would make myself a neck warmer.  It's coming along beautifully!  

The book I'm reading is the 5th in Maggie Sefton's series the Knitting Mysteries, Dyer Consequences.  I love this series!  It's fun and the characters are enjoyable - it's a good read to snuggle up with a cup of tea on a snowy winters day :)

Well, I'm off for now - just made a lovely baked mac and cheese and even though I still don't have my taste buds back from this nasty long lasting cold, I'm going to do my best to enjoy it!  Will try to post some pics of the the storm later :)

Stay safe and happy knitting!

XXOO