the color of the day is...red

happy 11.11.11!

i woke up yesterday morning with the craziest craving for something red velvet.  and for some reason, i wanted it in loaf form.  don't ask me why, because all i can think of is that maybe it made an appearance in my dream or something.

so after i asked the google to grant my wish, i came across this simple recipe and busted out a box of red velvet cake mix.  because i only wanted to make one loaf, i measured out exactly half of the stuff to accomplish my goal.  thank goodness for my kitchen scale.

i had the batter mixed up in about five minutes, and the scrumptious aroma of cake was wafting through my kitchen in no time.  just as i was cleaning up, the bean poked her head in the door and piped up with a request for red velvet pancakes.

well, hell, why not?  and to make it even more fun, i decided to test out my pancake pen that had been sitting in a cupboard, just waiting for the right moment to make a grand entrance.

i used it to squeeze out three little circles into a familiar shape:

and made her a buzz lightyear plateful of mickey-shaped silver dollar pancakes.

now, i hadn't told her what i was doing other than making her breakfast.  so i quietly set the plate in front of her without a word, turned on the camera, and watched her reaction.

man, i love doing this kind of stuff.  look at her face in that second shot!  if i'd shot a video, you'd have heard her sharp intake of breath as she realized what she was looking at.  comical.

it was fun to use the pancake pen, but i have one rather sizable complaint - it wastes a lot of batter that ends up stuck to the sides.

if i'd left it in the bowl, i could've squeezed out at least two more smallish pancakes from that.  bummer.

as for that red velvet loaf?  i whipped together a quick little cream cheese glaze and poured it on the cooled cake.

let me tell you, it tastes as good as it looks.  hmmm.  maybe it doesn't look that fantastic - but trust me, it. is. to. die. for.

oh, and i shall leave you with a funny:  the teen was cleaning her room out and found a whole bunch of fun treasures for her sister, who promptly put each piece on and came running out to show me.

gotta love it.