Monday, March 16, 2009

A Finish, a Cake, and YIKES!!

I finished up Peace in the Country last Thursday, but didn't get around to taking a picture until today. Finally I have my first 2009 finish!

Sorry for the crooked picture, but here it is:

The detail on the angel's dress is what took most of the time. It is hard to see, but there is quite a bit of back-stitching on the sleeve to give it a golden look.

I will have to look around in my travels for a frame for this one. It is practically square. Hopefully I can find one at a yard sale this summer. If not I will have to break down and actually buy one!

Now for the cake!









This requires a bit of an explanation!


About a month ago, Keith came home and announced that he had ordered a bee hive as well as a colony of bees to go with it! Yes, BEES! To say that I was surprised would be an enormous understatement!

He had mentioned it once or twice before, but I had never given it another thought.

You see, we are not exactly "bee" people. We live in the NY suburbs, just about 25-30 miles from Manhattan. In fact, other than a tomato garden, we have no background in farming or animal husbandry of any sort, (well except for a very brief and unfortunate interlude with chickens who inhabited our property when we bought our house, but I digress)!

Some of the bees are being delivered in April, and we will be driving upstate in May to pick up the colony. Yes, I have been drafted into this duty! Yikes!

Anyway, Keith's birthday was on Saturday, and when I saw this cake, I knew I just had to make it for him. It is a lemon cake with a honey-lemon glaze, buttercream frosting, and a Royal icing drizzle. It was made from a special pan that was molded in the shape of the hive. Of course there were some major goofs, things that I would do differently next time, but all in all, I was rather pleased how it turned out. My baking projects have not always been met with such success (LOL)!

Oh boy! Bees! yikes!

Stay tuned. It should be an interesting summer!

12 comments:

Suburban Stitcher said...

Well, your finish is beautiful! It definitely looks worth all of the time!! As for your bees...all I can say is I wish you well...better you than me :)

Mylene said...

wow! Gorgeous finish!! Congrats!

The cake looks yummy!!

Anonymous said...

that turned out GORGEOUS! congrats!
and the cake looks yummy! I'll take a peice but you can keep those bees !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!hahahaha!

staci said...

Peace in the Country is FABULOUS!!! Congrats on such a wonderful finish!

Love the cake, too cute ;) And a Happy be-lated Bday to your hubby :)

Siobhán said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog! ;) I'm so glad to have found yours. Your first 2009 finish is a stunner--YGG! I love that angel; love the folk art look. Your beehive cake looks so scrumptious! I will eagerly follow your adventures of beekeeping... sounds interesting!

Ginnie said...

Fantastic finish. That cake looks great good luck with the bees... that's the sort of thing my hubbie would do... he keeps taking about us having chickens...urmmm!!

Brigitte said...

Your finish is fantastic, congratulations.
What a neat idea to make a beehive cake. With bees all around, lol. It must have been yummy!

Carmen said...

the finish is beautiful!.
oh a bee cake!! so cute.

Ranae said...

Congrats on the gorgeous finish.
And that cake is beeeautiful, how cool.

Shelleen said...

congrats on the finish and the cake looks good.

Kit said...

I love that cake, it looks soooo good! I would love to have fresh honey any time I want it, though I hear you about the bees. I bet it will be kind of fun once you get used to it. Good luck!

Sherry aka Celtic Dream Weaver said...

I would so love to have the recipe for your lemon beehive cake. It sounds sooo very very yummy indeed. Yum...Yum....