Beautiful cake.

Lucky guy.

dcarcyh

Cook when I'm bored? Oh yeah!
But my bored cooking leans towards a huge pot of soup, or spaghetti sauce or stew....and then I invite friends to help eat, which further relieves the boredom.
Beautiful cake....looks like porcelain!

That is one gorgeous cake. Thanks for sharing the pic. After you taste test on Monday, are you going to share your recipe?

That is one beautiful cake and I bet it tastes just as good!
Yes I do, but I usually do something easy, like banana nut cake for the freezer or cookies!

Beautiful cake!

I tend to spend my time cooking to get out of spending it cleaning.

LOL, Beverly, I do the same thing! Well, actually, I keep hoping my life will get boring, someday. Somehow, I'm not hopeful that it'll actually happen.

Beautiful cake, Tracey, and I'll bet it tastes as good as it looks.

Annie

Not usually.
I just come here and READ about cooking!

My "bored" time is in the late (to me) evening and by then my brain and energy level are shot.

Deanna

Lovely and timely cake!

As for being bored, since I am a student/follower of Kierkegaard, I very seldom allow myself to be bored, since (as he says) boredom is the root of all evil (from Either Or). SK recommends the rotation method, but I have not found that to be necessary. If I could become bored, I would go through my pantry and try to find ingredients that I have not used recently, although that might actually resemble Kierkegaard's rotation method.

Lars

Here is a link that might be useful: Starting from a principle...

So pretty! What are the beads around the base?

Lovely cake! I can;t wait to hear the final verdict and I would love to see your actual recipe. Yep, I cook when I'm bored. Or like Beverly and Annie, to get out of cleaning! LOLOLOL!

A

Wow! Love the cake, it's beautiful.

I can't remember being bored in the last few years. Tired, sure, but bored? No. Although, like others, I do use cooking as an excuse not to clean or fold laundry!

I can't wait to hear how the cake tastes so that you can share your mix recipe!

AM

That is such a beautiful cake for Valentines Day! And yes, I bake because that's what I love to do and to get out of cleaning.

What a beautiful cake!

It's been years since I've really felt bored but if I don't have anything in particular to do, I tend to work on my needlework, read, write a letter or go out to somewhere in our area. I enjoy cooking but it's usually purposeful rather than recreational.

Thanks guys! And I cannot tell you how glad I am to know that I'm not the only one who cooks to avoid housework! I guess I shouldn't use the word bored...I have kids so really there's always something to do. Like I said, we've been out of school all week for snow so I've been able to play around in the kitchen more than usual.

As for the cake recipe, here it is. Of course I couldn't leave well enough alone so I added in some dry milk with the original mix in place of adding in milk when the cake is mixed. Instead I just used water. I also used a mixture of regular and cake flour. I'm not sure how well the butter was incorporated when the cake was mixed up. It incorporated fine with the FP when I made up the original mix. I think next cake, I will use oil in place of the 1/4 cup butter. There will still be plenty of butter flavor from the original mix but I won't have to worry about incorporating the butter the second time. The link provides the recipe with links to variations: chocolate, yellow, spice and white. I used 9" pans.

Homemade cake mix
Yellow cake
Ingredients:
�7-1/2 cups sifted flour
�1 Tbsp. salt
�4-1/2 cups sugar
�4 Tbsp. double acting baking powder
�3/4 cup cold butter
Preparation:
In very large bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar and baking powder and mix well to blend. Cut the butter into small pieces and place in food processor bowl along with 2 cups of the flour mixture. Cover and process until mixture is very fine. Make sure that the butter is completely evenly distributed in the flour mixture. If it isn't, your cakes will have uneven texture and each will turn out differently. Return to bowl with remaining flour mixture and mix well using a wire whisk.
Divide the cake mix into three equal portions (about 4 cups each) by lightly scooping the mix into measuring cups and leveling off with the back of a knife. Place each portion into a quart glass jar or heavy duty zip lock plastic bags. Cover tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to a month, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Each portion of cake mix will make two 8" cakes or one 13x9" cake.

Ingredients:
�4 cups Homemade Cake Mix
�2 tsp. vanilla
�1/4 cup butter, softened
�3 eggs
�1 cup milk
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 8" round cake pans OR one 13" x 9" cake pan with nonstick baking spray containing flour and set aside.
Pour one portion of the cake mix into a large bowl. Make a well in center of mix and add vanilla, butter, eggs, and milk. Beat mixture 1 minute with electric mixer at low speed until blended. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl and beat 2 minutes longer at medium speed until batter is smooth.

Here is a link that might be useful: homemade cake mix

Tracey, what a gorgoeus cake! I cook when I'm bored, but that doesn't happen too often, on the other hand, I like to cook when I'm stressed, unfortunately that happens more then being bored right now!
I clean when I'm angry, my house is spotless...hmmmmmmmm lol!!!

Gina

Wow, can I come over? I like to eat when I'm bored. I think we could work something out! All your baked goods sound delicious and as others have commented, your cake in the pic is lovely. Very creative.

Tracey,
That's a terrific looking cake! I really want to try fondant, but I'm intimidated. I've seen some of your other work and it's all lovely.

Thank you for the homemade cake mix recipe. That's a good idea...I'm always looking for little timesavers.

Deb, who is searching for new recipes to cook because I'm bored right now

Good cure for borebom, stress, and keeping an elderly mind keen and healthy. Benefits: Much appreciated by family and friends!! Maintaining a healthy attitude in general!

I love collecting recipes, cookbooks, and trying them out in the kitchen, sometimes with tweaking/experimenting.

Tracey you really have become quite the expert cake decorator. That cake is beautiful and just perfect for valentine's.

Ann

That's a beautiful cake, Tracey!

I can't cook when I'm bored because about the only time I get bored is at work, and that's not often, but is usually this time of year and in the heat of the summer.

That being said, I can't say if I cook when I'm bored or not, cause I'm not sure if that's what leads me to decide to cook or bake something or not. Frequently, I'll start cleaning the kitchen, I mean, really cleaning the kitchen, then, with it so nice and clean, I get motivated to mess it up again, and out comes the cookbooks, flour, sugar and other ingredients for baking. It never fails. And it never fails to really mess up the kitchen, either, lol! Than I have to start all over again. Is that because I'm bored, or in the mood to be busy? I think more the latter.

Sally

Thank you again for the kind words! I wish I could give you all a piece:) I am really curious how the homemade cake mix will turn out.

Deb, I think you would do great with the fondant. I saw your Christmas cookies and they were gorgeous! I just make a basic marshmallow fondant which once you get the hang of it is pretty easy to make and work with.

Tracey

Very pretty cake.

Do I cook when I am bored? I am never bored. I was unemployed for 19 months - went back to work 3 months ago.

During that 19 months I applied for more than 600 jobs, took up running, got a certification as a master gardener, went back to school to get a number of microsoft certifications to improve my chances of getting a job, and grew enough vegetables that I ended up donating over 400 pounds to a food shelf.

There are not enough hours in the day for me. And I am ashamed to say I have closets that are a mess.

Teresa - a woman who needs a professional organizer at this moment

Okay, you make me feel like a complete slacker! I admire your hard work and dedication to finding a new job. I also admire your gardening skills!

Cross stitch, I realized I never answered your question about the border. It's just the white fondant. I roll the fondant out, then use a round cutter to cut out uniform circles to roll up into balls.

Tracey

Lovely cake, you must have the patience of Job.

I often cook when I'm bored or rather I should say when I have nothing else to do that interests me.

When I do it tends to be long cooking things like demi glace or things I want to do in bulk for the freezer. Things like cabbage rolls, stuffed peppers, meatballs etc.

I rarely bake, other than bread but lately I have taken to baking breakfast breads and muffins for Meredith to have as a quick breakfast in the morning.