Happy Independence Day, beachem. I made a red, white, and blue cake for a celebration this evening--Joy of Cooking's one-egg cake with a filling of raspberries, cooked buttercream, and blueberries from our bushes. Whipped cream will be on the side.

One Fourth of July we were halfway through a cross-country move--me with three small kids in a station wagon, and my DH in the biggest Uhaul truck we could rent, following us. We saw the fireworks from a motel in Kansas. That was the craziest.

The craziest thing I've done in a while I did today: spent a beautiful day indoors baking German chocolate cake for my bil birthday, fruit tart for the holiday, and rum cake for my nephew. All gluten free. I've been on my feet for nine hours. I don't know how you did a 20h cake marathon. I'm lying in the tub and so tired I want to cry.

beachem - Wow, congratulations on the finished product!!. If I could suggest something to possibly expedite the process for anyone else, it's to split the layers using dental floss. Wind around the layer, cross the floss at the front in an X, and draw out to opposing sides. (Easy way to split a cake layer). The blue layer though is what - a full blue layer or partial? I do have a checkerboard pan but it gets complicated....

Eam - you go, girl! You will be basking in the glory of your baking for the near future. (Rum cake for nephew - surely you're not old enough for this to be legal?!). Enjoy the bath and happy 4th to you my friend.

@oldbat wow thanks for the tip on splitting a cake layer. I was using a knife and it was very uneven.

For the blue flag area, I made a round blue cake and drip it in a thin layer then drip random white cake drops between each blue layer. Once it was done, I cut a round area inside out. I placed this on 6 layers of the full red and white cakes.

I fit the remainder of the red and white flag layers inside this after cutting them to fit. I used a desert plate as my template.

Wherever the cake was cut, you always had a a blue square section with stars at the top.

@eam it sounds delicious. Enjoy your bath.

I'm stubborn once I start something so I kept going til it was done. I was exhausted by the time it was done the next day. I know it would have been faster if I had more cake pans and knew what I was doing. I was making things up as I went along so it took a lot longer.

Mama, can we see pics?

hatethecold, I didn't think to take a pic of the cake before cutting, but here's one of a slice I took at 11:45PM, after the fireworks. I glazed the fruits with simple syrup and drained them before putting between the layers, and brushed the layers with the left over syrup. I decided to spread a layer of whipped cream on the top of the cake before serving, with extra on the side. The one-egg cake tastes kind of like a Twinkie, but no preservatives!

Not cooking related really, but one year Mom and I went to an annual fireworks/chicken bbq in a nearby small town. I drove my old green pick up truck. We put lawn chairs in the back and sat up there waiting for dark and the fireworks - with crowds of people walking around us staring and smiling. We couldn't stop laughing at ourselves!

Thank you Mamagoose, that looks delicious

the craziest thing is today-I'm sitting here, and my daughter, who's birthday is July 4, is first time not with her family, but with her friends in LA where she studies. She's a big girl now, so that was bound to happen one July 4 or another..but yes..I'd say that the craziest thing that I don't really do, but it happens.

Happy Independence day, everyone!

you're immensely talented

(once I made a chocolate cake for DS's birthday..it took me six hours..involved some special thing from the store that cost 40 bucks alone..some essence of something..he asked me excitedly "Will I get it next birthday too?!"

"No", I said. "I'm afraid not"

Lol)

I decided to make a slab pie with our rhubarb and tart cherries from our tree. I was too lazy to drag out a ladder, plus the land slopes, so I used the pole hook from our skylight to grab tree branches within reach. I didn't have to fight off any birds. From my window. I'm eyeing bunches of cherries in the treetop that I'll have to forfeit to them.

april, my DD is here, but she is moving in three weeks to start grad school in NY State, so I hear you.

beacham, you and that cake are amazing. I didn't understand a word of your explanation, lol.

DS's first Flag Cake - almost solo- whip cream and all :)

Not crazy, but crazy good!

ETA Well I can add to my crazy Fourth of July list now, got to watch the police arrest someone in my backyard LATE last night after they jumped the fence from my neighbors yard into mine after a long foot chase . All well and good albeit disconcerting, but they trampled my tomatoes!

@clueless that is very memorable. Fireworks in a different way. LoL.

Fireworks indeed! You are directly responsible for DS's cake beachem. He saw the photo and it was all over.

Oldbat,

Oh my gosh, none of them is legal. I told them all, including my youngest niece who is almost seven, that the alcohol was all cooked out of the cake. That didn't stop her from telling her mom (my sil) that she likes rum now. Come to think of it, they all slept rather soundly...