Once upon a time there was a little girl named Princess
Kaitlyn. She lived in a beautiful castle by an enchanted forest, a magical lake, and a fantastically fun playground. Princess Kaitlyn and her family loved to watch Michigan football in the castle movie on a gigantic television screen. When Michigan scored a goal, Princess Kaitlyn yelled "touchdown!" and sang "Hail to the Victors." For a special treat for game day, Princess Kaitlyn made a go blue cake with her mommy and daddy. Everyone enjoyed the family time and the results of our efforts. The cake didn't last long in Princess Kaitlyn's castle!!
Note on cake: Princess Kaitlyn's mommy had a yellow cake recipe from
American's Test Kitchen (Cook's Illustrated Affiliation) that she wanted to try, but daddy wanted chocolate cake. So...we settled on marble cake. It turned out to be a rather fun process!
Princess Kaitlyn helped mommy make maize and blue
buttercream icing. She's in charge of the stand mixer.
Princess Kaitlyn saying "go blue" as she holds the U of M cake pan.
Princess Kaitlyn and daddy working on the chocolate cake.
Madelyn waited patiently for us to finished and chatted with us when her hand wasn't in her mouth.
For the bakers out there... the yellow cake has you beat egg whites with sugar until they form a stiff peak and fold into the rest of the batter. It's very different from most cakes, I've made.
Princess Kaitlyn helping mommy fold the stiff egg whites into the yellow cake batter.
Our marble cake baking...bake, bake bake!!!
The final product before the icing is applied. Go blue!
This yellow cake recipe is a keeper. We had some leftover, so mommy made a small yellow cake. It tasted pretty good and had a nice balance of
crumbiness to moistness - yum!!
The finished product...
Go blue!! One win down and more to go!
While I love this photo, the nap was short lived for Pa. Right after I snapped the shot, I noticed Kaitlyn in our hallway with a cup of water. As I watched her, I saw that she was spitting water on our wood floors. Despite mommy trying to loudly whisper at Kaitlyn to stop, it still woke up Pa Mark. Ahhh...three year olds...so fun! :-)
One day as she walked through the enchanted forest, she noticed the blue birds singing a wonderful melody. Upon reaching a grassy field filled with whipsy wheats and grain strands and mounds of light brown dirt, Princess Kaitlyn started to dance.
The blue birds enjoyed her dancing so much, that they continued to sing. Soon Princess Kaitlyn's friends Ferber the squirrel, Cookie Piepea the Bear, the boisterous butterflies and the jack rabbits joined her after hearing the wonderful bird songs. Princess Kaitlyn and her animal friends from the enchanted forest danced all day long stomping over the mounds of soft sand (like crushing chick peas for hummus) and twirling in and out of the wheat strands (pita chips).
Ingredients for Hummus
First, Princess Kaitlyn preheated the oven to 350 degrees and brushed her pita chips with olive oil to make them nice and crispy.
Next Princess Kaitlyn combined all the ingredients minus the pita chips into a food processor. (Cook's Illustrated recommends adding oil to well mixed tahini and adding it after everything else has been processed into a paste like texture.)
Princess Kaitlyn saying "go blue" as she holds the U of M cake pan. 
Princess Kaitlyn and daddy working on the chocolate cake. 
Madelyn waited patiently for us to finished and chatted with us when her hand wasn't in her mouth. 
For the bakers out there... the yellow cake has you beat egg whites with sugar until they form a stiff peak and fold into the rest of the batter. It's very different from most cakes, I've made. 
Princess Kaitlyn helping mommy fold the stiff egg whites into the yellow cake batter. 
Our marble cake baking...bake, bake bake!!!
The final product before the icing is applied. Go blue!
This yellow cake recipe is a keeper. We had some leftover, so mommy made a small yellow cake. It tasted pretty good and had a nice balance of crumbiness to moistness - yum!!
The finished product...
