Happy Birthday, America!

I've been on a very creative streak lately. I've also been obsessed with food blogs. While catching up on my usual blogs this morning I found this gem of a recipe and decided I must bake today. I've been wanting to do more baking and decided a holiday was as good an excuse as any. This was also an opportunity to wear my new apron I purchased at a quaint little kitchen shop in Vermont. It's so cute, I just love it!

But gosh...my arms aren't what they used to be and this recipe calls for a lot of flour.

"Honey....I want a KitchenAid mixer."

"Okay, done."

"Really?! Sweet, can we go now?"

So off we went to the store....

I love my new toy, I've been wanting one for ages. And oh, it made mixing batter an absolute dream! Three cups of flour? Ha! I laugh in the face of flour!

So after a trip to the grocery store to procure several pounds of butter and cream cheese and sugar it was time to start baking (where others choose to say it with cards, I choose to say it with high cholesterol).

The gooey and ever so delightful batter.

Spreading and piping the made-from-scratch cream cheese frosting. There should be a surgeon generals warning on this stuff...it will kill you. But oh Lord, is it ever divine.

I know because I sampled some. Okay, I sampled a lot. My tummy feels sick.

Some fresh raspberry "stripes" and some blueberry "stars" and voila!

Happy Independence Day!