Cake Dumplings!

Inspired by reading about cake pops on thecraftypenguin blog (see the link in my previous post) I decided to try and make my own, but put my own twist on it. Which, I admit, came from the fact that I didn't have any popsicle sticks to put them on. So, with that change, I decided to make "cake dumplings"

Most of the steps of cake dumplings are the same as a cake pop. First, you bake a cake and then when its cool crumble it into little bits. Then, you put about half a can of icing in, and stir it around to make the mixture stick together.

I used food coloring to make the cake and the icing pink (since I was going to use chocolate raspberry for the toppings)

Then you take a small handful of the mixture, for it into a little ball, and place it on a cookie sheet.

After that I made a double-boiler and melted half a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and added chocolate raspberry sauce from the pampered chef that one of my roommates ordered before she suddenly quit and left. (al the pampered chef stuff was delivered like a week after she ended up leaving, and we've had a really fun time eating up all the leftover goodies!) Once the chocolate is melted, its time to cover the cake dumplings!

As the picture demonstrates, I just dropped them in the melted chocolate and kind of mixed them around to get them covered in chocolate. After that, you put them on a plate, and let the chocolate cool.

Yum!!!

The Crafty Penguin: The Basic Cake Pop (Plus Other Tips)

The Crafty Penguin: The Basic Cake Pop (Plus Other Tips): "Cake pops, a Bakerella creation, are a lot of fun to make because they can take on so many personalities. When I made Penguin Pops in Aug..."

This is my new favorite baking website. And I really want to try and make cake-pops sometime soon!!

But for now, I am very happy to say I am doing about a baking project a day for the guests on our ranch. Yesterday was cheesecake, today was flourless chocolate cake, and tomorrow will be key lime pie.

Hopefully some smores cupcakes and cake pops in the future!!!

Anemone Geyser

This is a video of my favorite geyser, Anemone Geyser, erupting. It is is the upper geyser basin, about a 10 minute walk from Old Faithful. It goes through a complete eruption cycle about every 10 minutes or so. Because it is so small, the eruptions are very small, but are still entertaining. It also is neat because its actually 2 geysers that are connected, and one will typically fill and erupt after the other one is done draining.

Glacier National Park

For 4th of July weekend, we went to Glacier National Park. It is an incredibly beautiful place, and I got to go on my first backcountry camping trip since I was 13. We went on a 4 mile hike to Avalanche Lake, which is a beautiful lake created by an avalanche, and has all these pretty waterfalls on the trail up to it, and falling into the lake from above.

A really pretty waterfall from the river flowing from Avalanche lake that you see on the trail

Avalanche lake and the waterfalls! We walked into the lake and it was very cold...well, my friends thought it was cold (but nothing compared to antarctica). The water is really pure because it comes from glaciers

After our hike to and from the lake, we started on our backcountry trip. We hiked 5 miles into our campsite that was on Lake McDonald. Our site was right on the lake and it was gorgeous!

The view in the morning from our camping site.

The next day we hiked the 5 miles out...which went quicker then the five miles in, but we were much more tired at the end.

At the end of the trail. We made it!!

Here are some more random pictures of our trip...

Heading into the wild!

Getting ready to leave the campsite

Hanging out at Lake McDonald

Grand Teton National Park

A few weeks ago, a few of us decided to drive down to Grand Tetons National Park. This is only 8 miles south of Yellowstone, so to get there we had to drive through all of Yellowstone which was pretty cool, because we got to see everything. And after the long drive, we were rewarded with some of the most beautiful mountains you could ever see.

Most of the Tetons are all around Jackson Lake, which you can take boats out on. Once it starts getting really nice out, we will definitely be going back.

So very pretty!!!

Upper Geyser Basin

Old Faithful, right before eruption.

One of my days off, a co-worker and I went to the park to see Old Faithful, and the rest of the Upper Geyser Basin. Old Faithful is the most famous of the geysers (it is very large and has pretty regular eruptions so its easy to see it go off) but there are tons of really cool geysers up in the basin around Old Faithful which were really cool to get to look at and experience their eruptions.

After seeing Old Faithful, we went up and walked around the Upper Geyser Basin. It's about a mile or so on a boardwalk from Old Faithful to the Morning Glory Pool, and it goes by countless geysers and pools that all erupt at different times in different ways. One of them is the beehive geyser.

This is the Beehive Geyser, before an eruption.

The beehive geyser is really neat because the eruptions it has are sporadic, but incredibly powerful. Its one of the geysers that has sort of a cult following. When we went by there was a ranger sitting by it, watching the indicators to see when it was going to go off, along with 5 or 6 people there with books and blankets, obviously having been there awhile, and were waiting for it to go off. We ended up getting to see the eruption from far away, but it was still impressive.

The Beehive Geyser erupting. It was really cool because Old Faithful started erupting right after it.

Beehive on the left and Old Faithful on the right, erupting at the same time.

Morning Glory Pool. It used to look like a morning glory flower but people keep throwing trash in it which makes it change color and plugs the vents in the bottom.

Some of the geysers are completely random (like Beehive) but some are predictable like Old Faithful. Some go off a few times a day, some a few times a month, and some a few times an hour. My favorite geyser in the basin is Anemone Geyser, which is actually 2 small geysers in one, and goes through its entire cycle of filling its pools, erupting, and draining, every 10 minutes or so.

Anemone Geyser, after draining

Mammoth Hot Springs

One of my favorite things to do on a day off is to go into Yellowstone National Park. Its such an incredible place with tons of stuff to see...wildlife, and geothermal features just to name a few. The north entrance is only 20 miles from the ranch, so we go visit the park a lot. 5 miles into the park are the Mammoth Hot Springs, which are some of the coolest things there.

The view from the top of the Mammoth Hot Springs. So pretty!

The Mammoth Hot Springs are different then most of the other geysers, fumaroles, and hot springs in the park. They look a lot different (the main mineral in them is limestone which is unique) and they are all on top of each other, which is why its referred to as the Mammoth Terrace Hot Springs.

The top of the springs...the water in the very middle of the pool is the hottest, and is blue and clear because thermophile organisms live in it and make it that way. The outer edges are brown and orange because of the different kind of thermophiles that are those colors and live in those temperatures.

The water movement through the springs are constantly changing as well (quicker and more dynamic changes then take place with the other geothermal features in the rest of the park.

This set of springs is at the start of the Mammoth Terrace walk. The day I took these pictures (a week or so ago) it was completely dry, and yesterday it was flowing heavily with water.

This is another place where the springs are changing. This spring has popped up relatively recently in this patch of grass by the boardwalk.