Peppermint Cream-filled Cake

Some asked for the recipe for Kali's birthday cake, so here it is:

Peppermint Cream-filled Cake
From Betty Crocker's Chocolate Cookbook

For the cake:
1/2 C. cocoa
3/4 C. boiling water
1-3/4 C. sugar
1-1/2 C. flour
1-1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1/2 C. vegetable oil
2 t. vanilla
7 egg yolks
1 C. egg whites (about 7-8)
1/2 t. cream of tartar

For the Peppermint Cream:
1 C. powdered sugar/icing sugar
2 C. chilled whipping cream
1 t. peppermint extract
6-8 drops food colouring

Heat oven to 325F.
Mix cocoa and boiling water; let stand until cool.
Mix sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt in 3-qt. bowl. Beat in cocoa mixture, oil, vanilla, and egg yolks with spoon until smooth.
Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in a 3-qt. bowl on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Pour egg yolk mixture gradually over beaten egg whites, folding with rubber spatula just until blended.
Pour into UNGREASED tube pan, 10x4 inches.

Bake until top springs back when touched lightly, about 1 hr., 15 min.
Invert pan on heat-proof funnel (or on a glass bottle with a thin neck); let hang until cake is cold.

Remove cake from pan; place cake upside down.
Slice off top of cake about 1 inch down; reserve top.
Make cuts down into cake 1 inch from outer edge and 1 inch from edge of hole, leaving substantial "walls" on each side.
Remove cake within cuts with a small spoon, being careful to leave a base of cake 1 inch thick.

Prepare Peppermint Cream, beating all the ingredients together in a chilled bowl until stiff.
Spoon mixture into the cake cavity.
Replace top of cake; press gently.
Frost side and top of cake with remaining Peppermint Cream.
Just before serving, garnish with chocolate leaf mints, crushed peppermint candy, chocolate shavings, or other garnish of your choice.

Keep uneaten cake refrigerated.

Enjoy!

Our Daughter Kali Is 17!

Isn't she beautiful? She is so sweet, and I'm blessed to have her as a daughter.

Here's the Peppermint Whipped Cream Chocolate Cake I made for her. Yes, of course, that's lime green tinted whipped cream! Everything has to be lime green for Kali!

It was delicious!

God bless our Kali.

Then Understood I

"When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I..." (Psa 73:16-17)

Sometimes I, like the Psalmist, do not understand why people who do not love and serve God as I do, continue to prosper--sometimes even more than I prosper! Why does it seem that they have it all together? That they have no troubles?

Asaph says when he went to the house of God, then he understood! This is so true! When I spend time with my spiritual family, my brothers and sisters in Christ, I am comforted and I see things much more clearly than before. God uses the fellowship of other believers to strengthen and encourage me.

Last night was an amazing evening at our church! The spontaneous singing and testimonies went on and on until 9:00! We didn't even have any preaching, but some of the testimonies were just as encouraging and uplifting--even convicting!

Asaph must have had the same experience in the house of God. His conclusion close to the end of his Psalm says:

"Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever." (Psa 73:24-26)

His time in church made him realize once again that God was his strength and his everything! He realized that all that mattered was: he had God!

I can also experience this every day when I come into the sanctuary of His presence, reading His Word, praying, and spending time in the quiet, seeking to hear His voice in my heart.

Many times I do not understand the stuff of life. I am discouraged. I get angry. I become confused. I even question God. But when I go to the sanctuary, then understand I!

Finally Free: The Answer to My Migraines

I've suffered from migraines for years--since I was a teenager! This fall God gave me the answer! I wanted to share with you the all-natural products I'm taking that have taken away the migraines. I've been on them for a month, and the results have been amazing! Praise the Lord! Even when I didn't have a migraine, my head always felt a thickness or tightening in the back, and I normally had a general "yucky" feeling with little energy--especially in the morning. Even that is gone!

I went to our local health food store and "randomly" went up to a worker who was not already helping someone. Lillian had suffered migraines for 30 years herself and had just this spring started these products. She has not had a migraine since! I truly believe that God led me to Lillian!


1. Bio-Strath drops (30 drops/1 ml, 3-4x/day before meals) -- This is like an herbal "multi-vitamin" supplement that boosts your immune system and helps you absorb the second product, listed below. The drops contain filtered herbal yeast plasmolysate (prepared in Switzerland, distributed by BioForce, Montreal, Canada) Cost $25CDN for 100 ml. Available here.

2. Dr. Schuessler's Combination 12: Salt H13-6x (2 tablets under the tongue 3-4x/day before meals) -- Also referred to as tissue salts, these contain 12 different kinds of cell salts that your body tissues absorb. Each tablet contains 6x of each of the following salts: calcium floride, dibasic calcium phosphate anhydrous, ferric phosphate, potassium choride, monobasic potassium phosphate, potassium sulfate, dibasic magnesium phosphate, sodium choride, dibasic sodium phosphate, sodium sulfate, silicon dioxide. (Distributed by Robert & Fils, Montreal, Canada) Cost $12.20CDN for 120 tablets. This was the main key to getting rid of the migraines! Read about them here and here. It is available in another format here.

3. A.Vogel's Avenaforce: (15 drops 3x/day) -- Fresh organically grown flowering oats (avena sativa) herb tincture, 427 mg. (Manufactured by Bioforce AG, Switzerland; distributed by Bioforce Canada, Inc., Montreal, Canada). I take this only if the weather is crazy--if a pressure system is coming through, it's rainy, or there has been a drastic change in the weather. Available here.

If you're not in Canada, I'd suggest printing this off and taking it to your local natural health food store (not a commercialized one like GNC). Ask them if they have these products, can order them for you, or if they have something comparable. If these don't work, I encourage you to keep searching for YOUR answer. With natural products you have to be willing to do it by trial and error.

If you go the medical route, they tend to only treat the symptom (the pain) and you just end up with stronger meds each time, which can become addictive, and after years, will hurt your liver. (Lillian now has liver problems due to all the meds she took to try to alleviate migraine pain.) Traditional medicine certainly has its place for serious issues, but in my opinion, it's much better to go natural when you can... use what God created to make you well.

If you are helped by these products, please comment and let me know!

Another Christmas Gift Idea

Here's a neat Christmas gift idea:
Beverage Mixes

I'm going to make up some of these mixes, put them in jars, print out tags with preparation instructions and tie them on with a ribbon. Easy, fun, inexpensive gift.

Kyla Nichole Is One

Our precious grandbaby Kyla Nichole turned one year old on Saturday, November 14. Where does the time go!? When you look at her photos, would you pray with us that she will come to accept Jesus at an early age?

Her Aunt Kali (our daughter)--or Auntie Kakes, as she's affectionately called--and Nana (me) baked and decorated a flower birthday cake.

It was our first cake decorated on this scale, so we were excited and pleased with the outcome!

Here's our cutie patootie enjoying her cake:

Handcrafted Christmas Ideas

Need some inspiration for Christmas craft gifts? Here's a great blog by Monica, who obviously loves crafting!
The Homespun Heart

I love her Gratitude Wrap...
Gratitude Wrap

...and little memo book she put inside it, as well as a wreath she made from songbook pages...
Song Wreath and Decorated Memo Book

I also love her repurposing ideas! Here's what she did with some ice skates found at a thrift store.
Handcrafted Christmas Ice Skates

Here's her recipe for making homemade soaps...
Homemade Soaps

...and holiday cream cheese mints...
Cream Cheese Mints

Of course, I won't have time to make all these things this year, but there are many fun ideas out there! Want to try one?