The Sugary Shrink

Welcome! I'm Julia, The Sugary Shrink. I am a Counselor, Wife, Mother, Educator, Recovering Alcoholic, and Baker living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Here, I share my experiences in the kitchen & the counselor's chair.

Anniversary Cake, March 2013

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Happy Anniversary to us!!  My husband and I celebrated twenty-six years of marriage – consecutively, to each other.  We are life partners and we’re still in love.


This is us, October 2012

Riding a lovely little cake-baking wave, I wanted to make something special.  I found a pair of sweetheart pans and went from there.  Still experimenting with flavors, I decided to construct a triple-layer cake with the top and bottom layer of Red Velvet with a middle layer of Chocolate.  The icing between layers and crumb coat was my favorite cream cheese frosting.  The exterior was Vanilla Buttercream tinted golden yellow with a bouquet of purple and blue violets piped along one edge.

The cakes baked up quite nicely … it was that d@mned buttercream again!  I just couldn’t smooth it out near the straight edges (in this case, the bottom point of the heart).  I’m convinced it is all about consistency of the icing – too thick makes for less mobility on spreading the frosting.  At the same time, thickness is a good thing when piping flowers, borders, etc.

I don’t think I knew that in March.  Pretty sure I didn’t.  These are the mistakes of some self-taught bakers or would-be cupcake artists. 

The cupcakes were baked with the chocolate batter that was left after the heart-shaped pan was filled.  These flowers were practice designs based on YouTube videos and trolling through Pinterest. 

A couple of these cupcakes sat on the table for several days before I tossed them in the rubbish. This was a good lesson.

When I was growing up, I was taught to “save things for good.”  Meaning … save this nice [fill in the blank] in case you need it later.  I have done this my whole life.  Everything from a beautiful slip to hand-crafted table linens, or a lovely roast taking up a corner of the freezer.  This is such a frustrating practice!  Mindfully using the good dishes requires that I live a deliberate life.  There is no need to save cupcakes or cakes.  Eat them. Share them. Give them away.
Allowing purpose into decision making sometimes feels like a chore, but it’s getting better.

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