You Cannot Believe It's Gluten Free! (Red Velvet Cakes)

Finally, no more traveling for work for several days. I got to make the long-delayed Red Velvet cake based on a friend's recipe. However, it is using the regular cake flour so I converted it to the gluten-free version. As matter of a fact, I made 2 red velvet cakes - one is gluten free and the other is the regular cake flour version. Both are filled and covered with cooked butter cream frosting.

Both cakes taste wonderfully! I cannot believe that one of them is gluten free! LOL. I also make some changes of the frosting. The original recipe calls for butter but I do not like the greasy taste of the butter so I substitute with "You cannot believe it's not butter". It turns out great! It keeps the same smooth texture and rich taste but less greasy and fat! Really a great cake! Thanks for the original recipe, Tommy!

Since it is Thanksgiving tomorrow, I have to make the family favorite Dutch Apple pie for the family dinner tomorrow, too. It has the gluten free topping as well. Yummy! Happy Thanksgiving!

Wrap Up Work In Florida

Don't mean to desert this blog for so long and I wonder if I still have any reader left for this blog. :)

I have been in Gainesville, Florida for work since the beginning of this month. It gets to so busy that sometimes I even forget to eat dinner. The only plus thing about working down here is the nice warm weather. It is still around 75'F (22'C) during the day time. There is an empty slot next to my workplace as the extra parking as shown in the picture. It is right next to highway so it has this Mac sign which I always walk by during the break. Finally, all the work is done and I am ready heading back to Wisconsin to bravely embrace the cold! LOL.

Halloween Spider Cupcake

The weather outside is nasty but Halloween is almost here. I finally got a day off after all the work trip so I stayed at home and made these devil food chocolate cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting. They are decorated with vanilla frosting spider webs and Skittles spiders! I think my nieces and nephew will like them when I bring the cupcakes to their house before the trick-or-treat. Happy Halloween!

Halloween Spider Attacks!

Finally came back to Wisconsin for my last long Florida trip. The weather is definitely cooler up here. All the leaves have changed colors and it is really pretty this year, gold, yellow, red, orange, and green everywhere. Halloween is coming on this weekend so there are Halloween decorations everywhere.

Somehow, giant spiders on the house seem to be the fashion this year. There are so many of them around my neighborhood!

Kanapaha Botanical Gardens

It is another working trip down to Florida. The weather down here is just wonderful, sunny, 70 degree (20'C). Since I missed all the autumn colors on the north, I decied to take some time off on this past weekend to visit the local famous Kanapaha Botanical Gardens before the crazy Florida Gators vs Arkansas football game. One of its signature plants is this giant Victoria water lilies. Look at the size of the leaves and you would know why Amazon people used to put kids on the top of it! The most amzing thing is that they actually grow the water lily as annual from seeds every year in that garden!

Kanapaha Botanical Gardens is a 62 acre facility developed and operated by the North Florida Botanical Society, a non-profit educational organization. It is comprised of 24 major collections including Florida's largest public display of bamboos and the largest herb garden in the Southeast of USA. My favorite parts of this garden are water garden, herb garden, bamboo garden and rock garden, of course. If you look closer in the picture on the left, you will find out that it is not a falled trunk but a bending flower stalk due to the heavy flower heads! It was surely good that I visited thos garden on this past Saturday because I ended of working the whole day on this past Sunday. After all, it is a work trip.

100 Days Of Holiday Cookies

Is there a such thing as too early to prepare for holiday cookies?