Creamsicle Liqueur

It's a normal response to want to try something if I see pictures like these, and it involves creamsicle flavored liqueur, and unrefrigerated milk, right? Right?


I think I used about two regular oranges, some vanilla extract (with vanilla beans that had been soaking in it) and scant cups of milk, vodka and sugar. It never really separated at all, although that might be because I shook it whenever I went into the kitchen.
I let it sit, covered with a lid but out out on counter for about 2 weeks (I occasionally uncapped it since I worried about it building up pressure and anaerobic bacteria). And no, the milk never went bad. It did take forever for the milk solids to filter out, but the resulting liqueur does smell like an orange creamsicle. I've been keeping it in the fridge though, and I'm not sure what to mix it with. Ginger ale?

Pull-apart bread

I was looking for a recipe for monkeybread, but came upon this site for very pretty pull-apart bread, so immediately transferred my affections to that. Really, I just needed a yeasted bread recipe, as my mother got a new brand that seems to work better than anything else.
As you can see, her's looks nicer. I think I needed to roll it thinner, since as you can see, I did a double layer in the pan instead of single. Still, it came out very pretty and tasty. (Nick, it's not as messy as it looks, it was very easy to eat and not sticky or anything). I did let it sit in the fridge overnight, and as much as I love sugar, the cup she calls for in the filling is waaaaaay too much. Granted, I lowered the amount of butter also, but that much butter and sugar cannot physically stick on the dough. Halving the amounts would still be more than enough, I think.

Rainbow Cake!

So behind. So, I'm going to start with what I've baked most recently. Namely, rainbow cake. Rainbow cake! I just used a white box cake (duncan hines, I think) since I didn't want to spend time on making a cake from scratch if the dye job came out terrible. But it didn't! It didn't come out quite how I was aiming for, (Leprechaun cake) but very nice nevertheless (for instance, not like her other experiments). I did add a small amount of powdered sugar glaze, but it probably didn't really need it. Note my cell on speakerphone with RJK throughout the baking process.
Update: I would be remiss not to mention the cake my sister baked for my last birthday, which was also a rainbow cake, of a different sort, wherein she combined three recipes at once.
http://www.omnomicon.com/rainbowcake

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/07/best-birthday-cake/

http://www.cookiemadness.net/2010/04/yellow-cake-inspired-by-shirley-c/