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    City Skyline Birthday Cake

    January 22, 2022 By Meagan Fikes 1 Comment

    Two images of a round cake with a buttercream sunset and city skyline along the sides. Image says "gluten free | dairy free City Skyline Birthday Cake" over the top of it.
    A round cake with a purple, orange, and yellow sunset gradient down the sides along with a city skyline made from black and yellow buttercream, a crescent moon, and Saturn.

    Some links on this site are affiliate links which means that if you make a purchase at one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Additionally, I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. I only link to products and services I personally recommend and believe will benefit my readers. These links help to cover some of my blogging expenses. I appreciate your support!


    Ever since Allen was born, I've made a cake for his birthday but no other cakes throughout the year. His first birthday cake was my first attempt cake decorating since switching to gluten free and dairy free ingredients. It was really hard! Actually it was kind of goopy. Or the fondant was goopy. But I'm learning more with every attempt.

    Obviously since these are birthday cakes for my son, I don't really make them with the blog in mind. I just like to share them here. For this city skyline cake, I can't take much credit for the process because I pretty much followed somebody's idea I saw online. I had decided I wanted to make a "city" cake because Allen loves building cities from blocks or really anything he can get his hands on. I was going to do a rainbow gradient frosting instead of the sunset type look but he saw the sunset in the video online and had to have it.

    How I Made the Cake


    I basically tried to replicate what was done in the video so if you'd like to make this, I'd refer to that video. (That's right, I'm not including a recipe today. I'll still briefly discuss what I did though!) The only difference in the method was that my acetate sheets for making a stencil never got delivered so thankfully I had help from Cakes by Tina to free hand it. Meaning she freehanded it for me because seriously, I don't do that stuff!

    Top of a round cake with purple frosting and has "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" piped in yellow frosting.

    She also wrote "happy birthday" on it for me (I would have left it blank if I were on my own) and helped fix the new buttercream I tried.

    To finish things off, since Allen was losing his mind over a solar system cake he saw on Pinterest while I was already knee deep in everything I needed to make the city skyline cake, I decided to quickly add some planets - a little red speck for Mars, a yellow dot with white rings "painted" on in white gel food coloring for Saturn, and a bright star looking planet for Venus. He knew what they all were instantly.

    A round cake with a purple, orange, and yellow sunset gradient down the sides and a city skyline made from black and yellow buttercream.

    Ingredients

    I won't link to the buttercream recipe I used on the outside because I messed it up so bad (forgot to double the vegan butter when doubling the batch). It's probably a good recipe but I have no idea at this point. However, I will say you'll want a recipe that doesn't use shortening. Since Crisco isn't technically gluten free, the only safe brand I know to use is Spectrum. It's a good product but I can't get the food coloring to incorporate into frostings and fondants that use Spectrum shortening.

    For the filling, I used the same fluffy "buttercream" used in my "Two the Moon" birthday cake. The cake mix is my go-to right now - Bob's Red Mill Vanilla Yellow (the white cake instructions).

    Up close of one section of a cake showing a buttercream sunset, stars, city skyline, and Saturn.

    This city skyline cake was actually for Allen's fourth birthday. Which means I never shared his third birthday cake. As a matter of fact, I haven't shared much of anything this past year. I have every intention of continuing to blog but I'm not in a space where I can do much of it at the moment so I wanted to give you guys an update on everything that's been going on.

    Update on the past year (or more)

    I figured now would be a good time to give an update on everything I normally would have written about throughout the year when I wasn't posting. Yep, I'm still one of those traditional bloggers who actually write what I want to write despite today's reader demands of "just get to the recipe already" and Google's demands of staying on topic. The recipe + writing style blogs are the type I've always enjoyed and that traditional style is what inspired this blog too.

    Anyways, this past year has been absolutely packed with stuff keeping me busy. I feel like my entire life has changed. Exciting stuff for the most part but I've definitely had to put a hold on the blog posts. Here's what happened:

    I stopped sleeping 😬

    Ok, that's a little dramatic and not as accurate as my body feels it is. When I returned to work after my maternity leave in April 2018, I began working half time and fully remote and planned on keeping it that way because I intended to homeschool.

    In early 2020, my position was becoming obsolete so I had to switch teams. I did a trial on a new team with just two extra hours a day as a compromise. I added those hours to the beginning of my day so I wouldn't have to pay our babysitters the extra two hours since Allen would typically be sleeping during that time. Plus I could catch him at the right time for lunch together, hands on activities, and gradually transitioning to more homeschool-like material as he got older. This meant starting my work day at 5:30am.

    My trial with the team ended and my other position was gone. I had no choice but to stay on but they would only let me on permanently if I agreed to full time. So double what I was working before. I know, I know - "everybody" works full time and does just fine and it's such a cushy work from home job with good benefits and blah blah blah...but none of that changes the fact that I'm just not in a place where I can do that right now. Especially with the homeschool plans. They told me there would likely be half time opportunities going forward but I stuck it out for an entire year and didn't see things slowing down.

    During that year, I slept about 4-6 hours a night...usually closer to the 4 hour mark if I'm being honest with myself. It was awful but I had to do what I could to make it work. I became so stretched for time that instead of my evening workout, I ended up doing them after everyone had gone to bed - sometime between 9pm and 1am. I probably would have been healthier to skip them but I just couldn't let them go. I enjoy it too much.

    We paid off the house

    We've had a goal to pay off our home for a long time now. We had a date in the near future where we expected to pay it off and decided with the way things were going with my job, we needed to buckle down and get it paid off ASAP. We probably didn't have to but it was going to make things so much easier. You probably see where I'm going with this.

    I started a business

    Slipstream Web Design stylized text logo.

    I've been taking web design and development courses for fun for a few years now and in January 2021, I began doing subcontracted work for somebody's web design business on the side. I started finding clients of my own and decided to make it official that April by forming my own LLC - Slipstream Web Design.

    Why would I do all this if I already was already too busy to even sleep? Well, it made me immensely happy. So happy that I would have formed this business even if I didn't know my time was about to free up...

    I finally quit my job

    I pretty much made up my mind that this needed to happen the second they made me double my hours so we made it a goal with a timeline. It was clear that a half time position wasn't going to open up and I was sleep deprived to the point where I was worried about my long-term health. We met a few financial goals then without hesitation, I happily left my decade-long career as an actuary in early July!

    We got pregnant!

    My job was no longer a deciding factor in personal family decisions such as this and it never should have been. We were able to move our date up by quite a bit and are now expecting a little girl - Erika Claire really, really soon. "Really, really soon" meaning my due date is in under two weeks.

    Side profile ultrasound image at 21 weeks gestation.

    We went on our first and last vacation as a family of three

    Before having another child, we wanted to take a sort of non-romantic "babymoon" as just a family of 3. About two weeks after my last day at work, we drove to Colorado and had a blast. I'm really happy that it was so memorable for Allen and that he's old enough to really retain these memories. I'm also glad we got to celebrate our family's transition by doing something really special together.

    • Allen in his carseat reading a map.
    • View from up high of mountains and a far drop off below.
    • Allen wearing a shirt that says "promoted to big brother" with the date 2-2-22 typed onto the photo and sand dunes in the background.
    • Meagan feeding a piece of lettuce to a giraffe from a wood balcony.
    • Meagan, Lenny, and Allen standing in front of red rocks.
    • Train tracks leading to a small town.
    • View overlooking the town of Cripple Creek, Colorado.
    Profile image of Meagan cropped into a circle.

    About Meagan

    I started out with a passion for creating unique recipes and decorating cakes. In June of 2012, I discovered I was severely gluten intolerant then later learned of multiple food allergies. Fortunately, my love for trying new recipes, ingredients, and cooking methods made re-learning how to cook seem more like a fun challenge than an unfortunate circumstance. I'm so happy to say that my dietary restrictions haven't stopped me from doing what I love. I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I do.

    Learn more about me →

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    Comments

    1. Angela

      January 22, 2022 at 2:56 pm

      Loved, loved this blog!!!!

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    About Meagan

    About Meagan

    I started out with a passion for creating unique recipes and decorating cakes. In June of 2012, I discovered I was not only severely gluten intolerant but also, many of the foods I was eating I simply couldn't include in my diet anymore. Fortunately, my love for trying new recipes, ingredients, and cooking methods made re-learning how to cook seem more like a fun challenge than an unfortunate circumstance. I'm so happy to say that my dietary restrictions haven't stopped me from doing what I love. I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I do.

    Some links on this site are affiliate links which means that if you make a purchase at one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only link to products and services I personally recommend and believe will benefit my readers. These links help to cover some of my blogging expenses. I appreciate your support!

    I'm a member of Food Blogger Pro. Learn how to start and grow your food blog.

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    eatsomethingdelicious

    eatsomethingdelicious
    She’s finally here 🥰 Erika Claire Fikes was b She’s finally here 🥰
Erika Claire Fikes was born January 24th, 2022 at 1:35pm. 7lb 9 oz, 19 inches.
    Not really a new recipe but I shared my sons 4th b Not really a new recipe but I shared my sons 4th birthday cake on the blog today. Also wrote a recap on everything that’s been going on for the past year since I would normally write about it in my blog posts but haven’t written anything! I don’t know when I’ll be back on there. I’ve only had time for site maintenance and I really miss blogging but I’ll be back on once things slow down. The link to the new post is in my profile!
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#glutenfree #dairyfree #cakedecorating #foodallergies #celiacdisease
    I almost didn’t make this into a casserole becau I almost didn’t make this into a casserole because the sauce and pasta combined made a delicious side dish on their own! @beldolcefood #sponsored my most recent blog post and provided me with their new gluten free fusilli and penne to try out. I used the fusilli in this recipe and the sauce is a creamy, cheesy enchilada sauce made from just 3 ingredients.
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I ended up adding taco meat, fire roasted tomatoes, corn, black beans, and dairy free cheese to make a taco noodle casserole. Then we ate it all and I made it again! This is one of those recipes that will be going in our regular meal rotation.
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This is a pretty versatile recipe. It can be made vegan just by leaving out the meat and it’s just as good. And as I said earlier, the pasta with just the sauce makes a really good side dish. You can also top it with whatever you like such as cilantro, jalapeños, sour cream, scallions, or salsa.
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The recipe and details on @beldolcefood new gluten free pasta is linked in my profile:
@eatsomethingdelicious
Let me know if you try it!
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#glutenfree #dairyfree #glutenfreefacility #pasta #casserole #beldolce #foodallergies #f52grams #foodbloggerpro #celiac #glutenintolerant #eatsomethingdelicious
    I’ll just say it - I’m one of those bloggers t I’ll just say it - I’m one of those bloggers that makes cakes for their blogs “birthdays”. Or uses the blog birthdays as an excuse to make yet another cake recipe....yeah, that’s probably more accurate.
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Definitely felt like I needed a good excuse for this one because it’s my fifth variation of gooey butter cake! However, my site is seven years old so maybe I should have had seven gooey butter cakes ready to go? Guess I’d better get caught up before year eight 😉
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Anyways, I really enjoyed this carrot cake variation of gooey butter cake. The cake layer/crust swaps out the yellow cake mix with spice cake mix and I added in some shredded carrots and raisins. I kept the “gooey” top layer the same except that I topped it with a sprinkle of cinnamon and additional raisins before baking.
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If you want to try the recipe, the link is in my profile: @eatsomethingdelicious
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#gooeybuttercake #foodallergies #glutenfree #dairyfree #foodbloggerpro #baking #celiac #f52grams #f52sweets #glutenintolerant #carrotcake
#glutenfreelife #eatsomethingdelicious
    Couldn’t decide which to use on his birthday inv Couldn’t decide which to use on his birthday invites so got a big trifold card and used almost all of them 😅 This is the first time he’s cooperated (sort of) for his “milestone block” photos since he learned to roll over so it’s been a long time!
    Here are a few last minute treat ideas! The carame Here are a few last minute treat ideas! The caramel stuffed crispy rice treats recipe is written below. The other recipes (gooey butter cookies, salted caramel turtles, and pumpkin snickerdoodles) can be found at the link in my bio!
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CARAMEL STUFFED CRISPY RICE TREATS
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INGREDIENTS
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• ¼ C dairy free butter, divided
• 4 C mini marshmallows (regular and vegan both work), divided
• 6 C gluten free rice cereal *see notes*
• 1 tsp vanilla extract, divided
• 10-11 oz dairy free chewy caramels
• 11.25 oz can sweetened condensed coconut milk
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DIRECTIONS
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1. Melt 2 tablespoons of the dairy free butter in a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat. Add 2 cups of marshmallows and stir until they are melted with no lumps.
2. Remove from heat and stir in ½ tsp of vanilla then gently fold in 3 cups of cereal until it is well-combined with the marshmallows.
3. Using wet hands, press this mixture evenly into the bottom of a 7x11 inch casserole dish and set aside.
4. Unwrap the caramels and add them along with the sweetened condensed coconut milk to a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir often to avoid burning. Once this has turned to a completely smooth sauce, pour over the cereal layer.
5. Make your top cereal layer by repeating steps 1 and 2. Distribute this evenly over the caramel layer and pat down with wet hands.
6. Once the treats have cooled down, they will firm up and hold their shape when cut. Cut into squares and serve.
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NOTES
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• Potential allergens contained in this recipe may vary due to brands of ingredients used, product reformulations, etc. Please verify that all your ingredients are safe for you to consume and always be mindful of allergen cross contamination while cooking.
• Double check that the cereal you use is gluten free. At least one brand carries 2 different versions of rice cereal and only one is GF.
• Don't make both cereal layers in one large batch then divide it up. The top layer will cool and firm up before you can layer it on which will make the caramel seep out when you press it down.
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