Celebrating Inchstones: Ding Dong Cake

Monday, March 15, 2010

Ding Dong Cake

We had lunch for my mom's birthday on Sunday. Well, her birthday was March 6th but we didn't have the birthday lunch until Sunday.....does that make sense?! Anyway she gave me a recipe for a cake she wanted and it was a breeze to make! There are no pictures though because mine turned out UGLY!! But it is the taste that matters, right! In the end the cake should look like a huge Ding Dong snack cake!

Ding Dong Cake

Cake
Devils food cake.....cooked as directed and cooled

Filling
1 bar cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
8oz. cool whip
Blend cream cheese and powder sugar until smooth, then fold in cool whip.

Icing
Milk chocolate cake icing

Bake cake according to box directions. Add the filling between the 2 layers. Microwave the tub of icing for 30-45 seconds. Stir well and pour over cake. Keep cake cool.

That is it! Really!! Now I went wrong by not getting the filling smooth enough. And there was so much filling that I tried to use it on top of the cake too but when I poured the icing over it, it kinda slid all around! Not pretty but sooooo good! So my tip.....it makes a ton of filling so buy some fruit to dip into the extra filling! Or just eat it with a spoon! :)

My sweet Moma cooks lunch for 16 people each and every Sunday!!! 8 adults and 8 kids! All at her house most any Sunday!! And she cooks a huge, delicious meal. No ham and cheese sandwiches here.....unless we've planned a picnic, which we've been know to do! Yep, she makes a spread. And we use real plates and cups! I'm just saying, for our family of 6 we use paper an awful lot just so we don't have to wash!!

But on Sunday we cooked for her! My sis in law made a great salad. Here we do iceberg from a bag but not at Cindy's! Super pretty and yummy! It really is a restaurant worthy salad!! And she also made homemade ice cream that doesn't need and ice cream freezer! That and the cake were soooo goood! But after making lunch for everyone, I don't know how my mom does it every week!

And on a total different subject....Asa didn't get sick one time today! No puking, no venting, no draining! Nothing! Just a happy scooting boy! Oh, and his scoot has changed! He now kinda steps with his scoot. He started out keeping both feet together folding in front of him. Now he has them separated and will kind of step with his feet while he scoots! It is pretty funny!

Gracie had ball practice tonight and I got to take her. It was a lot of fun to see all of the girls running around! I never played soft ball (well I did play 2 years of church league but I only played so they'd have enough!) and I can't wait for the season to start!

1 comment:

Christy said...: ooh, that cake sounds so yummy! Sounds like you had a great day; glad that Asa did so well! I love family get togethers!; March 16, 2010 at 6:41 PM

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Asa's story

Asa is the 4th and youngest in this family. We thought he'd come into this world and our lives would flow right along as it had the other 3 times we brought babies into this world.

We were wrong! After a normal pregnancy and delivery, Asa had to be sent to the NICU because he wasn't sucking, blood sugar dropping, floppy muscles, exaggerated startle reflex and jaundice.

He stayed 5 days were he learned to suck and eat enough to come home. He began nursing well but would scream in pain 30 minutes after each feeding. He had so much mucus and drooled so much. He had a terrible rash on his face. He wasn't making eye contact and was not hitting any milestones.

I kept taking him to the pediatrician but got nowhere until his 2 month checkup when he had only gained one pound since birth. That earned him an appt with a pediatric GI and a change to Neocate formula. Odd gasping spells and eye rolling got him into a pediatric neurologist before the GI appt. The neurologist (he was actually the head of the pediatric neurology dept) personally walked us over to the GI clinic and sat us in an exam room. That kinda makes you worry! That is when we really got the ball rolling. Asa was 3 months old.

At 4 months he was admitted to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. He stayed 8 days and had a NG tube inserted so we could feed him directly into his stomach. He kept this for 2 months. Also during this time he had an EEG, CT scan, MRI, upper GI endoscopy with biopsy, flex sig, numerous blood tests, a genetics consult, and an ophthalmology consult and many other pokes and prods! So began our relationship with specialist!!

After 2 months on the NG tube, we removed it and tried to get Asa to eat enough to gain weight. He did OK for a little while but by 9 months old, he was fighting each feeding and not gaining weight despite being on Neocate formula at 30cal/oz. The decision was made to have a G-tube put in. The G-tube is a feeding tube that is inserted directly into Asa's belly. He can eat orally but won't so he gets feed into his belly.

Since he was going to have to be sedated for the surgery, it was agreed he should have a muscle biopsy at the same time. By 9 months he had finally began making eye contact. He smiled some but not very social. He was still very hypotonic (floppy) and didn't even have head control. Something was obviously going on with his muscles. All of his brain scans had been normal.

In Nov. 2008, when Asa was 13 months old, we found out the results of the muscle biopsy. Yes, it took 3+ months to get all of the results! He was diagnosed with Mitochondrial Myopathy. He is deficient in Complex IV for all of you medical junkies out there.

What this means is that his cells can't make enough energy to fuel his body....specifically for him, his muscles and GI system, that we know of. If his body has to burn energy to fight off infection, or a stress, then he looses energy in another system. Mito is a progressive disease with no treatment or cure. We try to keep him as healthy and happy as possible. We use the feeding tube to keep him feed so he doesn't have to struggle there. He takes numerous supplements and vitamins in the hope that they will keep him cells healthier. We check his eyes, hearing, heart, kidneys, liver, brain and lots of blood work yearly. Mito can affect any system so it is important to have baseline and watch for changes. He has a GI, neuro, geneticist, optometrist, ophthalmologist, cardiologist, developmental ped, regular ped and a mito specialist.

He gets OT, PT, speech/feeding and a home teacher weekly. He has some sensory issues with touch, sound, taste and texture. This plays into almost all areas of our lives! He is still very hypotonic but gained head control at just over a year (right after we started supplements!). He learned to sit when placed in a sitting position at 18 months. He still can't get into sitting alone. He learned to bottom scoot at just over 2. He does not crawl or walk.

He knows the signs for "moma", "daddy", "more" and "all done". He can show them when prompted but we are still waiting for him to initiate. He waves "bye-bye" and points all the time now. He loves to take a bath and water in general. He has a contagious laugh and can flash the most flirty grin ever!

We learned, with Asa, not take the small things for granted. Each smile, sound, word, bite or even trouble!! You just never know when they might not be so easy to come by or even if you'll have them at all!