Mini vacation to Madison Indiana

If you haven't heard of Madison, IN you are certainly not alone. It is a gem that many don't seem to know about. Madison is located in the southeast corner of Indiana right along the Ohio River bordering with Kentucky. It's a little historic town full of charm and a very relaxed vibe. I highly recommend checking it out. Today I'll share some photos, must visit shops/restaurants/locations, and local food from my trip this year. 

This is "Hanging Rock Road" where you can drive under the rock and waterfall. If you wish to visit this spot the road name is Cragmont Street.

This year was my second trip there to spend a weekend. After visiting Madison for two years in a row, I almost want to start making it an annual mini vacation. During this visit we managed to eat at only local restaurants and we ventured out to discover more of what the area had to offer. In our adventures we found some good food, genuinely nice people, a twisty (slightly scary) road through some forest covered hills that had some amazing views once you made it to the top, and some decent wine. That's just the short story of what we discovered this weekend. Again, I highly recommend checking out Madison. 

When you visit Madison (I know you will!) I recommend a few strolls down Main Street. It's full of historic buildings and great shops and restaurants. I highly recommend you check out Hinkles Hamburgers. They are perfect little sliders for a late evening meal or a lunch snack. The Downtowner offers a good atmosphere, service and delicious food (they're famous for their large cookies). I stopped into Galena Garlic Company this time around and I can't wait to test the ingredients I purchased there (more on that later). In a short drive out of downtown you can find a decent winery (Madison Vineyards) and a few fun places to visit. I purchased two wines, one to drink and one for a dessert, from Madison Vineyards. They offer free wine tasting and their prices are reasonable per bottle. I will be working on recipes this week that include the ingredients pictured above. I'm most excited to create both a savory and a sweet recipe out of the Chocolato pasta! Check back soon for those recipes.

One of many waterfalls in Clifty Falls State Park.

The highlight on both trips for me has been the time I spent in Clifty Falls State Park. There are numerous trails through this beautiful park. The range in difficulty and views. On our visit this year the weather was PERFECT for hiking and photos. Below I will share some of the photos I took along the hike. Enjoy and check back soon for new recipes inspired by my trip!

You can actually walk across this small waterfall. 

There's nothing like standing at the edge of a cliff/waterfall and taking a picture. haha

As a true foodie I couldn't help but have my photo taken next to Cake Rock.  Yes, I was working a weird face. 

While it's still early Spring there were flowers popping up here and there. Beautiful. 

Trail 8. It was so nice to see the start of color popping up all over the park.

One of the coolest paths. It dead ends now as the rock has fallen, but it leads to a good lookout point to a waterfall.

Jack Skellington Birthday Cake

Here is a quick post for the latest birthday cake I've done. The request was a simple Jack Skellington (from the movie Nightmare Before Christmas) cake. I'd say this is pretty good! ;-)

I've also decided to share the photo of the cake before decorating. It was a little crafty work and cutting to put this guy together.

Elmo Birthday Cake

Here is the latest cake I made. Elmo is made from Rice Krispy Treats and Royal Icing. He was a challenge, but it all came together well in the end.

A New Baby Shower Cake

A new life to celebrate...Welcome Owen.

My latest cake for a friends baby shower. :-)

Zombie Birthday Cake

The Zombies are COMING! 

The latest cake I've done for a birthday. My best friend loves Zombies so I did this for her birthday. She and everyone at the party love it. :-)

Lego Cake 2

Here is another Lego cake that I did last week.

Lego Birthday Cake

Here are a few photos of my most recent cake. Fondant and I still don't get along well. However, practice makes perfect! In time I know I'll have the art of fondant down. 

The finished cake. My goal was to have more figures but everywhere I went they were out!

The cake assembled. The blocks are all cake and the board is just covered with fondant.

Angry Birds Birthday Cake

My latest cake...Angry Birds! I took the Knock on Wood game and made it into a cake. :-)

Happy Birthday Grandma

Clown Cake Pops

The most recent (and probably last) cake pops I've made. :-)

First Birthday Cake ... Happy BDay Payton!

It's hard to believe how fast time passes sometimes. It's been a year since I made the Welcome Baby Payton cake. She is now 1! Here are the photos of her mini cake, the Tinkerbell cake, and Lil Miss Payton so delicately eating the cake. We were so hoping she would just smash into the cake...didn't happen. I've never seen a kid eat cake so politely. She's just too adorable!

Baking in a small place for a Big cause. Part 2

So I know I've mentioned Karing for Kids a few times here on my blog but I feel it's time to take a deeper more personal look into why it's so close to me. I would also like to share my latest Cake Pop photos/adventure with you. 

Thank You Cake

I was  asked to put together a cake for my Aunt this weekend. She wanted to say Thank You to all those who have helped her with the Relay for Life events she did this past year. I was just going to go simple but decided to go ahead and try to make the logo. I think it worked. It's not perfect, but good enough. :-)

Cake Pops

So I couldn't wait anymore to get this post up! If you haven't heard of Cake Pops then look no further and LISTEN up! :)

Baby Shower Cake

Fondant Baby Blocks - A Tutorial!

I'm back! It's been far to long since I've done an update here on the blog. I've been VERY busy lately. I went right from Thanksgiving to a Baby Shower cake. Between the getting the baby figurine made, the fondant blocks, and work I've had very little free time. 


(Going back to Thanksgiving for a second, I have to say that I had a GREAT one. I was off of work for the first time in 6 years! It was wonderful to spend the time with my family and friends. I couldn't have asked for a better Thanksgiving.)


I decided to make my first blog post about the Fondant Baby Blocks I made. At first I decided I could just buy some blocks and put them on the cake. I, for some reason, thought I would be able to find pastel baby blocks...WRONG! It was even next to impossible to find baby blocks in general. Now, it doesn't help that I had a certain look in mind. After running from this store to that one I decided I should just make them. When I was looking around online I had the hardest time finding a tutorial on how to make baby blocks from fondant. Most of the things I found were about using cake and making larger blocks than I wanted. I started to feel a little lost and was going back to my original plan of using plan ole blocks. However, I did find a few pictures that sparked some ideas. I took what I needed from those and I came up with this...

Baby Shower Cake!

So here's my most recent cake. This one was quite a bit of work! I hand sculpted the baby figurine out of clay and I also handmade the baby blocks from fondant. I'll have a post up in the next couple of days on how I made the blocks. There seems to be a short list of tutorials on fondant baby blocks, at least ones like these. 


This cake was for my cousins baby shower this past weekend. She's having a little girl named Payton. The cake went over well and everyone loved it. I'm quite happy with how it turned out as well. The blocks weren't exactly what I wanted them to be but everything works and looks great.


And so, here it is!! Welcome Baby Payton!!

Click the photo to see a larger version.