Cakes, pies, and the not so good experiences while making them

So as I promised, today's post will just be a few pictures of cakes and pies I've done recently. To be completely honest, I'm not very good at making cakes....yet. I have difficulties with leveling and frosting. I make messes, a lot of them. I guess that means I still need more practice with this specific skill. Also, I despise making pies. I'm not even crazy about eating them. But at the beginning of fall, I figured I should try to make a pie. My very first one. It was a caramel apple pie. Pictured directly below.

Now sure, it looks pretty. And it tasted good. But I had an awful time with the caramel. I made my own, and I guess it wasn't thick enough. Because when it was done baking, the pie was watery. I kid you not, the apples floated around like inner tubes in a swimming pool. I had to spoon as much of it out as I could. So, not a good experience for a first time pie baker. The next pie I made was a chocolate cream pie. Turned out alright, except I wasn't thrilled with the taste of the crust. I definitely need to find a good crust recipe. I'm on the lookout! Here's a picture of it:

   
The first cake I made was a rose cake inspired by Amanda at I Am Baker. It was a white cake with a lemon buttercream. It was delicious!

The next cake was for my little sister's 5th birthday. It was a yellow cake, with an oreo whipped cream filling, and buttercream on the outside. Sprinkled with oreo crumbs.

Now, the next cake I am going to show you has a story behind it. This was back in October, and my dad's birthday was coming up. He was turning 40. So I decided I wanted to take a whack at making his famous red velvet cake for his birthday celebration. When they were done, I pulled them out of the oven and set them on cooling racks to cool. I then proceeded to go sit in my living room to watch tv while I waited. Not even a minute later, I heard a loud racket in the kitchen. I ran to see what it was. Come to find out, it was my dog, Max, eating the cake (Just to inform you, Max is a 115 pound chocolate lab. He gets into almost anything if you leave it sitting on the counter. You'd think I would have remembered this, but I didn't). He's so adorable, so I'm not mad for long when he does this. Here are some pictures of him:

So anyways, thank goodness he had only taken a small bite out of one side. So I just cut the cake directly in half. Eventually I came up with a clever idea to still use the cake, and turn it into something better than I had originally planned. It worked out great!

Well thanks for reading, everyone! I'll post some pictures of cupcakes I've done within the past year soon. Then I have a few new things to share....but you'll just have to wait for that (;