Cake and Two Pies

I have a 4th of July tradition. I make cake. I did my research ahead of time and decided on the cake. It was so awesome. I could hardly wait to make it. Because I don't really like cake (to eat) all the much, I decided to also make a cherry pie. I didn't have a good experience with a cherry pie the last time I made one. I wanted to try two recipes: one that used fresh cherries, and one that used canned cherries. Here are the results:

The canned "sour cherry" pie.

The fresh "bing cheery" pie.

I really wanted the fresh cherry pie to taste better. (Hence lattice pattern on it and burn edges on the other one. If only good looks equaled good taste.) It turned out way too sweet. I did put about two times the amount of sugar the recipe called for. Sigh. I really need to stop doing that. The sour cherry, although didn't look as good, tasted better and also required almost no work. The crust is really all the work that a cherry pie requires.

We decided to skip the overrated fireworks hoopla and stayed in to eat cake, pit cherries and watch The Majestic. (Which is, by the way, one of the best movies I've seen.) I love that picture of Grandpa-J.

And finally, I give you the 2010 Independence Day Cake!

(All pictures were taken with an iPhone 4 and Ms. Shaky Hands.)