When my youngest daughter was 10, she unloaded her backpack on a Friday after school as her fourth grade year was winding down. She handed over a flyer and ordered me to read it. “MOM!! Can I go?! It looks so fun! Mrs. Pancake told me about this and said all her kids go! Carli Sears goes! Can I GO?” My ten year old became a spokesperson for Camp Twin Creeks the moment she heard about this magical place.

I hadn’t sent any of my older girls off to camp for two weeks and the thought was difficult to process on the spot. I called the number on the flyer and a jolly Scottish fellow answered. He’s been spokesperson forever and I told him we’d talk it over. Best. Decision. Ever! Emma has packed up her camp kit almost every summer since that colorful flyer landed on my kitchen counter. It’s daily conversation, the friendships, the fun, the wardrobe of CTC gear, the Crocs.

Paving the way for campers like Emma, Carli Sears attended Camp most summers as well. Five years Emma’s senior, her presence at CTC had a West Virginia Welcome that no one could forget. I met Carli even before she was born and had the privilege of catering her baptism brunch when she was a tiny bundle. She swam with my oldest daughter Sara and played soccer with my next oldest Reilly at George Washington High School. I cheered with her parents at swim meets and soccer games. When she was in college, she helped with my friend Luisa’s catering company and was my assistant at kids’ cooking classes. I cherish these kitchen memories!

Carli’s life was tragically cut short in 2016 just days before her twenty-first birthday. Though she is not here physically, her personality and contagious smile remain! Her family, friends and Camp Twin Creeks community didn’t miss a beat in honoring her life with a Carli Sears Camp Scholarship for a student from Charleston, West Virginia to attend their first year of camp for free with all kinds of bells and whistles. Read: a little camp kit shopping spree and of course a pair of Crocs! The scholarship recipient can contribute back to the scholarship to keep the fund going, all with the ultimate goal of keeping Carli's memory strong at Camp and keeping a camper presence in her name each summer and beyond.

Carli’s mom Julie told me that Carli loved Camp so much that she would bring home bottles of that sweet mountain spring water to freeze and enjoy the taste of Camp any time she was missing it. We miss you, Carli! Thank you for leaving so much sparkle!

Campfire Cake

My girls all have late Spring birthdays which is the perfect time to go camping or do some pretend camping with this festive cake. When I asked Emma about a recipe to include with this love letter to Camp and Carli she finger wagged me for suggesting s’mores. So we are going next level here and hope you’ll cook up some family fun in your own kitchen. It’s a raid the pantry or the snack aisle at Target and no holds barred. Emma and I constructed this together, laughing, crying, hugging.

Our decorations included: twisted pretzel sticks for the border, stacked firewood and logs in the fire; Chocolate graham crackers for the sleeping bags and dirt and rocks; Teddy grahams for the campers; Quick toasted mini marshmallows for the firepit marshmallows; assorted life savers (or other hard candy—red, orange, yellow) for the ‘fire’ and campers’ pillows (you melt these on foil in the oven, see below for the ‘how-to’); ice cream cones, the sugar cone style, for the trees; sprinkles!

First: bake a cake in a 13x9-inch cake pan. We made the ‘birthday cake’ recipe on the King Arthur cake flour box and it’s a good one! If you are a fan of Red Velvet cake like Carli, go with that! Anything goes, really. It’s your canvas for cake decorating fun!

Next: frost the cake as you desire. We went with green to emulate the lush grass at Camp Twin Creeks. Since you can cover as much of the surface as you desire, the frosting is not super important…it’s mostly the ‘glue’ to anchor all your landscaping and such.

For the fire: Heat the oven to 350. Place a small sheet of foil on a rimmed baking sheet and brush it with a little canola oil. Smash some lifesavers, red, yellow, orange and sprinkle them like a little mosaic on the oiled foil. You’re looking for a rough shape about 6 inches square. For the pillows, you can smash a couple more lifesavers of your favorite color and make a small shape on the foil, away from the ‘fire.’ Place the baking sheet in the oven and like magic, the candy melts into flames in minutes. CAREFUL!! It is hot. Remove the baking sheet from the oven to cool on a rack and handle when it’s cool. You can break it up as desired to make your flames.

For the trees: frost the outside of a sugar cone and sprinkle with green sugar. Stack 2 cones and frost, then sprinkle, for a taller tree.

Now get to the really fun part, putting it all together with your creative flourishes! You can use the photo as a guide or go your own way. The most important part is to ENJOY!

Happy Cooking!