The Conversation
Believe it or not, I had no idea what a swimming pool cake was until about two months ago, and ever since my glorious discovery, I’ve been obsessed with them. Is it possible to rewind back to my childhood and request this cake every year for my birthday? Summer 2016: I’m spreading the gospel of the swimming pool cake. To be honest, I’m still not sure what makes a *true* swimming pool cake, but I figured I’d do what I do best: Take a stab at doing it myself! This is the perfect dish to bring to a pool party or Fourth of July potluck, so add it to your short list of easy summer DIYs!
I know what you’re thinking, and yes, yellow cake and blue raspberry jello seem like a formidable combination. But hear me out: The classic jello dessert alternative is jello salad (gross), so the novelty of this cake alone will make it a hit at your next party.
Make sure you pay attention to the scale of miniature people vs. beach accessories. Otherwise, you’ll end up with golf cart-sized beach balls. Oops.
Ingredients:
— whipped cream
— boxed cake mix
— blue raspberry jello
Materials:
— cupcake tin
— 9 x 9-inch glass dish
— cake stand or serving plate
— mini spatula
— miniature beach scene figurines
Grab your materials and let’s get this pool party started!
Follow the directions on the jello box and pour the jello into the glass dish. Pro tip: lightly spray the bottom of the dish with cooking spray for an easier release.
Follow the instructions listed on your cake mix and bake the batter into cupcakes. Don’t worry about the cupcakes being perfect, you’ll be cutting them up :)
Okay, folks, this is BY FAR the trickiest part of making a swimming pool cake. THE RELEASE. Take it from me, the fail queen of jello cakes (three attempts and counting), that this tip is crucial. When your jello sets and you’re ready to release it onto the cake stand, be sure to dip the dish into warm water for three seconds. This will help loosen the edges of the jello and allow for a seamless transfer. Center your cake stand on top of the jello and flip both the stand and dish upside down.
Boom! Your jello should slide right out of its dish.
Pop the cupcakes out and cut them in half to make the sand dunes. Use the whipped cream as glue to attach the cupcake dunes to the blue jello.
We chose to line the entire perimeter of the pool with cupcake sand dunes, but feel free to get creative! This jello pool world is your oyster.
Cover up any large gaps between the cupcake sand dunes with more whipped cream. You can sweep the knife in an upward motion to create waves.
Create the illusion of breaking waves by carefully sweeping whipped cream directly onto the jello, then start building your beach scene!
Maybe your beach guests are tanning, or visiting for their honeymoon.
“This cake is so pitted, man.”
I definitely had a little too much fun making this one.
What other summer treats are you baking up? Show us your projects by tagging us on Instagram + using the hashtag #iamcreative!
Production and Styling: Marianne Koo
More From DIY Recipes
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures