The Cake

I thought there might be a very minute population out there that wonders how I make the fondant cakes. I'm here to tell you that it's not rocket science and you can do it too.

I used to try to make the cake from scratch. After too many failed attempts and my realization that I really do just love a boxed cake mix, I made this cake from a box. Hannah wanted strawberry so Pillsbury it is.

I like my cakes to have a fairly flat top. I found this method for accomplishing that where you ice your cake upside down.

I always struggle with what to fill my cake with. I have been using this Swiss meringue butter cream recipe with good success. It reminds me a bit of something you get in a bakery. It has lots of butter in it too so it's just good!

So here's the beginning. I "leveled" the tops of the cakes with a bread knife in hopes of making them flat. I need a little more practice with this. Here I have begun the process of icing it and have put the filling on.


Layer number two. I used two 8 inch by three inch deep pans to bake the cake. It was at this point that I realized that this was going to be a tall cake. I'm not sure why I didn't realized this sooner. Each layer took one boxed cake mix.



Here is the cake with the sides frosted. I used a butter cream recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. In hindsight, a butter cream with Crisco in it would probably hold up better. I made this a couple of days in advance and the fondant had begun to slide down by party time.

Here's my attempt at making smooth sides. I was in a hurry and this was good enough to go under the fondant. I should have stuck it in the refrigerator for a bit or let it crust over but I didn't. Hurry, hurry, hurry. Notice it's on a turn table. It is almost necessary for this technique.

I covered a card board cake circle with the fancy schmancy foil paper in the cake decorating section, and flipped the cake right side up onto it. Fondant keeps well in the refrigerator and I made a batch about a week before I made the cake. I colored it sky blue with Wilton's food coloring gel/paste. I rolled it out and managed to get it onto the cake-a feat in and of itself.

Then I very carefully worked my way from the top down, slightly stretching the fondant over the cake to make a smooth, wrinkle free covering.

Here it is trimmed and ready to be decorated. To make the rainbow, I pressed warm rice krispies treat into a 6" pan. When it cooled I popped it out, cut it in half, frosted it with butter cream and covered it with fondant. I supported the rainbow by sticking skewers in the bottom and cutting them so they just rested on the cake circle at the bottom of the cake. This way the cake didn't have to support the weight of the rainbow.

Here it is late the night I finished it.

Here it is in all of it's glory with it's gum paste sun. I could definitely use some more practice in the gum paste department. I don't even know enough to give you any advice as far as it goes. Notice the fondant has begun to sag toward the bottom of the cake. I think Crisco butter cream would help with this, and maybe a cooler kitchen.

I can't promise to never bore you with a cake assembly post again, but I hope not to. Hopefully this answered any questions that some of you might have had. If you have any more I can try to answer them in the comments. Now go forth and make a fondant cake! Remember someone is going to eat it. It doesn't have to be perfect.

Making "Horse"mallow Puffs with Mommy

I just figured out today that Hannah has been calling marshmallows, "horse"mallows. I guess it's all about what you know.

We made these marshmallow puffs today. Ours were definitely not photo worthy so there's no picture of the final product. A word of caution. Watch them very closely at the end. They apparently go perfectly white fluffy marshmallows to toasty little creatures in no time flat.

Here's Hannah smashing the biscuits flat. She started to treat it like play dough and squish them between her fingers. I had to do a bit of reshaping magic before we went on.


After dipping them in butter and rolling them in sugar and cinnamon she put a marshmallow in the center of each one.



I was planning to write about how I thought they were only OK and say that we may not make them again. However, it was a great little cooking project where Hannah could get involved, and I have eaten more than I care to tell you about. Hopefully Ben gets home soon to help eat them.

Dinner Tonight

It's finally warming up around here and it was probably too warm to make what I made, but I did it anyway. Tonight I made Crockpot Ravioli, which was super easy and quite tasty. Ben is a lover of all things meat and potatoes, so I always try to appease him a bit with homemade bread if I'm going to throw a pasta dish at him. Tonight it was Challah. I was glad to make two new recipes that turned out well. I'm thinking that the ravioli might even go over well at a potluck.

Father's Day Cuisine

I made dinner for Father's Day this year. I figured I had better stick to a "meat and potatoes" type menu. Pasta and girly food are not loved by all around here. For an appetizer I made hummus with Stacy's Pita Chips. Maybe I don't love hummus as much as I thought, or maybe this isn't my favorite recipe. It turned out OK but honesty I'm not sure I know what it's really supposed to taste like. Note: I think my husband might classify the hummus under girly food, but I didn't ask before I made it.

For dinner we had brisket, baked potatoes, bread and green salad. Last night I turned the left over brisket into tostadas. I thought they were good and if it's any indication they were all gone when dinner was over.

Need a Dinner Idea?

We had these chicken strips last night. They were delicious and easy too. I think it's my new favorite chicken strip recipe. We had them with Homemade Rice a Roni and salad fixin's from the garden. I like to add a little more chicken flavor to the rice a roni with some bullion and a little parsley for color.

Hmmm...now that I read the chicken strips recipe again I discovered that it calls for 2-3 teaspoons of season salt and I used 2-3 TABLESPOONS! I thought they were a little salty. Ben thought they were good so I guess if you hit the middle somewhere they will be great.

A Little Work & Some Easter Fun

It is a beautiful day here today. It is expected to be in the high 60s. OK, for here that's warm and the fact that it was only breezy and the wind wasn't blowing tons of dust around was a welcome change. Our alfalfa field is on the edge of the Basin, and not out in the middle of the old lake bed. One of the joys of having a field on the edge is you get to pick rocks after it has been harrowed. We took the opportunity to get out of the house and went and helped Daddy.

Hannah loved picking up the rocks. Daddy had made some piles in the field and Hannah immediately caught on to picking them up and putting them in the back of the Gator. I guess we should enjoy her willingness while it lasts because picking rocks is not one of the most desired jobs around. You can see the excitement on her face in the second picture as she takes her rock back to the Gator.

We came back inside for a little Easter egg dyeing. We made the same recipe last year and they turned out completely different. I think I like them better this year. Hannah helped put the eggs in the dye. I couldn't seem to get her to put them into a different color once they had been in one color. I had to finish them by putting them in other colors. Her favorite color these days is yellow and most of the eggs seemed to end up there.

Hannah discovered that the shell cracks when you bang the egg against your head. She then found that the shell peels off and there's stuff inside. Needless to say we had one casualty that we didn't get to dye. I did however find out that I did a good job of getting them hard boiled.

Here's the recipe for the eggs.

1 c. hot water

1 Tbs. oil

1 tsp. vinegar

1 tsp. food coloring (I added food coloring paste until I like the color because that's what I had)

Make the above mixture for each color that you want to use. Dip the egg in the dye for a few seconds, remove, and pat lightly with paper towels. Repeat until you like the effect.

Daddy Requested & Hannah Approved

A few nights ago Ben suggested that I make his Grandma's candy cane cookies. I wasn't sure if I had ever had them and he couldn't tell me for sure what they had in them. I tried to call Grandma yesterday but didn't get a hold of her. I settled for some sugar cookie cutouts (that I have never gotten around to frosting) after looking on the internet for a recipe like his Grandma's. Really I knew it was a waste of time since they probably wouldn't be nearly as good.

Hannah and I got home from a little holiday outing when I remembered about the cookies again. I tried Grandma and got a hold of her. She was happy to give me the recipe and I thought I would share it. I didn't take copious notes as she was telling it to me but I will share with you what seemed to work for me.

Candy Cane Cookies (Makes 4 dozen)

1 c. shortening (I used 1/2 c. butter & 1/2 c. Crisco)

1 c. powdered sugar, sifted

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp. almond extract (I used vanilla)

2 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. red food coloring (I used food coloring paste until I liked the color)

1/2 c. crushed candy canes

1/2 c. sugar

Mix together. I found that half of this mixture was more than enough.

Cream together the shortening, powdered sugar, egg, and almond extract. Combine the flour and salt. Add to the creamed mixture. Divide the dough in half. Color one half with red food coloring. For each cookie take 1 teaspoon of each color. On a lightly floured surface, roll each color of dough out separately into a rope about 4 inches long. Twist the two ropes together and make a hook at the top in the shape of a candy cane. Make one complete cookie before moving on to the next. If you roll out all of the white dough and then all of the red they will be too dry to work with.

Bake for 9 minutes or until the edges have lightly started to brown. Remove from oven and sprinkle with candy cane and sugar mixture. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet, or at least until they hold their shape and you can move them to a wire rack. Enjoy!

When Hannah asked for a cookie yesterday I gave her an unfrosted sugar cookie cutout. I later found them partially eaten and laying around the house. Today when she asked for a cookie she got one of Grandma's Candy Cane Cookies. She proceeded to eat the entire thing and then ask for more. They are definitely kid tested and husband approved!