How to make a Yoda cake

By Mr. Rogers

My son wanted a Star wars cake for his birthday. Being a Dad and thus the maker of miracles meant a sheet cake with the words "May the force be with you" wasn't going to cut it. If my son wanted the force to be with him on his birthday then he was going to have the mother of all Jedi - Yoda himself.

Several KC Dads had mentioned they had made cakes out of marshmallow fondant so I wanted to give it a try. Thanks to Teacher Dad and Enforcer Dad for all of their advice on the application of this alternative to icing. It turned out pretty well so I figured I would share how I did it.

1. If I was going to make his head out of fondant I figured I'd better get real acquainted with what it looks like so I printed up a bunch of Yoda head shots from the Internet and then using the kids play dough made a small model of Yoda.

2. I found several recipes for marshmallow fondant on the internet and it was easy to make. Mine consisted of: 24oz mini marshmallows, 3lbs powdered sugar, 6-7tbsp water and Crisco Shorting to keep it from sticking to everything. I made the fondant earlier in the week and stored in the fridge with no coloring.

3. I cut some thick cardboard 15” by 9.5” and wrapped it in foil for my cake to sit on. It was just small enough to fit in my freezer (damn the side by side) but barely big enough for the cake.

4. I then baked two sheet cakes using a boxed Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix in a 9” x 13” baking pan. Some websites recommend using a denser cake so it can hold the weight of the fondant. I didn't notice any collapsing using the boxed mix, but when it came to carving the face it might have been advantageous to have a denser cake. Once cool I leveled them at about 1.5 inches in height.

5. I then placed my templates on top and cut out my shapes for stacking. I used a can of Betty Crocker butter cream frosting between the sections.

6. The next morning I stuck the cake in the freezer for about two hours to firm it up before carving it. It did make it firmer (mainly due to the frozen Icing). I then carved the cake, taking a little off at a time. It looked horrible at this stage. It was such a fluffy cake that it was hard to shape it without tearing sections of it off. A denser cake may have made this process less troublesome.

7. Next I crumb coated the entire thing in butter cream frosting.



8. I had taken my fondant out the night before to get to room temperature, but I still had to knead it a little to get it workable again. I separated a little of the fondant to use as the white of Yoda’s eyes. Then I added green and a little black Wiltons gel food coloring to dye it the right shade of green. A little goes a long way when it comes to the gel food coloring.

9. I then rolled out the fondant to a little over 1/8 of an inch thick, using corn starch to keep it from sticking to everything. Some sites say to use Crisco Shortening and I might try that next time. Once on the cake, I had to stop working details into the fondant after the surface started drying out and Crisco might extend that time by holding the moisture in longer.

10. I transferred the fondant to the cake by rolling it up on a rolling pin. (avoid using a french rolling pin if you can) In the process it started stretching like crazy so I think next time I might roll it out a little thicker.

11. I then just shaped in the details using a tool I stole from my kids play dough set (gotta love that play dough). I added the white eyes and used additional green fondant to make the eye lids.

12. I then mixed the Wiltons gel food coloring with vodka to make a kind of water color to shade the face. I used a much thicker consistency to color the eyes. And then presto I had a Yoda cake.




Materials used:
24 oz mini marshmallows,
3 lbs powdered sugar,
6-7 tbsp water
Crisco Shorting
2 Betty Crocker chocolate cake mixes
2 cans of Betty Crocker Whipped Buttercream frosting
Wiltons Gel Coloring for Frosting (Black, Brown and Green)
1 Fondant Paint Brush
Foil
Cardboard

Steak Marinade / Fajitas

This is a marinade I use when making Fajitas but have used it on occasion for other grilled steak as well.

1/4 Cup honey
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 tsp ground pepper
2 steaks of your choice

Mix all ingredients and pour over steaks. Marinate for 2+ hours

For Fajita veggies/sauce:
2Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion
1 bell pepper (color of choice)
1/2 Cup Fat Free Italian dressing
1/2 Cup Teriyaki Marinade (I use Allegro)
1 Tbsp Lime juice

Saute onion and bell pepper in olive over medium heat until desired tenderness. Add Italian dressing, Teriyaki marinade, and lime juice. Reduce over medium until desired thickness.

Increase the dressing and marinade amounts to increase the amount of sauce.

Posted by: Larry

Pico De Gallo

There are still some great tomatoes, onions and green peppers at the local farmers markets. Here is a great way to put them to use.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes - 4-6 Depending on tast. Roma or plum tomatoes work best
Green Pepper - 1
White Onion - 1
Jalapeno - 1
Cilantro - 1/4 cup Again a matter of taste
Garlic Salt - 1 teaspoon

Dice all of the vegetables. Do the tomatoes first and put in a collander to drain. Roma tomatoes work best because they don't have as much water as other ones do when diced. Chop the cilantro. Add garlic salt to taste. Mix and enjoy.

To make it into a Mexican Salad add one can of black beans and one can of corn.

Recipe: Frittata

This came up at playgroup the other day so I thought I would go ahead and post the recipe for everyone.

If you have never had a Frittata before, give it a shot. It's a great breakfast dish that is easy to prepare and a little something different than poptarts. Not knocking on the poptarts, god knows that I love them, but variety is always good.

For those not familiar with what a Frittata is, think of it as a big baked omlet.

Note: This recipe is from a cookbook called America's Test Kitchen. If you don't have this one, get it.

Ingredients: Serves 4
6 Large Eggs
1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (1/2 cup)
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped up
2 tablespoons of minced parsley, basil, dill, tarragon and/or mint.

To Cook

1. Put an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350.

2. In a 10 inch nonstick skillet, add the onion and oil and cook until soft, about 4 minutes.

3. Beat the eggs, the cheese, salt and pepper together. Add to the pan with the onion. Throw in the parsley. Stir gently until the eggs on the bottom are set and firm, about 30 to 40 seconds.

4. Gently pull the eggs back from one edge of the skillet and tilt the pan, allowing any uncooked egg to run to the cleared edge of the skillet. Repeat this process, working your way around the skillet until the egg on top is mostly set but still moist.

5. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until the top is set and dry to the touch, about 3 minutes.

6. Run a spatula around the skillet edge to losen and then invert onto a serving plate.

That's all there is to it. Try your own variations. I have used spinach and the kids don't notice the difference. I also like a lot of meat in mine and breakfast sausage or ham goes real well with this. If you have any other variations, add in the comment section. Enjoy!

Something different for Easter

Want some colorful Easter eggs that you can actually eat? Jayne at Barefoot Kitchen Witch has an idea for you. Below is a picture of the eggs I made last night, I have already eaten them and they don't taste any different than normal hard boiled eggs. My plan is to make a bunch of then into deviled eggs for Easter dinner.




I just made a craft tag, I think I may need to turn in my man card.

Ladies Man Recipe Corner

Herb Roasted Pork Tenderloin
1/4c. Soy Sauce
1/4c. Worcestershire Sauce
1/4c. Oil
1t. Thyme
1t. Marjoram
1t. Rubbed Sage
1t. Garlic powder
1t. Onion Powder
1t. Ground Ginger
1t. Salt
1t. Pepper
1 Pork Tenderloin

Mix all ingredients in shallow pan. Prick thawed tenderloin with fork and place in pan and turn to coat. Cover and marinade for 30 min at room temp or chill for at least 2 hours in fridge. Place tenderloin on rack in roasting pan and spoon marinade over top then roast for 40 min at 350. The tenderloin is cooked when reaching inside temp of 155-160 degrees using food thermometer. Let stand for 15-30 minutes before slicing.

Notes: t=teaspoon

If not sure where to get tenderloin, I usually just get Hormel packaged from Walmart in meat section.

Enjoy! See you next time on LMRC