Carson's Kindergarten Graduation Cake/Cupcakes

There are always things that I wish I could have done better but I do love how this turned out.
However, the one thing I really wish would have worked was that I planned on having fondant stars on wires sticking out of the top of the cake.  But apparently the wires that I used weren't strong enough and of course I didn't put them in until last minute so I didn't have enough time to properly fix the problem so I ended up just putting the fondant stars on top of the cake to cover the holes that I had made with the wires.

I used my pudding cupcake recipe and my marshmallow fondant recipe

Me and the graduate, Carson.

My husband cut out the wood for me to make the cupcake stand.  He said he felt like he was on Cupcake Wars.  We would make a good team on that show.

Chicken Pot Pie

I used frozen veggies for this which made it really simple but if you're going for taste, you should really use fresh veggies.  It was still good, though.  It depends on what you're going for, quick and easy or tasty...er.  If you decide to use fresh veggies, I would definitely cook them first to soften them up.

Ingredients:

1 package of thawed Frozen Stew Vegetables (potatoes, carrots, celery, onions)

1 cup of Frozen Peas

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

1 cup Chicken Stock

2 cooked, cubed Chicken Breasts

Salt and Pepper

1 cup Bisquick

1/2 cup Milk

1 Egg

Directions:

Bake chicken in oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until cooked. Then cube.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine first six ingredients well. Pour in baking dish.

Combine the last 3 ingredients together and spread over chicken mixture. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Cake Balls and Pretzels

Happy Mother's Day!



Here's what I want to know:
1. Why are these SO addictive?
2. Why is it so impossible for me to make cake balls look decent? It seems like everyone else can do it. When I make them, they are delicious but not so attactive. These were the best of the group.

I think I need a face-to-face lesson from Bakerella herself.

Take The Cake

This is my 6 year old son, Carson who was in his school's Take The Cake decorating competition yesterday. He took 2nd place in the Kindergarten competition out of 7. He came up with the design mostly by himself. It was actually his dad who intervened to try and make it a little better. It's a Black Widow Spider.

They had one hour to decorate. He finished just under 4 minutes. We had 56 minutes left plus 30 minutes of judging so we went and grabbed dinner while we were waiting. We are so proud of him and it was so much fun!

The wedding of Q and U was also yesterday. The kids did such a good job and it was so cute.

The cake did not turn out great. It was ok, especially for a kindergarten class but I wasn't happy with it. It has been very hot here in AZ lately and the fondant was hard to work with. Oh well! I've decided that cupcakes are probably more my thing. It did taste great, though! 

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:
Pizza Crust - homemade or store bought. Mine was store bought
1 or 2 Roasted Chicken Breasts, shredded
Mozzarella Cheese
BBQ Sauce


Directions:
After I roasted the chicken breasts in some olive oil, I shredded it and mixed the mozzarella in with the chicken. Then I added a little BBQ Sauce. Before adding the toppings, I baked the pizza crust as directed for about 6 minutes or until lightly browned. Then I brushed BBQ Sauce on and added the chicken and cheese mixture and spread evenly. I dotted the top with a little more cheese. Then baked for another 6 minutes or until golden brown.

Blueberry Muffins

I got this recipe from the Essential Mormon Celebrations Cookbook by Julie Badger Jensen. And it rocks.


Muffins 
1 1/2 cups Flour
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 Egg, beaten
1/2 cup Butter, melted
1/2 cup Milk
1 tsp. Lemon Zest
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 recipe Muffin Topping (see below)
1 recipe Muffin Glaze (see below)

In a large bowl (not a mixer), combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir until well blended. Make a well in center of mixture. Place egg, butter, and milk in center and stir just until blended. Carefully stir in lemon zest and blueberries. Fill 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle with Muffin Topping. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and drizzle with Muffin Glaze (not pictured above)


Muffin Topping 
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (not pictured above)
 1/2 cup packed Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Flour
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Lemon Zest
2 Tbsp. Butter, melted

 In a bowl, combine above ingredients and sprinkle over muffins.


Muffin Glaze 
1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
1 Tbsp. fresh Lemon Juice

In a bowl, mix powdered sugar and lemon juice together. Drizzle over muffins after baking.

Q & U Wedding Cake

You are going to get a kick out of this.  This is not a real wedding cake.  It's actually a practice wedding cake for the wedding of the letters Q and U for my son's kindergarten class in a couple of weeks.  After school the other day, his teacher and some of the parents were talking about the upcoming nuptials, and his teacher asked who would like to make a wedding cake.  Stupidly, I answered, "I Do!" (No pun intended.)  Have I ever made a wedding cake?  No.  Have I ever made anything that would remotely come close to one?  No.  But I thought it would be fun.  I decided that I wanted to practice first.  So I did.  

Mistake #1. I made the bottom layer out of Rice Krispie Treats, and it's not thick enough.  It's also a different color than the other two layers even though they're all covered in white frosting underneath the fondant.  

Mistake #2. I got impatient towards the end and messed up.  Most of that is either covered up by flowers or in the back.  

Mistake #3. I didn't level the cakes so the top is kind of lop-sided.  

Click here for the cake recipe.