Yeehaw! A Western Party!

I can hardly believe it, but my little girl just turned ONE! Where does the time go? We just had her big birthday bash last Saturday, and it was a ton of fun!

 

We went with a Western theme, and I just have to tell you why. This kid, since she was a newborn, has been in love with Willie Nelson. I kid you not, whenever we had a night where we couldn't get her to sleep, or whenever she would get super worked up about something, we would play Willie's Redheaded Stranger album and she would immediately stop crying, calm down, and go to sleep. Every.single.time. for the past year.

Easy Patriotic Kids' Snack

Can you believe the 4th of July is just around the corner! Where is this year going?

There are so many fun patriotic food ideas floating around Pinterest and the blogosphere right now, so of course I had to make my contribution to that. :) But unlike a lot of the ideas out there that require a lot of time and work, this one is easy enough for kids to make for themselves!

Aren't these just the cutest things?

Football Rice Krispie Treat

Most impressive-looking treats and desserts unfortunately also take a lot of time. Thankfully, that is not the case with this one! This no-bake dessert can be thrown together quickly--and kids can do a lot of it on their own! Because who wants to spend the day slaving over a festive dessert when there are friends to talk to and a game to watch?

I made one large football and a few mini ones from one batch. You can do that, or you can just make one giant one, or only make individual-sized ones. Whatever will work best for your party. Keep in mind that the more mini ones you make, the more you will have to frost, so that will make it a little less quick and easy. :)

 You will need:

1 pkg mini marshmallows
2 T butter
6 C Rice Krispies cereal
1 12-oz bag chocolate chips
White frosting

Before you start, make sure to have your serving platter ready and nearby. You don't want the treats to start hardening while you're getting your platter out of your cabinet and then realize you haven't used it in forever and it's a little dusty so you need to wash it...you know how those things go. At least that's how they go at my house. Anybody with me?

In a large pan, melt the butter and marshmallows over medium-low heat.
(Note: you can also do this part in the microwave, which is a great option for getting kids involved. I would recommend heating it on a lower power setting and stirring frequently).

Cook and stir until mixture is completely smooth. This should only take about 5 minutes on the stovetop.

Remove from heat. Stir in the cereal. Keep stirring until it is well mixed and the cereal is thoroughly coated.

Dump the entire pan onto the center of your serving platter if you are making one big football. If you are making mini ones, spoon smaller amounts around your platter. Try to work quickly.

Put a little cold water on your hands--you don't want them dripping everywhere, but you want your palms and fingers to have a nice thin covering of water. This will magically keep the treats from sticking to your hands.

Smoosh the Rice Krispie blob(s) into a football shape with your hands. Don't over-think it, just smash it sort-of flat and round, and then squish the ends into points. Or have your kids do this part.

If at any time the treats start sticking to your fingers, just apply a little more cold water.

I like to let the treats harden at this point, which doesn't take long. If you're in a hurry, however, go ahead and move on to the next step.

Dump your chocolate chips into a microwave-safe bowl.

See my new photo backdrop? My hubby just made it and surprised me with it.
I love it and had to find an excuse to use it in this post. So gorgeous; you will see it often!

Microwave on a low power setting for 1 minute at a time until the chips are melted. Remember when chocolate chips are melted in the microwave they retain their shape until they are stirred, so stir them thoroughly every minute to see if they are melted.

Frost the Rice Krispie football with the melted chocolate. You could make this even easier and just use chocolate frosting, but I like the taste of the melted chocolate better with the treats. I have also mixed peanut butter into the melted chocolate to use with this--delicious!

All you have left to do is pipe the laces! Don't be intimidated by this part if you have no cake decorating skills; it's very easy. You'll see below that I used a cake decorating bag and icing tip; if you don't have those (or you do, but don't feel like cleaning them afterward), simply put your frosting in a Ziploc bag and snip off a *small* piece of a corner. Instant icing bag!

Start by piping one horizontal line across the football.

Next, pipe 3 or 4 short, evenly-spaced vertical lines over the horizontal one you just made.

That's it! You now have a football! You can handle that, right?

You can see above that I have several stray specks of chocolate on my serving platter. If you have this problem, use a damp paper towel to carefully wipe off any extra chocolate or frosting and you're done!

For an even more impressive presentation, you can make coconut grass to scatter around your platter.

Dump a cup or so of coconut in a bowl, and add several drops of green food coloring.

Stir until coconut is evenly coated, adding more food coloring as necessary.

It won't be perfect; you'll have darker and lighter bits, but I think that only adds to the look.

Sprinkle the coconut around the footballs on your tray.

Amazing how something so simple can really add to the "wow" factor!

Look at the cute mini footballs! I think a whole tray of these would be adorable!

I hope you have fun making and serving this fun treat!

Linking up with Rattlebridge Farm for Foodie Friday, Miz Helen's Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday, and Dear Creative's weekly link party!

     

Transferring a Design to a Cake

This is one of my favorite methods for transferring a design to a cake. It is so simple; if you can trace a line, you can use this method! It is great for designs you do not want to freehand, like symbols, logos, or even characters.

For simplicity's sake, I decided to show you a design using only one color, but it works great for multi-colored designs, as well. Hubby loves Legend of Zelda, so this was the perfect design to put on a cake.

You will need parchment paper, piping gel, and decorator tips, as well as your icing. If you are new to cake decorating and these things sound foreign to you, scroll to the end of the post for some links to get you started.

Start with an iced cake. Make sure you used decorator icing, not the canned stuff. To create a smooth surface for decorating, smooth the icing as much as possible with an angled spatula, then let sit for 10-15 minutes to allow the icing to crust.

Cut a piece of parchment paper large enough to cover the cake.

Lay the parchment paper over the cake. Run your hands gently over the paper.

The warmth of your hands will warm the icing just enough to smooth out many of the little lines or dimples in the icing. The result will not be quite as smooth as fondant, but it will still be pretty smooth, and taste much better than fondant, too. :)

After smoothing for a few minutes, gently peel the parchment paper off the cake.

Again, this only works with decorator icing. If you try this with canned icing, you'll end up with a mess!

Look how smooth this cake is now!

Okay, now on to the fun stuff! You will need parchment paper, a print out of the design you want on your cake, some piping gel, and some cornstarch.

Lay a piece of the parchment paper on top of the design.

Using the piping gel, trace the outlines of your design. Don't worry if it's not perfect.

Continue until you have outlined your entire design.

Slide the design out from under the parchment paper, and you will be left with your design outlined on the parchment paper in piping gel.

Pick up the parchment paper and turn over, piping-gel-side down, on top of the cake. Make sure that you have placed it exactly where you want it, because once the paper is placed, you won't be able to move it.

Gently rub your hand over the paper, and then peel the paper off the cake.

Pretty cool, huh? You now have a perfect outline to follow as your draw your design.

Now you are going to need to fill a decorator bag with decorator icing in the color of your design. Use a small round tip on the bag; I used a size 4.

Trace over the piping gel with the icing. Take your time; this will be the outline that will show. It's not difficult, but it can be a little time-consuming. It's okay, the end result is worth it!

Continue until you have traced the whole design.

Now relax, you have completed the most difficult part!
Next, you are going to use a tight zigzag motion to fill in the outline.

Continue until the entire design is filled in.

You're almost done! It looks pretty cool at this point, but we're going to finish it off a little.

Let the icing crust for 10 minutes or so. Meanwhile, put some cornstarch in a dish.

Dip the tip of your finger in the cornstarch, shaking off the excess. Use your cornstarched finger to rub out the zigzag lines from your design. Reapply cornstarch as necessary to keep your finger from sticking to the icing.

When you have smoothed out your entire design, you are officially finished with that part of your cake! Now just add a border or whatever else you want, and then show off your cake with your perfect design!

As promised, here are some links to get you started building up your cake decorating supplies:

This is a great beginner's set of cake decorating tools:



For a little more money, you can get the decorating caddy complete with all of the tools you need for Wilton Course 1. This is the set I personally have, although I have added a few individual items to my collection. But I love it!



I highly recommend the Wilton cake decorating classes, which are offered at many local craft stores. Click here to find classes in your area.

Decorator Icing Recipe

Just a quick post to share with you my favorite decorator icing recipe, along with a few helpful hints.

1 C solid vegetable shortening*
1 tsp clear vanilla extract
4 C sifted confectioners sugar
2 T water
1 1/2 tsp meringue powder**

*you can use 1/2 C vegetable shortening and 1/2 C butter, but results will not yield a pure white icing
**What is meringue powder, you ask? This stuff:

Why is it important? It will help your icing to "crust", which means it will set up and keep its shape. It also makes it easier to prevent and fix mistakes, because your icing will not smear as easily. I buy it at Michaels or Hobby Lobby, or order it from Amazon.



Cream shortening and vanilla together using an electric mixer set on the lowest speed. (On my KitchenAid, I use the "stir" setting). While a higher speed may give you a fluffier icing, it will pump a lot of air into your icing, as well. Air bubbles in icing are a cake decorator's enemy!

Add the sugar, water, and meringue powder. Mix on low speed, using a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Note: This recipe will yield a stiff decorator icing, perfect for roses or other stand-alone designs. Add water 1 T at a time to reach a medium or thin consistency. I find that about 3 T of water added to this recipe gives me the thin consistency I like for writing or thin piping.

To color your icing, make sure you use food coloring gels, like the kind pictured here:

You can also get these at Amazon:



Do not use regular food coloring! The gels are super concentrated, which means you use much less and they will not distort the consistency of your icing. Food coloring is watered down, therefore requiring more to get your desired color. Usually, by the time that color is achieved, your icing is much thinner than desired--a nightmare for trying to decorate cakes!

In using the gels, do remember that, as I mentioned, they are concentrated. It is usually a good idea to use a toothpick to add color until you get a better idea of how much it takes.

So there's your icing recipe; enjoy decorating all kinds of cakes, cupcakes, and cookies!