Another Cake

So baseball season is in full swing and can I say I'm ready for it to be over. We have baseball every night of the week and because of it we have been eating quick, fast, boring food. I really haven't cooked a normal good sit down meal in two weeks and it is driving me NUTS!
I have however made yet another cake.

One of my dear friends, son turned 12 and she asked me to make him a cake. I was more then willing to do it for them! They are like family and we love them! Anyhow, it was an Oregon Ducks helmet.
The cake is red velvet with cream cheese frosting and marshmallow fondant. Overall I'm pleased with the cake.


The face mask I made 2 nights ago out of modeling chocolate so that it would dry and be nice and hard. I would have liked it to be made of gumpaste as I like working with that more and it hardens faster...but I didn't have any and I live in the middle of nowhere.



After I placed the O's I realized I should had made them larger, but I was rushed and didn't want to have to repair the fondant underneath by removing them. Then I place the face mask and it looked awesome. a half hour before pick up Denver fell off his bike and when I came back in the house the face mask collapsed.... I think it was just too warm and the chocolate didn't hold up. So I scrambled and made a facemask out of toothpicks and fondant. Overall it turned out good and CJ loved it!

First Communion Cake

I was hired to make a first communion cake for two girls this weekend. I have to admit I wasn't too sure how it would turn out, but overall I think it was a success. I did have to Google what the rosary beads and communion cup and wafers looked like though! Oh well
 Here are a couple pictures, I had lots of fun making the sugar flowers, I really love doing that, there is something therapeutic about it or something! Anyhow, enjoy...

Porter Turns Six!

Holy cow when did time start flying by so quick? I can't believe he is six! Here he is with his Castle cake,

He loved it. Here are a few little things about our dear sweet Porter:

• His current love is anything related to Lord of the Rings, Mid-evil times with knights and kings. Hence the castle cake.
• He LOVES legos, he still talks about our trip to Colorado and how his Uncle Buddy let him play with his legos. On his Birthday he played with legos all day long and kept just saying this is so great.
• He is extremely OCD he likes to have things his way and is very particular.
• His favorite foods are anything breakfast and bread related.
• He is our pickiest eater.
• He is very athletic and is excited to get to play minor league Denver here in about a month.
• He is very kind to others and is thriving very well in school
• He loves to play with his siblings but also loves to play independently.
• He is very artistic and creative. Most recently he built an entire castle city out of white printer paper.
• He is so excited about learning how to read and is picking up on it really fast.
• He has the sweetest smile.
• He still suffers from headaches every once in awhile as a result from his surgery but other than that is doing great.
• He is very proud of his scar.

We are so very blessed to have him in our family! We sure do love him!

Parker turns 5!!

My sweet mischeivous, sensitive boy Parker Glen Johnson turned five yesterday! It was a wonderful day celebrating my third born son. He woke up to us singing Happy Birthday to him, enjoyed a breakfast of chocolate chip cookies and played the morning away with his siblings. Once at school Mom and Dad Emery and Carter came and had Lunch with him for his Birthday. Later we did a craft together then he enjoyed the rest of the day at school. He brough volcano cupcakes to share with his class. They were a big hit. For his dinner he requested make your own pizzas. A favorite of my kids, and I love that they will actually eat it since they made it themselves. Once dinner was over we had family time and waited for friends to arrive to enjoy some cake. Then presents and cake time it was! Overall it was a wonderful day and we sure are happy to have him in our family! Here are some facts about Parker: And some pictures

 (Parker in his Ninja Turtle gear he got for his Birthday)

• He loves all things Ninja turtle
• He is starting to be a really good eater, trying everything and not complaining, His favorite foods are Chicken, pineapple, Bacon, pizza, noodles and pretty much anything with sugar in it.
• He is our mischievous one, if it is quiet you need to go find out what Parker is getting into!
• He is our sensitive one, he cries easily and gets emotional. But I think it is because his heart is so big!

(His cake, he requested a Volcano with dinosaurs, too bad you can't buy dry ice in this tiny town or his cake would have been SO much cooler)

• He doesn't like water very much, but is getting much better and hopefully with swimming lessons this summer he will just get better!
• He loves his brothers and sister, he is always telling them he loves them and giving them hugs and kisses.
• He LOVES School, he is excited about starting Kindergarten in the fall, he is very smart and will do awesome in kindergarten. 

• His favorite people are Mom of course! (yes I made it!) His buddy Riggs, and His teacher Tristy!
• He bears his testimony every fast Sunday by himself, we've never gone up there with him and he always bears a wonderful and strong testimony.
• He says he wants to be a Prophet when he gets older.

 

• He is a wonderful listener, and tries really hard to be obedient.
• He loves to smile,
• He loves soccer and riding bikes 

Overall he is an AWESOME Son who we love so very much! Can't believe he is five! He and Porter are the same age for the next two weeks and I wouldn't have it any other way! We love you Buddy!



 

General Tso's Chicken

I made this night for dinner and there are NO left overs it was a huge hit in fact Porter my pickiest of eaters ate 3 helpings and was talking about it still this morning! Definitely will be making it again!

General Tso's Chicken
1 pkg thinly sliced chicken breast (about 7 breast) cut into cubes
1 cup cornstarch
4 eggs beaten
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground ginger

combine the spices with the cornstarch and toss chicken cubes lightly in the seasoned starch. then toss in the eggs and back in the corn starch. Fry till golden brown and drain place in a 9x13 pan

Sauce
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white vinegar (less if you don't like vinegar) I used just under 1/3 cup
4 T Ketchup
1 T Soy sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Whisk and combine well, taste and adjust seasoning to taste, if you like more vinegar or soy whatever add it now. Once the chicken is all fried, pour the sauce over the chicken and toss to coat well. Bake at 350' for 15-25 minutes till chicken cooked all the way through and the sauce is thickened. Serve over white or fried Rice

* For a true General Tso's Chicken you would add Red Pepper flakes to the sauce but being that my kids are little I figured they wouldn't like it. And it was awesome without it!

 

Man it has been awhile since I posted! Life sure has been busy! But I wouldn't have it any other way. Is it sad that the only time I make time to post is when it is a cake? I think maybe it is because I want to have all my cakes for my portfolio book on here. oh well.

Well back around Halloween I donated a certificate for a silent auction for the sixth graders fund raiser for their field trip(it's apparently a big deal this field trip) Anyhow, the certificate was for a cake to serve 100 people, I was bummed because my preference for a starting bid did not get put on there which would have been starting bid of $50. And the cake went for $45 I think. oh well it was for a Good cause and it all worked out because the gal that bought it only wanted cake for 30 people which made me feel alittle better. :)
Anyhow, she asked for a cowgirl cake for her daughter's 8th birthday with teal, pink and purple with Stars on it. It is a simple white cake with strawberry filling, buttercream and marshmellow fondant.

The brim of the hat is made of gum paste. Overall I'm happy with how it turned out. Hopefully the birthday girl like it to!

 

Anyhow, life has been super busy, Darwin has an MRI tomorrow for his back, which might need a possible surgery, hopeful that it won't but we will see. The kids have been sick with the croupy crude and I'm slowly getting bigger with Johnson Baby #6, another boy due July 15th!

Hot Chocolate Truffles

So I've been trying to come up with a good little gift for the boys' teachers for Christmas, I didn't want to spend too much money as that is always tight this time of year. So I decided I was going to make them something. I figured no one really will want a steak cake so I came up with Hot chocolate truffles.
I got the idea from pinterest where I saw a marshmallow stuck to a peppermint stick to use as a stir stick for your hot chocolate and I thought Why not have something that is the actual chocolate that I would stir into the warm milk...
Here is what I did, pretty much you are making a ganache....

2 bags semi-sweet or Dark or milk depending on your taste high quality chocolate chips
    (I used Giradellis)
2 cups Heavy Cream
1 T of sugar more or less to taste
pinch of salt
Crushed up candy canes
Hot chocolate mix

Place chocolate chips in a large bowl. Heat the cream in a sauce pan, add the sugar and salt to dissolve. Once the cream is simmering, pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Whisk till combined and smooth, it will look grainy at first and be a milky brown once it starts to incorporate it will get dark and silky shinny. Cover with Plastic and place in fridge overnight. Place crushed candy canes on a paper plate and the Hot chocolate mix on a separate one. Pull ganache from fridge and with a large spoon, spoon out large balls of the ganache. Place the ball in either the peppermint or the mix and roll to coat and form a ball. Wrap separately in plastic wrap and keep refrigerated.

To use, Heat a mug of milk up and drop your truffle into the warm milk, stir till completely melted and get lost in the silky chocolate heaven.

I placed about six in a cute little mug for their teachers and I'm going to write up some cute poemy type thing if I can be that creative! Of course you have to save one for yourself... quality control and man oh man are they GOOD!