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...

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!



 

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!

Forest Waterfall Cake

So about a week ago I was asked to do some sketches for some cakes for an event here in town. The Forest Service was celebrating their 40th year of volunteers, so I drew up several sketches along with prices and they picked from them. They were on a budget so I was only gonna do one layer of cake on each teir rather than the normal two, which would be more on point for the servings they wanted and the price... however once I got making it...it just wouldn't have looked right with only one layer of cake, so needless to say they got a steal. It was lots of work but lots of fun, however it was hard because I got sick along with the kids...no fun, My hands are raw from washing them so much! But it was worth it!




the front, everything is edible except the stump :) If I were to do anything differently I would listen to Darwin and do the fondant under the water fall blue rather than white as the "water" did kind of run off the edges and you could see the white underneath. over all it was a success!

The back side of the cake, I used a chocolate marshmellow fondnat recipe that I'd never worked with before and it cracked like crazy but I left it for this cake as it was rustic and dirt/bark like.

Now I'm going to bed!

Here is the most Recent of my cakes. This was for Darwin's cousin reception that was in Burns last weekend. It is a walnut carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. The carrot cake was a HUGE hit...it is a really tasty recipe so I thought what better place to share than on my blog :) So here it is....


Carrot Cake:

2 cups Sugar

1 ½ cups Oil

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

2 cups flour

2 tsp cinnamon

3 cups grated carrots (sometimes up to 5 cups)

1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream sugar and oil until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat well. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Mix on low speed just until moist. Fold in carrots and nuts. Bake at 350' for 50-60 minutes in greased and floured pan.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick of butter . softened

16 oz box of powdered sugar

8 oz package softened cream cheese

½ tsp vanilla

½ tsp lemon juice

Mix butter and cream cheese. Add powder sugar and beat well. Add vanilla and lemon juice and mix it in. Frost cake when cool

And here is one more recipe for kicks... so like the recipe says you should grease and flour your pans...this is kindof a pain and you are always wondering anxiously...did I grease and flour it enough...will the cake come out. Until alas, you flip that pan over and nothing happens.... well us cake people that do lots of cakes use something called cake release...

it is an 8 oz bottle and usually goes for about $5.00...now that can get pretty spending if you use it alot like I do....so I did alittle googling and found a homemade version and man oh man I'll never buy that kind again!

 So here it is for you all...

Cake Release

1 part veg oil

1 part shortnening

1 part flour

 whipped till combined and smooth Store in air tight container stir if necessary before use. I store it in a mason jar.

Happy Easter! Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter holiday, we had great fun filled with Esater egg hunts, good food, friends and great lessons about the resurection. I did the resurection egg lesson that I do every year and started crying as my kids knew exactly what item represented before I had a chance to tell them or read the scriptures. I was so proud of them and it reassured me that we were doing a good job teaching them the things they need to know. I'm doing yet another wedding cake this weekend and it is going to be carrot cake. The bride really wanted to use her mom's recipe and I thought I better do a test run to check the recipe. So I made an Easter cake. Great Fun! Now I'm trying to unclog my kitchen sink so I can get all the prep done for the wedding cake! And I really Don't want to call a plumber!! AHHHHH! Pictures of the wedding cake will come soon!

So life has been a little more than just plain right crazy and thus the blog and me cooking took a back burner. Since my last post, I've done a wedding cake, while 9 months pregnant, had said baby, the day after the wedding and then spent 8 days in the NICU, got home and have been adjusting to life with five children all six and under! I'll post pictures of the wedding cake in the next post, we are so glad that Devin and Emily finally made it official and she is now part of our family!
Anyhow, this beautiful and oh so scrumptious picture above was of an experiment of mine and let me just say it was beyond a success, it was so yummy and we will definitely do it again as the possibilities are endless.

For a quick easy dessert all you need is
Cake mix of your choice (I used chocolate) prepared according to directions on box
strawberries, sliced and sweetened with a bit of sugar
vanilla ice cream
chocolate syrup
waffle maker

yep waffle maker, fill your waffle maker with the cake batter and cook till done. immediately top with strawberries and ice cream and syrup! You will have a quick and simple dessert that will be sure to dazzle your guests! And it is SO good!

Mario Cake

Denver's best buddie Luke celebrated his 6th Birthday today. Luke came over when we celebrated Porter and Parker's Birthdays and all he could talk about was the marshmellow frosting! His mother asked me if I would make a cake for him using the marshmellow fondant. I was happy to. However I had to summon my inner video gamer, which I soon found out there isn't an inner one of those in me, so I googles alot. His theme was Mario. The cake turned out cute and it was a huge hit!

Marion Berry Pie...Mmmmmm

Alright, the move is done! For now until we get to do it all over again in a few weeks! I REALLY hope and pray that the house in Lakeview is ready by July 1!! Anyhow today we had a lovely sacrament farewell to Darwin's cousin Delight who will be leaving in 2 weeks to serve in the Baton Rouge Louisanna Mission. Later this evening we had a family get together and I was assigned to bring dessert. Well being that my living quaters are dishelved and unorganized..I went for simple and what ever it was had to come from stuff I already had on hand.. So Marionberry pie it was and my oh my it was good! Now I'm not a huge fan of warm berrry pies unless I have some cool ice cream to eat with it, so I decided to make a cold pie this time around and it was a hit.

Here is the recipe...

Marion Berry Pie
5 cups frozen Marion berries
1 cup sugar
4 T cornstarch
2 T lemon Juice
1 9inch pie crust baked

In a sauce pot add 2 1/2 cups of berries, the corn starch. lemon juice and sugar. Place remaining berries back in freezer till needed. Mash up the berries and cook on meduim heat till it comes to a boil. Cook for 3-5 minutes stirring constantly until berries are mashed and filling is liquid. Allow to cool completely, then gently mix in remaining frozen berries. Add to baked shell and chill till served. Serve cold.

The Relief Society Birthday Cake

 Months before Darwin got his new job I was asked to make a cake for the Relief Society Birthday Dinner, that was on March 17. I wasn't sure what to do and frankly once Darwin left I lost any and all enthusiasm I had for the cake. Lucky for me I have a wonderful friend who loves to assist in the cake making fun. She searched for ideas and she designed the cake. Our other friend Tamara who is starting her own cupcake business wanted to come and help and learn. It was fabulous I must say to be the executive chef and teach. I baked all of the cakes, made the buttercream and fondant, and fillings. Then we all got together and decorated the cake. I showed them how to do each step and then let them go for it, and was there if they needed me. It was a great team effort and was a huge hit!



 The bottom layer was a french vanilla cake with a fudge and fresh strawberry filling. The middle layer a chocolate cake with a creme de menthe filling with andes mints, and the top layer a lemon cake with a lemon blueberry filling. All covered with homemade buttercream and marshmellow fondant.

The three of us with the finished project. Tamara will do fabulous in her cupcake business and I would hire Michelle ANY day as an assistant, cook, babysitter, teacher, friend, pretty much whatever!

I'm sad to know that this is probably the last cake I will do for the public in Harney County, I've got Porter's Birthday this next weekend. I'm trying not to dwell on the friends and ward we will be leaving and focus on the great opportunity and exciting adventure that is before us.

Parker's 3rd Birthday Cake

Happy Birthday on the 12 to my dear sweet devious and mischeivious Parker! He loves big trucks so I made him a truck cake. He loved it!

Front view

Other side and back...I left it on the stove like an idiot and melted the orginal back off, of course this happened before I took any pictures. So a quick fix and it turned out ok..

He love the cake and was sad to cut into it. He is such a sweet boy and we are so blessed to have him in our family! We love you Parker!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

My friends and I got together tonight to decorate some Valentine cookies. We had lots of fun with lots of laughter. We did some cute little Valentine cookies for our kids then some ...more creative cookies for our husbands. It was great fun and I think they turned out pretty funny!

 The ones for the kids.....and now the ones for Darwin....

Too funny! We used royal icing to decorate the cookies and here is the recipe.....

For those of you who don't know Royal icing is great, it taste pretty much like sugar but you can add flavoring to it. It is very thin and easily piped, smooths easily and can be used for many things. Thicker royal icing can be used to make flowers and things for cakes as well. It dries hard and smooth.

You can make it with egg white but i found Meringue Powder is much easier

Royal Icing
1/4 cup Meringue Powder
1/2 cup cold water
2 1/2-4 cups sifted powdered sugar

In a mixer combine Meringue powder and water and mix till peaks form, add powdered sugar till you have your desired consitancy. Color, fill piping bags adn have fun!

The redneck cake...

So today I spent the morning doing a test run of what I'm refering to...imagine the Jaws music in your head...the redneck cake. I decide that I didn't need to do a full feldge test run and that one small teir would work, so it began. I made Darwin's favorite cherry chip gag, (sorry folks I'm not an artifical cherry kind of gal) covered it with Buttercream then made my marshmellow fondant. I thought I would share this recipe here as well as the modeling chocolate recipe... recipes to follow shortly. I started by making 3 shades of army green, a chocolate brown and white fondant. I then took each color and formed it into a snake squished the snakes together and twirled and folded a few times then rolled out. It looked really good just like Camo. I covered the cake then drew the bark pattern by free hand on the fondant. I then took the modeling chocolate and formed branches. Then made the chocolate leaves. I bought candy melts in different "leaf" colors and coated fake fall leaves with the different shades, then peel off the fake leaf leaving the chocolate leaf intack. It turned out pretty good. The couple came over to look at it and drop off the topper adn pillars... did I mention the pillars? they want it seperated by pillars that they have covered in camo duct tape. The cake stand orginally was going to be a round of wood cut and sealed but they told me they couldn't find a round big enough so would like to me to cover a board in...you guessed it camo duct tape... I told the couple if you don't like the way it looks or want my to do something different let me know and I'd be happy to change it... but no it is just perfect and what they wanted. oh goodness....
  anyhow, it will be interesting. Here are the recipes:

Marshmellow fondant:
1 pkg marshmellows
2-5 T water
2 lbs sifted powdered sugar
1/2 shortening

Place marshmellow and 2 T of water in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second intervals stirring inbetween until completely melted (about 3 minutes) fold in 3/4 of the powdered sugar. Grease hands adn table GENEROUSLY with the shortening, pour fondant out of bowl and knead incorporating the remaining sugar. If it tears easily it is too dry and add more water. Knead till it forms a ball that will not tear when stretched about 8 minutes. Store over night by coating with a thin layer of shortening and covering in plastic wrap and then in an air tight container. Roll out to 1/8-1/4 inch thick and cover cakes. Can be colored and flavored if you want. To make chocolate fondant sub 1 cup cocoa powder in for the powdered sugar.

Modeling chocolate: if you don't know what this is it is AMAZING!! it is so simple to make and great fun to play with. You can make it different colors by using white chocolate and food coloring *Just be sure to use powdered or Gel food coloring NOT liquid, the luquid contains water which will cause the chocolate to seize and have to be thrown out* This wonderful stuff, taste like a richer tootsie roll and can be shaped into any shape, it is so easy to work with.

1 bag chocolate chips
1/3 cup corn syrup

melt the chips in the microwave and fold in the syrup. Stir till thick then turn onto plastic wrap. Spread out and allow to sit out to set, about 2 hours if on the counter 30 minutes in the fridge. Tear off a  piece and start shaping, store in an air tight container.

Vampire Teeth

Growing up my mom always made these adorable teeth cookies. She always made them around valentines day I think because they were pink and like little smiling kisses. But I got thinking I could make these for Halloween with a small change. They are super easy.

Teeth cookies

Sugar Cookie dough

vanilla frosting colored pink

Mini marshmellows

large marshmellows cut into fangs

Roll out the cookie dough and cut into round, use you fingers to indent the lips and then score the cookie in half don't cut completely. Bake

Once cooled break in half at the score mark and frost the bottom of each half. place the marshmellows and top with the other half.

Mmmmmm... Baked Apples

I have found my new favorite thing! we finally decorated for Halloween, a week before but better late than never right? We went to the pumpkin patch and I was feeling all festive and fall like, so I decided to make something with Apples and what was created was nothing short of heavenly. I told Darwin this might have to be a new tradition for thanksgiving and he said how about every Sunday... I guess that means he liked them!

6 Braeburn apples
1 1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 T cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3 T flour
2 T white sugar
1/2 stick butter
1 1/2 cup apple juice
1/2 recipe caramel fondue

Prep the apples, cut of a small slice off the bottom so they stand evenly. Slice off the top and core out the center. Combine all of the other ingredients except for the juice and caramel, in a ziploc bag and mix till well combined. Place apples in Baking dish. Spoon about a tsp of the caramel into the hole then fill with the oatmeal mixture. Top with a bit of the caramel. Place apple juice in the pan surrounding the apples and bake apples at 350` for 35-40 minutes, till apples are cooked through. Serve warm with more of the caramel on the side as well as vanilla ice cream.

So yummy!

yet another cake

Darwin's cousin got married this past weekend, and as if I wasn't busy enough recovering from a trip and having a house full of stomach flu children...I made the cake as a gift to them. Considering I did it super fast and pretty much in one day I think it turned out pretty good.

cream cheese pudding pie

So I was suppose to make a dessert for a dinner with friends and totally forgot...so I made it yesterday. I didn't want to go to the grocery store again, so I made this with stuff that I had on hand, it actually was really yummy! you could change it up easily as well.

Cream Cheese Pudding Pie
1/2 box graham crackers, made into crumbs
2 T butter, melted
Or you could use a premade graham cracker crust
1 pkg cream cheese softened
1 box instant vanilla pudding
1/4 c sugar
1 c milk
1/4 c carmel sauce
1/4 c chocolate sauce
chocolate curls

Make the crust by combining the crumbs and melted butter and forming into a crust. In a mixer combine cream cheese, sugar and pudding mix, mix till smooth. Add the milk, mix till smooth if too thick add a bit more milk. Spread the carmel on the bottom of the pie pan on top of the crust. Then spread the cream cheese mixture on top. Drizzle with the chocolate sauce and top with chocolate curls. (to make chocolate curls use a veggie peeler) Refridgerate for 1 hour prior to service.

Caramel Fondue

So every year there is a father and sons campout in our ward. Me and few friends always get together and do a fondue party and stay up late chatting. Normally we do a chocolate fondue and cheese. But this year my friend Michelle had a baby, adorable Brigham does NOT like chocolate! So I decided to do a caramel fondue for her and it was yummy!


2 cups sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 stick butter, room temperature and cut into pieces
2 tsp vanilla

In a sauce pot combine, water, syrup and sugar. Over low heat cook for about ten minutes till the sugar is completely dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and cook till syrup begins to turn a golden brown. Swirl the pan or brush down the sides with a pastry brush with water. Continue to cook till the syrup is a deep amber color. Remove from heat and add butter and heavy cream. Return to heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Allow to cool for 30 minutes. Serve warm or cold with fresh fruit, angel food cake or our personal favorite scones. Supper yummy!

Grandma Macbeth's Scones

I'm posting this just for my friend Heidi who loves all things fried and requested this for her upcoming visit. Best served fresh and hot with honey butter and powdered sugar. Also good with perserves.

2 T yeast
1/2 c water, lukewarm
2 c milk, scalded then cooled
1/2 c shortening
1/2 c sugar
2 tsp salt
3 eggs
6 c flour

combine water and yeast and allow to dissolve. Combine all ingredients well to form a soft dough. chill for at least one hour preferably overnight. Roll out dough on a floured surface then cut into strips or shapes and deep fry. Serve hot.