My son asked for a solar system cake this year and I realized I’d have to learn how to make a fondant if I was going to have a modicum of success at making planets.  He’d seen a picture online and had his heart set, and I was determined not to let him down. 

It’s just a regular box cake, chocolate, per his request.  To make the background dark to represent space, I added some blue gel color to chocolate frosting. 

For the planets, I made fondant from a recipe I found online and that worked out really well.  Whew!  I used gel color for their coloring as well.  It really was fun to work with, if a bit on the messy side.  The gel color washed off very easily though, so that was good.

For stars, my son picked out some little pearl cake decorations. 

I think I was a little enthusiastic on making my planets!  LOL  They’re a little on the big side, too big to fit nicely across a 13×9 cake, so my scale is off.  But my son was happy, and I did manage to leave at least enough room to put his name and age, if not the whole Happy Birthday part. 

I have to say, it was MUCH easier to make fondant than I thought it would be.  I was pretty intimidated at first, but my son wanted a solar system cake so I had to figure out a way to make it. 

Turns out, even without a stand mixer, mixing it was fairly easy.  It did require a bit of muscle, but honestly, not as much as making bread by hand.

It was a bit on the greasy side though, due to the shortening, so you’ll need lots of soap and water to wash your hands with afterward. 

I did find that the finished product was a bit on the soft side.  I used it for making planets, not for actually frosting the cake, but it would work well in that application.  It would also work well for cut out flat shapes, but it would probably be a bit too soft for more elaborate shapes that need to stand on their own.  But for the home baker, it’s an easy and fun way to decorate. 

I’d also recommend reading through the the reviews of it on the website too – they had some great tips!

By the way, I didn’t have clear vanilla, I just used regular, and it still came out pretty white. It was basically eggshell white, if not a pure white, and I also used gel colors and they worked great.

Ingredients

• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup shortening
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
• 2 pounds confectioners’ sugar

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together the shortening and corn syrup. Mix in the salt and vanilla flavoring, then gradually mix in the confectioners’ sugar until it is a stiff dough. If you are using a stand mixer, use the dough hook attachment. Otherwise, knead by hand. If the dough is sticky, knead in more confectioners’ sugar until it is smooth. Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
2. To use, roll out on a clean surface that has been dusted with confectioners’ sugar until it is 1/8 inch thick or thinner if you can. Drape over frosted and chilled cakes and smooth the sides down, or cut into strips to make bows and other decorations.

how to make a rainbow cake!

I didn’t use the diet recipe because my 6 year old isn’t on a diet but that recipe does look super simple.    I just followed the standard directions on the box mix I used. 

Mixing the colors was fun.  Finding enough bowls to mix them in was a pain!  LOL  I didn’t mix the basic cake mix much at all, just a rough mix, since I knew the batter was going to get a longer mixing once I added in the colors.  Then I divided into 6 roughly equal portions.  I ended up with about 1 and ¹/₃ c. of batter per color.  I used about 24 “dots” of gel for each color as well.  The orange and purple you have to design yourself but I found that about a 3-1 ratio of yellow to red made a good orange, and the same for blue to red made a decent purple.

I followed the recipe creator’s instruction to use a greater amount of the bottom colors first, and also to reverse them in the pans.

I needed to bake mine a little longer than the box called for (about 5-8 min), probably because I was using 2 boxes of cake mix, like the recipe called for.  My cakes seemed more brown than the creator’s did, but I also used the egg whites and oil in mine so that may account for some of that golden color too.

Once it was done though, and we cut into it, the vibrancy of the colors really came through! 

The pudding/Cool Whip frosting mix tasted really good but it was just a tad sticky to work with.  I recommend pushing the frosting.  It’s a technique I was taught many years ago.  You put a big glob of frosting on the middle of your cake and then spread it by gently pushing small areas of the glob away from the center rather than adding small globs a little at a time and pulling them toward you.  Don’t try to “smear” the frosting or you’ll tear your cake.

Also, I opted to simply invert my bottom layer when I assembled it, rather than slicing some off to make it level. 

It was so much easier than I thought it would be, the hardest part really was just mixing the colors over and over because that got a little old and repetitious because I did it by hand but otherwise, it was lots of fun, and the “ooh!” factor from my kids was the best part. 

Okay, I “oohed!” too. 

Cross-posted at At Grandma’s Table

“That’s some kick-ass customer service, and Le Creuset just earned themselves a customer for life.”

Vodkapundit » Customer Service

Click the link and go read the whole thing!  It’s a great little article, and I have to say, it makes me want to go get that French/Dutch oven I’ve lusted after for so long! 

Le Creuset – Product Information: 9 QT. Round French Oven

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I was experimenting again!  I had some leftover chicken from my Roast Chicken* and was trying to think of something to do with it, that was also low-carb / Atkins friendly. 

Scrounging around in the fridge, I found:

Most of a jar of green taco sauce;
Some sandwich peppers left in the jar, that my husband won’t be eating since he doesn’t take sandwiches in his lunch anymore;
A  bag of frozen mixed vegetables;
A partial bag of frozen yellow squash.

I threw it all together in a skillet, but realized it still needed something.  After my husband got home, we figured that some tomatoes would help.  So I bagged up dinner, stuck it in the fridge and a couple of days later we made it to the store.

I grabbed:

A large can of diced tomatoes;
A medium can of tomato paste;
A package of pre-sliced mushrooms;
A bunch of cilantro.

I tossed everything in my crock pot, and let it simmer overnight.  It actually turned out pretty good!  We had it on low-carb tortillas, but I put it over rice for the kids.  I think it would also go really well over any kind of noodle – spaghetti, macaroni, etc.  I also topped it with some shredded Monterey Jack/Cheddar cheese combo we found at the store. 

So, no beans and no chili sauce or powder, but it still had a chili sort of flavor.  According to my husband.     I got a few leftovers cleared out of the fridge in the process too. 

*Actually, you can use any leftover chicken, or fresh chicken cooked, and cut into small pieces.  Just be sure to remove any remaining skin. 

Roast can seem intimidating but it really isn’t.  Here’s what you’ll need:

A decent chuck roast, preferably boneless, around 3lbs.  Should run you less than $15 if you’re shopping at Walmart.  It’s one of the cheaper cuts, which is why you use it in a roast.

A roasting pan.  You can get one of those cheap splatterware ones, they’re awesome.  Mine’s the medium size I think.  About $10, will last you forever.  You don’t need one of the super expensive ones.

Broth.  Swanson’s reduced sodium is the best.  Get 1 beef broth, and 1 chicken broth, the 32oz size.  As liquid cooks down, the salt becomes more concentrated, that’s why you want a low sodium broth.

Worcestershire sauce.

Time.

Now, toss the roast in the pan.  Douse it with some Worcestershire sauce, go ahead, be liberal.  Not like half a cup liberal, but make sure the top has a nice layer.

Pour in half of each kind of broth – 2 cups beef, 2 cups chicken, and add 2 cups water to the mix*.  The liquid should be roughly level with the top of the roast.

Put the lid on the roasting pan.

Put it in the oven at 325° for about 5 hours.

Done!

See how easy that was?

Now, want an easy peasy gravy to go with it?

Get a can of cream of mushroom soup.  Put it in a microwave safe bowl, along with about a third of a soup can of milk or cream, and maybe a couple big spoonfuls of roast drippings.  Mix.  Microwave it for about 90 secs to 2 min.

You are going to be in beefy roast heaven. 

Keep your unused broth in the fridge, but use it within a couple of weeks.  Trust me, you’ll want another roast. 

*(Alternatively, you can use the 14.5 oz cans of broth instead, and not have any left over.  Still use the 2c water though!)

I found: tomatoes that needed to be used soon; a little can of tomato paste; a jar of mayo that needed that last bit used up; and some mozzarella cheese that wasn’t so great for snacking but would be good for cooking.

This is what I came up with.

I mixed the tomato paste with some mayo, roughly equal parts, maybe more mayo than tomato paste.  Added some cream, just a splash to make mixing easier.  To that I added a hint of garlic, some parsley, and some basil.  I spooned that over the  chicken, put slices of tomato on top, topped that with slices of mozzarella, and then generously topped the whole thing off with parmesan. 

It turned out pretty well.  I think you could substitute the mayo with cottage cheese, ricotta, even sour cream.  I just happened to have mayo on hand.  And certainly you could add more herbs if you wanted a stronger Italian flavor.

Plus, it’s Atkins (low carb) friendly. 

~~Ness~~ 

Cast iron can seem a little intimidating to someone who’s unfamiliar with it.  It seems so “high maintenance!”  It’s really not though. 

Assuming you’ve gone through the curing process, or purchased an already cured pan, here’s what you do to clean it after use.

Rinse off as much of the cooking residue as you can using the hottest water your faucet spews, and a plastic scrub brush.  I have one that’s good for use on Teflon pans.  Never use scouring pads, brushes, or powders on cast iron as that will scratch it and cause rusting.  Don’t use soap either, as that ruins the curing that you’ve put on it.  It’s the curing that creates the non-stick quality that well cared for cast iron has.

Now that you’ve gotten all the gunk off the skillet, put it back on the burner, med-high heat.  This is how cast iron dries.  You can’t leave it with wet spots or it will rust.  While it’s on the heat, pour in about 1-2 tablespoons of oil, either vegetable or canola – something plain.  Now, into the heating oil, pour in an equal amount of table salt.  Yep, plain old salt.  Grab a wad of paper towels, I usually just need 2, and I make a sort of ball and scrub the oil/salt mix all over the pan, and it picks up all the leftover bits of debris from your cooking.  The salt also acts as a disinfectant, so now you have no worries about not using soap.  See how easy that was? 

You need oil so it doesn’t dissolve the salt, like water would.

By the time I’ve gotten all the inside stuff scrubbed, I can take the skillet to the sink, flip it over, and use the rest of my “ball” to scrub the bottom and sides, just to keep the cure nice.  Then, rinse all the salt off under the hottest water you can, put back on the burner for 3-4 min, or until all the water drops are gone. 

Check out how nice it looks!  Easy-peasy!