Fondant Mystery..

I've been pondering the whole idea of fondant for quite some time. You can buy it pre-made or you can make your own. When "V" and I got married our cake was made of fondant. It tends to be an acquired taste and through many cake tastings we found that most are not all that edible -- it definitely makes a cake look pretty but trying to find a good tasting fondant can be difficult. We lucked out and the gal that made our cake always made her fondant from scratch and it was delightful. I'm not a big sweet person so it was nice to have something that tasted nice but not overpowering on the sweet side.

As baby V approaches her 2nd birthday - yes can you believe it - she'll be two... I ponder what cake I'll make this year. Last year I went over board and made two, which ended up being, huge cakes. This is the caterpillar cake I made for her last year.

Now I'm thinking - how can I top this. Well --- I'm thinking I'll go with the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse this year. She's all into Mickey and his gang and it's a weekend ritual to wake up and sing the Hot Dog song every morning. Besides what kid at her age wouldn't love to say "Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse" and have the clubhouse magically appear and best thing of all - have it be edible. Here's the cake I plan on attempting to make.

Keep in mind that I did not make this cake and I can not take credit for the photo above. This cake was made by Norma S. from Indiana and she was so kind to post her cake with tips and hints at the Coolest Birthday Cakes Website. However, it's given me a good guide on how to make baby V's cake this year. However, as you can see - there's fondant - lots of fondant on this cake. I've never made fondant and have never worked with fondant. But to make this cake and make it turn out well I figured I'd have to dabble in getting some experience with this. I had pondered using the pre-made fondant but as I've said before it may not taste the best. So after some research and talking to some fellow friends, I decided to make some fondant on my own. Miraculously -- it was not hard at all. It had to be about the easiest thing I've ever made. Take some Marshmallows, water and powdered sugar and you're good to go. Now I added some almond extract into my water to give it some flavor and to see how it would work and it appeared to have worked wonderfully. Here was my end product for my first small batch.

Now that I've made it - it's sitting in my fridge for use. I will be rolling it out and playing with it soon to see what I can do with it but so far I've got a good product and who would have thought this would have been so easy to make.

Marshmallow Fondant
1 Cup Mini Marshmallows
1 Tablespoon Water
1 1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar

Pack marshmallows into measuring cup until packed tightly and getting 1 cup. Push them down as you measure them out. Place into a microwave safe bowl. Add your water and microwave until they puff up - about 30 seconds or so. (If you want them flavored - add some extract into your tablespoon and then fill the rest up with water.) While marshmallows are in microwave - sift 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar into a bowl. Now, once the marshmallows have puffed up, remove from microwave and stir. It should be a soupy consistency. If you want your batch to be all one color - add your coloring now. (I used the Wilton Paste Food Colors and it worked well.) Next add your marshmallows into your sugar and stir until well combined. It turns into a lumpy dough mess and won't combine into a ball at this point - that's okay. At this point - grease your hands up with some Crisco shortening and dump your bowl of fondant onto a clean surface to start kneading. You'll knead this mixture like you would bread dough. Knead it until you get a nice dough ball and it has nicely come together. Once you have your fondant ball - wrap up in saran wrap, place in a Ziploc bag and refrigerate. From what I've read - keeping your fondant refrigerated will last for several weeks. So this is something that you can make ahead of time as time permits.

Homemade Irish Cream

Prior to St. Patty's day a co-worker and I were conversing about several Irish recipes - mainly Corned Beef and Cabbage. He had told me that a dear friend of his always made sure to have him for over for dinner and some good ol' homemade irish cream. Me, being me, was shocked that someone would actually go out of there way to make Irish Cream. I actually thought - really - you can make Irish Cream. But the more I thought about it, I realized that was a really stupid comment. You can virtually make anything you want if you want to take the time to do so. So the next day at work, I got my very own bottle of homemade Irish Cream from this little ol' gal and it was devine - absolutely devine. It was the best Irish Cream I've ever had. I really enjoy a good bottle of Irish Cream but I don't treat myself to it very often because the good stuff can be quite pricey. However - I was lucky enough to get the recipe to share with all of you. I'm not sure I'll ever buy Irish Cream again.

Irish Cream
makes 1 quart

1/2 cup White Rum
3/4 cup Whiskey (any kind)
2 cups Half and Half
1 small can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tablespoons Chocolate Syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla

Put in a blender and blend away. Store in a quart jar and use at your leisure. Make sure to keep it refrigerated.

Corned Beef Hash

So St. Patty's day has come and gone. It felt like it was around for well over a week or so. Tons of festivities over the weekend, lots of beer drinking and your typical Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinners being eaten. I guess you could say I'm your stereotypical Irish woman. I come from the McCoy and McWilliams families. I have the red hair and enjoy a good stout beer from time to time. But in my life - I don't ever recall having corned beef and cabbage. I vaguely remember my mom trying to make the dish that supposedly every Irish family should have on St Patty's Day. However, if my memory recalls correctly - it was horrendous. Now, my mom, is an awesome cook and how could you mess something up that is supposed to be so simple. So, because I'm Irish and because I love to cook new things - I decided to try my own hand at Corned Beef and -- well Corned Beef Hash. I love cabbage but I wasn't so sure about boiled cabbage. To top it off, my husband is -- well lets say -- not a BIG connoisseur of vegetables. I new if I made the traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage I would be the only one eating it and eating it for an entire week. So then my brain starts working and I think - what about Corned Beef Hash. He's not crazy about onions but he loves a good crispy potato and meat - usually any type of meat. He's definitely a meat and potato man. So here's my take on Corned Beef Hash. This was my first attempt at even cooking Corned Beef and honestly, it was quite delightful. So here's a recipe for you to enjoy! Good Day!

Corned Beef Hash
1 to 2 cups cooked corned beef chopped
1/2 cup diced onion
2 cups diced potatoes

Put some oil in a sautee pan. Add your potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Cook them until they are crisp and tender. Add your onions and sautee until lightly soft. Then add your cooked corned beef and warm it all through.

To cook the corned beef - I did mine in the crock pot with 1 can of beer, 2 cans (just fill up the beer can) of water or until it fully covers the meat. Add the spice packet that comes with the corned beef and cook on low for 8 hours. You can also do this in a roasting pan or dutch oven pan and bake at 350 for several hours. Package directions should give you a time frame.