Friday, June 28, 2013

Sweet Corn Tomalito

This is one of my faves. I take it as a potluck item and get rave reviews. I just wanted to add it to the blog for easy access.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-corn-tomalito/detail.aspx

I did not have luck with the steaming, as I don't have a double boiler, so I use this highly recommended microwave cooking shortcut: Cook the tomalito, covered, for 7 min. at 30% power and then 4 min. at full power. (Obviously you'll want your dish to be microwave safe and forgo the aluminum foil).

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Cake Boss - Little Einsteins Rocket

When I asked Caden what kind of cake he wanted for his 3rd birthday, I was pretty sure I knew the answer. And it was in fact "a rocket." But not just any rocket that I could buy a cake mold for. It had to be the Little Einsteins rocket. So I did some research, and there were some ridiculously elaborate cakes complete with fondant sculptures of the kids. I knew that was a bit beyond my talents. But I did find a few more reasonable ideas.

I used this blog as my primary guide: http://andreasrecipes.com/little-einsteins-rocket-birthday-cake/. The hardest part of this project was definitely the engines constructed of ice cream cones cut with an X-acto knife (which I had to prop up with toothpicks. If I had to do it over, I'd have turned rocket 90 degrees). I didn't buy the oval cake pans because they were a tad expensive (not to mention that I would have to have had them shipped, and I just didn't get around to ordering them in time). Instead I used my pyrex oblong chafing dishes and trimmed the cakes into more oval-ish shapes. I also added a sheet cake base, so I had more cake and a nice grassy area for rocket and the LEs to rest upon.

I combed eBay for weeks trying to find figurines to use as cake toppers. But the last episode of the LEs was made in 2009, so the toys are now collectors items and selling for ridiculous amounts of money, so I settled upon some card stock cut-outs that I found here: http://a.dolimg.com/en-US/disneyjunior/media/pdf/coloring_and_create/djr_col_lte_characters.pdf.

Here is my final result:


And then we ate it.