Steak Cake and Baked Potato Ice Cream

"What, who?" you might ask. Well you're not alone because that's pretty much what the kids said too. "Are we making a cake out of meat?! WHAT?! HELP!"

 

No meat cakes here, but cake that was to look like meat. And ice cream made to look like baked potatoes. Why? Because I'm a little nutty like that. And because I let them talk me out of my original plan to make a full meal and sit down to eat it together. Last week when I asked what they wanted to make for the last class of the session they all yelled out, in unison, as if they'd practiced it a thousand and one times, "CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!" So cake it was, but their penance for not going along with the grand plan was that it had to resemble a meal. Steak cake and baked potato ice cream seemed like a logical choice. In actual fact, although I am a strong proponent of local, organic, sustainable, nutritious foods I'm also a big fan of letting loose a little bit and just having fun sometimes. Kids like cake. There's no reason for them not to enjoy some good, homemade cake every now and then. Will seemed to think it was a fine idea.

To save time I shaped the ice cream the day before and put it in the deep freeze so it wouldn't turn to goo when it was time to roll it in cocoa and powdered sugar. I also made a simple marshmallow fondant in advance because it has to sit overnight before it's rolled out. So when we gathered around the table in the kitchen this week the first order of business was to make cake batter. Once the cakes were in the oven it was time for frosting (you'd think that with fondant the frosting would be unnecessary, but it actually holds the fondant on the cake).

All the cakes looked perfect when they emerged from the hot oven, but they were, not surprisingly, HOT, and we were running short on time, so we cooled them in the refrigerator while we rolled the ice cream in cocoa "dirt."

That whole deep freeze plan worked for the most part, but some of us have smokin' hot chocolate hands!

A couple of the kids had extra energy, so I gave them the job of whipping the cream to put on their potatoes in lieu of sour cream. Guess what?! Whipping cream is hard!

The part where we had to roll the fondant to look like a cooked T-bone steak is where things got a little interesting. Cases in point:

I know, I know, but really, people, it's the journey that counts. And we had a fabulous trip!

See you next session!!