Cake Boss

With a Summer Reading theme like, Build a Better World, it seemed appropriate to build something in Teen Cooking Club.  This month, we asked who could build a better cake.

Cake Bakers....GO!

Considering a time restraint of just under 2 hours to cook, decorate and judge the confections, boxed cake mixes were provided to each team.  The worry of correct measurements of dry ingredients in a flurry was eliminated.  One "rule" for the designs was to create a vehicle.  The definition of a vehicle was to be as open and creative as each team wanted, so they had to support their creation with a good story.  

Getting started at the Union Hall

We have a huge space to bake and decorate at the Local 1000 Union Hall.  With a double oven, all teams were able to prep their cakes and have them cook at the same time.

Remember your cake and start timing!

Each team was responsible for their cake being baked and not burned, 

although I helped with the removal from the hot oven. 

Cooling is Quick in the fridge

Some teams were wise to cool their cakes in the refrigerator.  With a warm cake, icing will slip right off and ruin the design.  There was a ton of candy provided to used as decoration.  More than enough candy to use, but I noticed a lot of sneaking of the treats....

but that's what I planned to see 😎.

Cook, prep, and WASH THOSE DISHES!

Each team was required to follow all instructions, involving the cooking, prep, and clean up of their cakes.  Before judging could take place, each creation needed to be placed on a separate table and each team needed to sanitize and take down their stations.

Quick to Complete

Some teams finished so quickly, I'm not sure they even discussed a plan before they started decorating.  I strolled to each station to check in on progress.  A few teams willingly shared their ideas, but a few chose to be secretive, considering this was a competition.

Blue is the Hue

Although there was a full rainbow of food coloring to use, almost everyone chose blue for their icing.  It is an easy "sky" or "ocean" or alien steel, according to one silly group.  Once all cakes were ready for judging, a representative of each team shared a statement to support their submission.  This peer focused public speaking is a great skill.  Having to supply a story off-the-cuff provided priceless descriptions.

Magical Rickshaw

The clown of the club created a Magical Rickshaw, meant to transport travelers to unbelievable lands.  Most of us jokingly questioned, "where is the rickshaw?"

Fly Away Home

On occasion, there was a shy creator who couldn't give much support to their vehicle story.  This hot air balloon is beautiful, but lacked a colorful story to let the imagination soar.

Butterfly

The butterfly cake will take you to a magical insect world with one bite.  The cake is the vehicle, not the butterfly.  This is like a doorway for entymologists.

Hot Air Inspiration

Another hot air balloon developed in the class.  This one is called "Sky Rider" and can take it's passengers anywhere, anytime.  I wonder if I'd need a work excuse to take a flight...

Just a Truck

The shyest team created this truck.  It was difficult to get a short story description of this vehicle.  At least there were smiles shared in the presentation.  

Public speaking is not an easy task.  Small classes like this are a great start.

Time Travel

A clock is a wonderful vehicle and very creative entry for this contest.  This team left details up to the imagination.  They called this cake, "Time Machine," because time will take you places you've never been and to places you might not wish to visit, like the dentist!

OUtta tHiS wOrLD!

Aliens took over the making of this cake.  Disaster and despair were paired with an alien invasion with this cake called "Candy Crush UFO."  So much candy!!!

Cotton Candy Blowout

The detailed description of this sugar rush of a cake swept us all away.  A budding chef and imaginative story teller said this cake "transports you to a land of sweetness.  

Cotton candy is like a firework.  There is an explosion of sweetness is every bite!" 

I'm Faaaaallllllllliiiiiiiiinnnnnng!

My personal favorite of all the entries was "Fallout Boy." The girls who worked well together creating this masterpiece said "it will transport you to a rainbow land."  I believe the whole class was impressed by this submission.  Considering everyone's wonderful teamwork and the nature of summer, each participant received a McDonald's ice cream certificate, because they are all so cool.  Cakes were split to share with families at home and leftover candies will be saved for October when we create "Freaky Eats."

Thanks for visiting!

Teen Cooking Club will commence in October 2017.

See you then.

~erica

  

Cake Day

If March has a Pie Day, I needed to follow in April with a Cake Day.  While National Cake Day is really November 26, the Southeast Steuben County Teen Cooking Club Cake Day was April 8.  And What A Cake Day It Was!  This class had the most students than ever before.  Luckily, I had more volunteers than ever before!

There were five stations for the 29 students to work.  Each person was designated a table and team and work was underway.  Cake Pops were the HIT of the event.  Above, you see the beginning of chocolate and vanilla cake pop creation.  I really thought the vanilla cake looked like wet sand.

Crumbs to Pops

Making these cake pops required baking cake, then demolishing it into crumbs, adding frosting, then rolling that concoction into bite sized balls.  It seems like more work than necessary, but the results are AMAZING!  I had this recipe on my mind since the summer.  If you are even slightly inclined to try, please check out this book, aptly titled Cake Pops.  The projects listed in the book are so impressive, as are these made by the students.

Cake Pops

The next recipe is one of my favorites for left over mashed potatoes, Potato Cakes.  In order to keep these recipes dairy free, we used instant mashed potatoes, almond milk and dairy-free cheddar cheese, but they still smelled like melted butter...YUM!

Potato Cakes

Impossibly Easy Hamburger Pie Cakes were created by another team.  This recipe was vegetarian, because we used soy based "beef" crumbles, almond milk, and dairy-free cheese.  They were magic and disappeared as fast as they exited the oven.

Cheeseburger Cakes

Chicken Enchilada Cups were another vegetarian option that surprised the meat lovers.  Rather than use real chicken, we substituted smoked tofu to provide the meaty texture, but maintain a vegetarian meal.  There were mixed responses to this "new-to-the-students" ingredient.

Tofu based "Chicken" Enchilada Cups

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes were the last on the menu and this recipe certainly requires some tweaking.  Rather than baking the cake in cupcake liners and topping them with the cones, we would opt to bake the batter directly into the cones.  There are several recipe variations of this method, so this would take a little trial and error.  The things we did not like about the method provided in this recipe were the difficulty icing the cakes.  The icing kept ripping the cake, which was the bottom of the cake, rather than the top.  These treats were also very top heavy, so not easy to transport from table to counter, let alone make ahead and take to a party.

Ice Cream Cone Cakes

Icing included

Even with some trials, these recipes came out perfect.  I love watching the process.  While clean up is often daunting, it was a delight to have so many helping hands.  We even celebrated with a Spring Breaker from Atlanta, Georgia.  This program is going nationwide!

Before

and

After

Another successful Teen Cooking Club is in the books.  Check back in June for a review of Iced Teas and Black Cows.  Rather than read about these programs, contact me to sign up for the an event!

Birthday Bash

Gourd-geous Prizes

Teen Cooking Club celebrated the anniversaries of our lives with a Birthday Bash on Friday, November 13, 2015.  The menu was Italian cuisine and topped off with an ice cream social.

Caesar Salad

The first course was Caesar Salad.  We sourced the recipe from Betty Crocker.  There were no leftovers, despite it's soggy nature...

We recommend using A LOT LESS dressing

Next on plate was a first time attempt in our cooking repertoire, so a slight challenge to all.

Any guesses???

Stuffed Shells are a fun alternative to an average pasta dish.  This recipe was simple, but time consuming.  Bake time was 40-50 minutes, which meant the team needed to hustle to accomplish this task. 

Stuffed and ready for the oven

Ready to get stuffed in the belly.

This was a definite winner for taste appeal.  This fed 19 students with no left overs.  We could certainly have increased our shell quantity and still have eaten all of this goodness.

(It went so quickly, I didn't even get a taste!)

Garlic Bread

It seems bread is a necessity in Italian cuisine, so Garlic Bread was a must.  This was a simple recipe, yet I found a way to slice my own finger when instructing the students on how to chop garlic.  Band-Aids to the rescue; I'm happy that mistake happened to me and not a student!!!

Sugar Cookie Cups

The finale was supposed to be Sugar Cookie Cups.  They looked almost perfect in the oven. The trouble is that I sourced a picture for inspiration, but no actual recipe to give any tips on baking these beauties.  

These images make it seem so easy!

This was a moment where we looked at our results and ditched the idea for a new approach...Cookie Crumble!

Perhaps a little cooking spray would have released these???

If the cookie crumbles, eat it!

Cake is a traditional way to end a Birthday Bash, but we opted for ice cream instead.  This was "It's My Party" flavor, from Wegmans, with cake and icing all inside the container.  What an ingenious plan!  Cookie crumble on the side made this the perfect finale.

It's My Party!

Everyone enjoyed full plates of goodness that they all worked diligently to share.  

Some wonderful helpers made sure all the dishes were done...

Dishes and Clean up are a big part of Teen Cooking Club

While some participants needed a party activity to take up some of the down time...

Musical chairs has no age limit.

This cooking club concludes the year of Teen Cooking Club.  December entertains both Teen Cooking Club and First Friday Art Club in our annual Make & Bake Gifts event.

Check back in Teen Tones to get a taste for this fantastic event. 

Thanks for visiting!

~erica

Creepy Creations

Kitty Litter Cake

Creepy Creations were on plate for October, in recognition of a very creepy month.  We resurrected the Kitty Litter Cake, a ghastly concoction, that this new cat owner wretches over!  I warned the kids that no one ate this cake a few years ago, because it just looked too Grrrrroossssss!!!--this certainly made it the most favored creation of our event.  I believe the double chocolaty goodness aided in the success of this mess.  If you want to attempt this nasty treat at home, try this recipe.  We replaced the German Chocolate cake with Devil's Food Cake, which made it super delicious.

"Looks like intestines!"

Threaded Spaghetti Hot Dog Bites were the main course in our creations.  Slice hot dogs into bite size pieces, thread several strands of raw spaghetti through the hot dog pieces, then cook them in boiling water as you would cook spaghetti.  We added marinara sauce for a bloody look.  Mangia!

"Brrrainnnnssssss"

The next recipe was a sticky situation.  Bloody Popcorn Brains are popcorn balls with a twist.  The colorful marshmallows we used turned the mixture a beige-brown shade and the "blood" was used in making alien faces, so these are Bloodless Popcorn Brains.

Aliens Attack

Pretzels, icing, candies and creativity gave us this alien arrangement.  Alien Pretzels are really easy to create.  The makers of this recipe refused to stick to the "alien" color pallette and opted for the full spectrum.  As one chef in training said, "I mean, who says aliens are only green?"  This recipe is perfectly paranormal.

Green Goo

Last on the menu was this Green Goo Smoothie.  I like to test new ingredients with my group.  This recipe called for almond milk, carob chips--really hard to find in this area, chia seeds and spinach!  Yes, we drank spinach!!!  The recipe we used is M.I.A., but this recipe is very similar.

Yuck!

Gross on a Plate, but it's quite tasty!

Just can't get enough...Nom, Nom, Nom.

Stayed tuned, November is our Birthday Bash.  We celebrate our birthdays for the whole year in one big bash.  More cake, please.