Carrot King Cake

I realize now that my first experience with King Cake wasn’t eating my first delicious slice with my friend Robin, but watching others “negotiating” with it in a movie. When we were dating, my husband and I went to go see The Umbrellas of Cherbourg at a rep theatre. There, we watched Madame Emery [Anne Vernon], finesse a match between her pregnant daughter, Genevieve [Catherine Deneuve], and the wealthy Roland Cassard [Marc Michel] by suggesting that, after Genevieve has found “l’enfant” inside of her slice of cake [a small white porcelain baby Jesus] she must choose “le roi,” a king, for herself from among the people in the room. The celebration shows us, then, that it is either Epiphany, Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras, or somewhere in between, and the cake on the table suits the tricky, somewhat somber mood. It’s a basic ring or circular shaped bread, not unlike brioche, sliced into triangles. Madame Emery has served it up on dessert plates with a bit of cream or custard. Here, the king cake tradition becomes a tool for matchmaking. Looking up from her serving, porcelain baby in hand, Genevieve admits, wryly, she has no choice in the matter. [The father of her child and the man she loves is off doing his service for his country.] The only man she can choose as her king is Cassard, who, after thanking Genevieve for the favour, offers the his crown to wear on her own head.

We love the movie, and our kids do, too. And, while we know that King Cake, in the context of Umbrellas…, is not much of a celebration cake, per se, the kids still like the notion of finding the king in the cake, and in consequence, having the ability to make choices because of that lucky find. Of course, none of the ladies at the table are going to want to be forced to choose a king [despite our love for the fellas in the room]. We will want to be royal in our own right, and without having to ask anyone’s permission, first. So, this year, we decided to make a King Cake in which everyone who has a slice is King, and in which the joy of the experience is the treasure hunt of finding the king [or, in our case, the coin, itself].

King Cake aficionados will know that the recipe below looks and tastes nothing like a fine brioche or the traditional Louisiana King Cake derived from it. For a more traditional confection, check out last year’s post on King Cake Two Ways. There, we made a traditional King Cake, but with a fabulous Lemon Ginger Cream as well as a Chocolate King Cake with a Chocolate Cream. This year, since Mardi Gras falls just two days before Valentine’s and three days before my birthday, we thought we’d go ahead and make something that had a king cake “feel” [ie a hidden toy or trinket in the cake] but with a non-yeasted, cake base. So, we came up with loaded version of Carrot Cake. It is not only filed with spices, nuts, and pineapple chunks, but also with coconut and several large, clean coins. This fullness makes it an odyssey or adventure to find the hidden gems within. The fix is in! Each member of our dinner party will find that they, in fact, are king. We’ll also be making paper crowns for each of the family members to wear when they find their hidden treat(s).

This Carrot King Cake can be as easy or as difficult to bake as you choose to make it. Want to use canned pineapple? Be our guest. Don’t want to lightly roast your nuts or your coconut before baking? Fine, don’t. The only thing we suggest you do is to take good care of your coins if you choose to bake them directly in your cake! Count how many coins you’ve put into your cake several times before baking. [Or, if you are nervous or just want to take it easy, slice the cake, and place coins in each slice before you serve]. And, have each guest do a thorough search of their cake with a fork before they really dig in. We have gone with Canadian Loonies & Toonies [1 and 2 dollar coins] as opposed to loose change. [Quarters are the smallest we would ever think to go.] U.S. Silver Dollars are likely the best choice if you can get them in the States. We’ve put our coins into the closed utensil box in the dishwasher and run them on sanitize before baking. A good soak in strong vinegar [think “pickling” strength] would also do the trick. Same goes for the coins when they’ve been picked out of the cake. Wash them off best as you can, and then soak them in vinegar overnight.

Carrot King Cake
inspired by The Joy of Cooking
Makes a 9-inch round 2-layer cake

INGREDIENTS

3 large eggs
.5 c granulated sugar
.5 c brown sugar
1.5 c finely grated carrots, about 3-4 whole
2-3 tsp lemon or lime zest
.66 c finely diced fresh or canned crushed pineapple, for a measuring guide, see Hints below
1 tsp vanilla
.66 c vegetable oil
1.5 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp baking soda
.5 tsp salt
1 tbs ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
.75 c flaked coconut [sweetened or unsweetened], lightly toasted if desired, see Hints below
1 (generous) cup chopped pecan pieces, roasted if desired, see Hints below
[optional] 8-10 Several Large Coins, Cleaned, see Hints below
2 9-inch round circular pans

for the icing (can be halved)
2 c [2 80z packages] light cream cheese
.5 c butter
2 tsp vanilla
4+ c icing sugar

[optional] Coloured Icing sugars or additional chopped nuts or toasted coconut for decoration.

HINTS

How to Prepare the Coins
Soak dollar or two dollar coins in strong [pickling] vinegar overnight and/or place in utensil holder and run through the sterilize setting of your dishwasher.
You can also wrap them in pieces of parchment paper before inserting into the cake.

How to Roast the Nuts
Place nuts evenly on a baking pan and roast at 350 for 6-8 minutes, until pecans begin to darken slightly.

How to Barely Toast the Coconut
Place coconut evenly on a baking sheet and roast at 350 for 3-4 minutes

How to Measure out the Pineapple
If you are using fresh pineapple, finely dice pineapple until you have .66 cup. Try to scrape at least a tbs of the juice from your cutting board into your measuring cup as you go. If you are using canned, strain crushed pineapple, reserving juice. Add .66 c of pineapple and about 1 tbs of the juice to the recipe.

METHOD

Heat oven to 350.
Line each pan with a circle of parchment cut to size.
Grease and flour lined baking pans or coat with baking spray.
Place eggs, carrots, pineapple, zest, sugars, oil, and vanilla into a large bowl and stir until combined.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cardamom.
With a spatula, fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture until just combined.
Fold in roasted nuts and coconut.
Pour evenly into 2 9-inch circular pans.
Drop your coins evenly around the circumference of one layer of your cake. [We used the 8 traditional points on a compass as our guide.]
Bake layers 25-30 minutes or until a skewer or thin knife inserted into the cake comes out almost clean.
Cool cakes completely.
Prepare the icing by blending the cream cheese and the butter in a mixer.
Add vanilla and sugar by the .5 c until you have the consistency you desire.
Ice and layer the cakes.
Decorate with traditional Louisiana Mardi Gras coloured sanding sugars or with chopped nuts or coconut.
Enjoy!!

Here’s a link to last year’s recipes for King Cake Two Ways: Auntie Robin’s King Cake with Lemon Ginger Cream & Uncle Rock’s Chocolate King Cake with Chocolate Cream.

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Toby’s Snow Day: Creating Checklists for Independent Play

It’s snowing today. It’s snowing hard. Of course, the schools in the city aren’t officially closed.  But, I’ve got one kid home sick already. [Poor Bea’s recovering from pneumonia.] There’s really no point in making the GROUP effort to get the other one off to school through a boot-rise of snow, especially with more coming. Hooray, Hooray, it’s Toby’s lucky day!!  But what the heck are we going to do?  I’ve got work to do. Bea’s isolated herself in her room to do some reading and to get a start on all of her missed schoolwork [read: play on her tablet].  And, torture of tortures on a snow day…he can’t go out and sled down the fantastic hill in our park until papa comes home!!    It’s checklist time!

ON MAKING CHECKLISTS FOR INDEPENDENT PLAY
Over the past few years, my husband has gotten the kids into the good habit of making lists of fun [or necessary] things to do over the weekend. Most P.A. days and Saturdays, he’ll sit down with the kids and come up with a list of TBDs and WTDs [Want to Dos].  It’s been a real lifesaver in our household. [I started doing it on our Summer of Funner days too!] The list can serve as a structured schedule or as a loose guideline to consult when someone [or all of us] looks as it they’re about to lose their way.  This morning, he helped Toby come up with a very special list of items to do on his snow day. They made their list and made sure that most of the necessary toys and supplies were within arm’s reach. It took all of ten minutes, and let me tell you it was absolutely worth the time and effort. I consider it an early Valentine.

Here’s a transcription of said inspiring manuscript 🙂 :

TOBY’S SNOW DAY

• Read at least two chapters of Warriors in your room
• Do a grand prix race [with toy cars on a track] and record results on a score sheet
• Read two issues of Shogun Warriors…or finish the Saga
• Trace your 3 favourite Skylanders [on tracing paper] and then draw them in your sketchbook
• Create a story about a Raven and a Tortoise. Write it in your sketchbook.
  Name your characters
  Design the Characters – Draw them so you can recognize them in each picture
  What do they do together?
  Can they talk?
  What kind of story is it? Funny? Adventure?
  Do they meet for the first time or do they already know each other?
  Do they meet other characters?
  It should be about as long as a Frog & Toad story. One Idea: Snowy Day/Blizzard
• Be prepared to show me your five favourite or strangest super characters you never knew before [from a book of comic book heroes]
• Draw these five characters in your sketchbook
• Build a new Skylanders Giant out of Lego
  Maybe use Bionicle Pieces
  What type is it?
  What is its name?
• Build a giant Thomas Track in the basement [haven’t done that in ages]
• Learn a Deadly Checkmate [from the chess book in T’s room]
• Copy out your favourite Dr. Suess poem in your BEST handwriting on lined paperCLEAN YOUR DESK ABOVE AND BELOW!

  

And here’s the little man checking it off!!

How do YOU manage?

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Chinese New Year Special: Best of … Snakes

Chinese New Year is this Sunday, February 10, 2013

THE YEAR OF THE SNAKE

So, here it is….

The Lunchbox Season’s

BEST OF…SNAKES!
and a Chinese New Year Feast

 
Snake Sock Puppets
DIY Snake Puppets made from socks, googley eyes and ribbon.

 
Python Masks
A free printable python mask with additional DIY/Instructions.

 

Necktie Bean Bag Snakes
Transform a dollar-store necktie into a bean-bag snake – a great shoulder companion!

 
Snake Skip-Counting Game
Free printable sheets and instructions for a snake-shaped skip-counting game.
Use chocolate coins, poker chips or other tokens and get started on all of the fun!

 
Serpent Mobiles
DIY serpent mobile with free printable template.
Hang these from your lights or from the ceiling as your Chinese New Year decor!

Snake Stick Puppets
Snakes on dowels. Easy DIY.

Snakewiches
Easy to make snake sammies!

   
Chinese New Year Feast
Have a fabulous Chinese New Year Feast!
Recipes for Pork Potstickers, General Tso’s Chicken, and Kung Pao Shrimp.
And a cute cupcake dragon/snake as your dessert inspiration!

Enjoy!
Kung Hei Fat Choi!
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Valentine’s Treat: Cream-Cheese Sugar Cookie Conversation Hearts

I wanted to make a festive weekly treat for the kids a bit before the sugar rush of the actual holiday…so here they are, and a week early…our cookie Conversation Hearts!
You’ll want to save this sugar cookie recipes. It’s one of the best I’ve ever come up with. And the icing…let’s not even get started on the heavenly icing!!

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie Conversation Hearts

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
Makes 3 Dozen

Ingredients
1 c butter
3 oz (6 tbsp) cream cheese
.5 c sugar
1 egg
.25 tsp salt
1 tbs vanilla
3 c flour
Heart Shaped Cookie Cutter
Butter Icing [Below]
Script Icing [Below]

Method
Cream the butter, cream cheese & sugar in a mixer or by hand.
Add the egg, salt, & vanilla until combined.
Add the flour by the .5 cup until a soft dough forms.
Refrigerate for 2-24 hours.
Heat oven to 375.
Roll cookies on a floured surface or between parchment or waxed paper ~.25-in thick.
Cut into heart shapes.
Place onto parchment or silpat lined pans.
Bake for 7-10 minutes or until slightly brown at the edges.
Cool cookies completely.
Make Base Icing & Script Icing
Ice Cookies with Base Icing.
Allow icing to firm up for at least 30 minutes before applying Script Icing.
Apply words to your cookies with the Script Icing.
Phrases to try: LOVE, BE MINE, FRIENDS, URGR8, LOL, SAY YES, MARRY ME, SWEETHEART, FATE, KISMET, XOXO…

Butter Icing for Sugar Cookies

Ingredients
3c icing sugar
6 tbs butter, slightly softened
1 tbs vanilla extract
2+ tbs milk
gel or liquid food colouring to suit

Method
Blend the butter, sugar, milk & vanilla in a mixer, starting on low speed and moving to medium-high as the icing comes together.
Add additional bits of milk by the tablespoon until the icing just reaches a spreadable consistency.
[Optional] Divide icing into several bowls.
Add gel or liquid food colour [to each batch] to suit.
We used pink, purple, blue, and green

Script Icing [3 Options]
1) Small gel decorator icing tubes from the grocery store, or a larger tube fitted with a small circular icing tip.
2) Reserve left-over base icing, add additional icing sugar [and food colouring] if necessary to get to a pipe-able consistency.
3) Add small amounts of milk by the tablespoon to 1 or more cups of icing sugar until you achieve a thick, pipe-able consistency. Colour as desired.
Options 2 and 3 should be placed in a piping bag fitted with a very small circular tip for writing.

  

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