Ridin' 4 Jesus 55th Birthday Cake

Happy birthday to me! Turning fifty gave me the blues. I kept quiet, made the hubby swear to no party, and managed to make it past fifty without any over-the-hill references. Now, five years later,  I'm ready to embrace my age and celebrate! My birthday is a great reason to make a cake and decorate it with RBCF, or rolled butter cream fondant.

Front of competed cake.
The Sallee Bonham figurine was originally a Harley Davidson Christmas ornament.
 I painted the hair red and put my own back patch on the vest. 

The beginning.
The layers are covered in Rolled Butter Cream Fondant, RBCF.

Floral Decorations are RBCF,

Wilton Colors - Leaf Green, Black, and No Taste Red

McCormick Food Coloring - Blue

RBCF flowers and leaves. 

I used chocolate RBCF for  the highway, landscape, and the cross

Sugar cookie signs lettered with all-purpose butter cream frosting.

Close up of sign details for my important life events.
CMA means Christian Motorcyclist Association

Back of cake with 1990 Baby 2 sign and final floral details. 

The early years of my life.

Yield: about twenty-five 2" x 2" servings of cake, plus a dozen, variously sized, sugar cookies.

Sizes and Quantities

three 9 1/2" inch layers

one 4" x 4" layer

one batch of sugar cookies

three pounds of chocolate RBCF (rolled butter cream fondant)

three pounds of vanilla RBCF

1 large batch of all purpose butter cream frosting

The Ingredients

4 boxes of cake mix, 3 white and 1 chocolate

3  two pound bags of powdered sugar

2 cups of light corn syrup

1 1/2 cups of shortening

1 cup of butter

3 cups flour

4 tsp. of vanilla

eggs

baking powder

salt

Grocery Confusion by Anita Renfroe

In a daze from the multitude of choices at the grocery store? Listen to Anita Renfroe's perspective on Grocery Confusion.

Planning a Ridin' For Jesus, 55th Birthday Cake for Myself

Turning fifty gave me the blues. I kept quiet, made the hubby swear to no party, and managed to make it past fifty without any over-the-hill references. Now, five years later,  I'm ready to embrace my age and celebrate! My birthday is a great reason to plan, bake, and decorate a cake with RBCF, or rolled butter cream fondant.

Sketching A Cake Design

Looking at pictures of decorated cakes is my first step in planning a cake. Originally, my idea was a road trip through life, or motorcycle theme. At CakeCentral.com, I look at dozens of decorated cake pictures for traveling, life journey, and retirement. My swirling ideas begin to condense into a cohesive shape. Time to start drawing.

Sideview of cake
Dimensions of bottom layer 17" x 8" x 2", dimensions of second layer 8.5" x8.5" x4", and the top layer will be 4" x 4"

A road will encircle the cake bottom on top of the cake board. The road will be chocolate rolled butter cream fondant that is dyed black. The road signs will be made out of sugar cookies,frosting, and fondant.

top view of  cake

What Size and How Many Servings?

 I will be baking the cake layers, making  the fondant, and  baking the road sign cookies. Many serving guides consider a cake serving to be a square that is 1 1/2 inches by 2 1/2 inches. That means that a 9 1/2 inch square cake yields twenty-five servings. In my opinion, this is an unrealistic portion size. I plan on a 9 1/2 inch cake layer that will yield twelve servings. Using this guide, my cake will yield about twenty-six servings.

Too much fondant is better than not enough fondant. Running out of fondant or icing in the middle of  assembling a cake slows the decorative process. To prevent this from happening, I am making three pounds of chocolate RBCF (rolled butter cream fondant) and three pounds of  vanilla RBCF. Also, I am making a large batch of all-purpose butter cream frosting that will yield about two pounds of frosting. Again, too much is better than not enough. Extra fondant and frosting can be refrigerated and used for other projects. Two weeks is my limit for keeping extra fondant and frosting.

Pork Rind Humor from Imgur

As a southerner, this is my new pickup line. - Imgur



Seriously, this is earthy, food humor taken to another level. I am laughing myself off the chair as I type this. Picture this, A bag of pork rinds (chicharonnes), label on the the bag says," PUT A LITTLE SOUTH IN YOUR MOUTH" Click on the link above to see the picture.

Sallee B's Oven Fried Chicken

This week , I decided to post a pantry style menu that I like to cook when chicken is on sale. The sale item for this menu are the chicken drumsticks. However, you can use this recipe with a whole cut-up chicken, leg quarters, or breast. The rest of the ingredients are from the shelves of my well-stocked pantry. Get ready to eat some homemade happiness on a plate.

Pantry Style Menu

Oven Fried Drumsticks 

Rice and Gourmet Chicken Gravy

Buttered Sweet Peas

Sallee B's Oven Fried Drumsticks - Recipe

I adapted this recipe from a Betty Crocker recipe.

Ingredients

1. 2 - 3 lbs. of drumsticks, about 8 drumsticks
2. 1/2 cup of flour
3. 1 tsp. salt
4. 1 tsp. paprika
5. 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
6. 1/4 tsp. rubbed sage
7. 1/4 tsp. fresh ground rainbow peppercorn mix, or black pepper
8. 4 Tbsp. butter or margarine (I use butter)
9. 4 Tbsp. shortening

Directions

• Mix flour, salt, paprika, garlic powder, rubbed sage, and pepper in a shallow bowl. 
• Coat drumsticks and set aside
• Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Place butter and shortening into a glass 13x9x2 inch pan.
• Put pan in the preheated oven until the shortening and butter are melted.
• Place coated drumsticks in pan.
• Cook uncovered for 30 minutes.
• Turn pieces and cook uncovered for about 30 minutes more, or until the drumsticks are golden brown. 
• Remove chicken from pan
• Drain pan drippings, the melted shortening, butter, and chicken fat with scraps of coating, into a large skillet and reserve for making gravy.

Gourmet Chicken Gravy  

Great gravy starts with pan drippings. Pan drippings are the bits of browned flavor that make good gravy taste like gourmet gravy.  

Yield: 4 cups of gravy

Ingredients

1. 1/2 cup flour
2. 1 rounded Tbsp. Knorr chicken flavored bouillon
3. 4 cups of water
4. salt and pepper to taste
5. pan drippings from the oven fried chicken

Directions

• Heat or microwave four cups of water until hot, but not simmering. I microwave the water in a 1 quart measuring cup.
• Add  1 rounded, tablespoon of chicken flavored bouillon to the water.
• Stir until the bouillon has dissolved.
• Add about a cup of the hot broth to the 13x9x2 inch pan the chicken was cooked in. With a fork, gently loosen the browned bits in the bottom and sides of the pan, deglazing is the chefy term for this. Pour back into the container with the other three cups of broth. 
• Set liquid aside to use later.

• Place large skillet with pan drippings from cooking the drumsticks onto stove top burner.
• Add 1/2 cup of sifted flour to the drippings. Make sure you add a nice level cup, not rounded.
• Whisk flour into the pan drippings.
• Turn stove burned to medium heat, its a 5 on my stove. Whisk mixture until it is hot, bubbly, and starts to brown. 
• Gradually add four cups of chicken broth while stirring gently with a whisk
• Continue to stir mixture constantly until it thickens and begins to bubble.
• Once the thickened mixture begins to bubble, let simmer for 3-4 minutes while stirring occasionally.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper

Rice

Start cooking your rice when the chicken has cooked for the first thirty minutes.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

1. raw white rice
2. Knorr chicken flavored bouillon
3. minced dried onion

Directions

Follow package directions for cooking desired amount of rice.

Add 1 tsp. of Knorr chicken bouillon and 1 tsp. minced dried onion for each cup of water.

Buttered Sweet Peas

Yield: 3 servings 

To double this recipe, use 2 cans of peas, 3 Tbsp. of butter, and 1 tsp. of sugar.

Ingredients

1. 1 15-oz. cans of sweet peas, drained
2. 2 Tbsp. butter
3. 1/2 to 1 tsp. sugar

Directions

• Over low heat, melt butter in a medium size skillet.
• Add 1 tsp. sugar and dissolve in butter.
• Add drained peas and lightly stir or shake skillet until peas are coated. 
• Heat until peas are nice and hot.

Your pantry style feast is ready to eat!