Icing Fest 2010

We had a great Easter weekend.  I actually cooked for clients on Saturday, not normal for me, but I didn't have days available and they were hungry.  Traffic was good on Saturday and their kitchen was good to work in.  I had a pretty quick day and after cooking I headed to the warehouse store to purchase powdered sugar.

Lots and lots of powdered sugar.  I bought 44 pounds of powdered sugar.  It comes in 4 pound bags so I needed 11, a case is 12 but I didn't want to go crazy!  I also bought 8 pounds of butter and 6 dozen eggs.  I needed the supplies for the Cake Decorating class today and tomorrow.

Once home with my pounds of ingredients I knew I needed to make our Easter dessert.  Yes, we have Easter candy but I wanted some dessert too.  I had seen a recipe for Carrot Cheesecake Bars from Kraft and decided to try them.  I made them Saturday so they could chill.  They are very good and since they have carrots in them, I feel better about them.  I know, it's not enough vegetables but it's more than none.

Carrot Cheesecake Bars from Kraft foods
makes 24 bars

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
• 3 packages (8 ounce each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup finely shredded carrot (about 2)
• 1 1/2 cups thawed Cool Whip

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees.
   
2. Mix butter, crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon;press onto bottom of 13x9 inch pan.  Bake 10 minutes.
   
3. Beat cream cheese, vanilla and the remaining sugar and cinnamon in large bowl with mixer until blended.  Add sour cream;mix well.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition just until blended.  Stir in carrots;spread over crust.
   
4. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until center is almost set.  Cool completely.  Refrigerate 4 hours.  Serve topped with Cool Whip.

I didn't make too many changes.  I grated the carrots on the box grater on the small shredding side and they were perfect.  Actually my husband grated them.  I looked at the packages of graham cracker crumbs and graham crackers and they all had high fructose corn syrup, so I purchased some graham cracker sticks and crushed them.  I did not use Cool Whip, I whipped some cream. 

Besides cake for dinner Sunday I baked a ham with a pineapple chipotle glaze, scalloped potatoes, broccoli, asparagus and rolls.  It was a pretty traditional dinner which is not what I normally make.  I don't really like ham, but this one was very good.  It was a locally produced ham that I bought at Whole Foods and it was tasty. 

This morning I was up bright and early because I still needed to pick up milk and 14 pounds of cake flour for today's class.  Of course I had to go to 3 stores to find enough cake flour. 

The class started at 9.  I demoed some basic cake decorating borders, stars, roses, writing and then the class started playing with icing and color and practicing.  During the class each person made a 2 layer cake which they will decorate for real tomorrow. 

Today was practicing with fake cakes and just getting the feel for the piping bag, colors and deciding on a cake design.  Tomorrow the teens will decorate their cake and take it home to enjoy.  We had lots of colorful fun today and I can't wait to see the finished cakes tomorrow.