Baseball Party

A friend of ours oldest son wanted a baseball themed birthday party. He much enjoyed the opportunity to be able to articulate his desires, and have adults listen and take notes. I think it's something that doesn't happen enough for most kids.

We sat down with him and his parents. We asked leading questions, but sincerely listened to the answers. He wanted a cake with a baseball diamond and someone hitting a home run. He wanted vanilla cake with creamy cherry filling. He wanted ball park food; hot dogs, cracker jacks, peanuts. Carrots and grapes OK, but no vegetables.

He and the spouse also worked out what kind of games and activities he wanted to do.

The hot dogs were easy. We have a propane powered slow cooker. It worked perfectly to steam the hot dogs in the park.

I made my version of Cracker Jacks. I modified the recipe I used for bacon flavored caramel corn. I used dark corn syrup instead of the bacon flavored syrup.  I oven roasted some raw, unsalted Spanish peanuts, then tossed them with the popcorn and caramel. The spouse packaged up the snack with it's own prize, a set of temporary tattoos.

I like caramel in just about any form. Cracker Jack was certainly a favorite as a kid. The prizes have gotten lame, however.


The cake was a collaborative affair. It was a half sheet cake. I baked the cake, scaling it up from the yellow cake recipe I used for the chocolate marble cake at the Princess tea we did recently.

I really like this cake recipe. It finds a nice balance between robust enough to work with, yet with a moist and tender crumb.

The filling was a cooperative effort between the spouse and myself.  It consists of whipped topping, cherry pie filling, and a little salt. We whipped together the topping and the pie filling. We used whipped topping instead of whipped cream, because we knew it would be unrefrigerated at the park for some time.

I think cherry was a great choice. The bit of tang of the sour cherry helped counter the sweetness a bit.


The decoration is all the spouse's work. She used a special tip to make the grass, and the base path is covered in graham cracker crumbs.

I think she did a great job on the decorations. She's immensely creative and imaginative. By all accounts, the birthday boy was thrilled with the cake.

Recipes

Homemade Cracker Jacks

1/2 lb. raw, unsalted Spanish peanuts
8 quarts popcorn
1 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 tsp. baking soda
Spread peanuts on a baking sheet. Bake in a 300 F oven for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees
Place popcorn and peanuts in a large roasting pan.

In a three quart sauce pan over medium heat, combine butter, sugar, salt, and syrup. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer. Let boil for five minutes. Remove from heat, add baking soda. Caramel will foam up. Pour caramel over popcorn. Stir thoroughly. Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread out on wax paper to cool. Store in air tight container. If caramel corn softens, re-heat in 200 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Yellow Cake

2 cups butter
3 cups sugar                                                     
16 egg yolks                                                     
1 1/2 cups milk                                                                     
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract                                                                     
4 cups cake flour                                                                   
4 tsp. baking powder                                                                     
1 tsp. kosher salt

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

Grease and flour a 1/2 sheet size rectangular cake pan. line bottom with wax paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg yolks, two at a time, allowing yolks to be fully incorporated before adding the next. Add vanilla, allow to mix in.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mix in three stages, alternating with the milk in two stages.

Pour into cake pan. Use a spatula to level batter. Tap pan on counter a few times to eliminate any bubbles.

Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325 F, bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool until just slightly warm. Slide a knife or spatula between cake and pan to loosen. Upend onto a cake board. Let cool completely before frosting.

Whipped Cherry Filling

3 1/4 cups whipped topping

2 2/3 cup cherry pie filling

1/4 tsp. salt

Place all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whip attachment. Whip until well combined, and cherries are somewhat broken up.

Happy Eating!

Bacon Flavored Caramel Corn

Friends of mine wanted to give me a food related present for Christmas. But, they didn't want to give me just anything, they wanted it to be the weirdest thing they could find. What they found was Torani Bacon Flavored Syrup. Now, not sure that was all that weird, but it is a bit unusual. (Maybe I should have a poll to name the weirdest thing in my pantry). I was thrilled. One thing that I thought it would be spectacular in was caramel corn. Go for that sweet, salty, crunchy combo.

I looked for the best method for popping corn I could find. I found this recipe on the Simply Recipes  website. I was really pleased with this approach. It leaves very few unpopped kernels. I made four batches, each recipe makes about two quarts. Wipe out the pot carefully with a paper towel between batches.

The caramel corn is adapted from this recipe by Paula Deen. I replace the light corn syrup with the bacon syrup.

Recipes

Perfect Popcorn

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/3 cup popcorn kernels

Heat oil in a three quart sauce pan over medium-high heat. Place 3 or 4 kernels in pot, and cover. When kernels pop, remove pan from heat, add rest of popcorn kernels, cover pan. Let stand 30 seconds. Return to heat. When popcorn just finishes popping, remove from heat, pour into a bowl. Makes about two quarts.

Bacon Flavored Caramel Corn

8 quarts popcorn
1 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup bacon flavored syrup
1 tsp. baking soda

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees
Place popcorn in a large roasting pan.

In a three quart sauce pan over medium heat, combine butter, sugar, salt, and syrup. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer. Let boil for five minutes. Remove from heat, add baking soda. Caramel will foam up. Pour caramel over popcorn. Stir thoroughly. Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread out on wax paper to cool. Store in air tight container. If caramel corn softens, re-heat in 200 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Happy Eating!