{"id":59044,"date":"2016-04-03T00:09:46","date_gmt":"2016-04-03T07:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=59044"},"modified":"2016-04-03T00:09:46","modified_gmt":"2016-04-03T07:09:46","slug":"young-cultivators-merit-badge-icing-on-the-cake-beginner-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/59044","title":{"rendered":"Young Cultivators Merit Badge: Icing on the Cake, Beginner Level"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<span style=\"color: #800080;\">The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.farmgirlsisterhood.org\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Sisterhood Merit Badge program<\/span><\/span><\/a>,<span style=\"color: #800080;\"> now with\u00a06,861 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20149,721 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #339966;\">Wondering who I am? I\u2019m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/10477\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">former life<\/span><\/span><\/a> \u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>For this week\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.createspace.com\/5829942www.farmgirlsisterhood.org\/badges-ycfk-icing_the_cake.asp\"><u>Young Cultivator Farm Kitchen\/Icing on the Cake Beginner Level Merit Badge<\/u><\/a>, I sat down with the two whippersnappers in my life (Nora and Piper) and we made ourselves a list.<\/p>\n<p>Lists are my life.<\/p>\n<p>I brake for lists.<\/p>\n<p>Me and lists forever.<\/p>\n<p>Lists: A Love Story.<\/p>\n<p>Normally, the rugrats scoff at my list making, but this one was one they could get behind. And in front of, and across from, and so on and so forth. Why, you ask? Because it was a list of Things You Could Put On\u00a0a Cake (T.Y.C.P.O.A.C. for short).<\/p>\n<p>Who <em>wouldn\u2019t <\/em>want to keep adding onto a list like that?<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_60845\" style=\"width: 370px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-60845\" class=\"wp-image-60845\" src=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Decorated_Simnel_cake_14173161143.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"360\" height=\"270\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-60845\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">photo by James Petts via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n<p>We were going to need more paper \u2026<\/p>\n<p>Frosting went without saying, though surprisingly, none of us are fond of it. We all agreed it is what\u2019s under it and on top of it that could float our boats, culinary-ly speaking.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nora, Piper, and Yours Truly\u2019s T.Y.C.P.O.A.C.:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Powdered sugar dusted over a paper doily would make a lovely pattern.<\/li>\n<li>Glazed nuts are a delish alternative.<\/li>\n<li>Dislike of frosting can be remedied by cream cheese. Turns out, we all swoon for cream cheese icing.<\/li>\n<li>Coconut makes a wonderful presentation, and if you tint it with green food coloring, you\u2019d have edible \u201cgrass.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Marzipan is fun to shape into creatures and such (and tastes a bit better than most fondants).<\/li>\n<li>Pretzels<\/li>\n<li>Dried fruits<\/li>\n<li>Candy (Well, come on. They\u2019re kids. Not gonna get away without some candy.)<\/li>\n<li>Peppermint sticks<\/li>\n<li>Graham crackers, either in pieces or ground into crumbs<\/li>\n<li>Gummy worms or bears<\/li>\n<li>Edible flowers: nasturtiums, dandelions, day lily, squash blossom, lavender<\/li>\n<li>Small toys (do not eat)<\/li>\n<li>Coconut, brown sugar, butter, and nuts, all spread on top then broiled under the broiler until bubbly<\/li>\n<li>Homemade whipped cream<\/li>\n<li>Meringue<\/li>\n<li>A dollop of yogurt or sweetened sour cream<\/li>\n<li>Marshmallows<\/li>\n<li>Sprinkles (use them one at a time to make an \u201cembroidery\u201d like pattern)<\/li>\n<li>Cereal (think Trix, or Fruit Loops, or Lucky Charms, but look for their organic alternatives)<\/li>\n<li>Chocolate that has been drizzled into shapes, then hardened<\/li>\n<li>Cookies<\/li>\n<li>Chocolate rocks<\/li>\n<li>Cinnamon sticks<\/li>\n<li>Orange-peel curlicues<\/li>\n<li>Chocolate shavings (or white chocolate)<\/li>\n<li>Raisins<\/li>\n<li>Berries<\/li>\n<li>Small sprigs of pine tree branches make a pretty forest<\/li>\n<li>Fruit leather cut into shapes<\/li>\n<li>Crumbled Oreos (the organic kind, of course!)<\/li>\n<li>Chocolate-covered coffee beans<\/li>\n<li>Popcorn<\/li>\n<li>Poppy seeds<\/li>\n<li>Candied ginger<\/li>\n<li>Star anise<\/li>\n<li>Birthday candles (What? We were getting tired, and our hands were sore from writing.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After all this brainstorming, we were seriously famished. Ravenous. Starving. Our bellies were rubbing our ribs. Our tummies were rumbling.<\/p>\n<p>In short? We needed cake. Stat.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-60842 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Avocado-Chocolate-Cake-0513.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"360\" height=\"419\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with\u00a06,861 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20149,721 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane\u00a0 Wondering who &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/59044\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/59044\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gladsome_sisters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}