{"id":61750,"date":"2017-01-17T00:09:23","date_gmt":"2017-01-17T08:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=61750"},"modified":"2017-01-17T00:09:23","modified_gmt":"2017-01-17T08:09:23","slug":"young-cultivators-merit-badge-icing-on-the-cake-intermediate-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/61750","title":{"rendered":"Young Cultivators Merit Badge: Icing on the Cake, Intermediate Level"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tThe adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our<\/span> Sisterhood Merit Badge program<\/span><\/span><\/a>, now with\u00a07,200 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u201410,226 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Wondering who I am? I\u2019m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my<\/span> former life<\/span><\/span><\/a> \u2026\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

For this week\u2019s Farm Kitchen\/Icing on the Cake Intermediate Level Young Cultivator Merit Badge<\/u><\/a>, Andy was my sous-chef on All Things Cake. I mean, come on, this badge is about making (and thusly eating) cake. It\u2019s not about making your bed, or writing a paper.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Andy was all over this badge.<\/p>\n

In fact, the wild look in his baby blues kinda scared me, not gonna lie. I swear, at the mention of cake, his pupils started twirling and swirling, his eyes bugged out like a cartoon character, and he began bouncing up and down and climbing the walls. He needed a reality check (and maybe some fresh veggies or something).<\/p>\n

\u201cSo,\u201d I said, casually, \u201cI was thinking Carrot Cake.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bouncing stopped and his pupils quit swirling. He stared at me, suspiciously. \u201cLike, with carrots? A cake with carrots? I knew there was a catch to this badge!\u201d He flopped dramatically on the floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s delicious! But my other idea if you don\u2019t like that one, is Hummingbird Cake.\u201d<\/p>\n

He rolled over with a grunt. \u201cYou\u2019re sick, Aunty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot with real hummingbirds, Einstein!\u201d I debated on whether now was a good time to let him know my dog-eared copy of To Kill A Mockingbird<\/em> was not what it sounded like, either. At this point, he likely thought it was a cookbook.<\/p>\n

\u201cHummingbird Cake is an old recipe …\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMade with endangered fowl?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHush, cretin. No, it\u2019s made with yummy goodness like chopped bananas and chunks of pineapple, and covered in cream-cheese frosting.\u201d I wiggled my eyebrows.<\/p>\n

He flopped back over. \u201cIdonkikecweemzeesh.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEh?\u201d<\/p>\n

Flopped back once again to glare at me. \u201cI don\u2019t like cream cheese.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, you do, don\u2019t be ridiculous. Cream cheese is a gift from the angels. Now, get up off the floor and wash your hands. Chop, chop!\u201d<\/p>\n

We got to work. And at the end of the afternoon, we had earned a badge and a newfound addiction to cream-cheese frosting. Also, my eyes might be swirling around like a cartoon character after the third piece, but I have not climbed any walls. Yet.<\/p>\n

Hummingbird Cake<\/strong> (no hummingbirds were harmed in the making of this cake)
\n(recipe from Southern Living<\/em>, 1978<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo: Hector Sanchez; Styling: Karin Olsen<\/p><\/div>\n

3 cups organic flour
\n2 cups organic sugar
\n1 teaspoon salt
\n1 teaspoon baking soda
\n1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
\n3 large eggs, beaten
\n1 1\/2 cups vegetable oil or coconut oil
\n1 1\/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
\n1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
\n2 cups chopped bananas
\n1 cup chopped pecans<\/p>\n

Cream Cheese Frosting<\/strong><\/p>\n

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
\n1 cup butter or margarine, softened
\n2 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted
\n2 teaspoon vanilla extract<\/p>\n

Preheat oven to 350\u00b0. Whisk together flour and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl; add eggs and oil, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple, bananas, and 1 cup chopped toasted pecans. Spoon batter into 3 well-greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans.<\/p>\n

Bake at\u00a0350\u00b0 for 25-30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake layers in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely (about 1 hour).<\/p>\n

Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Gradually add sugar, beating at low speed until blended. Stir in vanilla. Beat 1 to 2 minutes or until fluffy. Give beaters to small child to teach them that they do, indeed, love cream cheese.<\/p>\n

Place 1 cake layer on a serving platter. Spread 1 cup Cream Cheese Frosting over cake layer. Top with second layer, and spread 1 cup frosting over cake layer. Top with third cake layer, and spread top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. Decorate with toasted pecan halves, if desired.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with\u00a07,200 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u201410,226 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane\u00a0 Wondering who … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a> Continue reading →<\/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-61750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gladsome_sisters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61750","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=61750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}