Garden Seeds and Honey Bees

Construction Chocolate Cake

Special Supplies:

Silicone number 3 or number of choice Silicon Cake Pan. I sprayed mine with cooking spray inside and out just to make sure cake came out easily. Note: Use the baked cake inside the number 3 to use for dirt.

9 x 13-inch cake baking pan, with parchment and sprayed with cooking spray.

Chocolate Jimmies and Construction Trucks at in store only Walmart and Cone Candles from Amazon and Silicon 3 Cake Pan, Amazon

Grandma Weston’s Chocolate Cake or Cupcakes

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Makes 18 cupcakes or **1 oblong cake pan cake with the number silicon baking pan placed in the middle and fill 2/3 full the number pan and then oblong on 2/3 full around the number.

Preheat oven 350*F. then turn down heat to 325*F. when adding cupcakes or cake.

Ingredients:

*1 and 1/2 cups Butter, slightly softened

*1 and 1/2 cups Brown Sugar

*2 cups All-purpose Flour

*1 teaspoon Soda

*2 tablespoons Cocoa Powder

*1 cup milk

*1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

*1 teaspoon Lemon Extract

*Pinch of Kosher Salt

Instructions:

In a stand mixer add the butter and brown sugar and cream together. Then add the eggs, adding 1 egg at time until incorporated.

In a bowl sift the flour and baking soda and cocoa powder, set aside.

In a 1 cup glass measuring cup, add the milk, vanilla extract, lemon extract and salt.

Add to the creamed mixture 1/2 of the flour mixture and 1/2 of the milk mixture mix until combined. Repeat with remaining flour and milk, mix just until all ingredients are incorporated.

In a muffin/cupcake pan with cupcake liners, Scoop batter into cups using a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop/dishes or fill 2/3 full.

Bake at 325*F. oven for 18-22 minutes for cupcakes and 35 to 45 minutes for cake or until tests done. **See above for filling oblong cake pan.

Remove from oven and allow cupcakes to cool before frosting.

Chocolate Sprinkles/Jimmies optional for topping

Fudge Frosting/Icing

Ingredients:

*1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

*1 cup Sugar

*2 ounces Semi-Sweet Bakers Chocolate Squares, cut into small pieces

*1/2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar

*1 teaspoon Lemon Extract

*1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Instructions:

In a saucepan on medium-low heat, heat the cream, sugar, chocolate pieces and cream of Tartar. Heat until chocolate melts then turn to medium heat and bring to a boil, boil for 2 minutes remove from heat, add lemon and vanilla extract, stir, and allow to cool. Then pour over cake (Make sure to remove the silicon number first.) and add sprinkles if desired.

Decorate as desired. We add crumbled cake crumbs to the space where the number was, make sure to do this before pouring on icing. Add construction trucks (found at Walmart) and put cake crumbles in the truck beds scoops etc… You could also use crushed Oreos.

Also see Construction Birthday Party

Enjoy!

Jessica and Lindy

Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe

*

Ingredients:

*
*1/2 cup Butter

*1 cup Sugar

*1 teaspoon Vanilla

*1 Egg

*1/2 cup Heavy Cream or Whipping Cream, Sour Cream or Cream Cheese (I’ve used each one of these variation each gives the cookie a slightly different taste and they’re all yummy!) Note: If you use cream cheese use only 3 cups of flour

*3 and 1/4 cups All-purpose Flour, more if needed (Dough should be slightly sticky)

*1 teaspoon Soda

*1/2 teaspoon Salt

*Construction Cookie Cutters**(see link below), the number of cookies this recipe makes will depend on the size of cookie cutter you use

*
In a stand mixer on medium-low speed cream together the butter and sugar. Then add the vanilla, egg and cream of your choice and mix just until combined.

*
Using Sifter, sift together in a bowl the flour soda and salt and slowly add to the creamed mixture, mixing on low just until barely combined. Dough should be slightly sticky. Do Not Over Mix!

*
Then divide the dough into 3 dough balls, flatten dough balls making disk shapes. Now wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes or more.

*
Remove 1 dough disk at a time from the refrigerator and rollout disk on a floured surface with rolling-pin or use 2 pieces of plastic wrap, placing the dough disk in the center of 1 of the pieces of plastic wrap and the second piece on top of the dough disk, use rolling-pin and roll out the cookie dough about 1/2 inch thick.

*
Use a cookie cutter of your choice and cut out shapes in the rolled out dough. Repeat for each dough disk. Then add to the next dough disk the scraps from the first disk or (discard scraps of dough), continue this technic until all the dough is used.
Place cookies on a Silpat covered half baking sheet, 12 cookies per sheet. For best results refrigerate the cut cookies on baking sheet before baking 5-10 minutes.

*
Bake the cookies in a pre-heated 425* F. oven for 8-12 minutes or barely starting to turn golden on the bottom; baking time depends on the size of cookie cutter used. Do Not Over Bake! If you do over bake they will become to hard. Cool on baking sheet.

Recipe from Tested Recipes Cookbook, Central Milling Company third edition, now out of print an old family cookbook

Chocolate Candy Melt Coating

Chocolate:

*1/8 teaspoon Coconut Oil

*1 and 1/2 cups Dark Chocolate Melting Wafers, like Ghirardelli, melted in the microwave (microwave safe bowl) in 30 second intervals until almost melted stirring after each interval. Then stir until smooth. Add to a piping bottle or piping bag with small/medium tip

Decorative:

*Yellow and Orange Sugar Sprinkles/Silver Jimmies

Wilton Candy Melts:

*1 Packages 10-to-12-ounce Candy Melts. We used Wilton yellow, but you could use any color or color of choice. Note: You may need another package depending on number of cookies dipped and the size.

Instructions:

Melt the candy melts in the microwave on low heat in a shallow microwave safe bowl (In a bowl that about 2 inches bigger than the cookies you are dipping, this is for easy dipping) , 30 second increments, stirring between each increment until almost all disks have melted and then stir-stir-stir until smooth.

Dip each cookie face down into the melted dipping chocolate. Let excess drip off. Then with dipped side of cookie facing up shake cookie until coating is smooth and flat. Dip cookies and allow them to set on a Silpat or parchment paper or cooling rack etc… Note: If using Sprinkles and Jimmies add them while coating is still wet. If piping on stripes or lines with melted wafers wait until pink coating has set, then pipe on.

Then when completely set enjoy or store in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days.