Wormy Mud Cake

Photo courtesy of Blog Chef

 

As we navigate through this new normal, a few of the folks in my family and close circle are gaining new skills and recalling old ones. For me, I find I’m learning a little of everything here and there that has to do with homelife. I never really did stay at home with my boys when they were born; I took very short maternity leaves. I also didn’t really take a break between school and my career either; I jumped right into it. In this usually fast-paced world, I think that’s true for a lot of parents in my generation.

My parents and grandparents often portray a lot of skills I wish I had practised. My Mom makes the best turkey in the world and my grandmother can knit sweaters better than any machine. My Dad can build nearly anything out of wood and my grandfather was an excellent fisherman. I find these are very important skills that I seemingly lack – and never even noticed until now! So, in this new, and rather independent lifestyle, I’ve taken on a few projects to better hone my skills. These include gardening, fixing broken toys, mending clothing, and cooking.

When my sons’ birthdays started to approach, I realized we normally celebrate with purchased cakes or cupcakes. Even though these items are still fairly accessible, I decided to make a cake my Mom made me when I was a kid – A particularly unhealthy but super fun Wormy Mud Cake! This type of cake also fit in unusually well with the dreary weather we’ve been having as my boys have been helping me in our new earthy, wormy garden lately too!

Flavourful Ingredients:

½ cup of soft butter

8 oz package of cream cheese, softened

½ cup of icing sugar

7 oz of instant chocolate pudding mix (see additional recipe below)

3 ½ cups of milk

12 oz of frozen whipped cream topping

1 package of Oreos or your child’s favourite crumbly cookie

1 package of gummy worms

Fresh mint leaves

Mouthwatering Methods:

Did you know there’s a difference between wet and dry measuring cups? A wet (liquid) measuring cup is a glass/transparent cup, with markings on the side, and typically a spout to allow for easier pouring. A dry measuring cup is typically a cylindrical cup with a handle, and is designed to scoop ingredients like flour, sugar, etc., and then allow the backside of a knife or other utensil to level off the ingredient.  While 1 cup is 1 cup for liquids, regardless of which cup you use, there is an important difference. When measuring something like flour with a wet measuring cup, you have to shake it back and forth to get the top to settle flat. Doing this can actually pack the flour down, resulting in more ingredient than you should have. By using a dry measuring cup, you can scoop out what you need, and then scrape the top flush without packing the flour into the cup. Using too much flour can quickly turn a cake into more of a loaf of bread, so this is an important distinction!

Delectable Directions:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the butter, cream cheese, and sugar. This is a great activity for your little one, and the mixing action promotes motor skills while also being cool to look at.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine milk, pudding mix, and whipped cream topping and mix it up. Again, fun times!
3. Combine the two mixtures together and let sit while you prepare the Oreo cookies.
4. Place 10 Oreo cookies into your food processor and blend until smooth. This can be a very fun activity for your child if they don’t mind loud noises. My younger child is not a fan of loud noises so we crumbled our cookies manually by placing them in a large baggie and rolling a rolling pin over them.
5. Pour alternate layers of the pudding mixture and cookie crumbs into separate glasses or into one large glass pie plate.
6. Give your worms a new home on the top. My kids really enjoyed this part as we stuffed parts of the worms into the pudding to make it seem as if they were crawling around the top of the dessert.
7. Place your creations in fridge until cool. This only takes a couple of hours which allowed us to have it for dessert that evening!
8. When ready to serve, I also topped our muddy creation with fresh mint leaves from my new herb garden!

Sweet Skills for Parents and/or Kids

Learning one’s way around the kitchen is an incredibly important skill which I’m very quickly learning with my family. With the hectic lifestyles we all used to have, and the fact that take-out was easier and more available than ever, the unfortunate result was that we were simply spending less time in the kitchen. This new self-sustaining lifestyle has taught me a few things about kitchen preparedness, different measuring methods, and how to grow my own herbs (to be blogged next time)!

In addition to learning how to make your own meals, working in the kitchen promotes many other positive aspects of children’s development. By encouraging my older child, Grizzly Bear, to help me read and follow recipes, I’ve been helping him develop his math skills, vocabulary, and social skills, not to mention helping him learn his way around the kitchen too! By promoting this fun and rewarding experience, you too can provide your child with important life-long skills!

Appetizing Extras

Looking to make your own instant pudding mix? Check this out for use in this recipe and storage for later days. All that’s needed is to mix 1¼ cups of sugar, 1 cup of cornstarch, 1 cup of milk powder, ¼ cocoa powder, and a pinch of salt. Store in an airtight container for later use! When ready to make your pudding, boil 2 cups of milk with ½ cup of your mixture in a saucepan then simmer for about 5 minutes. Let it cool in a bowl for 10 minutes before serving. Also, if you don’t like that skin that forms at the top of the pudding, press clingwrap to the surface of the pudding before putting in the fridge to cool. Works like a charm!

Exquisite Farewell

Well, I’m sure it goes without saying, this was a fantastic birthday treat for everyone and the kids really enjoyed telling the story of its creation!

I hope this cake makes you eager to try something new too – or at least brings back memories of your favourite childhood treats! Please reach out if you have a favourite birthday cake recipe you want to share! All the best and stay safe!