Today is our third favorite February holiday, behind Groundhog’s Day and our anniversary but still beating out Valentine’s Day, yes of course I’m talking about P Day!!  Also known as President’s Day.  And George Washington’s Birfday. Whateva you call it, we love it, being patriotic Americans and whatnot. So of course the extended Mullinax Clan gets together in St. Joe to celebrate the holiday and we decided the best way to celebrate was to create a bust of George Washington made of sugar!  But could such a project really be completed in a limited amount of time without spending a billion dollars? The celebration was to be on Saturday and on Friday morning the Fondant George wasn’t even an idea yet…

Here is how it went down:

Friday 2/17

approx 8:30am

Cat decides that she should make a treat for the nieces and nephew and sisters and parents.   Oh Pinterest, what Presidential treats do you have for us?

[Cat] A quick cursory search yields some pretty remedial cupcake ideas with a paper print-out of presidents glued to a toothpick and shoved into the center of a basic cupcake.  Not exactly what I had in mind!  I aborted the search immediately and we began using our own brains, best idea of the morning!

[Mullie] I first thought that we could create a cupcake for each President, forcing the cupcake eater to to figure out who it was before they were allowed to eat it, but I wasn’t sure that our artistic abilities were good enough to realize our vision.  Instead we needed to focus on the main Presidents Day Presidents, Washington and Lincoln, or maybe Obama.    Well, officially P Day is supposed to be George’s Birfday, so we decided to try to create the bust of George.  We would make it out of Rice Krispies Treats.  And hell, we should try to make it as realistic as possible, so it looks as if we are really tearing into the flesh of the Father of our Country. You know, for America.

[Cat]A couple of minutes later our conversation was over and the bust of George Washington was a go!  So we gathered supplies and away we went.

 

approx 3 P.M.

We started with a single batch of rice krispies treats and decided that was the perfect size for the shoulders of George.  After letting it cool a bit Chris packed and shaped it while I made another batch and a half of treats to begin working on the head.   Once the head was pretty well cooled the two were combined and allowed to fully cool and “set” overnight.

 

 

 

approx 8 P.M.

Before calling it quits for the day I had to make the fondant so it could sit in the fridge overnight so we could roll it out the next morning.  Fondant is way too simple and cheap (in comparison to purchasing pre-made nasty crap in a tub) to make to skip doing so…so don’t, yo!  I used this super easy recipe for marshmallow fondant and made one batch of flesh colored and a half batch each of white and black.  The fondant needs to sit at room temperature for a while before rolling it out.

 

 

 

 

Saturday 2/18

approx 8 A.M.

Before we could apply the fondant the bust needed to be crumb coated.  I tossed some buttercream makins (softened butter, a bit of cream, and a ton of powered sugar) into the Kitchenaid along with some tasty almond extract.  We schmattered it on thinly with off-set spatulas for a while, but our fingers ultimately were the best tool.

 

 

 

approx 9:30 A.M.

We let the coated bust sit while we began to roll out the whole batch of flesh fondant.  We flopped it over the top of George’s head and proceeded to form it to the shape of his face.  We stopped at his neck because the rest will be covered with his clothing.  We continued in the same manner with his jacket and shirt.  The eyes are made out of fondant and airheads (green).  The cheeks are spray food coloring in red and the lips were “watercolored” on with the same red.

 

 

approx 11 A.M.

I used silver candy glitter sprinkles things and spun them with the super awesome cotton candy machine Santa brought us for Sweet Baby Jesus’ Birthday. I spun and spun and spun while Chris applied the hair with a dab of water.  The last step was to add the ruffles to his shirt and transfer him to his patriotic platter.

 

 

 

approx 2 P.M.

We arrive at the Mullinax family home and patiently wait for everyone to arrive and gather so we could unveil the “surprise”.  I think it was a hit.  Everyone ewwwed and awwwed and laughed over it for a while then the question was posed, “Can we eat it?”  Heck yeah you can it, duh, that’s why we made it 100% edible.

 

 

approx 3 P.M.

The next logical step it to cut a large chunk out of the middle of his forehead so everyone could see the hidden surprise…the “bloody” head of course.

 

 

 

 

approx 3:30 P.M.

The sugar starts to get to the kiddos and some strange things begin to happen.  Requests for specific body parts started pouring in.

 

 

 

approx 4 P.M.

Libby scalped George and made a ball of flesh, with an eye in the center of course!

 

 

 

 

 

approx 5 P.M.

Everyone was done with George and this is what remained.  I tell you, that Mullinax Clan is a mighty strange, lively bunch!  I wouldn’t trade them for the world!

 

Happy P Day!
—Team Blankinax