Practical Joke Birthday Cake!
"Several years ago, when I was managing a state park resort, I maintained a standing complaint against a particular head chef who insisted on serving INSTANT MASHED POTATOES to the guests in my beautiful main dining room. I bugged him about it daily and he would always say that he "doctored them up" and no one could tell the difference... but I COULD tell the difference. Long story short, my birthday rolled around and all the waitresses and kitchen staff surprised me that afternoon with a beautiful birthday cake when I showed up for lunch. The aggrieved chef joyfully served me the first piece and I took a big bite ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT IT WAS PURE INSTANT MASHED POTATOES MADE ONLY WITH WATER AND FOOD COLORING!!! YUK!!! So, the moral is, "Never cross the chef." You put this thing together pretty much like a regular birthday cake, piping on the colored "icing" (food colored mixed potatoes. You can even make the inside yellow (more food coloring) if you wish. And please..... rate me on the "effectiveness of the (unpleasant) surprise" -- not the flavor, folks. And, yes, there are people who really do deserve a cake like this, such as myself! Oh, yes, I almost forgot.... there are about 20 servings but I assure you that only one of those servings will get tasted."
photo by Bone Man
- Ready In:
- 1hr 20mins
- Ingredients:
- 4
- Serves:
-
20
ingredients
- 48 ounces instant mashed potatoes
- water
- food coloring (2 or three colors, your choice)
- cooking spray
directions
- In a large mixing bowl, blend 3/4 of the dry mashed potatoes with just enough water to make them very thick. Add a little yellow food coloring if you wish to emulate a yellow cake.
- Spray a very large rectangular baking pan with cooking spray and transfer the potatoes to it, spreading the top (which will soon be the bottom) flat with a spatula.
- Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes so you can handle the pan.
- Transfer the baked mashed potatoes to a hard flat surface (such as very stiff white cardboard or a baking sheet) by placing the hard surface on top of the pan and carefully flipping it over so that the "cake" is transferred to the hard surface. You may need a little help with this. (I would not recommend making this cake with a bundt pan, unless it was a spring-form pan.).
- Mix the remaining potatoes, again with just enough water to make them thick. Use most of these uncolored potatoes to "ice" the cake. Add blue or red food coloring to the last of the potatoes to pipe on an edging and/or a nice "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" If you run out of potatoes, you can always mix up a few more with water since the "icing" doesn't get baked.
- It's best if someone "serves" the first piece to your victim. I will warn you that a crowd of grinning faces surrounding the unfortunate soul may alert him or her to a rat in the cheese.
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Reviews
-
Too funny!!! I'm going to refrain from making it, but wanted to give you some applause for being so creative! -
Great joke! Very attractive "CAKE" in my opinion.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>I am a retired State Park Resort Manager/Ranger. <br /><br />Anyway, as to my years in the State Park System (retired now), I was responsible for 4 restaurants/dining rooms on my park and my boss at Central Headquarters said I should spend less time in my kitchens and more time tending to my park budget. I spent 25 years in those kitchens and worked with some really great chefs over those years, (and some really awful ones too!) <br /><br />I spent THOUSANDS of hours on every inch of that park and adjacent state forest (60,000 acres) and sometimes I miss it. But mostly I miss being in that big beautiful resort lodge kitchen. I miss my little marina restaurant down on the Ohio River too. I served the best Reuben Sandwich (my own recipe -- posted on 'Zaar as The Shawnee Marina Reuben Sandwich) in both the State of Ohio and the Commonwealth of Kentucky down there and sold it for $2.95. Best deal on the river! <br /><br />They (friends and neighbors) call my kitchen The Ospidillo Cafe. Don't ask me why because it takes about a case of beer, time-wise, to explain the name. Anyway, it's a small galley kitchen with a Mexican motif (until my wife catches me gone for a week or so), and it's a very BUSY kitchen as well. We cook at all hours of the day and night. You are as likely to see one of my neighbors munching down over here as you are my wife or daughter. I do a lot of recipe experimentation and development. It has become a really fun post-retirement hobby -- and, yes, I wash my own dishes. <br /><br />Also, I'm the Cincinnati Chili Emperor around here, or so they say. (Check out my Ospidillo Cafe Cincinnati Chili recipe). SKYLINE CHILI is one of my four favorite chilis, and the others include: Gold Star Chili, Empress Chili and, my VERY favorite, Dixie. All in and around Cincinnati. Great stuff for cheap and I make it at home too. <br /><br />I also collect menus and keep them in my kitchen -- I have about a hundred or so. People go through them and when they see something that they want, I make it the next day. That presents some real challenges! <br /><br />http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/shawnee.htm</p>
