Owen is 10

 So our baby grandson turned double digit. Owen loves to cook. He is always in the kitchen helping Mom. This summer he took a cooking class and his love for cooking grew.

His birthday wish was to spend a day in the kitchen with Grandma. I was all in!

He loves my homemade Mac n cheese so that was certainly on the menu. I suggested a birthday cake so he could make my Mom’s buttercream frosting (which he eats from the bowl) and play around with my decorating supplies.

First thing was to get him looking like a chef.

Apron and chefs hat

I told him my most important step in baking. Baking is measured - so first read the recipe and get out all the ingredients. Whenever you are done with using the ingredient, put it away. You never know when you will get interrupted and lose your thought about using each ingredient. That’s what he did. We used a cake mix, chocolate of course and added extra chips.

Next came the frosting. I told him he could taste as much as he thought he needed too. He is the cook, just had to use a different spoon each time. He was all in.

Cook approved

While the cake was baking - he tackled the Mac n cheese. He made it from scratch starting with the roux. He hesitated, but with some encouragement from Grandma he pushed through. I told him everybody has to do it a first time. Next time it will be easier. Now cooking you have a recipe, but you can embellish to taste. He really liked that idea.

Taste testing the Mac

Yummy

Now time to decorate that cake. He colored some frosting orange for some pumpkins.

Filling the piping bag

Piping the pumpkins

This was so much fun. He really did all of it himself. I just stood by for questions. 

I asked him what he is gonna remember most. 

1. Looking into the measuring cup for the 1C. Line 

2. When done piping push the bag down on the cake instead of lifting up. 

3. (My Favorite) Grandma like to sing while she cooks and spending time with just her was the best birthday gift.

Not his favorite part was the clean up. He didn’t hesitate to get the dishes done. I did send this photo to Mary and Bryan - neither one could believe he volunteered to clean up.