How cute is this birthday cake?! It was made to match a nautical themed birthday party. I love the simplicity of this cake, but sometimes simple cakes are the hardest to make because there is nowhere to hide flaws!
The bottom tier featured the birthday boys name in crisp white set on a navy blue cake tier. There were fondant ropes, made using a clay extruder, strung around the entire tier.
The middle featured an anchor I made using a custom cookie cutter my husband printed using his new toy: his 3D printer. I have to say, it took time to design and plan the cutter, but it was really cool, and now I have the shape for future use! The life savers were made out of thick pieces of white fondant wrapped with thin red strips of fondant.
This steering wheel was also made using a custom cookie cutter that I designed and my husband printed on his 3D printer. It would have been really tough to cut out such a perfect shape using a template.
The blue and white striped number cake topper was the perfect finishing touch to this cake! Happy 3rd Birthday Aiden!
My niece Abby turned 4 years old! She requested a princess pirate birthday cake to match her princess pirate birthday party theme. 2 years ago I made Abby this Dora and Diego cake for a party she shared with her cousin Aaron. I’m so impressed at how far my photography has come since then!
I knew that this cake needed a tiara. I’ve made simple tiaras before and I wanted to try something a bit more complicated. I used this template I found online as a guide, but didn’t follow it exactly. I printed the template, taped it to a large round can and then taped a piece of wax paper on top of the template. I then used my clay extruder to make ropes of gum paste. I used different size ropes, loosely following the template and formed this pretty tiara. After shaping the tiara, I let it dry for about 2 days. It wasn’t completely dry at this point, but I handled it really carefully and I had no problems. Next time I think I will give it a week to really get it rock hard. Once it was “dry” I removed it from the round can and airbrushed it in this rich gold color.
The princess part of the cake was fulfilled with the edible tiara. When I think of pirates, stripes definitely come to mind. For a girly pirate, I needed to make the stripes hot pink and black. So the bottom tier was striped, but still needed something extra. So I added a cute scalloped ruffle.
For the top tier, I hand painted a gold treasure map all the way around the cake. I used gold luster dust mixed with a little vodka until it turned into a nice paint consistency. Painting the cake freehand made me really nervous, but I just went for it!
The finishing touch was loads and loads of edible fondant gold doubloons. I textured some yellow fondant with a rubber flower stamp. Then I cut out lots of round coins in 2 sizes and airbrushed them in gold to brighten them up. The kids at the party loved picking the coins off the cake. Happy Birthday Abby, can’t wait for you to turn 5!
I am really pleased to be able to share my thoughts on this exciting new cookbook with you! Artscroll has done a fabulous job in presenting over 150 triple tested Pesach recipes. There are pictures for every recipe, which I always enjoy. I want to know what my dish will look like so I don’t have to guess at what I’m preparing. After all, Pesach is stressful enough! This beautiful cookbook was 6 years in the making. Each Pesach for the past 6 years, 6 women have been sharing their fabulous Pesach recipes with their community. There has been so much positive feedback about these pamphlets year after year, that these recipes were finally published into one gorgeous cookbook.
The cookbook is divided into 10 chapters: appetizers, soup, salad, fish, poultry, meat, sides, dessert, cake & cookies, and gebrokts. Believe it or not, almost the entire cookbook is made up of gluten free (non-gebrokts) recipes. With so many people living with gluten allergies, this is the absolute perfect cookbook for not only Pesach, but year round use. As a Pesach cookbook, the variety in recipes is amazing. Many of the recipes have useful tips or little stories paired to make this book more personal. There are even hand written notes throughout from those who have truly enjoyed these recipes after making them for friends and family.
I am a professional baker and pastry chef, so the huge dessert and cake & cookie section really impressed me. My family and friends always expect me to prepate fabulous desserts even on Pesach when so many of my staple ingredients are off limits. This cookbook is my new secret weapon! I can’t wait to try the glazed chocolate cake, chocolate crinkle cookies, shehakol freezer cake, and the chocolate cupcakes! Yum.
While the dessert section is definitely impressive, as a wife, mom, and daughter, I am equally excited by the huge salad section. There are over 20 salad recipes to choose from. I like including salad as a part of every meal, it’s fresh, and healthy. Pesach can feel like an eating marathon, and some meals I’m just looking for a lighter option. I love that I can turn to this new cookbook for answers! I’m sharing this recipe for Sweet Potato Crisps Salad from A Taste of Pesach;reprinted with permission from the copyright holders: ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications.
Prepare sweet potato crisps: Peel sweet potato. Using a vegetable peeler, continue to peel wide paper-thin strips of sweet potato.
Heat oil in a deep skillet. When oil is hot, add sweet potato strips a few at a time. When golden and crispy (about 5-7 minutes) remove with a slotted spoon. Can be made a few days in advance; store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Prepare the dressing: Place dressing ingredients in a small container. Shake to combine.
Assemble salad: Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl. Toss with dressing. Place sweet potatoes on top right before serving.
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Now for the amazing giveaway sponsored by ArtScroll! Enter to win a free copy of A Taste Of Pesach! Contest open to US mailing addresses only. One winner will be chosen at random. Giveaway ends on Monday, April 7th at 11:59PM EST. Please provide a valid email address; winner will be notified via email. Winner has 24 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen. a Rafflecopter giveaway
