Valentine Treats
These are little heart-shaped mousse cakes that I made for my family on Valentine’s Day. I was hoping that they would be extremely elegant versions of my Bleeding Heart Cake, but when we first cut them, the raspberry was too frozen to bleed and when we cut another one later, too much of the raspberry had seeped into the mousse, and it still didn’t bleed. So I still have that to work on.
These are little heart-shaped mousse cakes that I made for my family on Valentine’s Day. They are almond sponge and lemon mousse with a raspberry center and mirror glaze and dehydrated raspberry powder on top. I was hoping that they would be extremely elegant versions of my Bleeding Heart Cake, but when we first cut them, the raspberry was too frozen to bleed and when we cut another one later, too much of the raspberry had seeped into the mousse, and it still didn’t bleed. So I still have that to work on.
These hearts were the culmination of an entire day of heart-shaped food that I made for Valentine’s Day, which included heart-shaped raspberry pancakes, heart-shaped pizza with heart-shaped pepperoni, heart-shaped deviled eggs, heart-shaped strawberry gummies, heart-shaped mozzarella pockets, heart-shaped meat pies, heart-shaped beet salad, and heart-shaped cheesy breadsticks.
Relatively Successful Entremet
I made this cake for my dad’s birthday, from a recipe in one of my cookbooks from The Great British Bake Off.
I made this cake for my dad’s birthday, from a recipe in one of my cookbooks from The Great British Bake Off . The layers, from bottom to top, are almond sponge, lemon curd, honey custard, and blackberry gelée. It all tasted good, but I think I put too much gelatin in the custard and the gelée because they were a little rubbery. The recipe was in leaf gelatin and I only have powdered gelatin. Also, the lemon curd wasn’t set enough, so it squooshed out a bit when the cake was cut and later in the refrigerator the top half slide off of the bottom half.
Hollow Knight Cake
In keeping with our Hollow Knight Halloween costumes, Sam wanted a Hollow Knight cake for his birthday this year.
In keeping with our Hollow Knight Halloween costumes, Sam wanted a Hollow Knight cake for his birthday this year.
For reference, this is the image, from Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition, on which the cake is based
The back is fondant over foam core, painted with food coloring. The rocks on the base are fondant as well, which is good because Sam loves eating fondant and enjoyed eating the rocks as much he enjoyed the actual cake. The cape is wafer paper, coated with gelatin, and the sword is gum paste.
The body, the horns, and the soul totems in the background are made of rice cereal treats covered in fondant.
The soul totems were not in the image the cake is based on, but Sam seemed to think they were important. The one on the left is full of soul energy, hence the little white bits.
The one on the right has been corrupted, hence the Void tendrils. All the Void tendrils are made of gelatin.
The Knight’s head and the thing he’s standing on are made of cake, which is much more cake than we needed for the five people living in this house.
We did Zoom the grandparents in to the party, but unfortunately, they couldn’t help us eat the cake.
Paracesis
This is the Paracesis from Warframe, requested by my niece in the specific colors that she uses on it in the game.
This is the Paracesis from Warframe, requested by my niece in the specific colors that she uses on it in the game.
It’s made of poplar, reinforced with brass rods, with Apoxie Sculpt detailing and a plastic gem embedded in the blade.
Pure Nail
This Christmas, my nephew wanted the Pure Nail from Hollow Knight, to go with the Sharpened Nail that he already had as part of his Halloween costume.
This Christmas, my nephew wanted the Pure Nail from Hollow Knight, to go with the Sharpened Nail that he already had as part of his Halloween costume. It’s made of oak and Apoxie Sculpt.
50th Anniversary Cake
We couldn’t celebrate my parents’ 50th anniversary in person, but that didn’t stop me from making them a cake!
We couldn’t celebrate my parents’ 50th anniversary in person, but that didn’t stop me from making them a cake! I tried to make a nice small cake that would be a reasonable size for two people. As usual, despite my best efforts, I made four times as much cake as the occasion required.
The outside of the cake is a blue, white, and gold mirror glaze with golden star sprinkles.
The swans at the bottom are marzipan with gold leaf on them because there were little plastic swans on Mom and Dad’s wedding cake 50 years ago.
The 50 on top is made of caramel and around the perimeter are almonds dipped in caramel.
The platter that the cake is on was (we believe) used in the wedding of some of Dad’s ancestors back three or four generations. We think it dates to the late nineteenth century. My sister and I had it repaired and replated specially for this occasion.
On the inside, the cake is alternating layers of almond cake and chocolate cake with cherry swiss buttercream between the layers. It’s meant to be reminiscent of a gelato bar that was served at Mom and Dad’s wedding, which is half chocolate, half almond with cherries in the middle.
Swan Cookies
Because Mom and Dad’s 50th anniversary party had to be on Zoom, the attendees couldn’t have any of the cake. So I sent everyone cookies.
Because Mom and Dad’s 50th anniversary party had to be on Zoom, the attendees couldn’t have any of the cake. So I sent everyone cookies.
They’re almond cookies with cherry royal icing and gold leaf on the beaks.
They’re shaped like swans to tie in with the cake and because Mom and Dad had plastic swans on their wedding cake 50 years ago.
Holiday Candy 2020
This year’s flavors include raspberry, honey sesame seed, anise, earl grey, almond cranberry toffee, coffee marshmallow, and almond clusters with white and dark chocolate.
Hollow Knight Halloween
For Halloween, my nephew wanted to be the Knight from the video game Hollow Knight. Then it turned into a family affair, with my niece as the Pure Vessel, my sister as the White Lady, and my brother-in-law as the Pale King.
For Halloween, my nephew wanted to be the Knight from the video game Hollow Knight. Then it turned into a family affair, with my niece as the Pure Vessel, my sister as the White Lady, and my brother-in-law as the Pale King.
The Adventure Zone cross stitch
This cross stitch was just for me. It captures one of my favorite little moments from The Adventure Zone podcast and comic book.
This cross stitch was just for me. It captures one of my favorite little moments from The Adventure Zone podcast and comic book.
Valkyr Pusheen Cake
Another cake celebrating my wonderful niece! It’s Pusheen dressed as Valkryr, one of Alex’s favorite frames from Warframe.
Another cake celebrating my wonderful niece! It’s Pusheen dressed as Valkyr, one of Alex’s favorite frames from Warframe. For reference, this is what Alex’s Valkyr looks like.
Pusheen is a very simple shape, but Valkyr’s outfit is quite complicated. To figure out what gum paste pieces I needed to make, I began by making a full-scale model of the cake out of newspaper and masking tape.
Using that as a guide, I made paper patterns for all the pieces of her outfit and from those paper pieces I made templates and forms to cut and shape the gum paste. The amazing thing is that I actually managed to carve the cake enough like my model that all thirteen pieces of the crown fit together on the cake more or less the way that they were supposed to.
Inisde, Val-kitty-sheen is a beautiful lemon-flavored rainbow.
Raspberry Charlotte
Not as neat as I would have liked it to be, but it does look kind of like a brain, which is a plus in my book.
Not as neat as I would have liked it to be, but it does look kind of like a brain, which is a plus in my book.
Cocao Nib Panna Cotta
I have never made a panna cotta before, so I’m pretty happy with how this turned out.
I have never made a panna cotta before, so I’m pretty happy with how this turned out. The blackberries are sugared with sage sugar because my mom has an overproducing sage plant so I’ve been adding sage to everything.
Big Time Bake
I’m back on the Food Network! You can watch me in the “Fantasy” episode of Big Time Bake.
Grapefruit Sandwich Cake
This very delicious cake is from The Great British Baking Show: The Big Book of Amazing Cakes.
Professor Bobo cross stitch
Not quite seven years after I completed my Pearl Forrester cross stitch, I’ve finally done the next in my Mystery Science Theater 3000 cross stitch series – Professor Bobo!
Not quite seven years after I completed my Pearl Forrester cross stitch, I've finally done the next in my Mystery Science Theater 3000 cross stitch series - Professor Bobo!
Tribute Cake
The recipe for this cake is from Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet. It’s chocolate cake with whipped chocolate ganache filling, chocolate glaze, and chocolate decor. My nephew and I made it together.
The recipe for this cake is from Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet. It’s chocolate cake with whipped chocolate ganache filling, chocolate glaze, and chocolate decor. My nephew and I made it together.
Rainbow Unicorn Brownies
Rainbow Unicorn Brownies for my rainbow unicorn angel!
Rainbow unicorn brownies for my rainbow unicorn angel!
Ana Northstar Cake
My niece has made up a marvelous imagined universe that centers around the mythical heroine Ana Northstar. For her birthday, she asked for a cake featuring Ana Northstar’s wings.
My niece has made up a marvelous imagined universe that centers around the mythical heroine Ana Northstar. For her birthday, she asked for a cake featuring Ana Northstar's wings. Here's the cake I came up with, along with the inspiration drawing of Ana Northstar.
The outside of the cake is chocolate jaconde. Inside is mango mousse with a jaconde rainbow heart inside, which represents Ana Northstar's soul.
The hearts are fresh lime gummies. The orange wings are white chocolate. The green and purple wings are modeling chocolate. The blue webbing on the green wings is homemade pineapple fruit leather.
