Lego Star Wars Stormtrooper Birthday Cake
My husband Michael, the engineer, is the designer for all our sons’ birthday cakes. He’s a big fan of Duff Goldman and watches Ace of Cakes often trying to pick up any tips he can. We only tackle cakes like this three times a year and we are definitely not pros. I bake the cakes and whip up the frosting and fondant and he does all the assembly and decorative work. Here’s our story on how we made the Lego Star Wars Stormtrooper birthday cake.
We always begin planning the birthday cakes months in advance because Michael likes to let the design percolate in his head for a while, so back in March we asked Top Gun what kind of cake he wanted for his next birthday, and for some reason he just couldn’t decide. He asked for a delta wing green airplane, Mater from the movie Cars, a dinosaur, Transformer (that would have been hard), and Yoda. He eventually settled on a dragon and we almost had it figured out, but then at the last minute he changed his mind and asked for a Lego Star Wars Stormtrooper cake. He was very specific and even picked out the stormtrooper model. We managed to dodge the Transformer cake for now, but Michael is pretty sure it’s in our future. Read more
Irish Cream Pound Cake
It’s that time of year, time for me to dust off my Irish genes—which are mingled with Scottish, a bit of Cherokee Indian, as well as a few others that I’m not sure about—and enjoy a bit of my family heritage. We’ll have some Irish stew, Irish soda bread, and at least one dessert with some of our favorite Irish flavors: Irish cream and Guinness. Read more
Spiced Persimmon Cake with Dates and Lemon Glaze
November 4, 2009 by Andrea
Filed under Dessert, Grow Your Own
We discovered the persimmon tree in September when we noticed the golden orbs hanging from the branches. We hadn’t paid attention to the tree before because it was in a relatively inaccessible area behind our house and we had no idea what it was or what if anything it would produce, it had not set fruit until this year. When we found the fruit, we realized it was American persimmon (aka common persimmon and Eastern persimmon), which is a berry in botanic terms. The fruit is small, ranging 1 to 1-1/2 inches (2.5 to 4 cm) in diameter and very sweet when ripe.
Persimmons are autumn fruits that can hang on even after frost, and you can wait until after frost to gather them to ensure they are fully ripe. The leaves start to droop and fall off the tree as the fruit ripens. The persimmons should be very soft and even a little wrinkled before eating, otherwise they’ll have a chalky taste. If the fruit starts to drop when you shake the tree, they are pretty much ready. Read more
Percy Train Birthday Cake
My husband Michael, the engineer (aerospace, not trains), is the designer for all our sons’ birthday cakes. He’s a big fan of Duff Goldman and watches Ace of Cakes often trying to pick up any tips he can. We only tackle cakes like this three times a year and we are definitely not pros. I bake the cakes and whip up the frosting and he does all the assembly and decorative work. Here’s his story on how we made the Percy train birthday cake.
Monkey Boy’s favorite toy is trains so for about six months prior to his third birthday we heard all about how he wanted a Thomas the Tank Engine cake, then just a couples months before his birthday he changed his mind and asked for Percy, the green number 6 train. Green is his favorite color, so it wasn’t a big surprise.
Volcano Birthday Cake
For Top Gun’s fifth birthday, he requested a volcano birthday cake with dinosaurs. For some reason, he associates volcanoes with dinosaurs, so we obliged and made a chocolate volcano birthday cake with chocolate frosting and colored vanilla frosting with five toy dinosaurs—one for each year—strategically placed on top, making a sort of volcano diorama. He was so excited when he came home from school and found the cake sitting in the kitchen, though he felt we had not included enough dinosaurs in the diorama, so he ran upstairs and pulled another from his collection and plopped it down exactly where he thought it should go. Read more
Whole Wheat Blueberry Buckle
Early blueberries have started coming into the markets and grocery stores and we brought a big bunch home last week, eager for a chance to enjoy some of the delicious fruits. We use them in pies, muffins, ice cream, cakes, tarts, on top of a bowl of oatmeal, or just to eat out of hand. The boys usually have their fingers in the bowl of blueberries when we make something with them.
