An Airplane Cake for First Birthday Boy, Liam

When my friend Jessica asked me to make her son's first birthday cake, I felt so honored. Every child's birthday is special and a first birthday is especially so! Jessica is such a creative person- the party could not have been more gorgeous. The invitations were plane tickets! The color scheme was blue and orange- absolutely perfect. Ahead of time, I made a gum-paste plane and white chocolate banner (actually I made several of each- to allow for breakage) as well as some teeny tiny gum-paste blue birds. The only non-edible part of the entire cake was the small piece of tooth-pick I used to spin the propeller on the plane. I felt it just had to be able to spin!

 I used a round tip 10 for the clouds and top border and a round tip 12 for the bottom border, piping with my recipe for Basic Buttercream.

Just before placing it,  I made a small 'rope' from gum-paste to connect the banner to the airplane.

 

Since the birthday boy loves birds, tiny blue birds adorned the clouds. They were challenging to shape due to their small size. I started with a pea-sized piece of gum-paste, rolling it into a cylinder, then pulling the wings from the sides and tail and beak from the front and back. I used a toothpick to add the eyes and a bit of feather texture on the wings and belly.

 

The birthday boy needed his own cupcake to taste, so I made him one using Wilton's 2D tip and a round tip #3 to make the white dots. Topped it off with a Number 1 candle from HEMA, one of my favorite stores in the Netherlands.

 

In order to create the curved banner in white chocolate I needed to have it dry on something curved in the same shape. I used a cardboard tube from a paper towel roll, cut in half and re-taped together to form the "S" shape. After piping the white chocolate banner on waxed paper I carefully lifted it onto the "S" and let it dry there overnight. The following day I piped the dark chocolate lettering, "Liam is 1!"

From the moment Jessica explained her request and theme I knew I was going to have a blast making this cake. It was a pleasure to create and I feel so lucky to have been a part of a very special boy's first birthday.

October is here! Squash Soup all around!

The fall season makes me so happy. Crisp, chilly mornings giving rise to gorgeous bright crunching leaves days reminds me of going back to school and the upcoming HALLOWEEN! Outside our bedroom window we can see our neighbor's maple tree and it has just started changing to a deep pink and bright orange with some bits of yellow. Gorgeous! Squash and pumpkins are on the market now and I was fortunate enough to buy some (including a typical American style pumpkin for Halloween!!) when we were in Germany a couple of weeks ago.

 

I spent 20 euros on these puppies because we didn't have change and I was so excited to see the road-side stand with the American style pumpkin I just kept putting them in the box until I had 20 euros worth. Mental note: 20 euros of pumpkins makes me quite happy for many days. And my kid, too!

Look how happy she is with the funny double-pumpkin! The two green ones at Dina's feet are called Buttercup squash and they are outstanding.

Fine Cooking once published a Buttercup squash and leek soup which I've long forgotten the exact measurements, but here is the method:

Make or purchase broth- preferably a veggie broth. You will likely need about 2 cups (500 ml) for one squash and 2 leeks.  Next, get a stock pot and add your rinsed, chopped leeks (about 2 leeks, or one if your squash is small or your leek really large). If you haven't cooked with leeks before here's a little info video I made:

Next, you'll slice your squash in half, scoop out the seeds with a spoon and flip it cut side down. Carefully cut the skin of the squash off, using the cut side down method as much as possible to prevent your knife from slipping on the tough skin. Cube squash into 1 to 2 inch squares and throw these on top of the leeks. Next, pour in enough broth to almost come to the top of the squash. If you cover the squash with the broth you will have a thinner soup. I prefer a thicker soup, but either way will work.

Bring your pot to a boil and once it is boiling, simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes or until you can prick the squash pieces with a fork and they just fall apart. Next, use an immersion blender to blend the hot soup together and make a nice smooth texture. If you don't have a hand held blender, you can do it in batches in a traditional blender. Just makes for more containers to clean-up.

Serve it, piping hot, with a dab of butter or extra virgin olive oil. I prefer the flavor of butter, as shown above. To prevent the squash soup from being too thin: before you blend the soup with the blender, remove some liquid, taking care to leave the leeks and squash in the pot. Sometimes I remove about 180 ml (1/2 cup) or more, if I think the squash seemed to release a lot of water. Don't throw this away! Keep it and then, blend the remaining squash, liquid and leeks and check the consistency. If it seems too thick, I slowly add the reserved liquid until I reach the desired thickness.

You can find these buttercup squash at the local markets (definitely the Eindhoven market on Saturday mornings) and also Genneper Park (I am starting to feel like an advert for them!) sometimes has them in their farm market. 

If you wish, you can substitute butternut squash (Flespompoen) for the buttercup, but you'll be missing out on something. Butternut squash is good, no lie, but trust me: the buttercup squash will blow you away.

Happy Fall, everyone!