Before my daughter's third birthday I asked her what she wanted for her party theme. She was not sure and we spent a lot of time looking at cakes. At some point we were looking at the photos from when she rode a carousel in Obernai, France, and she got excited about a carousel theme. Sometimes looking at assorted pictures to discover a theme is even better than looking at cakes!
Grateful for the challenge, I spent time researching carousel cakes online, and considering how I could suspend the top cake. As it turned out, one of our drinking glasses was just the right thing for the center. Lucky for me, my husband likes to both sample and give advice on my cakes and he said there was 'no way' one single glass in the center was enough to support the top tier, without it potentially listing to one side. Cake dowels would do the trick- stuck right down into the bottom two tiers of cake all the way to the top tier, and also double as the poles for the four horses. And wouldn't it be great if the whole thing could spin? I thought why not use my old-school decorating spinner as a cake base to make it rotate just like a real carousel. Made it easy to decorate, too.
The horses were made from sugar cookies. A benefit was they could be made a couple days in advance.
It is almost impossible for me to make a cake without coordinating cupcakes, but I was concerned about the complexity of this particular cake so I simplified the cupcake decorations by using the (now discontinued) Wilton waxed carousel horse candles. Yes, I found them on discount, and bought them early in the planning process because they were so cute I could not resist them!
I rolled out ovals of the white marzipan and in advance painstakingly placed colored sprinkles in a design to spell out Happy 3rd Birthday Dina (as a test of my patience), as well as a bike, boat, and hot-air balloon. Allowing them to dry on the side of the cake pan I planned to use for the top layer made them the right shape.
We printed a large poster of Dina on a carousel in Rome, as well as the inspirational one of her in Obernai, France to cover our normal artwork in the living/dining room during the party.
Dina's talented Uncle Dan made the invitations and the pin the tail on the carousel horse game for us.
Naturally, our dog Lacey was riding the horse.
As if the day could not get any better, my neighbor, who owns ponies, stopped by when she saw our balloons to see if Dina wanted to sit on a pony on her birthday. Totally unplanned, and completely perfect.
All in all, Dina was thrilled.
I found a colorful banner at our local Albert Heijn (grocery store in
NL) and it was completely customizable, although I had to create the
little 'RD' superscript for the number 3.
Fortunately, I had help from my mom in the decorating and babysitting (it is impossible to spend this kind of time on a party without help from grandparents!) and my dad in the food preparation. He made his famous meatballs, snack sized! Now you know where my love of making food comes from. Check out these mouth-watering meatballs.
The top cake layer took some advanced planning, so I did end up making a test cake to be sure I had the details right.
I made a cardboard template to enable carving the top layer into a peak. As you can see I only put a little circle of cake on the top to start with as the very top comes to a steep peak, so most of it was shaven away with a serrated knife.
In order to make the red stripes on the top the right size, as well as for the sizing of the ovals on the side, I needed to determine the spacing, hence the toothpicks shown on the basic buttercream frosted top below.
I created all my templates when I did the test cake, which made the final cake go smoothly.
The red stripes on the top tier were marzipan and the alternating white was the buttercream underneath. I used marzipan for the red stripes to make it easy (despite the red dye warning they include on the packaging here), and I choose to not serve the red part to the kids.
The cake below the horses was a two tier cake- the very bottom an 8 inch butter cake with strawberries and cream, and the middle tier a 6 inch (to match the 6 inch top) chocolate with ganache filling, both frosted with the fancier Swiss buttercream.
These cake recipes are a hit with a crowd, and this version was no exception. To assemble, I 'glued' a small piece of round cardboard to the glass in advance and then placed it into the frosting on the bottom tiers, dotting buttercream around the side to hold it in place. The dowels were inserted, measured and then cut to size. I also dotted around the dowels with buttercream for looks.
When I assembled and frosted the top tier with the stripes, I did so on a special cardboard round I had previously made so that the glass would nestle into the bottom (two layers of cardboard to fit inside the glass):
Next, the top tier was placed on the supports, fitting the small glued circle into the opening of the glass. I dotted buttercream around the edge of the cardboard after I placed it.
The dark purple was also marzipan, and the only piece of the cake that I would have done differently if I could do it again: the floppy-ness of the accents in between the ovals on the top tier disappointed me. I kept trying to keep them from flopping over (see photo below- that's my irritated smile look).
For favors, I made smaller horse sugar cookies and packaged them in bags with each child's first initial to seal them shut. Other tidbits included a noise-maker, temporary tattoos, band bracelets, Belgian chocolate, and a candy stick (which were originally going to be the poles for the horses, but didn't work out structurally). The bags matched the banner and were also found at AH.
This cake was one of my favorites that I had made (at the time, over a year ago) and I am certain it was the planning ahead that ultimately made it possible.
Now I need to catch up on my posts and show you Dina's 4th birthday cake!
Chard evokes memories for me, of days spent with our friends in Ithaca, watching their garden grow and enjoying its bounty. My then boyfriend, now husband and I made the 1.5 hour trek from Rochester throughout 1999 until 2008 at least a few times a year to see our friends. As I type those dates, it amazes me that it was 10 years! My husband took the photo above in September of 2006, when Todd and Melissa had over an acre of homegrown veggies and berries. Bright, crisp, slightly bitter chard makes me think of those visits and smile.
Since our arrival in the Netherlands, I've not seen chard for sale- either at the local stores or the outdoor markets. In fact, when I've asked for it people often think I mean rhubarb. Chard is much smaller than rhubarb, which is a lovely veggie in its own right, but rhubarb has poisonous leaves. Don't confuse these two! Chard has green stems, red stems, or even yellow-white stems. The leaves are green and if you click on this link to the wikipedia chard entry you'll discover it is one of the healthiest veggies.
On Sunday, on a bike ride home from Eindhoven everything changed: the Genneper Park farm shop had chard, nestled among the carrots and other leafy greens. I do not even know what I paid for it, I was so rushed to grab it by the handful.
I've tried to explain chard to my Dutch friends, even pointing it out in our community gardens a couple of times (and resisting the urge to hop the fence and swipe some) verifying that indeed it does grow here. The Dutch name doesn't help much: snijbiet (snij = cutting and biet = beet). Nope, unless you've tasted it, it doesn't seem to matter much (like acorn squash- which I also miss!)
On Sunday, we had chard for dinner, and here is how I made it with thanks to Todd and Melissa for showing me how many years ago:
Prepare a bunch of chard by rinsing thoroughly. Trim any brown bits off leaves or stems. Carefully cut away the leaves, and chop roughly. Don't try to dry the leaves, they should be damp when you cook them, the water adds steam to the cooking.
Chop the stems like you would celery, trying to keep them all about the same size. (Make the thinner portion pieces a bit longer than the thick portion pieces).
Place the leaves in one bowl and stems in another and begin heating 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large saute pan on medium heat. Reduce to med-low and add the stems, cooking for about 5 minutes (they should still be quite firm).
Add the leaves and cook on low another 5 to 8 minutes more, stirring throughout. When the mixture looks a bit like this:
The chard stems should be slightly tender and the leaves much reduced in size. Add a splash(about a tablespoon, or to taste) of vinegar (any kind of flavored vinegar will do- raspberry is a good choice but if you have access to ume plum vinegar, you are in for a real treat!), stir to combine and serve immediately.
We ate this for dinner, no sides (we'd had a big lunch) and savored every bite. Normally I would serve this as a side dish but since it has been over three years since we'd had it, we had to elevate it to the main event on Sunday. I cooked it the day I bought it, but if you must keep it for a day or two, it can be stored like leafy greens: slightly dampen a paper towel, wrap the chard loosely, and then put in a plastic bag in your veggie drawer of the fridge.
Dutch friends, please, try chard and discover its complex love affair. Demand your local AH carry it, so all of us can enjoy this fabulous healthy vegetable.
My country's birthday is coming up shortly, and I was fortunate to celebrate over the weekend with other expats here in the Netherlands. Instead of a recipe, this is more of a method to achieve a gorgeous American Flag that you can serve at a 4th of July Barbecue. These brownies start from my modification of a brownie product found here, but you can begin with anything baked (brownies, cake, bar cookies, etc.) in a 9"x13" pan. First, place the already baked brownies in the freezer while preparing the fruit and the whipped cream. Pick through about 500 grams of strawberries (1 or 2 quarts), until you have berries about the same size, that are the prettiest of the bunch, stems removed. Pick through a small carton of blueberries until you have about 50. Rinse and pat the fruit dry and set it aside.
Place 250 ml of heavy cream (at least 30% fat content, so to my friends here
in the Netherlands, that is slagroom, not lite, not kookcreme). Whip the
cream on high with a wire-whisk until soft peaks form. Add about 2
Tablespoons of powdered sugar and continue to whip until stiff peaks
form(the sugar gives the whipped cream some stability).
Remove the
brownies from the freezer and spread the whipped cream evenly over the
entire pan. Place blueberries in upper left corner, side by side,
approximately 6 rows and 8 columns(if your pan curves at the corners, it
wont be perfect, but it doesn't matter.) Next, at the top, place a row
of strawberries. Make sure you can put another row of strawberries level
with the bottom of the blueberries, and also at the bottom of the pan.
Fill-in the remaining rows (I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't get
two rows in between where the blueberries end and the bottom. I think
it would have looked nicer, but my berries were too big for that.) to
create an American flag.
Bring your work of art to a BBQ and watch it disappear. Don't wait too long to serve it because the whipped cream will melt in the summer sunshine.
God Bless America!
Happy 4th of July to everyone in the USA and to Americans all over the world.
