Gourmet Food on a Budget
Do you have a birthday to plan, or do you need to plan an event or reception? We’ve got recipes to help!
When I was a little girl, my mother used to go on about how she loved going to her grandmother’s house when she would serve Lobster and Rose salad. I was always hoping that my mother would recreate the recipe, but she never did.
When my great-grandmother was making this salad, lobster was a lot less expensive. I decided that for my birthday, despite to cost, I would recreate Christina Jacobsen’s recipe myself.
Immerse yourself in the floral elegance of rose-infused sweetness of Rose Fudge or surrender to the rich depths of dark chocolate and cherry in the iconic Black Forest Fudge.
I had a dream, yes I had a dream. I dreamed of cupcakes with blue buttercream frosting.
I’m not much of a cupcake person, but they are nice if you’ve got a lot of kids. They are easy because you don’t really need a plate, and you don’t need a knife, and you don’t have to worry about someone saying their piece of cake is too small or too big. All the cupcakes are the same size.
Usually, I make a butter cake, similar to a 1234 cake, but it makes a three-layer cake, and that was just too much for cupcakes. I know that a regular box of cake mix makes enough for cupcakes, but I don’t like things that come in a box. So I made my own box cake with fresh ingredients.
Pictures and recipes for appetizers for Spane’s 8th Pirate themed birthday party. Fruit boats, cucumber boats, a cheese ball skull, cannon balls (rum balls), and a Jolly Roger cake to complete the theme.
I just love marzipan. It is so forgiving, easy to work with, and delicious. As a child living in Germany, I remember every year at Christmas time, the bakeries would put out a nativity scene made from marzipan, with the structures made from gingerbread. These were true artisans. So, when I decided to make a Jolly Roger cake, I wanted to do something in that tradition.
Originally, I was going to make large cannon (rum) balls for Spane’s pirate-themed party, but I soon realized that I could not put a candle on them the same way I could a cake. I still made the rum balls, and they turned out wonderful as well.
Making the cake was easy. I used my standard chocolate cake recipe, using Hershey’s Dark Cocoa, with the addition of a little Chipotle powder and Saigon cinnamon. Black food coloring made for intensely dark chocolate.
Cucumber boats floating on their blue ocean plate with fully open egg-white sails, rigging of toothpicks with whimsical olives making the mast, and filled with egg salad. Ahoy!
Pirate Party – It’s a Pirate Party! This is a fun menu to make for your own pirate party, whether for kids, or adults who are celebrating International Talk like a Pirate Day. Of course, you can use these recipes at any time of the year.
These Day of the Dead brownies have an extra kick from Chipotle and Cinnamon that takes them out of the realm of the ordinary brownie.
Marzipan People cake toppers are easy to make. Learn how to make Tinker Bell and other pixies with marzipan and taffy.
How to make candy Pixie wings for an edible Tinkerbell, or Fairy for a cake topper or Christmas tree decorations.