Camellias are popular, long-lived, evergreen shrubs (or small trees)
renowned for their glossy foliage and stunning, rose-like blooms that
appear from fall to spring.
As staples of Southern gardens, they bloom in white, pink, and red,
thriving in acidic, well-draining soil and partial shade in zones 6-10. Here at the condo, the bush in the center garden finished blooming last week. The bush by the walkway from parking to the condo building has been blooming steadily. It is slowing down, and I believe the end of the camellia season is almost here.
Spring time means newborn animals, leaves on trees, grass starting to
grow, and flowers pushing up in the garden. It is a time for new life
and fun food. I enjoy food art. Spring and Easter are a perfect time to
make cute food to celebrate. Last week I shared the classic cute bunny cake for spring and Easter. It is made from 2 round cakes with artistic cuts on
one cake. The classic bunny cake has been around since the 1950s.
Today, I wanted to consider some of the different ways
to make cakes that look like a lamb. A lamb is a symbol of renewal and has long been at the
center of Easter tradition.
I. Lamb Cake Using a Lamb Mold
This is one of the most popular ways to make a lamb cake. There are numerous posts with a molded lamb cake. Wilton has great instructions on how to make the lamb cake with the Wilton
3D standing cake pan. They decorated the cake with flat white icing
first. Then using an icing tip and bag, they added swirls on the body
for wool and colored accents. I personally would find this way of
decorating hard as I’ve never been great at piping icing details. The face is the flat white icing with colors for lines for
mouth and eyes. Their lamb’s face is cute and not hard to make.
Wilton also has a cake iced with a spatula and leaving the face bare.
You can make this with white cake or chocolate. I think it’s really cute
and Wilton ranks it for a beginner.
If you do a search for lamb cakes, you will find hundreds of posts with
varying ways to decorate one. The faces often look very different. Some
of the cakes show how hard it can be working with a mold. The faces are
distorted. Part of the difference in the face is the brand of lamb mold
you are using. Nordic Ware‘s 3 D Lamb Cake Pan is another standing lamb cake. Below is their chocolate version with the body covered in icing and the head bare chocolate cake.
A
glaze was used on the face. Then using a buttercream icing piped
rosettes were placed around the body. A straw was used to pop out the
eyes and then a knife was used to make the nose and mouth. Finally
pre-made cake decorations from Walmart and green coconut decorate the cake.
No matter the brand of mold you use, the piped icing is probably the
most popular decorated lamb cake. An attractive alternative is using
coconut on white icing to make a wool coat for the lamb. I really loved
this idea as a coconut cake was the first cake I learned to make as a
child. It was fun and delicious. Below is a version shared atA Taste of Home with coconut on the body and candy on the face. A lamb cake looks great as a centerpiece for Easter dinner.
I like the idea of not having to spend $20 to $l30 for a lamb cake
mold. My small home does not have lots of storage space. There are so
many ways to decorate a round cake for Easter with a lamb theme. The
easiest is Kraft’s Simple Lamb Cake. Bake your favorite cake and add
white icing on the cake. Use miniature marsh mellows to circle the top of
the cake once. Then add 2 more rows of marshmallows at the top to make
wool coming down to meet his face. Use melted chocolate to make eyes and
mouth. A candy is the nose. Cookies are ears. So cute and easy.
One of the most common methods to decorate a round cake is using
flat white icing on the whole cake. Then add any decorative piping for a
wooly frame for the face. Below is a sponge cake decorated with a cream
icing. Melted chocolate was used for facial features. Round small
crackers or cookies are the ears.
You can easily decorate a round cake with a cake topper made for the season. Below is a great example from Good Housekeeping. This handmade lamb cake topper is made with a Rice Krispies treat, cotton candy, and marshmallows. Everything is edible and unexpected.
Online there are many toppers and cookie molds to help you decorate your cake. Most would be put on the top, but they can also be added to sides of a cake for a cute cake. Below are a set of two lamb cookie cutters. Bake and decorate your cookies for a colorful display.
The Food Network has a darling lamb cake you make from 3 round cakes. Complete instructions are givien at How to Make an Easter Lamb Cake. It is a more complex cake design.
The Food Network has another recipe with instructions that
makes a lamb cake from cupcakes. It seems much easier to me than cutting
3 cakes like the recipe above. Who doesn’t love cute cupcakes?
Last week at the farmer’s market, one grower had a little packet of fresh new asparagus which reminded me of a spring Quiche. Fresh asparagus, cherry tomatoes, and basil cooked in a cheesy custard sounds perfect for breakfast, lunch, brunch, or even dinner. An asparagus Quiche is one of my favorites for an Easter or spring brunch.
I usually use Swiss cheese but have enjoyed quiches made from a variety of cheeses. Your favorite crust can be used – even store-bought. If you cannot have grains in your diet, you can oil the pie plate and cook the vegetable custard without a crust.
Asparagus & Tomato Quiche
Use organic when available, vegetarian Serves 7 to 8
Ingredients
6 eggs or 4 whole eggs and 2 egg whites
1 bunch of asparagus or 7 or 8 stalks
1 9" pie shell
1/2 cup milk
1 cup cream
1 cup grated cheese, such as Swiss, cheddar, Gruyère
1/4 cup torn fresh basil
1 cup cherry tomato halves
Salt and pepper to taste
optional medium tomato to cut into pinwheel slices for decoration
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 F or 218 C
Oil pie pan and add dough
Fork bottom of pie crust and cover crust edges with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning
Bake pie crust for about 5 minutes
Remove aluminum foil and bake pie crust for another 8 minutes until almost done
Reduce oven to 325 F or 162 C
Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a large pot
Cut most of the asparagus into pieces and save some for top of Quiche
Once water is boiling, add the cleaned & trimmed asparagus into pot & boil for 1 minute
Remove immediately and run under cold water to stop the cooking process
Set asparagus aside
Whisk the eggs in a large bowl and add the milk and cream
Whisk together thoroughly and then stir in the shredded cheese, basil, salt & pepper
Add cooked asparagus and tomato slices to bottom of pie shell
Pour custard mix on top
Adorn top with cherry tomatoes and asparagus (optional)
Bake for 35 minutes or until center is firm
Cover edges of crust with aluminum foil if the crust starts to burn
Let quiche stand for at least 5 minutes before cutting
Can be made ahead of time and served at room temperature.
Optional decorate top of quiche with sliced tomato cut into pinwheels in center of top & asparagus around edge pointing in
I’ve been driving around and enjoying scenes here in my home of
Lakeland, Florida. The days are mostly beautiful with blue skies.
Of course, I love to visit the flower department at my local Publix Supermarket. Some things never change no matter where I am in Florida. Floridians love the seasonal flowers that grow up north. Spring flowers, like tulips, are very popular.
Thanks for the visit. I’m wishing you blue skies and tulips wherever you are.
Today we're making food art for spring and Easter. It's a classic bunny cake that has been around since the 1950s.
You can use cake mix or your favorite cake recipe for two 8" or 9" cake pans. I like the coconut version with coconut added to a white or yellow cake and patted on the white icing to make a white bunny look. I've also seen it done without coconut and even in chocolate for an adorable brown bunny.
One cake is the head and the second is cut for other parts. Above are two ears on the sides and the middle piece becomes the bow tie below the rabbit head. You can cover a tray with aluminum foil, parchment paper, or even a big doily. If you like, you can use food color to make some pink icing or coconut for the ears and green to make grass around the bunny head. You can place bunny ears turning up or down.
The easiest decorating is based on white icing, coconut, jelly beans, and other candies like licorice or Twizzlers. If you are a talented cake decorator with icing, I've seen very artistic cakes cut in this shape and totally decorated with icing for eyes, nose, mouth, whiskers, and even flowers. This is a great holiday activity with the kids. Let them decorate the bunny cake.
Easter Bunny Cake
Use organic when available. Makes 12 servings.
Ingredients
28" or 9" layers of yellow or white cake baked
4cupsflaked coconut
white icing for 2 layer cake
optional food coloring for coconut or icing
candy for decorations
Instructions
Cover serving tray with aluminum foil or doily
Remove cool cakes from pans
Place one whole cake layer on serving tray
Cut 2 convex shaped ears from each side of the second layer
Place ears on each side of head to form ears
Use concave shaped piece for the bowtie, place about 1/2 inch below head
Frost each piece of bunny with white icing covering top and sides of bunny.
Frost bowtie with colored icing such as blue or green
Pat remaining coconut evenly over top and sides of bunny head and ears
Use colored frosting, jelly beans, licorice, etc. to decorate cake as desired; licorice can be cut in thin strings for whiskers
I love cute food art. For the last few years, I’ve been trying some of my favorite pins of Food Art. One of the spring appetizers I love is Tulip Tomatoes. It is shown in a bouquet of tulip tomatoes on chive greenery. It is so cute. Below is the photo found all around the internet.
I like that tulip tomatoes are a healthy side dish perfect for any spring or summer occasion. Everyone says this food art can be created in less than 30 minutes. It took a little longer for me. This post is a little different from most of my food posts. Have you ever tried to replicate a pin and wondered what happened?
Above are more of the original photos on making tulip tomatoes. They
must have originally been on a blog or social media that no longer
exists. I’ve found over 12 blogs with the same photos
and instructions on this food art. My recommendation is to first decide
if you just want a decoration for your table, or if you want appetizers
to eat. If you just want a decoration, go with the idea of a tied
bouquet. If, like me, you want pretty finger food, I’ll try to give you
easy ideas.
The tulip tomatoes are made with mostly fresh ingredients like cucumber, cream cheese, tomatoes, and green onions or chives.
The original instructions say to make a cross on top of large cherry tomatoes, going 3/4 way deep. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon; a grapefruit spoon is suggested. First, DO NOT GO 3/4 DEEP! The little tomato becomes too flimsy and you will have cream cheese everywhere. I know as I did it. I suggest 1/2 deep. Then you use a toothpick or
skewer to make a hole where the stem was on the bottom. Push a green
chive through the hole to make a stem.
The original recipe uses a filling of cream cheese, cucumber, and dried
parsley. It really sounds a little bland to me, and I added lemon juice
too. It was still too bland. I think the dried parsley would add more
flavor if it is added to the cream cheese and put back in the
refrigerator for a day. The original recipe says to use a teaspoon full
of cream cheese mix in each tomato. I bought large cherry tomatoes, and
they are still small for 1 teaspoon. I saw another blogger piped the
filling in which probably makes it easier to fill the tomato. It is a messy procedure filling the top
with a spoon and keeping the chive in the bottom hole. I had lots of
leaks from both ends. Use a clean paper towel to clean the outside of each tomato.
I believe a better filling would perk up the taste of the little
appetizer. I was tempted to just buy garlic and onion cream cheese when
I went shopping for the ingredients. I think that or the herb flavored
cream cheese would be tasty and so easy to use. I think that adding
minced or processed cucumber makes the cream cheese too watery.
Cucumbers are pretty much water in composition.
You could try your favorite dip as long as it is firm enough. Over on One Little Project, Debbie makes a whipped Feta/cream cheese filling.
It sounds interesting. Then I made my tomato flowers on a plate. Originally, the recipe said to tie the green stems with a chive like a
bouquet. If you want appetizers, don’t tie the bouquet and make a
single layer of flowers. If you want a decoration, then tie the bouquet.
I
know that trying to pick up the little flower tomato will make the
eater’s hands messy. I think serving them with toothpicks is a better
idea. Below you’ll notice that the green stems do not go into the bottom
of the tomato. I tried both ways (above and below) and believe not all
the guests would want to eat the green chive. Placing the tomato on
the top of the chive gives the same look, but the tomato can be lifted
from the plate with a toothpick without chives.
I started thinking about serving them at the dinner table. I like Roma tomatoes for a good size to make tulips. I again cut a cross on
the top and scooped out the seeds. If the tomato does not have a flat
bottom, cut the bottom to level it. This time I used hummus as the
filler; there are so many flavors I can try. I served the tulip tomato
on a saucer with romaine lettuce for leaves. I think it’s a great first
course or snack. I ate two of them with whole grain crackers for lunch.
I cut the tomato into pieces with a knife and fork and ate it with my
fork. It was yummy, and my hands were clean.
Whether you want small tomato tulips on an appetizer plate or larger Roma sized tulips, choose your filling of choice, make the tulips and
arrange with chosen greenery.
Tomato Tulip Appetizers
Use organic when available. Makes 16 tomato tulips.
Ingredients
Cherry Tomato Tulips
16large cherry tomatoes
16stalks of chives
8ozflavored cream cheese or favorite dip
Roma Tulip Appetizers
1 or 2Roma tomatoes per person
romaine leaves or other green vegetable for each Roma
8oxflavored cream cheese or favorite dip
Instructions
Cherry Tomato Tulips
With stem side down, cut a cross in the top of each cherry tomato (about 1/2 down the tomato).
Using a spoon (grapefruit spoon works very well) to gently scrape out the tomato seeds.
Option
1: Take a grilling skewer or toothpick and make a hole where the stem
currently is. You may need to twist the skewer in a circle a few times
to make room for the chive to fit through.
Option 2: Do not make a hole in the bottom of tomato.
Starting with 1/2 tsp of filling, fill tomato top. Adjust amount according to size of tomato.
Option 1: Insert a chive into the hole at the bottom of each tomato.
Use a damp paper towel to clean any excess filling from outside of tomatoes.
Option 1: Make a bouquet of chive flowers and wrap last chive around the green chive stems and tie.
Option 2: Place green chives on plate or platter like stems of flowers.
Option 2: Place tomato flowers on top of green chives. Add tooth picks.
Cover and refrigerate for several hours.
Serve on plate or platter chilled.
Roma Tomato Tulips
With stem side down, cut a cross in the top of each tomato (about 1/2 down the tomato).
Using a spoon (grapefruit spoon works very well) to gently scrape out the tomato seeds.
Starting with 1 tsp of filling, fill tomato top. Adjust amount according to size of tomato.
Clean outside of tomatoes with damp paper towel.
Shape romaine leaves to look like flower leaves and place on saucer.
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