Happy Parents' Day!

Last Sunday was father's day, and I got an interesting order. A friend of mine was out of town for mother's day, so she wanted to get a combined Mother's Day/Father's Day cake and celebrate them both together. So, we got chatting about what her parents like, and a few interesting things came up. They love puzzles, hiking, and in particular hiking in their favourite forest in New England. Put it all together, and we came up with two puzzle piece shaped cakes, with a hand-painted forest scene. And finally, topped off with a figurine of each of them. The cake was a chocolate cake with an amaretto cream cheese frosting. So good! 

Mama Bird

It's mother's day! That obviously means I had to come up with something absolutely unique for the mothers in my life. I wanted to combine a few things they love: baklava, almond paste, and chocolate truffles. An interesting mix, I know!

I stared off with the idea of an edible birds nest made of kataifi, a middle eastern phyllo dough used to make baklava. I had seen these nests a few times in and around the interweb, and thought I'd give it a try. It was my first time working with this stuff, and although a little messy, it worked out perfectly fine.

I then filled the nests with white chocolate truffles with an almond centre shaped as the eggs. The birds were made of almond paste, and then a sugar magnolia for prettiness! 

My sister-in-law went out and collected these great branches to put it all together on (Yes, she's great like that!).

A very happy mother's day to all the wonderful moms!