Posts filed under Baking. Show all blog posts.
My youngest son was turning seven, so a couple of months ago I gave him a choice of themes for his party. After some discussion, we narrowed his choices down to sports, gymnastics or bugs. Bugs won the draw. Spencer loves bugs—any kind of bugs…the slimier and scarier, the better. So I contacted Bugs without Borders, a local company run by a group of female scientists who offer educational programs for children to teach them about bugs and other critters. I hired them to come and give a presentation at his party last week.
As with all of our parties, the birthday cake has to match the theme of the party. A couple of times I admit, I sought professional help for the dessert, but this time I figured that I could take care of the bugs myself. So instead of a traditional cake, I went for a ‘Dirt Cake’, complete with gummy worms and ‘real’ crickets. It was a huge hit! And, much to the other mothers’ surprise (and disgust), most of the boys actually ate the crickets.
With universal appeal, Dirt Cake is a perfect dessert to bring along to a potluck, picnic or cottage weekend.
Dirt Cake
Serves 8
You’ll Need
Prep and Cook
Good to know: Depending on your birthday party theme, you can use individual mini-flower pots or buckets and a trowel to serve the dirt cake. Edible crickets can be found at specialty candy stores such as Sugar Mountain.
What is your favourite birthday cake idea?
Despite the fact she works from her home office, when Holly, our Production Manager and EatSavvy photographer, discovered that we were having the SavvyMom bake-off at the office she did not want to be left out. She chose to submit one of her children’s favourite holiday recipes—gingerbread. We thought about asking Holly to courier the cookies to the office for testing, but figured her own children would be the best judges. Both of her kids loved the cookies (and took some for their school snack). So did Alice (the kitten), who snuck away and was found snacking on a gingerbread Christmas tree.
Holly’s Gingerbread Cookies
Makes 3 dozen cookies
You’ll Need
Cookies
Smooth Vanilla Frosting
Prep and Cook
Cookies
Icing
Good to know: For added nutrition, use half whole wheat and half of Robin Hood’s Nutri-Flour Blend instead of all purpose flour. If you want to use the cookies as ornaments, cut a small hole near the top with the end of a straw before baking. Once the cookies have cooled, thread a ribbon through the hole. To save time, Holly used Cake Mate cookie icing.
What is your favourite holiday cookie?
Photo copyright Holly Sisson Photography
