another birthday cake

lanterns drying on the "lantern drying racks" AKA bowls

 I am preparing for Thanksgiving, my big holiday, my thing, and this year I am making paper lanterns for the table.  They are simple to make, with tissue paper and glue. 

I forced Mark and Maxwell to help me one evening, and Mark's came out the best.  

Who knew?

the finished product with candles

 I had to do a birthday party for a friend last week.  I made a very fancy complicated dinner, and a very fancy complicated layer cake, with a Bavarian cream filling. 

 It was all going well, until about 30 minutes before dinner, when I peeked in the fridge to check on the cake, only to discover that it has split down the center and had started to list to one side, rather pronouncedly. EEEK! 

A baker's worst nightmare! 

 I whipped a lot of cream, added some chocolate powder, used it to spackle the crack, then had Rolf hold the cake together, while I tied a grossgrain ribbon around it, to anchor the top layer, and make it look as though I had intended it to be that way... pretty freaking BRILLIANT if I do say so myself.  AND I do.

chocolate Bavarian torte with raspberry sauce