what do you call a "group" of turkeys?

 

 

 You call them a "rafter"!   These are dark chocolate cake topped with a vanilla/ brown sugar meringue buttercream, toasted coconut and handpainted pate sablee cookies. I used gel food coloring with vodka ( not the Grey Goose!) to paint feathers on the tail cookies and used royal icing for the eyes and the wattles. The wattles dripped appropriately, so each and every turkey has their own personality!

I thought the vodka was a great, unusual paint mixer. The vodka evaporates quickly so the cookie surface doesn't get soggy. Some turkeys have a nice fan of feathers- I'll need to work with the proportions so I can have the consistency of tempura or gouache.

Now, I'm thinking what else can I do...sheep, turkeys, what's next?

Thinking of the hOlidays

I was thinking about what to do for the Holidays...

More carrots and more cakes

I wonder why I keep making being requested to make carrot cakes. There are so many variations out there, that one could find a good one in a bakery, a "gourmet" supermarket...at this point I think I've made 2 layers, 3 layers, 4 layers and 6 layer cakes.
Is it the homemade pecan creme filling?  I could eat it out of the bowl with a spoon and it's good warmed up on ice cream :-)
Is it the cream cheese frosting?  Mine is butter, sugar, cream cheese with your choice of vanilla, cinnamon, orange, lemon, maple- maybe that's it!
In stores and bakeries, you don't get to ask if special requests can be considered.