Celebrate the King's Birthday - Issue #18

Hello Food Lovers,

In New Zealand this coming Monday is a public holiday to celebrate the King's birthday. This issue brings lots of cooking inspiration for the long weekend... from a delicious antipasto platter sneak peak (coming next week) to a lazy long weekend pancake breakfast! Or, if you have lots of time and want to try out the Comic-style cartoon cake trend, keep reading and I'll share my experiences with you in this newsletter.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, and that it involves something creative from your kitchen if time allows :).

In this issue:

• What’s in the pipeline? - Antipasto Platter
• Fun in the kitchen - Celebrating King's Birthday
• New food trends - I tried the 'Cartoon Cake' Trend

What's in the Pipeline?

Last week we were sharing some great platter ideas and links to old videos which I hope have given you inspiration to make some of your own.

With platters in mind I thought it would be great to make a new video with tips for putting together an antipasto platter. This is a great Italian tradition, and are often served at the beginning of a meal.

I look forward to sharing this video with you next week.

Fun in the Kitchen - Celebrating King's Birthday

I don't know about you, but there's something special about long weekends and public holidays. They give us the perfect opportunity to slow down and take our morning routine at a more relaxed pace.

One of our favourite 'long weekend' traditions is making a big batch of pancakes. We love topping them with a variety of seasonal fresh fruits, jam or lemon honey, a dollop of yogurt or cream, or even some ice cream, and, of course, a generous drizzle of maple syrup.

Maybe this King's Birthday weekend you might like to create your own pancake platter to enjoy. It's not only visually appealing but also incredibly easy and budget-friendly to put together!

The best part is that there's something delicious for everyone's taste buds. So go ahead and enjoy a delightful pancake feast this weekend!

New Food Trends - I Tried the 'Cartoon Cake' Trend

Have you seen the cool new cake trend with the Comic-style cartoon designs, or 2D cakes? They're everywhere these days, and they look so fun! I couldn't resist trying it out myself. After checking out a bunch of pictures for inspiration, I decided to make a round cake with rosettes and a central candle.

Once the cake was baked and crumb coated, it was time to get creative with some rainbow-colored fondant. I coloured the fondant, rolled out strips of each color, and wrapped them around the cake to create vibrant rainbow layers.

To cover the top, I rolled out some white fondant and cut a few drips to hang down the sides of the cake. I thought the bulk of it was done, but boy, was I wrong! Rolling out all the black outlines took way longer than I expected! It was worth it though, I think it really finished off the cake. What do you think?

The most challenging part was making the candle. Wrapping the fondant around a skewer was trickier than I imagined. But you know what? Working with smaller pieces of fondant was actually easier than dealing with larger ones. If you've tried making a Comic-style cartoon cake, I'd love to see a picture and hear about your experience. Please share it with me!

I hope you have a great week that includes some fun in the kitchen and an enjoyable King's Birthday weekend.

Happy cooking,
Taryn