Cake Pops: One-Bite Wonders

     For those interested, I recently survived a rather severe bout of CID (Creative Idea Deprivation). I was living in a vacuum with no new ideas bubbling up to the surface. Luckily, I escaped this soulless state of mind with a little inspiration from an excellent friend of mine, Stephanie. She sent me a text message bragging about her recent dry run at making cake pops. For anyone who has not noticed this most recent trend that has swept blogs worldwide, you can think of a "cake pop" as "cake-on-a-stick".

     When Steph told me about her adorable Hello-Kitty inspired cake pops, I knew I had to try making the bad boys. For anyone curious about where to get the goods this week, I bought everything at Walmart in a 10-minute raid on the store after class. (And I spent under $10, SCORE!)

     Naturally, working on this most recent subversion of traditional cake whetted my appetite for a little bit of historical perspective. (Yes, that was a Ratatouille allusion, for my fellow Disney-Addicts.) It turns out that if your old cake recipe feels like it has been in the family since the dawn of time, it might have been!

     The ancient world possessed many “cake” recipes scattered throughout time. The Ancient Egyptians were the first to demonstrate provable baking abilities. Their closest cake concoction consisted of fluffy bread sweetened with honey. The Ancient Greeks, always ones to out-do the neighbors, cooked up a cheesecake recipe that bears remarkable resemblance to modern versions. The dreaded holiday-brick, the fruitcake, came from the Romans. They also came up with the tradition of wedding cakes. However, in Ancient Rome, a groom would smash a barley cake over the bride’s head. (If you’ve ever tasted a barley cake, you’d understand.) Britain during the 3^rd -5^th centuries had pastry delicacies calling for obscure ingredients such as lambs’ testicles, oysters, and coxcombs. (I'll pass on those aphrodisiacs . . .) Over the next several centuries the recipes evolved as sugars and honeys became more readily available. By the 14^th century, Chaucer recorded huge cakes constructed for special celebrations. Brides would have these delicacies, or smaller bun versions, at their weddings to ensure a productive and prosperous future.

     Cake was always a European dessert, though it became more prevalent in English-speaking countries. The word “cake” is a derivative of “kaka,” an Old Norse word. The European, and heavier, versions of cake are torte and gateau. These center more on the richer ingredients such as butter, eggs, and chocolate. The tradition of baking cakes is still especially prevalent in North America.

     During the 1950’s the ability to bake a cake was a basic survival tool for a housewife. ‘Nowadays’ the old cake standbys sometimes seem a tinge worn-out. To create a modern, yet delicious, spin on the old favorites, check out my basic recipe for cake pops below.

Not too shabby for my first time, no? 

What shape do you think I should try next time?

Global Spring, and Recycled Plastic Blooms

It’s SPRING.

I know, I’m late according to the calendar. However, I refuse to acknowledge the presence of spring until I see flower buds, smell the fresh breeze, and feel the cold sweat brought on by terror of finals. Just kidding about that last one . . .  mostly.

I don’t know about you folks, but my most poignant memories of spring center around the blooming of tulips. (What flower does everyone have? Tulips! Get it? Two-lips?) Bad jokes aside, tulips are truly some of my favorite flowers. They don’t last long when cut, but in the ground they are some of the most colorful and hopeful plants I’ve ever seen. Tulips originated in the Middle-East area, but have caught the eyes, and hearts, of so many peoples that they can now be found on 6 of the 7 continents. (Can you guess which Continent has no tulips? I’ll give you a hint, Santa doesn’t live there.)

Traditionally in the springtime Americans think of Easter bunnies, egg hunts, candy and (maybe) religion. In Japan, though, many of the world’s Buddhists are preparing for the annual celebration of Hana Matsuri, the Buddha’s birthday. The rest of the world celebrates the sacred day on differing dates, based on the Chinese Lunar calendar. The Japanese switched to the Gregorian calendar, and moved their celebration with it. (According to tradition, the birth was on the 8^th day of the 4^th month—April 8^th in the Gregorian calendar.)

Hana Matsuri, “The Flower Festival,” has some gorgeous traditions that may seem just as fantastical to outsiders as hunting colored eggs. People heavily decorate altars with flowers in order to honor Buddha. Then a bowl of water is placed on the altar and a little Buddha is set inside. Visitors are invited to pour sweet teas made from Hydrangea leaves on the figurine. The tradition mimics the belief that when Buddha was born he was either anointed with perfume by two dragon-kings, or bathed by a gentle perfumed nectar rain, depending on whom you ask.

If Buddha were around now, I’m fairly certain he would be a proponent of taking care of the earth. “I entrust myself to earth, Earth entrusts herself to me,” wrote Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk. In the journey of life, Buddhists work to consider each action before taking it, so as to not harm or kill. Naturally, this extends to taking care of the earth and the all the creatures therein. (Many Buddhists are vegetarians). Admirable, no?

Since Hana Matsuri is nearly upon us, and Earth Day will soon follow it, I thought it would be only fitting for my craft this week to be both something green and something having to do with “The Festival of Flowers.” My Recycled Plastic Bloom is made out of a plastic 2-liter bottle and a few dropps of nail polish. For the record, I did have a specific flower in mind (tulip, did you guess?) when I developed this process. However, I quickly discovered that plastic has a mind of its own. If your family particularly enjoys drinking soda, you might want to stock up on those bottles, it takes a fair amount of practice to turn out a perfect bloom. This time my list of materials is in the video, just a heads-up!

Ready? Here we go!