I’m sure you’ve seen a garden cake before. I just googled it and found lots of pictures and variations of this springtime novelty. Typically it is carrot cake decorated with vegetables. Many, many moons ago Martha had it on the cover of her magazine. I remember sitting in my red kitchen in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts with my friend, Gia, molding vegetables out of marzipan. If Martha could do it so could we! We made carrots, cabbages, peas, and I really can’t recall what else. I just know that it was a very time consuming process. So time consuming in fact that we skipped baking the cakes where these vegetables would ‘grow’ and ordered them from The Otherside Cafe, who back in the day made a mean carrot cake.
I thought I would make one for Easter this year. I’m feeling nostalgic as I sit here shaping these peas and carrots on this rainy Portland morning. It was not only faster to create this mini spring harvest with two sets of hands but the company and conversation made it seem like such a festive endeavor. Days like this I miss living on the east coast.
After dyeing brown eggs I was inspired to dye quail eggs to use in my Easter centerpiece. Their tiny size appeals to me but mostly I am in love with their fabulous speckles. I was eager to see how quickly these little tan shells would soak up color.
We found this gem at a yard sale in upstate New York. I love the red faux crocodile. The legs and sides are aluminum with a bakelite handle. On the inside there are thick elastics to keep your picnic gear in place. It actually came with red plates and old red handled silverware. What a score! They just don’t make stuff like this anymore.
