Food and cake review for my son's first birthday this saturday.

I did a few things differently (and at your good suggestion, so thank you) and I just wanted to talk about my methods, how they turned out and also review some of the recipe's I used here.

first of all, a brief overview is that I was fantastically surprised. everyone raved about the food, most not knowing that I was the chef, so that was great. and they all loved the way the cakes tasted (and they thought my execution of the decoration was *creative* ). My aunt even ask my husband where we catered from, so I was really and truly so happy, b/c rather than having slaved away the day before, everything was premade and frozen. nothing survived the day. they ate EVERYTHING.

now. on to specifics.

the eggplant parm.

I was so nervous about this b/c it's so labor intensive but it is my son's favorite food so it was a MUST. I took the advice of this board and just fried up my eggplant two weeks in advance. I let it cool and froze it in freezer bags. the day before the party I assembled the 3 trays. it was so easy. my one complaint (and what I feared would happen) was that is was slightly mushy. mushier than normal and I do attribute that to the freezing process, but everyone loved it. even people who don't normally like it, loved it. so I would definitely do this again....though I may slice the eggplant a little thicker next time to have it hold up a little better (I slice very thin)

the sauces
I made 3 different sauces b/c I need a lot. I made marinara for the eggplant, and then I made one for the meatballs and one for the sausage (only b/c I needed so much and my pots are only so big). people went berzerk over the meatballs. LOVED them and again, I made them two weeks in advance and froze them but it did not compromise them one bit. they were reallly so good. not dry. and I think the freezing time only added to the flavor. the marinara was good. a nice thick basilico go marry well with the eggplant. and the sausage. my husband said he felt the sausage sauce was a touch salty, most likely from the salt in the sausage seeping in during freezing time. so I may next time put a touch less salt while preparing if I am going to freeze it (it was fine the day I prepared it) OR I may not change anything b/c he was the only person with that complaint.

and now, on to the cakes.

first, the freezing process. so easy. I made them a last weekend and froze them. they defrosted so well and there was no compromise of taste or texture. will definitely be employing this technique going forward.

for the asteroid planets I did chocolate cake ala the back of the hershey's cocoa tin..a tried and true favorite. for the star cupcakes, I did that vanilla cupcake that I stole from Shapla's thread. they are a new favorite. excellent excellent delicious!!!!!

I did two different ganache's to cover..a semi sweet chocolate and a while chocolate. both were delicious and SOOO easy. made cupcake making a breeze and surprisingly the white chocolate tasted quite good. it was a great marriage with the vanilla cupcake, fyi. I believe jersey said she had trouble with the consistency. my first batch was thin but when I did it by WEIGHT and not by "cup" I got a perfectly thick white chocolate ganache. it was heaven to work with. I felt like I was cheating.

my issues came with the planets. one, baking in the Pyrex for the first time was challanging. they took forever to cook and then I finally removed them, the sides stuck. no chunks were missing but it wasn't that smooth...which seemed ok to me since I don't know of any smooth asteroids but on some other round object it might be a bigger PITA.

I covered them in the semi sweet chocolate and the two smaller cakes were sprinkled in moon dust (little silver sugar crystals)...so chocolate on chocolate. instense. thank god i used semi sweet instead of my usual bittersweet. it would have been too much. but everyone RAVED about the cakes. they "got" what I was doing, I didn't even need to explain it and everything went. I only have one half of the smallest planet left. and that was with all of the cakes and the two pies we had as well.

I am by no means professional, but I felt like I did good by my son. I know I made my husband proud and my family and friends were treated to the best of my ability.

I hope this helps and if you have any questions I will see if I can help.

it was a great experience and I want to thank you all for your help. it wouldn't have been half as good if not for you and your ideas and guidance. thank you.

the only two photos I have...from my phone. I'll update with more later (I HOPE!)

oh, the "stars" molds are not that easy to work with. getting them even on the top was impossible for me. thankfully no star in the sky is perfectly shaped either haha

Message edited 10/18/2010 10:48:04 AM.

Re: Food and cake review for my son's first birthday this saturday.

loooooooooove how everything came out!

good job!!!!!!! i bet it was soooo delicious! everything came out so cute - love the stars, even though they were hard to work with, seems like it was worth it!!!

YUM, the food sounds so yummy!!!

Re: Food and cake review for my son's first birthday this saturday.

wow!! so impressed with the cakes!!!
you did a great job!
happy birthday Luce!!!

Re: Food and cake review for my son's first birthday this saturday.

sounds fantastic!!!!!

I wish I'd been there - I can't wait to see pictures of Le Petit Prince!!

Re: Food and cake review for my son's first birthday this saturday.

Great job!

The cake looks fabulous and was definitely worth all your hard work! Love the stars!

Re: Food and cake review for my son's first birthday this saturday.

You did a fantastic job!!!! It looks excellent. I am thrilled that it all worked out so well for you. Happy birthday to your son.

Re: Food and cake review for my son's first birthday this saturday.

I am so sad I couldn't make it. The cake is really something. You did a great job!

As for the eggplant I will have to get some from you and judge if it is as good as my aunt's.

Re: Food and cake review for my son's first birthday this saturday.

what a great idea making the stuff in advance like that - cake loooks delicious

Re: Food and cake review for my son's first birthday this saturday.

it looks amazing!!! what kind of white chocolate did you use?

I never thought of freezing stuff that far in advance, especially cake. that's great to know!

Re: Food and cake review for my son's first birthday this saturday.

Nice Job!! It looks beautiful!