Filbert Gateau

Wow! What a cake. One of the most ambitious that either of us has ever undertaken... It turned out beautifully but there were some dark moments when the middle of the cake fell through and we ended up with a serious (but small!) doughnut hole.

That's what frosting is for, right?


And what a crazy recipe - to make homemade brittle, only to crush it up, turn it into a paste, and integrate it into frosting...

Also had an interesting moment folding the nuts and butter into the cake batter - the melted butter at the bottom was something we sought hard to avoid dumping into our light and fluffy concoction. We seemed to avoid nearly all of it, so I'm going to blame the deflated cake on something else, something entirely out of our control - the cycles of the moon perhaps?

All of the sweat and (near) tears were worth it, though, to see the look on everyone's faces when they ate our creation. Yes - of course we had a party to celebrate this baking achievement (thanks to TJ for standing in as faux birthday boy)... Like I said: wow!

Thanks to our down-the-street neighbors for providing some beautiful (and edible) flowers as the crowning decoration!