Week Four: Entertaining
Showstopper dessert: Something that would earn a handshake from Paul Hollywood!

You know, I don’t think I’ve ever made anything truly, showstoppingly, spectacular. (And given my current malaise when it comes to cooking, I’m not about to do so any time soon.) The most visually impressive dessert I’ve ever attempted was a five-layer cake for Steven’s and my five-year anniversary in 2016, but the results were… less than perfect, at least visually speaking.

Our five-layer cake was Neapolitan inspired, with chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry layers sandwiched between vanilla buttercream. It was massive! It was delicious! It was… kinda plain? My cake-decorating skills are not exactly finely honed, so that vanilla frosting quickly became quite crumb-laden. I think I foisted the task onto Steven and refused to take part after I realized it wasn’t going to come out perfectly. (That’s why you can see him in the bottom left photo, earbuds in place, frosting away while I snap pics.) Not the end of the world, but not the visually stunning cake of my dreams. Oh well — looks, as they say, aren’t everything.

A slightly more appealing dessert presentation: these Lego cupcakes I made for my dad’s 60th birthday a few years ago. Dad’s Lego-themed party obviously needed appropriately matching sweets, and these did the trick! Simple chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, dressed up with Lego-inspired wrappers, vanilla buttercream, and candy Lego bricks. Not terribly fancy, but perfectly befitting of his Lego theme.

…and that’s it. That is the full extent of my showstopping. Paul Hollywood would definitely NOT give me a handshake for either of these desserts (though I might merit a Fielding fondle).

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