#15 ‘takes the cake’!
The congratulations go to Jan from MO. You will not be disappointed in how she made it! And the neat thing is that she asked someone to take progress pictures of the project… ah, progress pictures, a lady after my own heart! 
Another neat thing is that she is my sister. Her site is jan_n_dan.
The real set is decor in her coffee-themed kitchen. It’s smaller than normal size… the tea set, I mean. 
(Someone else with a coffee-themed kitchen was wondering where you got that little set, Jan, and wants one like it for decor in her own kitchen.)
To make the cake, Jan wrapped plenty of tin foil around each piece, then gently pulled each piece out of the tin foil form, filled the forms with cake batter (not just ordinary cake batter, she used a mocha cake recipe so it would be more fitting when they eat it 
) , then baked them. When she took them out of the oven, let them cool, and peeled the tin foil off, what she had was this…
So, she set to work, carving…
Then came the frosting…
The lettering and drawing was tedious, esp on the little cups…
Done!…
The ‘coffee’ in the cups is chocolate syrup. Everything else is cake and frosting except the lettering and decals were done with melted chocolate and the handle on the teapot was made with chocolate, then covered with frosting. Definitely a work of art!!!! Made just for the contest… and for fun and because she’s adventurous and likes to take on challenges. 
Nobody helped her. Completely edible. Very creative. Good job, Jan!
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One day last week, I decided to add a runner-up prize …
A $10 Starbucks gift certificate.
This prize was won by #7 , the ‘grilled cheese sandwiches’ made from pound cake and frosting…
They really do look real! Great job, Evangeline !
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And now, the top 4 honorable mentions…
#9, the teapot cake (for those of you who wondered, she shaped the handle and spout with rolled fondant that was tinted pink to match the frosting).
#2, the frosting and apricot ‘eggs’
#12, the kitty litter cake with appropriate props
#19, the barn cake
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Thanks so much to all of you who took the time and effort to enter something! You’re the ones who made it a success! I’m anxious to try some of your foods, esp ones that look like main course, but are actually a dessert.
And thanks to all the voters! Contagious enthusiasm and a surge of votes the first 2 days was exciting and fun!
And thanks to the 13 new subscribers who subscribed to seasoned_to_taste last week!
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Next up on seasoned_to_taste:
A series of fun stuff to do for adding a bit of flair to entertaining and food presentation… tomato roses, lemon roses, chocolate leaves, napkin folding, place setting ideas, etc.
The roses are red and yellow tomatoes. There is some shredded celery and Italian parsley in there, but the main foliage is non-edible from one of my mom’s miniature rose bushes.
Comes with 6 different tips… 2 star tips, round tip (good for writing), half moon shell tip, drop flower tip, and a bismark tip (for filling bismarks). The ideas are endless! Decorate everything. Fill twice-baked potatoes and deviled eggs to make them look more attractive. 
That is just the easiest thing to make and it makes a splendid meal. And one 6 lb. bone-in ham is big enough for 3 meals for us… Make the ham and cut slices off for the meal. Then after you’re done eating, cut as many more slices off as you can and that’s enough for another meal. Then, get the rest off (little pieces) and save them to throw in a casserole or soup (3rd meal). I just throw the frozen leftover ham slices in the crockpot with a bit of water and it’s good and moist and so handy… its already sliced!
Side note: That oval plate they’re on is from a set of dishes that my brother brought home for me from Romania when he was over there for a few years. Very beautiful set! I’m almost scared to use them for fear I’ll break one. 
Place ham on a rack in a roasting pan. 
Actually, all those desserts happened to be food to take away somewhere. Can tell what I like to make the best when I have to take food somewhere!
Stir in half a 16 oz bag of marshmallows until melted, then stir in some walnuts (I used a little over a cup). If you want a swirled effect, stir in the mmallows and nuts at the same time, but stop stirring when the mmallows are melting and streaked through, but not totally mixed in. Lightly grease a 9×13 pan and pour in.
When all mixtures are at room temp, it takes about 7 minutes till it’s firm enough to put the next layer on. As you can see below, I didn’t let the green get quite hard enough before putting the white on, or the white was still too warm, or both.
Valentine’s Day: red and white. You can even cut it out with a heart-shaped cookie cutter.
…it is my most prized possession in my entire cookbook collection. It was given to me by my grandma (the one who makes the brown sugar pie) and she got it from her mother, so it was my great-grandmother’s cookbook! It was given to Great Grandma in 1943. I feel extremely privileged to now own it and it’s on my list of top 10 things to quick grab if there would be a fire. There is hand-writing in it… like notes written beside recipes, variations on things like strawberry shortcake and split pea soup and check marks written beside some recipes, probably her favorite ones. Also, tucked in hit-n-miss are a bunch of loose recipes, mostly written on regular scratch paper, but there’s a tapioca recipe written on a deposit slip that has my great grandma and grandpa’s names on it and a chop suey pickles recipe written on a piece of old wallpaper.
Anyway, after a little research and asking questions, I got a few tips. So here’s the ones I made, although in my research I found out that chocolate chip scones are too American. I want to try some that are more authentic sometime. They’re kinda like fancy biscuits.
And here is our top notch 1st grade teacher.
(That color change is the difference between no flash and flash… it doesn’t change colors once it’s refrigerated! LOL) I couldn’t have told this was a diet pie. Could probably be made though with non-diet ingredients. It was really good! Nicely spiced. Will definitely make again!
Oh, Kay, I just had to tell you that I go through these same feelings of wanting to open a bakery!!! My daughter has been begging me to do it too. For now, I’m content to just be the official baker for all of the family functions. I just don’t like the idea of HAVING to bake every day a whole lot, even if I don’t feel like it. I’m thinking that eventually I would lose my love of baking and it would become a chore!!
I don’t know about in Wisconsin, but could you make desserts to sell to diners/shops or something? I think that would be ideal, but I can’t do it in NY because of health department regulations (would have to have a whole separate kitchen that passes inspection.) I’m always looking for ways to share my baking. It always makes me feel good!