Piano Cake

 

According to Tom Lehrer "Life is like a piano. What you get out of it depends on how you play it". Is it? No matter how we play sometimes the tunes in life sound much unlike what we strife for.  Is it kismet? fate? destiny? The  forces that control what happens to us sometimes override our efforts and the final tune is not necessarily what we keyed in. 

Perhaps it is better!   a much sweeter tune. 

Is it chance, serendipity, destiny, fate, Murphy’s law?— Do we believe in luck? The Will of the Almighty? What is kismet?  It is not a logical and mathematical end to an effort, nor is it a deserved outcome of an effort. Fortune cannot always be earned and we don’t always get what we deserved because kismet ordained it to be not quite right for us. Kismet cannot be earned through self-sacrifice or tedious labor but is misaligned and detached from our expectations. 

This piano cake was a sweet vanilla cake with Bavarian cream filling. Enjoy a piece of piano!

Cruiseship cake

 

This my 100th cake since I started posting. This cruise ship cake is in memory of a dear, dear friend Surayya Jabeen who left us this year.  We went on several cruises together in the last few years. She loved cruising and declared it is a great way to see the world,  spend time with friends, relax and enjoy getting pampered and entertained. She passed on to her maker in a cruise ship this summer. 

This cake was fun to make, especially the details. It was a carrot walnut cake with cream cheese filling.  No one wanted to cut it!

Life is terminal. Every day a miracle. so lets cruise on!

Tub cake

 

A whimsical take on Monet’s painting of waterlillies in a bathtub! And why not!

Claude Monet, a painter from France was the founding father of Impressionism in painting. He was best known for his paintings of landscape. He painted “the waterlillies” with a perspective of looked down and focusing solely on the surface of the pond, with its cluster of vegetation floating amid the reflection of sky and trees. Monet thus created the image of a horizontal surface on a vertical one. It was easy to paint that horizontal surface on the surface of the bathtub, with little fondant waterlillies sitting on their painted lillipads.

"What could be said about me... a man to whom only his painting matters? And of course his garden and his flowers as well". - Claude Monet.

Ertrugrul Hat cake

 

Ertruğrul, is a Turkish, historical and adventure television series that is so popular in South Asia.  The actor playing Ertrugrul (Engin Altan Düzyatan) is such a heart throb!!  The show features Ertrugrul who was a 13th century Turk Muslim nomad warrior from Central Asia. Surrounded by the Mongols to the East and the Crusaders and Byzantines to the West; like other Turk tribes, Ertrugrul's tribe too was pushed West by the Mongols. Ertrugrul TV serial attempts to show case a vivid imagination of a 13th-century Turk Asian community and Muslim culture.  

This cake looks like the hat worn by Ertrugrul. It was a strawberry cake with strawberry filling- Yum!

“The most powerful conqueror on Earth is justice. ” Ertugrul Bey

NY City Skyline cake

This is my rendition of the NYC Skyline. There are actual (battery operated) lights in the cake.  New York City is undoubtedly one of the most exciting dream destinations in the whole world.  It is a vibrant, throbbing beast that will enchant you, no doubt. New York is the world capital of theater- Broadway shows are an amazing experience. Since the COVID pandemic started in the year 2000 I have not watched any Broadway show. Before that I was a regular Broadway buff.  Lets see when this gets back to normal.

It was a pistachio cake with fig filling- yum.

 

“It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story.”- Agatha Christie

 

Sari Cake

 

This cake looks like a folded Indian sari-dress. Sari is an 8 yard long fabric that is tied in an elegant manner as a dress. Since it is a straight fabric it is very easy to fold into a nice rectangle.  I tried to insert the bright colors and embellishments that trademark this dress- with yellow gold jewelry accessories. Everything is edible. 

Today on 31st December the year 2021 is going to end and a New Year 2022 is coming with a new life experience. We are eager to celebrate the start of something new, however, merrymaking is likely to be muted again this year as the pandemic continues to ride the COVID-19 Omicron wave. Who knows what other variants await us in the future so lets just enjoy each day as it comes. Life has changed. We are not likely to return to the way we were pre-2020, so let us celebrate this moment and every moment and every blessing by being thankful for all the good in our life.  May the coming year be full of grand adventures and opportunities. Please stay safe and healthy. 

“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”― Mark Twain

"Paan-daan" cake

 

My grandfather liked to chew tobbacco in a the form of a little package containing betel nut (also called areca nut), and herbs and spices spices wrapped in a betel leaf termed as “paan”.  He had a beautifully hand carved silver box called a “paan daan” with little compartments for all the paan ingredients.  He gave a similar box to my Mom when she got married and I inherited it from her.  She never chewed paan so the box and its compartments are in pristine condition, never having been in contact with chemicals or herbs and spices.

Paan-daan is silverware that was very popular in South Asia during the 19th century. It was carried around by everyone and played a serious role in socialization ceremonies of that time. In those days, betel leaf and its seeds were also consumed by field workers and other rural inhabitants to suppress their hunger as it has a mild painkilling effects similar to a narcotic.

Today I used my mother’s silver paan-daan as an inspiration for this cake.  It is a carrot nut cake with cream cheese filling.  I covered it with silver leaf.  The handle was especially fun to make.