April Fools

[Sartain]

With April 1st right around the corner, my wacky friends are throwing a Fools party. I was thinking of showing up with something that will fool them, i.e. food that is not what it seems.

A trip down Google-lane reveals that this is actually called Illusion Foods. Anyone out there heard of this? Got recipes to share?

[petite tête de chou]

Quite a few ideas here...click.

[racheld]

I was about to suggest the Litterbox cake---someone brought one to a WEDDING SHOWER with a TACKY theme. It was hilarious, especially the bit casually draped over the edge.

I've also seen a cake stacked and frosted as a cheeseburger, complete with lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese, pickles and an ooze of mustard. It was delicious. And chocolate.

[racheld]

And I have a recipe for a GORGEOUS woven basket made of those breadsticks-in-a-can. It makes a spectacular bowl (with or without lid) for a salad of baby lettuces, strawberries and citrus vinaigrette.

[rooftop1000]

I am trying to remember some of the Surreal Gourmets stuff.......ok green eggs and ham was a honyedew round with and apricot or peach half in the middle with prosciutto

he did french fries....pound cake cut into strips in a take out fry container with raspberry sauce "ketchup"

bacon and toast....bacon was milk chocolate spread on plastic wrap with white choc "combed" in to look like bacon then cut into bacon size strips ...toast was toasted pound cake

his shrimp on the barbie was scarey just half a barbie stuck in a plate of shrimp

[ellencho]

I once saw Bob Blumer, the Surreal Gourmet, make sunny side up "eggs" using cheesecake and apricot halves. The recipe is at the very bottom of the page. There's another illusion type recipe on that page too, for making a painter's palate with a different dish for each color.

[Tepee]

Cake ideas:

Popcorn in a basket

Fish

roast chicken

plate of spaghetti

[Luckylies]

And I have a recipe for a GORGEOUS woven basket made of those breadsticks-in-a-can.    It makes a spectacular bowl (with or without lid) for a salad of baby lettuces, strawberries and citrus vinaigrette.

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ooh please share, I love edible baskets!

[Malawry]

If you have a copy of Penn and Teller's book Play With Your Food, there's a number of wacky ideas in there. I've often wanted to try the "bleeding heart" dessert, but I don't much care for gelatin.

[Popcorn]

You could always try the thoracic cake.

http://www.theyrecoming.com/extras/pumpkinfest03/

[johnnyd]

How about creating some unlikely items using marzipan?

[s'kat]

Twinkie sushi- there are also some assorted fake sushi links if you scroll down.

[markabauman]

Not a recipe as such, but a quick April Fool's story: A chef I know, while working a number of years back in a fancy NYC restaurant as the dessert chef, was plagued by co-workers and waitstaff pilfering his good chocolate. One April 1, he took raw peeled cloves of garlic, put them in a candy mold and made "chocolate bonbons" out of them. At the end of service, he presented the staff with little "chocolate treats" to take home. He never had his chocolate snitched again.

[gfron1]

My Halloween favorite is lychees stuffed with slightly smushed (to make the blue run and soak into the veins) blueberrys set in champagne gelatin...voila! Eyeballs!

[beccaboo]

I once saw Bob Blumer, the Surreal Gourmet, make sunny side up "eggs" using cheesecake and apricot halves.  The recipe is at the very bottom of the page. There's another illusion type recipe on that page too, for making a painter's palate with a different dish for each color.

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I make 'poached eggs' with canned apricot halves in blancmange. I make the blancmange with bay-leaf-infused almond milk, and serve it with raspberry sauce. I set the apricot half upside-down in the bottom of a custard cup and pour the blancmange over.

[Eden]

yesterday my historical cooking group did a big april fools dinner.

Castle-shaped pastries had salad hidden inside them

the bread was shaped like a fish, as were some cookies.

the butter was hidden inside hollowed out lemons.

we had shell shaped cookies i.e. mini madeleines

honey-candy shaped like little hedghogs with slivered almonds for the spines & currant eyes. (a double folly as we often serve little meatballs shaped this way)

based on a thread here on eG we shaped hard boiled eggs like apples & colored them appropriately - just georgeous!

there were also boiled turnips slices shaped & dressed like fish

the meatballs looked like little baked pears.

we shaped and painted marzipan to look like almonds

what looked like stuffed eggs were actually rose flavored milk jell-O eggs stuffed with a dollop of pastry cream

we hollowed out walnuts & refilled them with coins, beads and dried fruits

there were a couple dishes that were merely decorated: the lamb stew had pastry fleur-de-lis sitting on it, the carrots & asparagus were layed out on a bed of rice in the shape of a tree etc

and the hollandaise-like sauce for the veggies was hidden in a pie crust looking like a lattice topped custard pie

Oh and the menu introducing the dinner was written with a food coloring pen on rice paper!

someone else took the pics, but if I can get them I will post a few later...

[gfron1]

April Fool's 2007:

The rules for me...everything must be something other than what it looks, and it must taste good.

Cupcakes: Savory herbs with roasted red pepper cream cheese spread or brocolli spread.

Hardboiled eggs: Blue food coloring, caperberry.

Eyeballs: Kiwi jello with lychee and blueberry.

Chips and dip: Sugar cookies with white chocolate mousse

[K8memphis]

April Fool's 2007:

The rules for me...everything must be something other than what it looks, and it must taste good.

Cupcakes: Savory herbs with roasted red pepper cream cheese spread or brocolli spread.

Hardboiled eggs: Blue food coloring, caperberry.

Eyeballs: Kiwi jello with lychee and blueberry.

Chips and dip: Sugar cookies with white chocolate mousse

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Way too cool! Now how did you cut those cookies like that if it's not revealing a trade secret? It seems like I oughta know how to do that but I can't think of it. Just slice them all ribbley??? Or something...

[gfron1]

Ancient family secret...until you look in the dessert thread

[SuzySushi]

April Fool's 2007:

Chips and dip: Sugar cookies with white chocolate mousse

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Way too cool! Now how did you cut those cookies like that if it's not revealing a trade secret? It seems like I oughta know how to do that but I can't think of it. Just slice them all ribbley??? Or something...

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I would say it looks like he used a ribbed vegetable cutter (the kind used to slice potatoes) -- there must be a specific name for it, but I can't think of it right now.

I did the eyeballs thing last Halloween, using cherry tomatoes stuffed with cream cheese and an olive center.

[gfron1]

I couldn't use a ribbed cutter because the dough would still flatten out. I creased parchment paper and then cut my dough as if it were a flat potato which then shaped with the paper. Viola!

[SuzySushi]

I couldn't use a ribbed cutter because the dough would still flatten out.  I creased parchment paper and then cut my dough as if it were a flat potato which then shaped with the paper.  Viola!

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Interesting! I hadn't thought about the dough flattening out... some doughs hold theiur shape better than others (such as the kinds used to make pressed cookies). But that's a clever idea!

[Goatjunky]

Well I am late to this thread, but just in case anyone is still interested...

Family Fun Magazine always has great recipes for April Fool's. Here is a link to the cupcakes I planned on making this year.

Meatloaf Cupcakes

A friend made them and said they worked great on her kids. If you do a search on the magazines webpage for April Fools food they have quite a few other recipes. Fake spaghetti with malted balls, chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes with gravy that is actually chicken bone candy and ice cream with caramel sauce.

Anyway, great resource for prank foods.

Edited April 2, 2007 by Goatjunky (log)

[Megan Blocker]

I'm a bit late as well, but Gourmet had a cute little piece this month on "eggs and toast," custard served with a bit of lemon curd, in an eggshell. Alongside, a couple of anise cookies cut from a loaf and crisped to look like toast.

Very cute.