What are you making for Thanksgiving dessert?

[Wendy DeBord]

How would you support a turkeys tail feathers for a cake? Here's a photo from Martha Stewarts site http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?ty...1168&site=&rsc= . Any suggestions from all our cake decorators?

I'm a bit over-whelmed at this time, busy working on tons of x-mas menus........I've already mentally gotten past Thanksgiving (even completed most of my carry-out items)..........but now I need to circle back and get together a sweets table for this event. Soooooo, what would you want and expect on a sweets table if you were dining at a country club on Thanksgiving day?........besides pumpkin pie and apple pie..............?

[K8memphis]

That particular tail I would make out of cardboard and shoot bamboo skewers through the groves and sink those into some foam like that green thing would be foam. I mean you could make it out of chocolate or royal icing but chocolate would be heavy and if I did chocolate I would have a much more substantial base to stick it in for support. That's a wicked angle - if I was doing that all edible I would have more feathers sticking out the back too, y'know, that would really be 'cleverly' disguised support.

If I had to do all edible I guess I would do royal in layers & let it each layer dry for ever.

Or or or for a bit different looking bunch of tail feathers, I would use fat chocolate covered pretzels and cover those with feathers, again I would need more base under there to stick 'em in. (wonder what's behind the tail that you can't see in the picture y'know??)

As for country club Thanksgiving goodies, I would think upscale looking assortment of cookies in baskets, bar cookies and drop cookies for 'over the river' type feeling - a few cranberries dropped in the baskets for prettiness.

Would you do some easy petit fours?? a baby cornucopia with a few teensy dots coming out, or a pumpkin, or a turkey face & wrinkley neck could be piped on - or a few small centerpiece type cakes with a cornnucopia piped on a bunch of square layer cakes - like if you did a big layer sheet cake and cut those into like 8 or 12 individual cakes & slapped on some decor so folks could get gooey cutting it and (I'm envisioning a buffet???) until they got brave & started cutting they would be table decor too. You could just sugar some grapes to be spilling out of the cornucopia.

Stuff like that??? I'll come help

What about those really cool almond ummm pine cones where almond sliver/slices are stuck into marzipan & then all dipped into chocolate (again I'm envisioning a buffet - I'm probably wrong on the buffet thing)

And I would do little containers of five candy corn each for each place setting - so everyone thinks of five things they are thankful for. A teeny little bag would be cute.

Ooo ooo got any jelly rolls (use ho-hos' for minis)??? - You could pipe corn rows & big long leaves like corn on the cob...Indian corn on the cob....stuff like that??

gobble gobble

***Changing leaf colored sugar cookies would be way cool & fairly easy too.

Edited November 14, 2004 by K8memphis (log)

[Deborah]

If you click on the "detail" for this turkey cake it looks like the tail portion is actually cake (the mold includes the tail section). If you don't have the pan you could try carving a cake to the approximate shape and then pipe it like the one on the picture. Another idea, you could make tail feathers from either gumpaste or wafer paper since both are lightweight (there is an old issue of ACD that has instructions on making wafer paper turkey feathers if you have that magazine). Also, you could make the tail portion from rice krispy treats and then pipe over it. You need to really press them together and they will go into any shape you want. Let them dry up a bit before attaching the section to the rest of the cake (you could stick a dowel in the bottom of the rice krispy portion to help secure it to the cake). I did this once when I needed to make horns for a 3D viking helmet (although I covered my horns with fondant)--worked really well because it was lightweight and very easy to get the exact shape I needed. Nice part is it's still edible too! HTH!

[K8memphis]

Rice krispie treats is a great idea - I bet there's a load of tail-less turkeys out there - that pan construction with the big heavy tail at a wicked angle looks worse than the headless lamb mold at Easter. Puts a new (tail) spin on wobble heads.

Edited November 15, 2004 by K8memphis (log)

[chefpeon]

Ok, so like yeah, if you look at the actual mold like Deborah suggested, you can definitely see how the turkey and the tailfeathers are all one piece. You can tell by the mold that the tailfeather section looks much more substantial than the actual decorated cake. The cake sort of looks like the tailfeather section is a disk that's been added on and one wonders how the disk actually stays put. But the mold explains it and you can see that as a one piece cake, the feathers would stand on their own....even with ganache piped on in the leaf tip pattern that it is.

So, easy solution number one is......buy the mold. Hey, it's on sale! But sheesh, even on sale I still think it's a pricey thing for a once-a-year use. If you don't want to buy the mold, and hey, I understand, since I'm the Queen o'Cheap, then this is how I would do it. Maybe not how anyone else would, but it's how I'd approach it.

Actually, I'd do it one of two ways. First, I might build up a big block of cake and filling and sculpt the whole turkey out with a knife. That's how I do cars. The only problem with that is you have a LOT of cake scrap, and even I wince at the waste....oh sure, you can save it for rum balls, but I never seem to have time to make rum balls anymore. My cake scrap usually ends up molding in the fridge....but anyway.....

The other way would be to bake off the roundish body of the turkey in either one of those dome shaped Wilton pans, or small bundt pans. You then put the two halves together to make a ball, and cut off the bottom of the ball so that it has a flat surface to stand on. Then cut a slice off the back of the ball so you have a flat surface for your tailfeathers. Then you apply buttercream to your ball with a leaf tip to simulate feathers. Then refrigerate. When the buttercream is set up really firm (you could put it in the freezer if you wanted), bring it out and cover it with brownish fondant. Press the fondant lightly to the buttercream so the fondant shows the pattern of the leaf tip buttercream. Refrigerate again. Make a turkey head out of marzipan, or modeling chocolate.

Pour a puddle of tempered chocolate onto a piece of parchment on a sheet pan and it will naturally flow into a disk. Let that set. Bring your turkey body out of the fridge, place a skewer into the body where you want the head to go, then stick your head on the skewer. No, not your head....the turkey head. (Alternately, you can model the head right on the skewer and then insert it). Pipe a good amount of tempered chocolate onto the flat part of the turkey butt. Stick your disk on, and hold it there a few seconds. It will adhere strongly to the fondant. Then just add your details.......you can airbrush your turkey, pipe more stuff on it.....make detailed feathers out of tempered chocolate, or modeling chocolate....or pipe ganache on the disk like in the Martha Stewart picture. Whatever you're comfortable with. The only thing you don't want to do is add too much more weight to your disk.

Anyway, that's my approach. Hope that helps.

Edited November 15, 2004 by chefpeon (log)

[JeanneCake]

I like Chefpeon's approach with the dome shaped cake and chocolate piped feathers with a leaf tip. Make, build and shape the cake. Use a fan shape of foam core (at craftstores, you can cut it with an exacto knife) for the rear tail feathers. Paint the foam core with some melted chocolate and then pipe on the tail feathers once the rest of the cake is assembled (this would be the last step).

I would cover the turkey body with chocolate fondant (and I would also recommend Bakel's chocolate fondant for this, the SatinIce brand is a little too soft for what I'm suggesting) and place the cake on the presentation board; cut two wing shapes and apply them. Make a sausage shape of the chocolate fondant for the head/neck and shape the beak, etc. Press the sausage shape onto the front and smear (think pate brisee) the edges of the sausage onto the body to attach (wet the area with a paintbrush dipped in water). It won't matter if the edges show, you're going to cover this and the wings with piped chocolate as Anne mentioned. Add details to the head; then attach the foamcore to the body with toothpicks and pipe the feather details.

My restaurant clients this year are buying pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin roll (spiced pumpkin biscuit rolled around a cream cheese/whipped cream/Grand Marnier filling - think buche de noel), cranberry walnut tarts (from epicurious.com), chocolate pecan and pecan tarts (these last ones from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Pastry Bible). Idon't offer pies since there are so many local farms in the area but one client is interested in a rustic apple tart.

[Wendy DeBord]

I think I'm going to whimp out and use more of a Winbeckler approach.....and build a support system, then place cake on it and sculpt. I want to do a turkey about 4x the size of the one in the photo.

Maybe I'm all wet, but I'm guessing that anyone who doesn't eat pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving will prefer a familar, less seasonal option. I'm thinking ice cream, creme brulee, small nibbles like cookies, petite fours, candies and some sort of chocolate item will be what the non-pumpkin eaters will be looking for.

[chefpeon]

I think I'm going to whimp out and use more of a Winbeckler approach.....and build a support system, then place cake on it and sculpt. I want to do a turkey about 4x the size of the one in the photo.

So what's your plan for the support system?

Inquiring minds wanna know.

[Wendy DeBord]

I'm lucky in that we have a full time mantenience man at work who's nice enough to make this for me. For lack of a better way to descibe this.........I want two wooden boards at a angle like on the face of the clock at 2:50. I'll cover the boards with contact paper then build my cake on top of the board with the angled one being the tail feathers.

[Deborah]

Wendy, here is a trukey cake I did this week for my daughter's Kindergarten Thanksgiving celebration. It's a different style than what you are doing, but I wanted to share the picture and how I did the tail feathers. Tail feathers were fondant on skewers. I air dried the tail feathers for a bit and then just placed the skewers into the cake. You could do something similiar for the tail feathrs on your cake as well.

Pilgrim Turkey

[K8memphis]

That is adorable, Deborah!! The feathers are perfect - but better still the wormy little legs & feet steal the show - Great stuff!!!

[chefpeon]

That is adorable, Deborah!! The feathers are perfect - but better still the wormy little legs & feet steal the show - Great stuff!!!

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That's what I told her too. Sometimes the tiniest little details really set something off. Those legs are freakin' brilliant in my opinion. I get my inspiration from this!

[Ling]

Deborah, that turkey cake is the most adorable thing I'd ever seen! Your daughter's kindergarten class must have loved it!

[Wendy DeBord]

Thanks for posting your cake Deborah, it's terrific! I agree on the legs.........they're adorable.....................too funny actually, cause you've got me re-thinking what I was going to do, seriously.

[Deborah]

Thank you everyone! I think my pilgrim turkey is one of my favorites! Wendy, I hope you post your cake as I would love to see it.

[ludja]

My traditional fare is:

Bill Neal's Sweet Potato Pie (from Southern Cooking)

Apple Pie

and usually a third non-pie dessert; last year was a Chestnut Cream Cake.

My mom started our 'tradition' to have a third non-pie option as she doesn't get as excited about pies. It's also fun, having something new to choose to make each year while keeping the must haves.... (Her's are pumpkin and apple, but I fell in love with the sweet potato).

This year I'm a guest and was requested to bring two pies--

Will be Bill Neal's Sweet Potato (flavored w/bourbon and has a nice pecan crumble topping)

and another recipe from him (in Biscuits, Spoonbread and Sweet Potato Pie)

Ginger Pear Pie. (pears, crystallized ginger, lemon juice, tangerine zest, butter; first time making this one...)

What are you making or already have made this year?

Edited November 24, 2004 by ludja (log)

[reesek]

it wouldn't be thanksgiving without my mom's apple pie...but it needs work. mom's pie starts with a frozen shell and has very runny apples in a spicy syrup. it's topped with divine crumb topping.

my pie is still a work (mentally) in progress. i'll definitely make my own crust, (and prebake?) and likely add some flour to the apples to dam the deluge of juice. (or pre-cook?) the crumb topping stays, but gets pecans added to it for depth. i'll also make my own vanilla (or cinnamon..?) ice cream. oh - it's tomorrow? i should probably figure this stuff out.

[rcarter]

I usually stick with apple and pumpkin pies, but I decided to be adventurous this year by trying all new recipes. I just made a cranberry almond upside-down cake and tonight I will make Ina Garten's pumpkin banana mousse tart. I am still torn between making an apple pie as a standby, or going with a pear gingerbread cake that I have been wanting to try as well. . .

[KatieLoeb]

I've commissioned an Asian Pear-Cranberry cobbler which will be delivered to me this afternoon. Knew I wouldn't have time to cook anything besides the Grand Marnier Cranberry Sauce so I turned over the responsibility to trusted chefs to handle for me.

I think I like this idea.

[ludja]

I usually stick with apple and pumpkin pies, but I decided to be adventurous this year by trying all new recipes.  I just made a cranberry almond upside-down cake and tonight I will make Ina Garten's pumpkin banana mousse tart.  I am still torn between making an apple pie as a standby, or going with a pear gingerbread cake that I have been wanting to try as well. . .

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sounds like some interesting choices. Fun to try a bunch of new recipes as well. I'm always caught between making the standbyes and trying new things--hence the 'third' option I keep in rotation...

The asian pear crumble sounds nice as well; I've never cooked w/them.

I see a lot of pecan pies on the Texas thread... sounds good too.

Edited November 24, 2004 by ludja (log)

[rcarter]

I have a Donna Hay recipe for poached asian pears, but I have never tried cooking with them. The asian pear cranberry cobbler sounds great! I would be interested to hear how you like it.

[Woods]

My traditional fare is:

Bill Neal's Sweet Potato Pie (from Southern Cooking)

Apple Pie

and usually a third non-pie dessert; last year was a Chestnut Cream Cake.

My mom started our 'tradition' to have a third non-pie option as she doesn't get as excited about pies.  It's also fun, having something new to choose to make each year while keeping the must haves....  (Her's are pumpkin and apple, but I fell in love with the sweet potato).

This year I'm a guest and was requested to bring two pies--

Will be Bill Neal's Sweet Potato (flavored w/bourbon and has a nice pecan crumble topping)

and another recipe from him (in Biscuits, Spoonbread and Sweet Potato Pie)

Ginger Pear Pie. (pears, crystallized ginger, lemon juice, tangerine zest, butter; first time making this one...)

What are you making or already have made this year?

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Ludja, those sound good. I've eaten at A Southern Season many times. That is Neal's original restaurant. Can you tell me how the chestnut cream cake was received? I'd love to have a recipe for it.

Happy Thanksgiving, Woods

[KatieLoeb]

I have a Donna Hay recipe for poached asian pears, but I have never tried cooking with them.  The asian pear cranberry cobbler sounds great!  I would be interested to hear how you like it.

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The Asian pears are from a local orchard and they are incredibly sweet, which is why I thought having some cranberries in there for a bit of tartness would be a good balance. Apple-Cranberry is a great flavor combo, so I thought this would be as well.

I'll report back after dinner on Thursday how it was...

[M. Lucia]

PECAN PIE

Texas pecans, homemade cane syrup, I make extra just for the leftovers

Tarte Tatin

this year we're having Chess Pie (hey, it's not traditional but we've got 10 southerners in New York)

[kthull]

Ok, so I'm a little late posting, but I just tasted my dessert for tomorrow's dinners (no buffet service, just family dinner x 2). I basically did a pumpkin version of Pierre's chocolate dome from his Desserts book. In place of the chocolate cake layers, I made Gramercy Tavern gingerbread from epicurious (sorry, no time for a link). Swapped out the chocolate mousse for the pumpkin chiffon mousse (also epicurious...tried a few recipes before settling on this one) and in place of the pistachios in the mousse, I made Emeril's crunchy pralines. OMG...it's better than I was hoping for.

So when it's unmolded, the very bottom will be a thin layer of gingerbread, topped with the pralines (instead of mixed throughout the mousse), then the mousse, another gingerbread layer and another mousse layer. I'll sprinkle crushed pralines on the outer surface of the dome.

Now the bad news...it's near midnight and I have to make the second one.

But I could really see this working as either mini domes (I made one as a test and it unmolded beautifully) or doing it in cylinders to serve at a buffet. Really great flavor and texture mix. Spicy chewy gingerbread, smooth pumpkin pie flavored mousse and with a surprise crunch of the pralines.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!