Missing Willow Farm

Tis the season for pumpkin raisin spice cake, milk & dark chocolate cake, cherry filled almond cake…. yum!   The tiny pumpkin decorations are made from gum paste.  They’re edible but cloyingly sweet.  Those chocolate leaves were a pain.  That project consisted of painting many layers of melted chocolate on maple leaves from our front yard.  These are my 2008 & 2009 cake entries for our county fair.   Every one of them earned a ribbon and were delicious.  Well, except for the pumpkin ones.  No one in my house will eat pumpkin so I only bake half a cake.  The judging is for presentation only so I double the amounts of spices the recipe calls for.  They smell heavenly but are I’m sure inedible.  That pumpkin cake always turns heads when we drop it off at the fair, the scent arrives before the cake does!  We always have a ‘fair turn in day’ dessert party with friends where the other cake halves and fudge and cookies get shared.  It’s an annual event that everyone looks forward to.