Cottage Chronicles: Antique Silverware, Playing with Piping Techniques, and Chocolate Cheesecake

Now if that isn't a mashup, I don't know what is!

Back in mid-October, John and I went down to Cape May with some friends and we explored the old timey village of Cold Springs, which was putting on a pumpkin festival and craft show. The first table we passed featured jewelry and garden herb stakes made from antique silverware--flattened spoons and forks and the like. But the woman was also selling some still-useable pieces of servery as well, so of course I couldn't want to dive in!

I have been wanting fancy spoons to use for fancy tea with my fancy teacups. I rummaged around and settled on two spoons, and also decided to look for larger serving utensils for things like holidays or hosting brunches or dinners where I want to serve carved turkey or scoop salad up-right! When I found a serving fork with an engraved "R" I knew I could do no better.

The spoon at the right is a bit deep, so I've used it for cereal, soup, and porridge. The spoon at left is shallow and a bit more shovel-like, and I've used it quite a lot for nice, thick Greek yogurt. Both have been amply used for stirring tea and coffee! The cute bowl is actually a find from Home Goods, and is microwave- and dishwasher-safe! Win! I wish I had take a photo with greater detail of the various embossing and details on the silverware, but I had to get a close-up of the "R" for sure!

I've also been messing around with my fear of the piping bag. I found my error was pretty foolish--I had purchased a detail-piping kit, so everything is in a miniature scale--fine for piping fine details onto cakes and cookies, but crap for actually frosting a cupcake! I found this set from Fat Daddio, and John very sweetly surprised me with it one day! I sucked it up, spent three days reading about tips and techniques and stalking tons of photos of beautifully frosted confections before I attempted to do it on my own. I picked the large star tip to start, and was actually quite pleased! I've now used the star tip quite a few times (and even for my first commissioned baking gig--cupcakes for a friend's daughter's birthday party!) and have recently added the large round tip to my repertoire. I'm still gaining confidence, but am at least no longer terrified of the idea, and like that I can frost with both an offset spatula for a really casual vibe, or get a little fancier with the piping bag. I even overcame the witch-hat point I said I wasn't happy with in this post, which talked briefly about my very first attempt.

Round tip frosting at front (vanilla) and star tip frosting at back (chocolate).

I jazzed up the chocolates with white pearls and the vanillas with rainbow pearls!

This is half of the 2 dozen I was commissioned to bake--a reprise of the pumpkin cupcakes from my tea party.

Finally, to wrap up this disjointed bonanza, John's and my third wedding anniversary was last week. I had fully intended to bake us a chocolate cheesecake with a gingersnap crust, but life, as it is wont to do, got in the way, and I simply didn't have it in me to make at the time. So I spent some time in the kitchen this past weekend and delivered on my promise. Plus, I had 30 ounces of cream cheese in the fridge...what choice did I have? I even staved off buying cookies when grocery shopping since we'd be chowing down on homemade sweets for the week.

This recipe called for a water bath for the cheesecake (my usual NY style cheesecake just bakes low and slow but without a water bath), and I didn't have a pan large enough to fit my 9-inch springform, so I instead made an 8-inch cake and a miniature cake in a little 4-inch springform my mom had just gifted me. Everything turned out yummy, and I'm looking forward to eating a slice tonight for dessert. We shared the 4-inch guy on Monday night. Photos of both finished products are here: