u/goodkilleenfun

I meant to do this one weeks ago, but life happened, so here we are, in an overly warm kitchen where the icing started slipping off the moment I applied it!

This is a baked vanilla donut with whipped cream filling and vanilla icing. Personally, I’d pick a different donut recipe than the one I used- it turned out more like a sweet bread roll? But the homemade whipped cream filling was delicious!

Alternatives/Other Things to Try: a colder kitchen, for one. Royal icing for the details might also set better, I just didn’t wanna futz with it. I think he turned out pretty cute anyway!

Continuing with the festival food trend, we have Queen Berry Pie, showcased in the autumn festival!

I have no idea how people can take good pictures of pie. The crust fell apart as I was plating, the berries wouldn’t stay into place, the whipped cream melted as soon as I made it. All that said, I’m pleased to report that this blackberry pie with purple whipped cream is delicious, despite its looks. (I wanted mulberries, but they’re hard to find in my area.)

Alternatives/Other Things to Try: if you don’t want to use blackberries or mulberries, strawberries and purple dye might get you closer to the game art. And of course, if you can’t decide on what fruit to use, you could always do a mixed berry pie, which I’m partial to.

I know what you’re thinking. Those aren’t tulips. Those don’t even remotely look like tulips!

Look. I tried. I got a tulip piping tip and everything. But woulda thunk canned icing isn’t stabilized enough to hold a tulip shape? (Me. I shoulda thunk.)

So after failed experiments stabilizing with icing sugar, I went with a smaller nozzle and did my best. I’m not very experienced in this sort of decorating, and the kitchen is warm, but! I still think it turned out cute.

This is a lemon cake made in a ramekin, with vanilla icing and just a touch of rose simple syrup.

Alternatives/Other Things to Try: I’d recommend lavender over rose going forward, and if you want a lighter pink “vase,” a lemon cake is going to give it a warmer tint. But it was delicious and I ate the whole thing.

(Would love to see a proficient cake decorator’s take on this, because icing tulips are so pretty!)

Another day, another weird dessert from the mines.

The ingredients for this one gave me a bit of trouble. It took me three stores to find dried mission figs, and even though they said they had boiled chestnuts in stock online, I couldn’t find them.

So, subbing in pecan pieces for chestnuts, I made a French parfait with sweet potato, pecan, figs, and elderberry simple syrup, topped with white chocolate magic shell and sprinkles.

If you’ll forgive my slightly melty parfait and very clumsy shell, it turned out nice! The base parfait has a very light flavor, and the mix of figs, sweet potato, pecan, and cinnamon give it a pumpkin-pie vibe. You don’t taste the elderberry much, and the magic shell gives the top a nice texture.

Alternatives/Other Things to Try: for me, the white chocolate flavor by itself was a little intense. I think a more fruity shell or syrup to imitate the crystal berries would be nice. My original plan was also to make a chestnut cream and fold that into the parfait, for the lava chestnuts. Alas- the chestnuts eluded me and I didn’t want to pay $20 for chestnut cream.

These took a hot second because a) my attempt to dye golden raisins didn’t work, and b) my first batch of cookies spread to the size of dinner plates.

Because my idea to dye golden raisins failed, these are oatmeal raisin cookies with golden raisins for the yellow color, dried blueberries for blue, dried cranberries for red, and pistachios for green.

I know they don’t look exactly like the game art, but these are delicious! The variety in the toppings means every bite is a slightly different flavor profile. Apart from that, they’re your classic chewy, hearty oatmeal raisin cookies. Perfect when still warm from the oven. I think Ryis would really like these.

Alternates/Other Things to Try: you could always swap in other fruits, like dried cherries, apricots, or strawberries. If you want something more pastel, maybe Easter-colored M&Ms? And of course, these don’t have to be oatmeal cookies. I just thought that base would go well with the dried berries.

I flew too close to the sun on this one.

I wanted to focus on the transparent look of the pie, which led me to recipes for “invisible lemon meringue”- basically, jello in pie crust, flavored with lemon juice and citric acid and topped with a meringue cookie. So, I opted for a shortcrust pie crust filled with elderberry gelatin and a vanilla meringue cookie on top.

“That seems fine,” I said to myself. “What could be weirder than the monster mash?”

Oh buddy.

Turns out: elderberry juice (my sub for crystal berries) tastes weird. Unflavored gelatin smells like the dentist’s office. And I really should have applied more than one brain cell to the whole concept of pouring jello into a pie crust.

But, on the whole? Not as bad as I thought it would be. I got the transparent purple I wanted, the elderberry is balanced by the sugar and citric acid, and the sweet pie crust adds some welcome texture. (I don’t really like meringue, though, so I don’t know what to do with the 20 swirly cookies I have left over.)

Alternatives/Other Things to Try: I think, as a society, we’re better off not replicating what I just made. Opt for a purple lemon-esque curd instead, which might get you a slightly translucent feel without resorting to jello. I’d also recommend piped meringue and not a separate cookie as the swirl (or something like a stabilized whipped cream).

ETA: I think chess pie, sugar pie, or milk tart could also potentially achieve a level of translucency!