Crystallizing

For years, I've had this vision in my head of the perfect birthday cake to make V., and for various reasons, I've never been able to make it. This year I get my shot. It's a double layered sponge cake with whipped cream topping and crystallized violets on top. And guess what? Violets are in season.

I managed to pick about three varieties of violets around the neighborhood. Large, mostly white violets with a lavender center; large, dark violets; and tiny, very dark violets. (Sorry I don't know their Latin names!) I recently got a book from an A-Space sale on edible flowers, and it gave me about four options for crystallizing flowers. I went with the egg-whites option, although I would have preferred the gum arabic, but I would have had to order that online and wait for it to ship to the house, and the violets are in bloom NOW.

I baked a practice sponge cake. It's cooling. It's only going to be one layer, and sprinkled with confectioner's sugar. No flowers. But if we end up gobbling it down with alacrity, we know the recipe is a winner.

I felt like I was on such a roll that I threw some edible lavender into the rice for dinner.