Our friends are bakers, too!

Here at Broccoli is for Lovers the thing we love second to showcasing our own kitchen creations, is showcasing those of our friends. For the second year in a row, Maureen has decorated an adorable Yo Gabba Gabba cake for her now two-year-old (holy cow, is he two already? I can't believe it!!) son Fitz. What a lucky kid, his mom makes the best birthday cakes around. Happy Birthday, Fitzo!

And over at quasify, Nanio has finally baked up some Gooseberry goodness. In his own words:

my gooseberry tart thing recipe (hashed out with help of my mom & internet strangers)

1) Mix a can of gooseberries, two thirds cup sugar and three tablespoons of flour together, bring a gentle boil. Let that cool. It will set up into a liquidy gel.
2) Make a top/bottom pie crust recipe. Instead of balling in two, make 8 to 12 smaller balls.
3) Mix an 8oz cream cheese (softened) w/ three tablespoons of sugar.
4) Flatten small balls (optionally, with your newly purchased and totally bitchin’ rolling pin), smush a tablespoon or two of cream cheese in the center and cover with a similar amount of the cooled gooseberries.
5) Crimp those bad boys shut and trim excess. We’ll have to pretend like I did this part of the recipe correctly.

6) Bake at 400 for 10-14 minutes.

My not-very-objective opinion is these tasted pretty decent but didn’t turn out to be terribly attractive. I think had I baked them in a mini-cupcake cooking sheet instead of on a flat pan it might have kept the three dimensionality I imagined when I started the project. Next time.

Looks delicious, Nanio!

when nerds decorate cakes...

Here it is, our second guest submission. This is from a my friend VC, and the text is her own description. My conclusion, dear VC, is that you guys are awesome as hell. (and, totally hot, if I might add!)


"it was my advisor's birthday today, and we decided to up the nerd-
factor by taking advantage of the following un-funny items:

1. a carrot cake in honor of CARET imaging analysis software
2. red-hots to represent cortical activation
3. a mars bar in honor of MarsBaR timecourse analysis software (now!
with timecourses drawn in icing!)

in conclusion: we are lame as hell."

Yo Fitzo Fitzo! is totally broccoli worthy

And here's another BifL first - a guest submission, although I suppose she didn't know she was submitting it when she sent it to me!

My friend Maureen has a now one-year-old son, Fitz, and for his birthday she made him this wonderful Yo Gabba Gabba! cupcake cake in the shape of Muno.  She seemed to think it was unworthy of this blog, but I beg to differ.  This cake is awesome, Fitz is one lucky little guy!  Thanks for sharing, Reen - we at BifL love your Muno creation.