Rodin and Apple Blossoms

The sculpture on the left is called 'The Young Mother' and it is by Auguste Rodin. I have been lucky enough to be able to see many of his works live, and I think he was a man of extraordinary talent. And since the coming Sunday is the Mother's Day here, I thought it would be timely to share with you this gentle and touching image of the unique bond between a mother and her child. I have also been lucky in being able to spend my Daughter's first three years with her at home. Financially it has been extremely hard and professionally probably not very wise, but what I asked myself was would I later on in life regret more not having been there with her during those first remarkable years when it seemed that every week, if not every day, brought on some new development ,or not having spent those years working and amassing more material belongings. Now, I do not lay judgement on anyone for their choices, people live different lives and are sometimes forced by circumstances to choose directions in their lives they would otherwise rather not choose. But for me there really was no other choice. And now that my Daughter is three and starting next autumn in kindergarten while I go back to university to finally finish my MA, I feel very happy that I got to give these precious years in their entirity to her.

Today the mail also brought the local newspaper with the article in it. Well, I already knew something about it since my Mother receives her mail earlier and had already called me about it. But still, I was terrified. No reason for that, though. The article was perfectly nice and friendly and even the photo of me did not freak me out as much as I though it would, even though it was huge. The cake has already been eaten, and therefore I obviously need to make a new one for Sunday but somehow I don't really mind that very much. :)

So here it is. A flowery Mother's Day cake covered in marshmallow fondant and filled with strawberry mousse.

So, the fondant I made from white marshmallows. I believe I have posted a link to how to make MMF before but here is one again anyhow, with pictures too. The decorations are made of marzipan, with the exception of the tiny gum paste centers on the flowers. On top of everything I brushed some Wilson Pearl dust. I used this recipe for the strawberry mousse since my Sister had already tried it succesfully with the pannacotta cake. As you might have some slight difficulties in deciphering the recipe ( funny language, huh), I have taken the liberty of translating it here. I'm sure the lovely lady who keeps those fantastic pages won't mind.

You will need:

8 gelatin leafs or 4 tsp gelatin powder

2 egg whites

400 grams or 14 oz vanilla quark ( or substitute with regular quark and vanilla essence)

1/2 desilitre or 0.2 cups of sugar

500 grams or about 18 oz strawberry puree

You can make the strawberry puree yourself from either frozen or fresh strawberries. Put the gelatin to soak in cold water. I myself used powder which I added to 4 tablespoons of water. Whip the egg whites and add the quark and sugar. Take 2 desilitres or 0.9 cups of strawberry puree and put in a saucepan. Bring to boil and and the gelatin. Keep on slow heat until the gelatin has melted. Pour this gelatin mixture and the rest of the strawberry puree onto the quark mixture and stir. Line a cake pan on the bottom with some baking paper and put the lower cake part on top of the paper. The pour the mousse in the pan. Place the top part of the cake on top of the mousse. Let set in the fridge for about three hours. Not too sweet but just perfectly so. 

Today I also got the Advance  1940's dress pattern in the mail, and the fabric for it is waiting shrunk and ironed. From what I could gather from my cursory look at the pattern parts it would seem that it is going to be quite a challenge to do the necessary adjustments on it. A challenge I am looking forward to, however. A lot. Tomorrow we are planning a picnic to the forest, weather permitting, but I hope to be able to squeeze some dressmaking in there as well. And of course, the other cake, the actual Mother's Day cake for the actual Mother's Day. I'm thinking caramel, I'm thinking roses...hmm...

And to bring this a full circle, here's the cake that started this all. I'm still saying it's all wonky but not bad for a first try, I think.