cocoa crosses

hot cross buns

molded chocolate crosses and sheep

sheep cookies

cross, grave stone, flower, angel cookies

french toast “stones”

egg stratta

cross cakes x3

resurrection cake

You don’t need a cross shaped pan to make a cross cake

Step 1: Buy 3 cakes and line them up on a plate like a cross, cut one in half for the cross pieces (pound cake, Swiss rolls, or castella all work)

Step 2: Leave plain, or cover with whipped cream, icing, or ganache (equal amounts of chocolate and cream melted, then poured over the cake)

Step 3: decorate in one of the easy ways shown below

Slice marshmallows to form dogwood flowers, and add icing leaves for a finishing touch.

 

Melt chocolate and drizzle a crown of thorns onto tinfoil. Once it has hardened, lift off and put on the cake.

 

These are real flowers that were sold in the produce section of the grocery store. If you like the idea, buy or pick only flowers you are sure are are edible to garnish the cake. Even if you don’t intend to eat the flowers, these need to be edible and organic to avoid making people sick. Don’t use flowers from a flower shop, or pick them from the side of the road, since you don’t know if pesticides have been used on them.

Decorate the cake with gummy hearts and m’n’m’s to represent God’s love for us. M’n’m’s do tend to bleed onto the surrounding whipped cream, so add these at the last minute, not the night before.

 

Slice marshmallows and add yellow m’n’m’s to make daisies to decorate the cake.

 

Use m’n’m’s to form the flowers, and add stems (gummy spaghetti) and a bow (gummy hearts.) M’n’m’s do tend to bleed onto the surrounding whipped cream, so add these at the last minute, not the night before.

 

These fondant flowers do take more time, but they are not hard to make. You can make them in January or February, when you have more time, then add them to the cake just before serving. You can make the fondant yourself, or buy at craft stores in America, and in Japan, Seiyu sells small sets for 200 yen in the candy section. One kit made all these flowers, or enough to cover 4 cakes, if you don’t use quite as many flowers on each cake. The set does not include cutters, but you can buy flower shaped cutters at the 100 yen store.

 

Grapes are an easy way to decorate a cake--they are really round gummy candy, and the vine is gummy spaghetti. You could use real grapes, but they are not usually in season at Easter.

 

 The stained glass cake does take more work, but everyone is amazed when they see it, so it is worth the extra effort. You pipe chocolate lines then fill in the spaces with jam. I used strawberry, blueberry, and orange marmalade.