Welcome Purplemoon, how wonderful to have another enthusist here! Your stacking plates are cute! If you want it "fuller" maybe you could add a few round sparkly Xmas ornis to it, and add some larger red roses, those slightly bigger things help add height and weight to the design. Your DIL did wonderful on her plates too, it is so cool that you two could do this together! I'm sure the dish manufactors in certain areas are wondering why the rush on the cake plates, they're probably thinking everyone is doing some "cookin" LOLOLO The easter plates should be pretty easy to do for everyone, since so much is available out there compaired to V-Day.

Oh my, i was thinking a few dozen in and out of the home and garden. : ) I've hosted a couple weddings for friends on my farm and did simple, as you are thinking... One was October but unseasonably warm, Hot!. I stuck with the veggie plan but had to put ice in baggies under the platters and dip stuff. (the meal and party moved on to an event place later). I hid the ice under fabric. I also was making spring rolls for every event at the time and that took way too much time the morning of. But great for the wedding party 'girls' prepping in the second floor of the barn. Healthy and fresh and the brides favorite so i made them for her and the rest went out on the table. I'm terrible with recipes because i want to fuss and take a bit from this and that and take out the sugars... And use what i have that is available without too much shopping. If i needed to make one today?...in the freezer i have pecans, dates, a big bag of raw shredded coconut and a big hunk of ginger in the fridge. And a bag of chick peas...and some wasabi in powder form. I made candied ginger last month and it was amazing but can be bought. So using a few recipe ideas, some can be combined. Like this list, i'll give the link... I have some puffed rice cereal from the health food store. Some pepitas, (hulless pumpkin seed), and if i toast the coconut, whizz some of it to coat the chopped dates...toss with roasted chick peas, (not the sweet recipe but the savory one) ...toss what seems good and back in the oven on low 200 heat for an hour... You may just invent your own mix by tasting and adding a bit more spice, etc. (a bit of warmed coconut oil, just a couple tbsp, is amazing flavor that helps give good toasted flavor and give some binder glue for any powdered spices). Of course make a mix you are comfortable with that is not a stressful new one, but my crowd likes my 'adventures', lol. -and, yeah, my amount per person is way high for a big event. And probably not much help with the mixes...but if you have time to experiment and have fun in the process...big win in the appreciation game. -if any oils or butters are in your mix, you have 4-5 days in fridge, any longer do freeze for freshness... Here is a link that might be useful: snack mixes

I just received the two recipes below in my email. Think they sound interesting. Sara Lee Pound Cake Author: CopyKat Recipes Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 45 minutes Serves: 10 Sara Lee Pound cake was one of my first recipes at CopyKat.com, after reading the ingredients on the package; I set out to re-create this famous pound cake just like the original. 1/4 pound or 1stick unsalted butter 3/4 cup sugar 3 eggs 1 cup cake flour 2 tablespoons dry powdered milk 1 tablespoon corn syrup Juice of half a small lemon 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon mace (optional) Allow butter to reach room temperature, if you can try to use unsalted butter. Cream sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and mix well. Add in flour, powdered milk, baking powder, and corn syrup. Beat each in well. Add juice of half a lemon, salt, vanilla, nutmeg, and mace. Make sure everything is well blended, and pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes, checking for doneness by inserting a toothpick and seeing if it comes out clean. You almost want to under bake this. Triple Coconut Pound Cake 2 cups flour 1/4 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter at room temperature 1 cup sugar 2 large eggs, at room temperature 1/2 cup evaporated milk or coconut milk 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1 tsp coconut extract 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut plus more for garnish for the glaze 1 heaping cup confectioner's sugar milk, cream or coconut milk to thin 1/2 tsp coconut extract Set oven to 350F Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix the evaporated milk with the extracts, and add alternately to the bowl with the dry ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry. Don't over mix the batter. Stir in the shredded coconut and turn into a greased and floured loaf pan. Smooth out the top and bake for about 55 minutes until risen, golden, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out without wet batter clinging to it. (Moist crumbs are ok) Let the cake cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack. let cool completely before glazing. Make the glaze by mixing the confectioner's sugar and extract with enough liquid to make a spreadable glaze. Top the glazed cake with more shredded coconut.

Ah, well, Annie, we didn't have cake mixes or a mixer or an oven. Just scratch ingredients, a mixing bowl sized cheap aluminum pot, a table fork, and a way to bake on a gas ring that was similar to the Omnia oven. It's a ring pan with a wide flue up the middle and a vented solid top which reflects the heat down. It worked. It made cake. It made good cake. With AP flour. :) But we didn't usually frost it or anything like that, and usually didn't decorate it at all. It was just cake. In the beginning, I did give it time and thought, but I went in already knowing how to bake a cake. A friend showed me the light on how to improvise successfully. Practice showed me the difference between two and three eggs, depending on how many we had. The only fail was the one time I forgot the baking powder (it came in little packets and was very hard to measure, which is how I learned that the exact amount doesn't mean that much as long as it's there). Even that was salvageable as a kind of dense pastry bottom with fruit. I have good cake recipes. I have one that is a perfect bundt cake with a perfect crumb. I bake them. People like them. But they like the improvisational ones too. :) People just like cake!