By Kathy Cook Hunter
Do you use the pedestal cake plate which is so “in” these days? If you don’t make cakes regularly or entertain often, perhaps you don’t. But the plate is actually a helpful addition to many occasions.
Where it really shines is in putting a spotlight on a birthday cake prepared with love and loaded with candles. And it can hold a pie as well as a cake. It is beautiful piled with yellow lemons or crisp red-and-yellow apples as well as the oranges, apples and bananas.
For a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, I fill my cake plate with an interesting array of fruits and vegetables. I shop for texture, color and the most contrasting in tones in fruits and vegetables, then artfully arrange them on my white cake plate.
Included in the grouping above are two kinds of apples, an artichoke, an eggplant, bunches of red grapes, a lemon, a lime and a long red pepper. A handful of walnuts and sheaves of wheat are poked in here and there, adding to the harvest theme. Fall leaves could be used, too.
The centerpiece projects color and abundance and is easily composed. It can be put to good use another day – on your dinner table!
– Kathy Cook Hunter
(Kathy will teach a holiday greens class Dec. 17. Check Our Town in December for details.)
