Holy Grail of Mirth

To close out 2011, my husband decided our home would be host to a Monty Python and the Holy Grail party. It was inspired in part by his 9^th year participating in the Christmas Revels- which carried an Arthurian theme this year. He claims the idea just came to him. It must've nibbled his buns or something. But I live with the bloke so...put up and shut up, right?

In search of a dessert fit for a king, I scoured the script (for those of you wishing a leg up on your own theme party or dessert) to find the following foods referenced in the movie: Bread, apples, cherries, coconuts, gravy, cider, banana, ham, jam, Spam, elderberries, biscuits, tea, rabbit stew, herring. I'm not counting swallow or moose as edibles here. Gather your own list of animals!

So off I rode with my trusty stash of unsweetened coconut at the ready and I came upon this Cherry Ripe Cake recipe, an adaptation of an Ina Garten's chocolate cake recipe. 

The cake was moist and delicious but honestly the cherry coconut buttercream, while appropriate in its under-diced glory to best illustrate the bloody fight between Arthur and the Black Knight, was really jacked up. I should have food processed the cherries...though they weren't the problem. The proportions of powdered sugar to butter were off and I couldn't seem to correct them. The icing recipe did make a lovely slightly sweet tasting topping, but it was definitely not good icing consistency. 

The recipe called for both cherry coconut buttercream and a chocolate ganache. I think a girl should be free to go without chocolate ganache, don't you? Besides the cacao bean is tropical!

As for the rabbit sitting atop my mini-bundt cake castle, here's what I shared with guests: 

Welcome to Castle Anthrax!

 

 In our  story, we believe the bunny was an undercover agent secretly leading the women of Castle Anthrax to pursue Galahad and ultimately, all the Knights of the Round Table.

The bunny was definitely the instigator who drove the Black Knight to his chopped up fate (in the photo above, he appears to be rooting for the Black Knight rather than his intended function of whispering in his ear)

P.S.  Eat me! I’m coconut cherry chocolate cake.
And don’t worry; your slices of my delicious innards will be mere flesh wounds.

With a wave of my shrubbery, I bid 2011 adieu. It has had some wonderful moments for me personally but has been a lot harder for my loved ones. I am humbled by both the joy and the sorrow. 

I'm looking forward to 2012 and what an adventure it will be. Choices, choices, choices. The significance for you non-numerologists is 2+0+1+2=5. It's a 5 year. I'll let others do the rest.