Nothing says you care like a home-baked cake. For Mother’s Day, bake Mom’s favorite recipe and decorate it to look like a brimmed hat.

It’s actually easy! You can use cake mix, as in the video, or use your own from-scratch recipe. You bake a 9″ and 8″ layers, then trim the 8″ layer to be a 6″ top layer, the “crown” of the hat.

Then, just frost and decorate. Use a piece of real ribbon around the “brim,” add a fresh flower and use and Mom’s favorite candies to decorate the hat. The recipe uses Reese’s Pieces, which look bright and sunny.

Take a look and you’ll agree: It’s a nice way to surprise Mom. It’s also a charming birthday cake.

Like to look at pretty cakes? Check out our Cake Glossary.

Sushi bar customers loved the ginger miso salad dressing so much that the company bottled it.

Consumers can purchase it from the sushi case in two versions: regular Ginger Miso dressing and Spicy Ginger Miso dressing, which is pretty spicy (the heat level is like hot salsa—use it to get the heat-lovers in your family to eat more salad).

The tasty, vegan dressings are made from white miso, canola oil, and rice vinegar, flavored with onion, pickled ginger, soy sauce, and lemon juice. The miso adds a unique flavor not found in Western salad dressings—along with a pile of health benefits (more about them below). A two-tablespoon serving has 80 calories, 7g total fat, 0 cholesterol, 320 mg sodium, 3 total carbs, and 1 g protein.

The dressings are very thick. Some people love thick dressings, but your two-tablespoon portion size doesn’t go too far in coating a bowl of salad greens because it doesn’t “slide.”
 
So we diluted the miso dressing 1:1 with salad oil to get more coverage without using half the bottle.

> See the health benefits of miso below.

> The history of miso is also below.
 

Miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning made by fermenting rice, barley, and/or soybeans, with salt and koji kin, a natural fungus. The mixture ferments for three months to three years, producing an enzyme-rich food. The longer the fermentation, the higher the quality of the miso.

The result is a thick paste used to make sauces and spreads, to pickle vegetables and meats, and to mix with dashi, a soup stock, to become miso soup (misoshiru). Westerners can add it to beans, grains, pasta, seafood dishes, spreads and dips, stews, and numerous soups beyond misoshiru.

Here’s an entire book of delicious miso cookery. It also shows you how to make miso paste at home, from scratch.

The less ambitious among us can buy miso paste in the international section of supermarkets, in Asian markets and in health food stores.

There are different types of miso paste, based on whether they are made with bean malt, rice malt or wheat malt. Each type of miso paste can be made into either red miso or white miso, and different miso pastes are used in different recipes.
High in protein and rich in vitamins and minerals, miso is widely used in Japan, both in traditional and modern cooking. Different varieties of miso have been described as salty, sweet, earthy, fruity and savory, based on fermentation process, length of fermentation and added ingredients (rice or other grains can be added in addition to barley).

While miso is strongly identified with Japan, the predecessor of today’s miso probably originated in China as a salt-fermented food called chiang. It was originally made with animal proteins—meat or fish.

Over time, soybeans were substituted for the animal proteins. The first written record of this is from Chimin Yaushu, who created what is perhaps the oldest agricultural encyclopedia in the world (written between 535 and 550 C.E.). He indicates that fermented soybean foods had been prepared for centuries.

Miso probably arrived in Japan with the introduction of Buddhism, in that same century. To use a modern expression, it was a big hit, and quickly became a staple of the Japanese diet.

All Japanese miso varieties are made with fermented soybeans, but there are broad district and regional differences based on local tradition and preferences.

Miso is a highly nutritious food. It is a “perfect protein,” containing all eight of the essential amino acids.

 
According to Japanese mythology, miso is a gift to mankind from the gods, to assure lasting happiness, health and longevity. We can’t make any guarantees, but we think you’ll like it.
  
 
 

A stunning presentation for mixed hors
d’oeuvre or mini desserts. Photo courtesy
Chapter 40 restaurant | Kerry, Ireland.

Sometimes, the eating receptacle is not part of a conventional place setting. In this photo, Chapter 40 restaurant repurposes a slate cheese board for an assorted hors d’oeuvre plate and miniature desserts. (And of course, they can be used to present cheese and other foods.)

Slate is a fine-grained rock composed of layers ash, clay and other sediment, which were fused together millions of years ago. When quarried and cut by experts, they form smooth, flat sheets of stone that have long been used to create handsome roofs and floors.

Natural slate resists fading, abrasion and chemicals and is highly durable (but it’s highly porous, so floors and roofs require regular sealing).

In recent years, slate has been made into cheese boards. Its subtle, natural beauty is a complement to food.

 
While these plates are not inexpensive (around $30 each), you can pick up one at a time and ask for them as birthday and holiday gifts. Use the first one as a cheese board; the second one becomes “dinner for two,” and so on.

You can also try to buy slate floor tiles as a more affordable solution. Flooring suppliers want to sell the whole floor and don’t embrace the sale of individual tiles. But if you have connections, or can get the store manager to order a dozen or two tiles (you can give the extras as gifts), you may be able to buy them for as little as $3 apiece.

We went to a store that sells kitchen and bath tiles to contractors, in boxes of four for $20. While they didn’t have slate, we picked up a dozen beautiful granite tile squares in dark grey; then put felt stickers on the bottom to avoid scratching the table. We have our eyes on handsome dark red granite tiles as well.

As with kitchen counters made from granite or marble walls and floors in a bathroom, they’re very easy to wash by hand.

They’re heavier than conventional dinner plates, but gorgeous.
  

You’ll find more than a few must-try recipes. In fact, you might be inspired to host a grilled cheese party.

To make the best grilled cheese sandwiches, here are 10 tips from the experts at EatWisconsinCheese.com, creators of the Grilled Cheese Acadmey.

CHEESE TIPS

1. To Slice Or Not To Slice. Often it’s best to grate or shred the cheese. This promotes faster melting, as well as a smooth and more even melt.

2. Slicing And Melting. It’s easier to slice and grate cheese when it’s cold. Furthermore, cheese melts best at room temperature.

BREAD & BUTTER TIPS

4. Use The Real Deal. For great flavor, use real butter to pan-toast your grilled cheese sandwich. Margarine and other butter wannabes win you no points.

5. Soft Is Good. Butter at room temperature is the way to go. Not only does it spread easily, but it also browns the bread more evenly.

6. Use Your Imagination. White bread is not the only answer; in fact, it’s often not the best answer. Pick specialty unique breads to create equally more exciting and flavorful grilled cheese sandwiches.
COOKING TIPS

7. Size Matters. Always use the right size skillet or suffer the consequences. If you opt for a skillet that’s too small, your sandwich will cook too slowly and not evenly.

9. Flip. Press. Repeat. You want the cheese to spread evenly as it melts. So always press the sandwich with a spatula after you flip it. (Open-faced grilled cheese sandwiches do not require flipping.)

10. Low And Steady. Don’t grill over high heat. Not only will the bread brown too fast, but the cheese will not melt completely. Be patient and always grill over low heat.

[1] Affogato: an Italian sundae (photo © Tony Liao | Unsplash).

[2] A coupe glass (photo #1) is nice, but most people use a rocks glass (photo © Williams Sonoma).

[3] After the first ball of ice cream melted, a fresh scoop was plopped on top.

We’re perplexed as to why this quickie Italian sundae—a scoop of gelato topped with a shot of espresso—is rarely found on Italian restaurant menus in the U.S.

Most of them serve both gelato and espresso. Did someone lose the affogato recipe?

The next time you’re at an Italian restaurant, order an affogato for dessert. If they won’t make it for you, unleash your inner Robert Eroica Dupea—the character played by Jack Nicholson in “Five Easy Pieces”: 

Order an espresso and a dish of gelato and combine them yourself.

Affogato means “drowned” in Italian. You can further drown the gelato with a flavored syrup or a shot of liqueur.

Consider amaretto, chocolate, coffee, hazelnut or vanilla syrups or liqueurs—or go fusion with some Irish cream liqueur.
 
 
MAKE AFFOGATO AT HOME

It’s easy to make affogato at home—as a treat for yourself or a surprise for family and friends. While vanilla is the traditional gelato flavor, chocolate, coffee and hazelnut gelato are even more delicious. (While it goes without saying, we’ll say it: You can substitute ice cream for gelato.)

In this cooking video, Giada Di Laurentiis tops vanilla gelato with syrup and then adds a shot of hazelnut liqueur before topping the “sundae” with hot espresso.

You can re-concept affogato from a sundae to a beverage by adding a scoop of gelato to a glass of iced espresso.
 
> Check out all the different types of espresso

> The difference between gelato and ice cream.

 
THE HISTORY OF AFFOGATO

The origin of affogato al caffè, the Italian term for gelato drowned in a cup of coffee, is unknown. (Affogare means “to drown.”)

What is known is that the fashion of drinking wine with snow or ice emerged in Italy in the 16th century [source].

The Florentine polymath Bernardo Buontalenti (1531-1608) invented gelato for a special banquet given by Grand Duke Cosimo I de’Medici (1519-1574).

(The history of gelato.)

We don’t know the precise date of that banquet, but given that Cosimo reigned as Grand Duke from 1569 to 1574, we can guess that it was during this five-year period.

While gelato could have been spooned into a regular cup of coffee, the affogato uses espresso. Modern espresso emerged in the latter half of the 19th century. The first espresso machine was presented at the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1855.

But we’ll have to wait until someone discovers an old menu in a dusty archive, that lists “affogato”; or an old newspaper or magazine article that reports on the delicious new recipe.