Silver Balls and the Nutty Torte

I did not think I would be posting again in 2010 but I realized I forgot to wish you a Merry Christmas! And what better way to do so than with a post about balls and nuts... all baking related, I assure you!

A while back I caught wind that the shiny balls I always loved on holiday cookies and fancy cakes are actually outlawed in California (I also learned their proper name is actually "dragee"). I cannot find any law to prove this, but I trust my fellow bakers on the interwebs. Apparently these shiny balls can be dangerous because they contain trace amounts of silver which the food and drug administration has deemed non-edible, and a good-for-nothing lawyer actually got the state to ban the poor little things. In other states, the FDA requires dragee makers to label their balls "for decoration only" which apparently wasn't enough for mr. party pooper. Perhaps he is a vampire.. we will never know.

I acquired some of these balls in Italy last September and vowed only to use them on special occasions. Christmas seemed special enough for me! I made a red velvet cake and placed a few on top to give it a festive, classic holiday look. I had to explain the balls to my guests, and next time I probably won't do that because the word "illegal" doesn't really help sell baked goods.. unless you're running a fakery.


I also made Martha's Linzertorte for our lady's secret santa gift exchange. The recipe called for hazelnuts and almonds in the crust and a raspberry jam filling. I used my flavorite raspberry jam recipe (not Martha's) and it came out tasting fab. It was my first time making a torte AND working with hazelnuts, and I was super pleased with the outcome:

I also got some good news today that Iron Cupcake SF was featured on Cupcakes Take the Cake and I got a shout out as the winner! My blog was linked and I got about 100 hits in one day (that's a lot for me!!) What an awesome Christmas gift and exciting way to end the year!