Last weekend some dear friends celebrated the Bar Mitzvah of their only son. My daughter and I flew back to North Carolina to make a special cake in honor of the event. The cake represents part of the boy's Torah portion, where it describes God descending on Mt. Sinai to give the Ten Commandments to the Jewish people. The Torah says "there were thunder claps and lightning flashes, and a thick cloud was upon the mountain, and a very powerful blast of a shofar.....Mount Sinai smoked because the Lord had descended upon it in fire." Finally, Jewish tradition says that even though the mountain was in the desert, it bloomed when God spoke.
For those interested in the specifics, this cake measured 22" high by 18" wide. Half the cake was Yellow cake with a Lemon Swiss Meringue "Butter"cream, and the other half was Dark Chocolate cake with a Vanilla Swiss Meringue "Butter"cream. The "Butter"creams were actually nondairy so it could be served after a meat meal. The cake was covered with ganache and then fondant. We used dry ice to create the smoke after verifying that this was acceptable to do on Shabbos. This is definitely one of my best cakes. Thanks for the help Naomi and Kathryn!
