Panforte, Pantone and a Toast to 2015

When a big box arrives on your porch from Merrycakes, well, that's a very merry day indeed. You see, Merrycakes is the kind of friend to call on a rainy day while she is carmelizing her weekly onions, or to find thousand dollar like-new Italian vacuums at the thrift store and know enough to spend the forty-five bucks on them. She knows her lilies and her Lily Pulitzers, and has been known to shake a lily-digit in your direction if you don't heed her sunscreen advice. She's like having Mary Tyler Moore and Rhoda for a friend, with a dash of Amelie. She believes in cats, books and food! What could The Collective SweetPoppycakes do but ask her to join us for a guest post? Next week. Stay tuned.

But you want me to open the box, don't you? You want to know about the vintage lavender apron with the buttery tulip on its pocket. You want to hear me say ric rac trim. You are hoping for a vegetarian cookbook the likes of which already has me marking my next three entries (& entrees!) for our sweet blog. Or the swanky swig Columbus, Ohio glass that will take you back to every old Stuckey's roadside stop of years ago. Those were all there. Merrycakes doesn't mess around when she packs up a treasure chest. But there was this tin full of sheer, sticky, spicy sin. The signature Merrycakes Panforte: a candified cake with flavors so interesting, that each bite delivers its own special dessert. There are few better ways to start the year. Even the picky, picky Mr. Poppycakes savored every bite.

Since it is a new year, we like to track the new pantone color, which Tasters, just happens to be a kind of wine and might be my favorite color of the year yet. Let's toast to Marsala and maybe this is the year that we actually run our color-recipe contest.