Cake

Former City Councilman Jimmy Tayoun is helped by family members as he cuts his welcome-home cake yesterday at the Middle East Restaurant. Friends of the recently released convict wanted to throw the party last month, while Tayoun was serving the last portion of his three-year prison sentence in a halfway house, but the feds wouldn't hear of it.

Mayor Rendell (the guy in the wig), his wife Midge (right) and other participants dressed in colonial garb, sample a piece of William Penn's 350th birthday cake yesterday at a ceremony in City Hall courtyard (above). Visitors are reflected in a mirrored ball (right) above the "Compass Rose" mural that Rendell and city planner Edmund Bacon dedicated. The mural is an icon of old maps; Penn's original plan for the city is at the center.

One fruit that many people associate with the Fourth of July is sweet cherries. When the summer crop is at its peak, any backyard gathering or picnic in the park is better with a basket of sweet cherries for snackers. The pits don't matter; cherries elicit delight from all ages. The possibilities for red, white and blue food combinations used to center on a compatible fruit partner - blueberries. Now, of course, there's blue gelatin. The young at heart might enjoy a batch of Blue Jell-O Jigglers this July 4 holiday to eat along with fresh sweet cherries.

I disagree with The Inquirer's Dec. 20 editorial "Give federal officials a raise. " A presidential advisory commission has recommended an 85 percent increase in the salaries of top federal officials. How in the world can we give such raises with such a huge national budget deficit? You mention the high salaries of ballplayers, business executives, lawyers, etc. Not too many federal officials resign. Why? Because they have the best benefits: Free mailing, health insurance, office space, phones, etc. Members of Congress can earn more money by giving speeches to corporations and universities.

There are many ways to say "I love you," but none that has the eloquence and sensuality of a homey, sexy, heart-melting chocolate cake. It makes no difference if one's affections are snared by the innocent charm of devil's food or the erotic ecstasy of Black Velvet; when a kiss is swathed in an afterglow of chocolate, it lingers in the memory. Yes, it's almost Valentine's Day, and yes, chocolate has always had power. Holy water to the Aztecs and status symbol in the French court, chocolate has been thought of as an aphrodisiac, a tonic, a vitamin source and a medium of exchange, but mostly it is simply one of the most sensual extravagances the culinary world has to offer.

Dear Polly: Always put a shallow pan of water in the oven when baking a cake. The water will help keep the cake moist while baking. Wrap ice cream containers in foil before putting them in the freezer. This keeps the ice cream from turning grainy. Planting marigolds by the door helps keep ants out. Keep shaving cream in your car to use as a cleaner for dirty hands. When making fudge, stir in half a pound of marshmallows before you turn the fudge out to cool.

Susan Meloney did a double-take when she caught a glimpse of the cakes in the glass counter at Terstappen's Bake Shop. These were no ordinary cakes. "Oh, geez," said Meloney as she took a closer look. One heart-shaped cake featured a black and white portrait of a baby - his features perfectly shaded. A woman and her child smiled from the top of another white-iced cake. "They're great," said Meloney, who didn't waste any time pulling out her wallet. She whipped out a photograph of her husband and ordered his birthday cake.

Middle East restaurateur James J. Tayoun, an overwhelming winner in the 1st Councilmanic District Democratic primary, had his cake and ate it too at a rowdy party in his restaurant last night. Surrounded by his family and closest political operatives, illuminated by TV lights, Tayoun picked up a knife, sliced a large layer cake and joined with his family in smashing cake in each other's faces. Within seconds, Tayoun was standing in front of a bar mirror, wiping cake off his face and dark pin-striped suit.

Confiscating advertising benches is a little like making a cake. This is not a riddle. This is Donald Kligerman's analogy to explain why ridding the city of illegal benches may take longer than he first imagined. On Nov. 19, a crew of eight spent 10 1/2 hours collecting 60 benches from sidewalks along the west side of Roosevelt Boulevard, according to Kligerman, the city's commissioner of licenses and inspections. Another collection was conducted Saturday. City officials estimate there are 2,500 ad benches, most of them in the Northeast and most, if not all, illegal.

Willie Hernandez, of Oteri's Pastries on North 5th Street puts icing on 19- by-18-foot cake donated by Wawa Food Markets for this weekend's Daily News- sponsored Freedom Festival. The cake weighs 1,500 pounds and will serve 6,000 people. Ingredients include 646 pounds of sugar, 1,500 eggs, 296 pounds of butter, 200 pounds of flour and 144 gallons of milk. Wawa has 500 convenience stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

Memorial Day weekend is here, and with it, all the attendant demands for potluck offerings, followed by the furious thumbing-through of cookbooks. Oh, the glory of basking in oohs, aahs, of being hounded for recipes. No one wants to be the owner of the still-brimming platter on the picnic table — the one everyone politely passes over. The "luck" in potluck comes from tried-and-true, no-fail, consistently awesome recipes. Josh Kim, owner of the Spot truck, has wowed friends and family with his grilled chicken wings, rubbed with the unlikely combination of herbes de Provence and ginger, then basted with a beer-diluted barbecue sauce.

For the cake: 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups sugar 12 large egg whites, at room temperature 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract, or a combination 1 1/2  teaspoons cream of tartar For the filling and icing: 3 pints fresh strawberries (2 pints sliced thin, 1 pint halved) 4 tablespoons sugar 3 cups whipping cream 1/3 cup superfine sugar   1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour 1/2 cup pastry flour 1 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer (available at natural food stores) 2 tablespoons water 3/4 cup soy milk 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon rosemary, minced 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper Zest of 1 lemon, orange, or Meyer lemon 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 9-inch cake pan. 2. In a medium bowl, mix flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

If you ask 10 people for the best crab cake recipe, you'll get 10 different answers. One person I know uses the recipe on the can of Old Bay Seasoning - called a classic Maryland-style crab cake - a mix of crab meat, mayo, mustard, Old Bay, an egg, and parsley flakes. Some recipes call for hot red pepper sauce (Tabasco), Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. To bind the cakes, use egg and mayonnaise. Some recipes also call for dredging the crab cakes in bread crumbs, cracker meal, or panko before pan-frying or broiling.

Ordering the sky-high funnel-cake French toast at Hawthornes Cafe is almost like accepting a Man v. Food challenge. The chef taps into his Lancaster roots and fries up a funnel cake, which is sandwiched by nutmeg-tinged French toast made from house-baked challah. The whole stack is powdered with sugar, draped with crème anglaise, and dotted with raspberries. You'll find the on-again off-again special running this weekend and next week - an order that's sort of perfect for a Monday morning, if you are up to the task.

Company description: Delectable bite-sized versions of Baskin-Robbins ice cream cakes, wrapped up in icing with a simple accent finish. Chain: Baskin-Robbins. Calories: From 290 to 360, depending on flavor; 17 to 22 grams of fat. Location: 163 W. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore. Price: $9.99 (Four flavors). Review: It's hard to combine ice cream and cake in a dessert and expect it to survive without freezer burn. B-R's Cake Bites almost get it right.

Leslie Carter 's mysterious death Tuesday has kicked off a round of rumors, speculation, and wild guesses. TMZ cites Anonymous Sources , who say Carter's family thinks the 25-year-old singer, sister to Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter and singer Aaron Carter , was addicted to prescription drugs and died of an overdose. The family has yet to comment. In a statement Wednesday, they said that "our family is grieving right now and it's a private matter.

Nearly 30 years after it was established, Classic Cake is now based in Philadelphia, not South Jersey. But it still bears the original name - an acknowledgment by current owners of its long, positive run indulging scores of sweet teeth. A gruesome, high-profile murder gave it notoriety, as well. On a November night in 1994, Carol Neulander, 52, one of Classic Cake's three founders, was bludgeoned to death in her Cherry Hill home by two men hired by her rabbi husband, Fred J. Neulander.

Vineland bakers who felt burned by a decision to outsource their city's 150th birthday cake will get a slice of the action after all. A sweet agreement will enable four city bakeries to share the limelight with an "official" cake from Hoboken-based Carlo's Bake Shop - home of TV's Cake Boss - during the birthday bash Sunday. Local confections will be arrayed in a separate tent next to a display of the celebrity cake. "It's a good compromise and absolutely the right thing to do," says Dawn Hunter, executive director of the Greater Vineland Chamber of Commerce.

Decoyise Brown's family and friends know how blessed they are. The Waldorf, Md., resident makes a mean seafood quiche and all manner of soups. But most of all, she has a baker's magic touch. Brown, 59, is the go-to source any time the people she loves need baked goods. Brown is confident enough in her baking that she chose to make a chocolate cake she hadn't tried before for us. Buttermilk and sweetened condensed milk mixed with cocoa powder give the cake a lighter flavor and color; that's what she was after.