Dragon Tails

How on earth did this set find its way into Grace's file? This is a way to use up stale cake to make decorative molded dessert—yeah, I know, who has stale cake in this family? You can use any shape you want. This is Dragon's Tail because it was meant for a medieval feast. From my days in the Society for Creative Anachronism at Michigan State U. Ellen is Ellen the Fair, aka Elaine Ferris. Gillian d'Uriel is me.

Dragon's Tail (basic recipe)

Crumble a stale cake.

Moisten with fruit juice, water or liqueur until the crumbs stick together well enough to be molded (1–2 cup liquid).

Mold to desired shape.

Ice with butter icing.

A good, solid icing helps hold the mess together.

Ellen's Dragon's Tail

Crumble

• 1 stale spice cake

Moisten with

• orange juice
• brandy

Shape as desired and ice.

Gillian's Dragon's Tail

Crumble

• 1 dry white or yellow cake

Mix in

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon cloves

Did I really use that much? The card actually says, "1–2 tsp each." It will be a fierce dragon!

Moisten with equal parts

• orange juice
• creme de menthe

Obviously from my younger days. Today, I would use some less sweet liqueur that would stand up to spice without tasting like toothpaste.

Shape into a curled tail. Ice with green icing.

Source: Grace's recipe file