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How to Decorate Desserts With Maraschino Cherries

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Most people see maraschino cherries as being a bit toxic but the point is that they are fun and usually used for decoration. The bright red color comes from food coloring and then being soaked in a sugar syrup. You can get Queen Anne cherries or sour cherries that are healthier but part of the joy of using these cherries is their neon red color. In the old days they were much healthier as they were soaked in maraschino liquor. Nowadays they are soaked in a salt broth.

The desert that the maraschino cherry is commonly found on is on top of a Black Forest Cake. This is a cake made of chocolate and cherry syrup that also has chocolate icing. Usually there is a whipped cream dollop and a maraschino cherry overlaying each serving.

Another popular decorative culinary use of the maraschino cherry is as a decoration for Pineapple Upside Down Cake. In this case the batter for the cake is made and then the pineapple rings and they are placed on top. The cherries are placed in the center of the pineapple rings. When the Pineapple Upside Down Cake bakes the fruit sinks to the bottom of the pan. When the cake is done the pan is turned over and the pineapple rings with the cherries in the center are revealed.

Maraschino cherries are also used to decorate a very special Mexican dessert that involves slicing a tres leche cake into even squares. The cake is soaked condensed milk and heavy cream until it is very dense. Then the cake is frosted with whipped cream and topped with a maraschino cherry.

Maraschino cherries are also used on top of whipped creamed points on Jell-o and puddings. It is common to find a maraschino cherry topping fruit cakes in various designs. Maraschino cherries are also typically used as the crowning glory on top of whipped cream mounds on chocolate sundaes.

Maraschino cherries are also used in cake and pastry decorating whenever a rich, red shiny effect is needed. For instance, if you are making a cake that is meant to symbolize Santa’s Hat you can use maraschino cherry slices as the red coloring for the hat.

A word to the unwise! Before you top a cake with a maraschino cherry it is a really good idea to drain it of excess liquid. Too much liquid in a cherry can drain into the cake and cause it to “bleed” and look discolored.

How to Decorate With Lemons

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If you want to give your dining table or living area a nice fresh burst of color as well as a beautiful clean scent then try decorating with lemons.

You can make a beautiful centerpiece for a coffee table or dining table by just fining a unusual bowl or vase and filling it full of lemons. You can display them whole or you can fill the vase with water and float the lemons in it.

A very trendy centerpiece is to take a very tall narrow vase and stack the lemons inside of it. A wet centerpiece like this is made by filling a tall tubular vase with lemons that are cut in half. However a wet centerpiece should only be used for about a day because lemons cut in half can start to smell.

You can also fill a Bundt pan full of water and freeze whole lemons in the mold. You can then unmold it and place a candle in the center of the hole.

The rind of a lemon can make a nice bowl or cup for all kinds of thing. It is classic to round out lemon pulp from the rind and serve a pudding or gelato inside. You can also use the rinds to hold nuts or other tiny snack. Lemon rinds can also be filled crystals or sand and used to hold candles. You can also fill a lemon cup with water and float a candle inside of it.

You can make a trendy place setting label by cutting the top of a lemon that still as the twig off the top of the fruit. Make sure it is level and stands flat. You can then write the name of the guest on the lemon peel or you can tie a decorative tag to the peel that has the name of the guest on it.

Dried lemon slices smell nice and are very decorative. Simply slice lemons into rounds and then bake them on cookie racks for five to six hours until they are dehydrated. You can then use these dried slices of lemon to decorate green wreathes. They also look nice suspended in jars of bath salts or in clear soap dispensers.

Whole lemons also make attractive wreathes for the kitchen. You can simply string them together (sew them) on wires or tack them to Styrofoam. Whole lemons look nice entwined with green leaves or big chrysanthemums and daisies.

As you can see you can do a lot more with lemons then just make lemonade.