Cake for Darwin Day
Two layers in contrasting colors represent different geological strata. Nuts mixed into the layers represent fossils: sliced almonds went extinct, leaving no descendants, but chopped pecans survived and speciated, sharing the upper stratum with their sister species, black walnuts. I decorated with a simple version of the "I think" evolutionary tree from Darwin's notebook.
Comments
What, no picture?
Oh, this was this just an idea. Oops. I'd still love to see one.
Posted by: Marmaduke | February 11, 2009 7:37 PM
Here are the pictures, as requested. I only had four pieces left out of 48 (two cakes) and not everyone took cake, so turnout for our Darwin's Eve talks was pretty good.
Posted by: Ford | February 11, 2009 11:50 PM
Geek ;)
Posted by: VWXYNot? | February 13, 2009 7:30 PM
I love this! Can I steal the idea for next year?
Posted by: Always a Student | March 21, 2009 9:04 PM
Of course. It's hard to get hungry students to study the "fossil" nuts carefully enough to work out a phylogeny, though.
Posted by: Ford | March 22, 2009 8:42 PM
I've always found it interesting that both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on exactly the same day. Good call on the multiple layers!
Posted by: Maria Evans | November 21, 2009 6:41 PM
Not only a well thought out cake, but it looks like a tasty one as well. Is the Darwin Day cake now an annual tradition? :)
Posted by: Lynn at Cake Pans 101 | July 25, 2010 8:26 AM
Although this is not a cake decorating masterpiece it is certainly a meaningful cake.
Posted by: Natalie @ Cake Decorating Books | July 26, 2010 8:21 AM
Wow. Your cake description looked more like a poem or haiku. I wish you posted the recipe so that we all can try it. The picture looks very delicious though.
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Posted by: Madhuram | February 6, 2011 4:10 PM