Maternity leave

All of the sudden (or so it seems) I found myself facing the last day of work before my maternity leave. And I thought it deserved a festive touch. My collegues deserve a sweet token of appreciation now that hey have to do their work *and* mine for the next 16 weeks. So I planned a little cake get-together. Of course, there had to be some token that would remind everyone of the occasion. I found the cutest image of a pregnant lady (in the form of a decorated cookie) on nancy's fancy cookies, which you will find in my links list, and I copied the image in royal icing to form a plaque.It worked out okay, even though Nancy's were nicer :o).

I decided I needed something that was both easy and decadent, and then the first thought is usually choclate. So I picked our favourite cheesecake recipe, that features an lb. of white chocolate, is absolutely divine and never fails. THe combination of the cheesecake with the strawberry topping is simply perfect. Find the recipe at www.epicurious.com, try it and never look back ;o).
HEre's the result:

Second, I decided on Rose Levy Beranbaum's 'Chocolate oblivion truffle torte'. This extremely impressive yet very easy to make recipe is a treat for the true chocolate lover. Just never tell anyone the only ingredients are chocolate, butter and eggs ;o). I decorated with fresh raspberries and chocolate curls:

Last but not least, I added my personal favourite of all times into the mix: a strawberry pie, made out of a cookie tart shell, vanilla custard and loads of strawberries. Again, I used some pregnant lady picks to liven it up:

Now that we're looking at a C-section next week, it will probably be a while before I'm back in the saddle again. But I hope to finish some cookie treats before the big event, and will post some pictures if I can manage to actually finish them in time.
See you on the other side of delivery!!