April Fools' Day Dinner

Everyone will look at you wide-eyed when you serve dessert first. But, surprise! It only looks like dessert...

The Meatloaf Cake
What you'll need:

• Two round cake pans
• Your favorite meatloaf recipe 
• Mashed potatoes 
• Ketchup 
• Cherry tomatoes

Prepare your favorite meatloaf recipe as you normally would, but, before baking, divide the mixture into the two round cake pans and pat it flat.

1. Bake as usual, but shorten the cooking time (these thinner meatloaves won't take nearly as long to cook). 
2. While the meatloaf is in the oven, make a batch of mashed potatoes, adding a little extra milk to them and whipping them with an electric beater until they are fluffy and spreadable. 
3. When the meatloaves are done, invert one of them onto a round plate. 
4. Cover the meat with a thick, even layer of mashed potatoes. 
5. Place the other meatloaf on top of the potato layer, and finish frosting the "cake" with the remaining potatoes. 
6. Garnish with halved cherry tomatoes to look like cherries. 
7. Just before serving, decorate the top of your cake with ketchup. Write a personalized message, or just a simple "Happy April Fools' Day!"

Try these recipes to make Meatloaf Cake:

The Spaghetti Torte

Bet you've never had spaghetti like this before! It looks like a fancy torte, but it's still the same pasta, sauce and cheese combo that the whole family loves.

What you'll need: 

• A large springform pan, generously greased
• Your favorite pasta sauce 
• A pound of pasta 
• Mozzarella or provolone cheese 
• Ricotta cheese or more pasta sauce for "frosting" 

1. Toss your favorite pasta sauce with about a pound of cooked pasta.
2. Gently fold a couple of beaten eggs into the pasta mixture, and then spread half of this mixture into the well-greased springform pan.
3. Sprinkle the pasta with shredded provolone or mozzarella cheese, and then cover the cheese with the remaining pasta mixture. 
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes. 
5. Allow your spaghetti "cake" to rest for about 15 minutes before unmolding it from the springform pan. 
6. "Frost" this tasty cake with ricotta cheese or drizzle it with more pasta sauce just before serving.

Try these recipes when you make Spaghetti Torte:

After dinner, serve up fish sticks and mashed potatoes--or a plate of spaghetti--for dessert!

Fish Stick Surprise

Candy bars coated in toasted coconut look like just like fish sticks, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with caramel sauce can look suspiciously like mashed potatoes and gravy--or try the recipe for Ice Cream Baked Potatoes .

What you'll need:

• Cylindrical candy bars (like Mounds™, Twix™, Baby Ruth™, or Kit Kat™) 
• Toasted coconut 
• Vanilla ice cream 
• Caramel sauce 
• Gummy candies in the shapes of vegetables--peas, carrots, corn--available in bulk at most candy stores.

1. Place the candy bars on a microwave-safe plate and zap them on high power for about five seconds--just long enough to soften the chocolate without completely melting it.
2. Sprinkle the toasted coconut on a sheet of waxed paper and roll each candy bar in it until completely coated. 
3. Arrange two or three "fish sticks" on each plate alongside a small handful of gummy veggies. 
4. Just before serving, use a round scoop to adorn each plate with a serving of vanilla ice cream "potatoes" and top with a drizzle of caramel "gravy." 

Try these recipes when you make Fish Stick Surprise:

Spaghetti Cake

What you'll need:

• Vanilla frosting
• Yellow food coloring 
• Piping bag with a round tip, approximately 1/8 inch in diameter 
• Sliced pound cake 
• Strawberry sauce 
• Malt balls 
• Grated white chocolate

1. Tint the frosting pale yellow--the color of cooked spaghetti--and spoon it into the piping bag.
2. Lay a slice of pound cake on each plate. Pipe the frosting onto each piece of cake, using big looping motions to create the appearance of spaghetti piled on the plate. 
3. Top with strawberry topping for "spaghetti sauce." 
4. Make malt balls look like meatballs by roughing up the outsides with a butter knife or fine cheese grater. 
5. Add a sprinkle of grated white chocolate for the parmesan cheese.

Try these recipes when you make Spaghetti Cake: