Book of Mormon Baptism Dinner

After making my son’s special baptism invitation, I wanted to carry the theme through to our dinner celebration after the baptism. At first I wanted to do a Book of Mormon mystery menu, like my sister had done before. BSB vetoed it on the grounds that it would be a lot of work to serve, and a bit silly after such a sacred occasion. He did have a point, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t still make a Book of Mormon-themed buffet.

The back drop is Captain Moroni’s Title of Liberty (Alma 46:12). I took an old white sheet and tea stained it, before tearing/cutting a jagged edge on the bottom, and using a brown sharpie marker to write the words of that scripture.

Another focal point was the Liahona cake – Alma 37:38.

I used my trusty Wilton Sports Ball Pan Set (use it all the time) to make the cake. This time the birthday/baptism boy requested carrot cake. I’m not sure if it wasn’t baked through, or just because it is such a heavy cake, but I nearly had a cake fail as the weight of the top half of the sphere was smooshing the bottom half. I could have re-made it out of cereal treats (Rice Krispie Treats), but with the time I had available, I did a cheat, that actually worked really well. I set the whole cake back into one of the pans it had baked in. So the silver part of the cake is actually a cake pan. I used fondant details on top of the pan and cake to make it look like it was supposed to be there. I stuck a dowel through the cake and made balls and the topper out of fondant. I gently pressed some details into the fondant with a skewer. Then came the fun part! Painting with Luster Dust. It is the same technique that I used for the disco ball cake and is really easy to do, if you get a good ratio of liquid to Luster dust. For this one, I used dark vanilla as my liquid this time so that I would have a darker gold color.

Now for the dinner menu! I came up with a scripture for each menu item. I should have made my son look them all up before I let him eat. 🙂

We served:

Lands Northward and Soutward  –  Alma 22:32 (Grilled Chicken tenders..they look kind of like land masses.)

Jaredite Barges – Ether 2:6 (Yellow potatoes with a hole cut out of the top and stuffed with cheese)

By Their Fruit Salad Ye Shall Know Them – 3 Ne 14:20

Swords of Laban – 2 Nephi 5:14 (Cucumbers and carrots –the carrots were supposed to be spears, not baby carrots, but I hadn’t told my helpers. Oh well!)

Little Trees of Life – 1 Nephi 11:25 Brocolli

Sunflower Seeds of Faith-Alma 32:28

The Bread of Life (Mom’s homemade rolls) – Alma 5:34

Butter & Honey – 2 Nephi 17:15

Samuel’s Wall – Helaman 16:2 (Finger jello–didn’t stay stacked up very well. Should have probably been the Wall of Jericho, but that’s in a different book.)

Many Waters – 1 Ne 13:10 (No picture, but we served water to drink).

I decorated the tables with brown rolls of painter paper, fabric from the costumes, and vases and pottery that looks like it could have come from Book of Mormon times. I also set scriptures on each table, in keeping with the modern to old connection from the invitation. I loved the pictures from my son’s photo shoot so much that I used clothespins to display some of them at each table, so they could get an idea of his many faces.

It was the perfect mix of spirituality, masculinity, and pageantry for my son. The sword, shield, and helmet sure didn’t hurt things.

And a great time to be together with family and loved ones. It was a special day for my son and our whole family!

To understand more about what we believe about baptism and why this was such a special day for our family, read these scriptures on baptism.