Hooah!

In the Army, you say "Hooah!" (sounds like "who-ah") as an agreement, acknowledgment, or exclamation--like saying 'yes' or 'affirmative.' It's the modern day battle cry that reflects pride and devotion in the Army.

For my dad's retirement farewell reception dinner, my mom wanted to include this special touch of military tradition. So she had me make a "Hooah" stencil for the dessert plates. The chefs would place the stencil on the plate, dust it with cocoa powder, lift up the stencil, and you'd have a chocolate "Hooah!" right next to the chocolate cake on the plate.

To make the stencil, I first printed out the word in the font and size I wanted. I then traced it onto tracing paper. I cut out a piece of cardstock that was the same size as the inner base of the plate. I then put the tracing paper over the cardstock circle.

Using an x-acto knife, I carefully cut out the letters on the card stock. Voila! A homemade stencil! To make things easier for the chefs, I taped little paper tabs on the stencil, so that they could easily lift the stencil off the plate without messing up the cocoa powder.

It turned out great and it was the perfect personal touch to the dessert! Hooah!