Strawberry Jubilee: Summer-Themed Greeting Cards

I'm blowing the dust off of this old blog to bring in a few fresh projects that have been in the works lately. The arrival of the beautiful spring weather got my creative juices flowing and I like to take full advantage of this energy before the heat of summer hits. As much as I dread the heat, I enjoy the bounty of fruit that is in season. My hubby brought back some strawberries from a weekend fishing trip to east Texas, so I thought about photographing them for some summer greeting cards I wanted to make. I had recently restocked my scrapbook paper stash with some lovely new items from Close to My Heart. When I spotted the Jubilee Paper Pack, it just screamed "summer", so I knew it would be great for some summer-themed cards and craft projects. I had fun making these cards. All of a sudden, I have a massive craving for strawberries!

The completed cards:

Here are the initial photos of the strawberries. I printed the photos, leaving a white border in place. I love the contrast of red berries against blue patterned paper: 

I left some negative space at the bottom of this one so that type could be added later:

Here are the individual cards:

Snowflake Cake

I've been hoarding this particular issue of Southern Living magazine for a year now.


It's moved around my house to various spots on the coffee table, beside my computer, in the spare bedroom and onto my nightstand. The cake on the cover has been taunting me for that long. You see, I've been on the quest for the perfect white cake recipe, one like the cake I had for my wedding. It was the perfect moist, light and delicious homemade vanilla cake made by a friend of my Mom's. I have memories of my hubby and I sharing a leftover piece of it the day after our wedding while sitting at the airport waiting for our honeymoon flight. It was the best-tasting cake ever. The recipe remains top secret, but I hope to find it one day in all of my cake testing.

I was hoping this recipe would be the one. I had been putting off making this particular cake because it involved using only egg whites and beating the egg whites into meringue to fold into the batter. I don't like to waste egg parts, and usually use only recipes involving the whole egg. The only way to get a truly white cake is to avoid using the yolks, so I sacrificed 5 precious yolks in order to make this. The cake turned out to be a fluffy pure white cake with the flavor of a traditional pound cake. I'd say it's a keeper, but unfortunately, my quest for my wedding cake does not stop with this recipe. It is a very tasty cake, though, so you can click HERE for details on the article from Southern Living magazine. The recipe for Mrs. Billett's White Cake can be found at the bottom of this post.

I couldn't stop with just baking a cake and frosting it. I wanted to try my hand at making the snowflakes as well. I had recently started using Wilton Fondant to make some simple flower decorations for my cakes. The pre-made fondant is really easy to use. It is basically edible play-dough, and when mixed with a pinch of Tylose powder, it dries very quickly and can be used in a variety of ways for cake decorating. I used sugar sprinkles and edible glitter to add some sparkles to my snowflakes and love how they turned out:


Mrs. Billett's White Cake as found in Southern Living Magazine:

Ingredients:
1 Cup Milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 Cup softened butter
2 Cups granulated sugar
3 Cups cake flour (I used Swans Down brand)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
5 egg whites

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. I made two small two-layer 6" cakes, but you can also use three 8" round cake pans. I always line the bottom of my pans with parchment paper and spray with vegetable oil spray. If you don't have parchment paper, just grease thoroughly with butter and sprinkle lightly with flour.

2. Stir together milk and vanilla.

3. Beat softened butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Sift together flour and baking powder. Add this flour mixture alternately with the milk mixture, gradually beating into the butter/sugar mixture. Beat at low speed until well-blended.

4. Beat egg whites until stiff-peak stage. You're basically making a meringue. Gently fold this meringue into the batter to keep the cake light and fluffy. Pour batter into prepared pans.

5. Remove cake from pans. (I usually wrap the cakes in plastic wrap while warm and put into the freezer so they can cool and firm up to allow for easier handling and frosting.)

Macarons from Afar

My family left last week for a trip to Paris. I resisted the urge to climb into their luggage and instead recommended they head straight to the pastry shops of Paris upon arrival. "Forget the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre - those can wait! You must have Macarons," I urged them. I've never been to Paris, but when I go, I intend to map out all of the famous pastry shops and visit each and every one of them. It appears that my family heeded my advice. I present to you authentic Pierre Hermé Macarons in all of their glory. They are almost too beautiful to eat, so I had to snap a few photos before sampling:


My family must have predicted the tremendous wave of sadness that would overcome me as I finished the last of these beauties, so they brought me another keepsake from their Parisian tour:

They visited the Galignani book store, which was founded in 1810, and is the oldest English bookstore in Europe. I unwrapped the package to find this delightful cookbook:

The photography in this book is beautiful and I can't wait to whip up some of these petite treats. This is the gift that keeps on giving - I will have to bring some of these to our next family gathering.

A Perfect Summertime Meal: Vietnamese Spring Rolls

I'm enjoying what's left of this nice 4-day Fourth of July holiday weekend. It's been a nice and relaxing holiday spent with family and friends with the requisite cook-outs, sweet iced tea and mosquito repellent. Perhaps if I didn't consume all of the sweet tea, I would not need the bug repellent. I'm a mosquito magnet, it seems. I was only outside about 5 minutes attempting to photograph a couple of items for this blog post, when I looked down and had at least 3 mosquitoes on my legs. I quickly swatted at them and managed to get a few decently sharp shots of the tasty spring rolls featured here today. These rolls make the perfect summertime meal and are a great alternative to a salad. This weekend, my sister-in-law also introduced me to a new spring roll water bowl gadget which makes the process of moistening the spring roll wrapper so much easier, so I decided to share it here today.

To make these spring rolls, you first need the rice paper wrappers:

We get ours at the local Asian market, but I've seen them in the International Food aisle of our local Kroger. These wrappers are sometimes tricky to work with and it takes a bit of practice to roll these. This little gadget makes the process of moistening the wrapper a breeze:


The wrappers are stored on the side and the bowl is filled with warm water. Just grab a wrapper and dip it in the bowl of water and swirl it around until all edges are moist. Put it flat on a plate and begin adding ingredients in the middle of the wrapper. Begin rolling as if rolling a burrito or taco.
The White on Rice Couple blog has an excellent tutorial on making spring rolls. Also, Amazon carries this water bowl if you're not able to find them locally. Here's the link.

Once you have the wrapper, you're halfway there. The only other things you need are veggies and other goodies to fill it with. For our rolls, we used rice noodles, bean sprouts, shrimp, pineapple, lettuce, cucumber, shredded carrots and assorted mint leaves. The beauty of these rolls is that you can fill them with anything you want. The latest issue of Southern Living even featured these with peaches. Sounds delicious!

To complete this dish, you need the Nuoc Mam or Fish Sauce for dipping:

My sister-in-law gave me the recipe she uses, which has just the right amount of sweetness. We use the Three Crabs brand of Fish Sauce, although if you can't find it, just use whatever you're able to find.


Nuoc Mam or Vietnamese Fish Sauce

Ingredients:
1 Clove minced garlic
4 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
1/3 Cup warm water
1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 1/2 Tablespoons fish sauce
1 diced Thai chili pepper (optional)
Shredded carrots for garnish (optional)

Mix well until sugar dissolves. Divide into small bowls for dipping.

Blueberry Tangerine Tea

 
My globetrotting and fellow tea-loving friend just returned from Germany, but before that, she had gone to Australia and brought me some fabulous new tea to try. I mixed up a batch of the Koala brand blueberry tea and added the juice of a tangerine. The recipe is very simple, but it is a refreshing beverage and will be especially nice for the warmer days that are ahead now that it is Spring!


The recipe is quick and easy:
Brew 4 blueberry tea bags (any blueberry flavored tea will work) in 2 cups of hot water.
Add the juice of 1 tangerine.
Sweeten to taste.
Pour over ice and enjoy!

Trio of cakes and baking secrets discovered

I have been doing a lot of baking and cake testing over the last couple of months. Let's just say my waist is not getting any smaller. Thank goodness for neighbors and coworkers who love baked goods! Over the course of these practice sessions, I've learned a few things, although, I still have so much to learn! Luckily, there is a wealth of information out there to help novice bakers like myself, so I thought I would share a few source links for the things that I have discovered.

In the past, I've always had problems with uneven layer cakes. The sides of the layers would not match up when stacked or there would be an uneven dome on the top of each layer, so the whole thing would look off-kilter when frosted. I would try and compensate by sawing off the dome on top and losing a lot of precious cake just trying to level it off. In some cases, it looked worse than if I'd just left things alone!

I recently discovered these Bake Even strips that helped a ton. You can find them here. You basically soak the fabric strips in water to moisten them and then velcro them around your cake pan. They help the cakes bake evenly. I've also heard that lowering the heat in the oven helps. Putting the cake pans in a water bath while baking (as you would do for a cheesecake) also yields similar results.

In my quest for a perfectly smooth cake, I searched online to see if I could find some frosting tutorials out there. I stumbled upon this one from Cup a Dee Cakes that was a huge help to me. I was mesmerized by her tutorial and how easy she made it look. She starts with a large batch of buttercream frosting and adds thin coats, chilling in between each coat of frosting. She uses a bench scraper to help get smooth edges. I put her method to the test and it worked great for me. Head on over to her blog for more great tips.

If you're looking for a fun cake with a more rustic/organic feel, head over to Sweetapolita blog for her "Swirl" method. I used the technique on this cake and I love how it turned out:
 

Sweetapolita's cakes are always unique and beautiful. You're sure to be inspired by her blog if you love baking as much as I do.

Happy baking!

Feeling Crafty

I had a full weekend of crafting, so it's been a fun weekend. It started yesterday with a card-making class hosted by my friend Lindy and her Mom. We enjoyed a delicious brunch of yogurt parfaits and two yummy breakfast casseroles. Lindy and her Mom are great hostesses!

The class was taught by the awesome and amazing Karah. She had put together materials to make six cute spring-themed cards from the Close to my Heart line of paper crafting products. Here are a couple of my favorites from the class:



A cute one from the "Buzz and Bumble" paper packet:


 Love the sentiment inside:


I love these classes because the cards come together quickly. Karah does the hard part of cutting out all of the items and putting together some of the more complicated pieces. I can't imagine how long it takes her to prepare everything, because I know it takes me a while to make just one card on my own. I keep all of my craft items hidden away in a closet in the spare bedroom, so by the time I dig everything out, any crafting inspiration I may have had has left my brain! Here's a photo my hubby snapped of me at my solo crafting endeavor this afternoon. Just keeping it real, folks!



I walked away from the party yesterday with six beautiful cards and a prize! I had won the raffle for the Chantilly Birthday card kit, which I knew I would have to put to use for any future birthday cakes I make. I have seen the festive cake flag buntings and banners all over Pinterest and this kit would be great for those.

Feeling inspired, I set to work making a cake. These days, it doesn't take much of an excuse to bake a cake. What good is a cake bunting without a cake to put it on? I baked the cake and opted to keep the frosting simple - plain white cream cheese frosting and a few little stars piped on top.

After the cake was done, I headed to the craft cabinet to dig out some goodies for the banners and card I would make. I cut out some of the paper from the Close to my Heart "Chantilly" and "Dotty for You" paper kits. Instead of a bunting strung across the cake, I decided to make some little flags using bamboo skewers. Here's the finished product, along with the card I made to match.


 


It's someone's birthday somewhere, so can't wait to celebrate with some cake. The best part of this craft project is yet to come!

Strawberry Chocolate Tea

Lately, I've been on the quest for the perfect little black dress of chocolate cake recipes. You know the kind I'm talking about -- the perfectly moist, rich and decadent cake that you have to wash down with a tall glass of ice-cold milk. Why the sudden interest in chocolate cake? I was recently asked by a coworker if I could make a wedding cake for her upcoming October wedding. I was honored that she asked and I take this type of thing very seriously, so I told her I would make a few sample cakes for her to try. I ended up making 3 different chocolate cake recipes for her to sample and they were all very tasty; I will make another test cake for her to try when her family comes into town in a couple of months. Since I'm still in chocolate research mode, I will post the recipe at a later date.

For now, I will leave you with a new tea to try.
It's not nearly as good as a slice of chocolate cake, but if you're wanting to avoid the calories of said cake, this would be a great alternative. Last weekend, in my search for all things chocolate, I stumbled upon this Strawberry Chocolate tea made by the Republic of Tea. Valentine's Day is just around the corner, so this would make a great gift for the tea-loving Valentine. To score bonus points with your Valentine, pair the tea with some chocolate-covered strawberries!
 

This tea has a lovely chocolate aroma and delicate strawberry flavor. It is great on its own, but I enjoy mine hot with a bit of cream and sugar. This tea is available locally in Central Market and World Market.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

We had some friends over for dinner a few months back and they brought an amazing Chocolate Mousse cake. It was one of the most moist cakes I had ever tasted. They shared the recipes with me, along with the secret for keeping it moist. The recipe for the cake comes from the Cake Doctor, with recipe listed here. The frosting recipe is from Pillsbury's Chocolate Mousse cake recipe. Last week, my nephew celebrated his 3rd birthday, so I wanted to be a good aunt and make this cake for him. I ended up doubling the recipe to make a 4-layer cake and I panicked when it was time to take it to the party and I realized that it would not fit my usual cake carrier. I improvised by using a large hat box I had gotten from my Mom for Christmas. I sent this quick iphone photo (excuse the color shift) to my Mom to show her how well the hat box was working out for me:


The cake was a huge hit with the family, so I'm making this my go-to cake for future birthday celebrations for the chocolate lovers in my family.

Chocolate Mousse Cake
(This recipe makes two 9-inch round layers)

Cake Ingredients:
1 box Devil's Food cake mix
1 8 oz. container sour cream
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans; it helps to line the pans with parchment paper for easier removal after baking. Mix the cake mix with other wet ingredients until well-blended. Pour the batter into the baking pans and bake for approximately 30 minutes (although baking time may vary depending on the oven). Test with a toothpick -- if it comes out clean, the cakes are done. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
Here's the secret to the moist cake: Remove the still-warm cakes from the pans. Wrap them well with plastic wrap and put them into the freezer. I had always thought that freezing a cake would dry it out, but if a cake is well-wrapped it can be kept in the freezer for months without a problem. I find that the frozen cake is easier to handle when frosting it. Frozen layers are also much easier to trim down or level out if you find that the layers are uneven, which mine usually are. :-) I made the cakes the night before the party and put them into the freezer. The morning of the party, I removed the cakes from the freezer and frosted them with the delicious chocolate mousse.

Chocolate Mousse Frosting Ingredients:
1 14 oz. can of Sweetened Condensed milk
2 1 oz. squares of melted unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup cold water
1 small package (3.4 oz.) instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Mix the Sweetened Condensed milk and melted chocolate until well blended. Mix in water and pudding mix until smooth. Chill this mixture for 30 minutes.

Whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the pudding mixture. Chill mixture for 1 hour.

Frost cake and keep chilled until ready to serve.

A tea to warm the soul: Yorkshire Gold Tea with Ginger

The rush of Christmas is over and I'm finally able to settle in to get a few things done around the house. I've been puttering around at a slower pace, thanks to a long, 4-day weekend. I love these little stretches of vacation time between work days, first for Christmas and now for New Years. It allows time to rest and rejuvenate and get my creative juices flowing. I've been stationed at my laptop for a couple of days now, finishing up my December Daily photo book. My Mom and I did one last year and carried on the tradition for this year. We each documented our daily activities from December 1 through December 25 and exchanged the books when we were done (we made a copy to keep and a copy to share). I had gotten the idea from a couple of bloggers, Ali Edwards and Cathy Zielske, who fall into the category of "extreme scrapbookers". Check out their blogs if you're into scrapbooking or memory keeping. They are guaranteed to inspire. This year, I've created mine using Shutterfly. I find that it's a quick and convenient way of putting photos together into an attractive book. Last year, I went the old-fashioned, cut-and-paste route with scrapbook paper, rubber stamps and printed photos. It was very time-consuming and I knew that if I wanted to do it again this year in a timely manner, I would need to find a faster way for my sanity's sake. Behold, I bring you Christmas 2012:




Thanks to a rare Christmas Day snow, I was able to capture the perfect photos for the cover:


These photos make me shiver just looking at them. Since it's been colder, I've been making more hot tea, which brings me to the point of this post -- Yorkshire Gold tea:

A friend introduced me to this tea a couple of years ago and it's really great on its own. It is a nice and bold black tea. However, I had some candied ginger, so I chopped some and added it to the tea to provide a little more warmth and some little bits to nibble on after the tea is gone. I love the candied ginger, with its sweet and spicy bite.


This tea really warms the soul.

Festive Fudge Sampler

 I've spent the past few weekends in the kitchen doing some serious holiday baking. Two weekends ago, I was making batch after batch of cookie dough. It's easy to make ahead and freeze to allow for baking later when time allows. This past weekend, I switched gears and went into fudge production. I made 4 different varieties of fudge using just one base recipe. I love it when a recipe is versatile and allows for consistent results; therefore, I usually use the tried and true Fantasy Fudge recipe on the back of Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Cream jar. I just switch out a few of the ingredients to get the fudge flavor I'm looking for. For Christmas, I wanted to incorporate the flavors of the season, so I made Ginger Snap, Eggnog (my favorite), Cinnamon and Créme de Menthe fudge. I was pleased with the results, so I'm sharing my adaptations here:

Ginger Snap Fudge

Ginger Snap Fudge
3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter
One 5 oz. can of evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed milk)
1/2 cup Biscoff spread or Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter
One 12 oz. bag of white chocolate chips
One 7 oz. jar of Marshmallow Creme
1 tsp. butterscotch flavoring
10-15 Ginger Snaps cookies (crushed)

Prepare a 9-inch square baking dish with parchment paper or foil. I usually spray it with a little cooking spray to help prevent fudge from sticking to the paper when I'm removing it. Set the dish aside.

In a saucepan, combine sugar, butter and evaporated milk and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook for 4 minutes, stirring constantly (very important, otherwise your ingredients will scorch quickly --speaking from experience, here!) Stir in the Biscoff spread, the bag of white chocolate chips, the marshmallow creme and butterscotch flavoring. Stir until thoroughly mixed.

Pour this in to the baking dish and add crushed ginger snaps cookies on top (You can also mix some into the fudge before pouring if desired). I wanted to be able to see the ginger snaps on top, so I just added them after pouring into the pan.

Allow to set in the fridge for a few hours. After the fudge is firm, remove from pan and cut into squares as desired.

Eggnog Fudge


Eggnog Fudge
3 cups granulated sugar
 3/4 cup unsalted butter
5 oz Eggnog
One 12 oz. bag of white chocolate chips
One 7 oz. jar of Marshmallow Creme
1 tsp. rum flavoring
1 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

Prepare as listed for Ginger Snap fudge, omitting the biscoff and substituting the evaporated milk with eggnog and rum flavoring for butterscotch. Sprinkle nutmeg into the mix and stir well.

Pour into the prepared pan and sprinkle a bit more nutmeg on top.

Allow to set and cut into squares.

Cinnamon Fudge


Cinnamon Fudge
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter
5 oz evaporated milk
One 10 oz. bag of cinnamon chips
One 7 oz. jar of Marshmallow Creme
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Chopped Pecans (optional)

Prepare as listed for Ginger Snap fudge, omitting the biscoff. You'll also substitute 1 cup of white sugar with brown sugar. Substitute white chocolate chips with cinnamon chips. Substitute butterscotch with vanilla. Sprinkle cinnamon into the mix and stir well. Add chopped pecans into the mix if desired.

Pour into the prepared pan and sprinkle a few chopped pecans on top.

Allow to set and cut into squares.

Créme de Menthe Fudge

Créme de Menthe Fudge
3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter
5 oz evaporated milk
One 10 oz. bag of Andes Créme de Menthe baking chips
One 7 oz. jar of Marshmallow Creme
1 tsp. peppermint flavoring
8 crushed Andes Créme de Menthe cookies

Prepare as listed for Ginger Snap fudge, omitting the biscoff. Substitute white chocolate chips with Créme de Menthe chips. Substitute butterscotch flavoring with peppermint flavoring. Mix a few of the crushed cookies into the fudge mixture.

Pour into the prepared pan and add a few more crushed cookies on top.

Allow to set and cut into squares.