Cooking
When I was little, my Mom color-coded my brothers, sister, and me. It wasn't for everything, mostly those things that we all used and needed to keep straight like bathroom cups, camping towels, etc. I think my sister and I were most closely associated with our colors, which also showed up in our bedroom decor, our clothing, and even gifts from our grandparents. I don't know when or how our colors were chosen, but since my color was blue, I do wonder about it.
My sister Patty was pink. So when I was choosing a recipe for her birthday cake last weekend, the promise of pink icing was too much to resist. Against my better judgement, I chose the "Illinois Jam Cake" from my go-to cake cookbook, The Wooden Spoon Dessert Book. Though I love fresh strawberries and good strawberry jam, I've never been one to choose strawberry flavored anything. In fact, I expect that if I'd come across this recipe in any other cookbook, I would have flipped right by it. But as I've said before, I've come to trust this book... and the idea of presenting Patty with a pink cake was irresistible.
The cake itself has a whole cup of strawberry jam in it, but it is merely a background for the spices. The cream cheese icing has a more modest 3 tablespoons of jam, but the tanginess of lemon juice and cream cheese bring out the strawberry flavor nicely. The cake was very good - I'd describe it as "strawberry and spice" - a very moist spice cake complented by a tangy strawberry icing. Oh yeah... and it's pink.
Happy belated birthday Patty!!!
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My Uncle Rick sent this to me, as an email quiz. After a quick look, I knew I had to share with you. I came out as #6. If all of the desserts listed below were sitting in front of you, which would you choose? (Sorry, you can only pick one!) Pick your...
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Cooking
Pink is for Patty
When I was little, my Mom color-coded my brothers, sister, and me. It wasn't for everything, mostly those things that we all used and needed to keep straight like bathroom cups, camping towels, etc. I think my sister and I were most closely associated with our colors, which also showed up in our bedroom decor, our clothing, and even gifts from our grandparents. I don't know when or how our colors were chosen, but since my color was blue, I do wonder about it.
My sister Patty was pink. So when I was choosing a recipe for her birthday cake last weekend, the promise of pink icing was too much to resist. Against my better judgement, I chose the "Illinois Jam Cake" from my go-to cake cookbook, The Wooden Spoon Dessert Book. Though I love fresh strawberries and good strawberry jam, I've never been one to choose strawberry flavored anything. In fact, I expect that if I'd come across this recipe in any other cookbook, I would have flipped right by it. But as I've said before, I've come to trust this book... and the idea of presenting Patty with a pink cake was irresistible.
The cake itself has a whole cup of strawberry jam in it, but it is merely a background for the spices. The cream cheese icing has a more modest 3 tablespoons of jam, but the tanginess of lemon juice and cream cheese bring out the strawberry flavor nicely. The cake was very good - I'd describe it as "strawberry and spice" - a very moist spice cake complented by a tangy strawberry icing. Oh yeah... and it's pink.
Happy belated birthday Patty!!!
- Dining With The Bloggers - April 20th
So what was that I was saying last week? Oh yeah, "I'm going to be good". Ha! This is one of those weeks. It started with a cookout at my parents, followed the next night by dinner out with my family to celebrate three birthdays, and then I had to...
- Cathy’s Secrets To Modestly Successful Cake Baking
I have a bad history with layer cakes. I can’t count how many times they’ve fallen or broken up on me. Then, of course, there were the ones that were just plain bad. I’m also not so good at achieving a polished look to my cakes – they look...
- Chocolate...all Chocolate
My Uncle Rick sent this to me, as an email quiz. After a quick look, I knew I had to share with you. I came out as #6. If all of the desserts listed below were sitting in front of you, which would you choose? (Sorry, you can only pick one!) Pick your...
- Carrot Birthday Cake
My sister turned 33 - well, actually, she did in August, she just haven't had the time to gather up the entire family and share her birthday until now! Seeing that I LOVE to bake (you'd never have guessed, would you?) I offered to do her a...
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There was a glutton of the sweetest tasting strawberries at the market a week or so ago. I don't know where they came from, I mean, it was the middle of September. But they were there. I couldn't help myself. It's been a really bad summer...