It’s Tuesday! Time to check out another great recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours! This week, we finally – and let me stress finally – got to make the Perfect Party Cake! It seems that Carol of Mix Mix, Stir Stir was the first of us bakers that was daring enough to choose this beauty. It couldn’t have come at a more perfect time for me, either, as it was my Grandmother’s birthday last Thursday. So thanks Carol for choosing it!
With a name like Perfect Party Cake, I expected a really troublesome recipe. Lots of dishes, lots of aggravation. But you know what? It was nearly as easy as opening a cake mix. And the results were amazing…no problems at any juncture! It was beautifully baked in the recommended time. It sliced in half perfectly. Perfect. Party. Cake. Seriously.
I used my mother’s homemade strawberry preserves to fill the layers, and a cream cheese buttercream flavored with more lemon and orange extracts. It was rich and decadent and every single piece was devoured. Exactly what you want from a party cake, right?!
To decorate mine, I “spackled” on the icing, then piped borders. I picked a few berries from my garden to garnish, and made my first ever fondant rose to go in the center. I painted it a little bit with raspberry juice and luster dust to give it a little more dimension, and all in all, I am pretty pleased with how it turned out!
Now you should go check out what all of the other
TWD bakers did with theirs…I’m sure you’ll find endless variations to try!
Later today, I will be posting the contents of my freezer, fridge and pantry, as Wednesday starts our $100 Food Challenge. I really need a good name for that. Like “Save Our Summer” or something…something I can make a little logo for. Anyone got a great idea? Please leave a comment here and tell me what it is! There will be about 4 other bloggers taking the challenge with me – all averaging roughly a buck a person a day. Sounds scary, I know, but we will DO IT! Now we need your help to give us an official name and be our supporters throughout July! Scroll back a few entries to see what I am talking about in case you are confused..and maybe you’ll want to play along as well!
Thanks!
