A royal wedding cake with a southern touch!

So, yeah, just like billions of others, I caught that royal wedding bug last weekend when Prince Harry married Meghan Markle.  I set my alarm for 4:00 last Saturday morning and I woke up and turned on the TV to watch every single second of it.  Larry woke up and joined me around 6:00 and we watched it together.  Such a gorgeous, perfect wedding and they looked so in love.  Yep, I cried, but mostly because his beautiful mother wasn't there and she should have been.  Sigh.  As soon as Harry and William stepped out to begin their walk to St. George's Chapel, both so very handsome dressed in full military uniform, the waterworks were ON around here.  

The thing I loved the most, though, was how UN-royal the whole thing was.  How the two of them had their OWN wedding and shucked so many royal traditions.  God, how I love them.

Their cake was no exception.  No stuffy old fruit cake for those two!  They opted for a light, fluffy lemon elderflower cake with buttercream frosting.  I just had to try it.  

So I did today!  On our Memorial Day.  Larry and I had hamburgers, hot dogs and this amazing cake.  Now if you search the internet, you will find hundreds of recipes for this cake.  This is the one I chose.  

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups cake flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup whole milk 

4 large egg whites

2 cups sugar

1 Tbsp lemon zest

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 tsp lemon extract

You'll need all this!

Directions:

Beat the butter and sugar on high until it's all nice and fluffy

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside

Beat the butter and sugar on high until light and fluffy and add in lemon zest

Using a fork, whisk egg whites, milk and extract together in a bowl

Alternate the dry and wet ingredients into the butter mixture beating on medium until incorporated

Prepare two 8-inch round cake pans with baker's spray

Pour batter evenly into the pans and bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes

For the buttercream frosting:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup butter, room temperature (that's three sticks!)

3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 c elderflower liqueur (I used St. Germain)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp lemon extract

Directions:

Cream butter until smooth

On low, add powdered sugar one cup at a time

Add elderflower liqueur, lemon extract and salt

Whip for five minutes

Yummmmm!  Buttercream!  With elderflower liqueur!  

Larry picked a magnolia bloom off our tree in the backyard and I placed it on the top.  A royal wedding cake with a southern touch!

We felt like royalty, fo' sho'.

Forty-eight

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday!  All those boxes were Pyrex!  Larry got me six new pieces, four of them were pink gooseberry Cinderella mixing bowls.  The whole set!!  I didn't have a whole set of anything and to have pink, well, y'all know how I feel about pink.  :)

He got me another loaf pan to replace the one that broke last Saturday when I baked a banana nut bread to take to the hospital for Rhiana.  As soon as I turned the bread out to cool on a towel, the pan cracked and broke in half.  I guess it was too old, got too hot, that bread was just too good, I don't know, but it was 40+ years old.  I've never had a piece break on me like that.  I guess it was bound to happen.

The loaf pan he got is a FireKing Peach Luster, that really pretty peachy-pink iridescent color.  I used it tonight when I baked zucchini bread, along with the meat loaf pan I picked up when we did the Peaches to Beaches yard sale in March.

We went to Casa Mexico for supper.  That's my favorite place around here to eat!  I love their fish tacos.  Like SO much.  There was a little girl there who was turning 8 and I was turning 48 so they brought out these beautiful sombreros for us to wear and a delicious sopapilla and sang Happy Birthday to us.  It was great!  Larry was SO impressed with the sombrero!!

Juan, Elizabeth, Emma and I did a Birthday FaceTime call while we were at the restaurant.  They just wanted to tell me happy birthday!!  That was so sweet.  First time anybody besides Larry has called me to do that.  It was fun!!

I had 207 happy birthday wishes on Facebook that I was completely blown away by!!  I had a bubble bath, a nap and the day off work.  I painted my toenails and curled my hair.  It was a fabulous day!!  

I used my Kohl's birthday gift card to buy candles and pillows!  New bed pillows and this sweet little one.  Larry has always called me Sunshine, since the very beginning.  

I thought it was just perfect.

Sunday Cake

This week's Sunday Cake is in honor of the 45th anniversary of Woodstock.  Magic that happened August 15, 16 and 17, 1969 in a field in the Catskills.  I have always wished I had been there, been a part of those three days of peace and music.

So in honor of a little music festival that is still stardust, still golden, we made a tie-dyed cake today!

I used a box mix, exchanging the egg whites, oil and water for whole eggs, butter and milk. 

I separated the batter into six bowls and colored each batch a different color.
 

Larry and I added our artistic touches!  I did the peace signs and he did the writing.

 I frosted it with white icing and lots of sprinkles!

And there you have it!  Our tie-dyed Woodstock cake.  It is beautiful, delicious and absolutely groovy.

Birthday Cake!

Yesterday afternoon, we had a birthday party lunch for Mama and Daddy.  Daddy's birthday was the 11th and Mama's will be on the 30th.  Daddy's favorite cake is chocolate so I decided I'd make them a chocolate birthday cake!  I chose Ree's Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever. recipe but I changed it up a little and used two 9-inch round cake pans instead.  Then I placed it on my vintage Tupperware cake plate, just like the one Mama always had, and poured about a bazillion sprinkles on top.

By the way, I made up the delicious frosting and then I ate the whole bowl with a spoon so then I made another batch and frosted this cake.  I'm kidding!  It is ridiculously tasty and chocolatey fudgey, though!

Photography by Ami!

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE:
2 cups Flour
2 cups Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
2 sticks Butter
1 cup Boiling Water
1/2 cup Buttermilk
2 whole Beaten Eggs
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Vanilla 
 
**************************************

FOR THE FROSTING:
1-3/4 stick Butter
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoas
6 Tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Preparation Instructions
  
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.
In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into two round cake pans and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
While cake is baking, make the icing.  Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar.  Stir together and pour over warm cake.
Cut into slices, eat and totally wig out over the fact that you’ve just made the best chocolate cake. Ever.

Sunday Cake

Larry wanted brownies for his Sunday Cake so I made him some chocolate fudge brownies with Reese peanut butter cups and M&Ms.  We had an ice cream social at work Friday night and I had left over ice cream and all the toppings so I made him a brownie sundae today after we grilled burgers and bratwurst and had potato chips, mac and cheese and corn.  Carbed it UP, we did.  :)

And yes, we are going to the beach in a few weeks!  Eeeeeek!

Sunday Pie

 
After five months of Sundays, we've kinda gotten burned out on cakes so this week I made a pie. 

Sunday Pie!  A good old-fashioned southern buttermilk pie to show my roots and it is absolutely scrumptious! 

And half gone already.





There's not much more southern than a buttermilk pie and this one will have you wanting to slap your grandma, I promise!  You'll probably tell her to hush her mouth, too.  And then run when she goes to get her bedroom shoe.

 
Here's how to make it!

First off, you need a pie crust for a 9 inch pan
a stick of butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons of flour
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare pie pan with pie crust.
Cream together butter and sugar.  Once creamy and slightly fluffy, add flour and eggs. 
Mix well. You can use a hand mixer for this, or beat with a fork until fully combined and smooth.  Stir in buttermilk and vanilla extract. Mix until well blended. Pour into prepared pie crust.  Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes at 350 degrees or until done. A toothpick inserted into the middle should come out cleanly. The pie will still be slightly jiggly after baking. Allow time to cool and set before serving, about an hour.

*****************************************************************

If you want a glimpse of Southern life,
Come close and walk with me;
I'll tell you all the simple things,
That you are sure to see.
You'll see mockingbirds and bumblebees,
Magnolia blossoms and dogwood trees,
Caterpillars on the step,
Wooden porches cleanly swept;
Watermelons on the vine,
Strong majestic Georgia pines;
Rocking chairs and front yard swings,
Junebugs flying on a string;
Turnip greens and hot cornbread,
Coleslaw and barbecue;
Fried okra, fried corn, fried green tomatoes,
Fried pies and pickles too.
There's ice cold tea that's syrupy sweet,
And cool, green grass beneath your feet;
Catfish nipping in the lake,
And fresh young boys on the make.
You'll see all these things
And much, much more,
In a way of life that I adore.

Southern Life (Patricia Neely-Dorsey)

Sunday Cake

Since I've had some requests for my Sunday Cake recipes, I thought I'd start giving y'all the recipes with today's cake.  I always ask Larry what kind of cake he wants and then we go buy whatever we need that we don't already have on hand in the pantry.  This week he said an orange cake.  He loves orange juice and has it every morning with his breakfast.  I love oranges, too.  They always remind me of summer vacations in Florida when I was a kid.  So I was excited to find a recipe for this week's Sunday Cake!

I used this one.  It called for a yellow cake box mix but you can use my basic cake recipe as well.   

1 cup of sugar 
1/2 cup of butter 
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Tried and true.  :) 

Orange Cake
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 small box of orange gelatin
1 cup orange juice
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
2-3 teaspoons orange zest

Orange Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoon orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest

Heat oven to 325F degrees.

Beat cake mix, dry gelatin, orange juice, oil, eggs and zest in a large bowl on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed for 2 minutes or so. Pour into a generously greased bundt pan. Bake for 1 hour.

Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan. Meanwhile, whisk the powdered sugar, orange juice and zest in a small bowl. After you move the cake to the serving plate and while the cake is still warm, prick the cake with a fork. Pour glaze evenly over the cake. Allow the cake to completely cool before serving.

 Beautimous!

Sunday Cake

When Larry came home last month, I started baking him a cake every Sunday.  He's had German chocolate, carrot and last week's was triple chocolate fudge.  Today's Sunday Cake is strawberry!

I liked it because it's pink.  He liked it because it's cake.  :)