We Still Do BBQ: Desserts and our great CAKE secret!

Saturday June 19th was our parents

60th Wedding Anniversary!

If you have read my last few posts you know that my sisters and I recently held a special event for this big milestone. Since this was their Diamond Anniversary we decided on a Denim & Diamonds theme and thought a BBQ would keep things casual as requested. We ran it by our folks and they gave us the go ahead and the planning began.

Once my sisters and I started planning and discussing the menu we agreed that we wanted something extra special and a bit more formal when it came to the cake. Ordinarily I would have loved the challenge of making the cake but I knew there would not be enough time with everything else to prepare, not to mention the pressure of such a feat. So, my youngest sister and I started researching bakeries that were recommended by friends. We narrowed it down and went to visit the bakery we thought would work the best for us. We had a list of questions which they gladly answered and also offered a lot of ideas and a price list to refer to while we took time to sort through all the choices. Our next trip to the bakery, about a week later, was to place the order but first we met at the coffee shop next door to talk about the selections one more time and make our final decisions before going in. As we were looking again at the price lists and firming up our order we discovered that if we ordered the two double layer cakes separately and stacked them ourselves it would be much more economical. The girl at the bakery who took our order naturally assumed we were ordering a wedding style cake but we soon realized the confusion. At first she was surprised by the idea and not sure what to make of it. She was happy to revise our order though and told us she had never heard of anyone ever doing that but thought it would work. My sister on the other hand probably thought I was nuts when I suggested the idea but I was pretty confident that we could do it and, besides that, it would be much easier to transport the cakes in the car for the hour drive which was another good reason.

The cakes came in two separate boxes as ordered { the small cake was a white double layer cake, buttercream frosting with raspberry mousse filling and the large cake was chocolate with buttercream frosting and chocolate mousse filling } and I am happy to report we successfully stacked them without incident. I brought along some of the diamond trim I had to place around the bottom of the upper cake for decoration and to cover any accidental imperfections which thankfully were basically none. I love when a plan comes together! As for the cake topper, we tried to find one but did not have much luck. In the end I decided to make one to match our theme. It really made more sense anyway because it was only on top of the cake long enough for pictures.

The beautiful cake would have been more than enough, however, I wanted to make some cupcakes to serve as well. Of course, I could not resist making some cute cupcake toppers.  I made the bows and pockets with leftover supplies from the invitations.

And yes, that really was more than enough dessert but I thought we needed some mini blackberry cobblers also, for those who are not fans of cake. 

They were so easy to make with my trusted cobbler recipe and I already had the cups, lids and wooden spoons. They were finished in no time. 

I just added some diamond gems to the spoon handles, tied them to the top and put them all in the cute farm crate. Easy, peasy!

The dessert table was full and the cakes were delicious. A great ending to a very special celebration!

Happy July!

Meals on Heels ~ Lemon Layer Cake & more

A few days after Easter it was our turn to deliver another Bake & Take meal. This time my meal planning started with dessert which is fun. Since we had recently stocked up on lemons for baking this month we had plenty on hand so I decided to use some to make this yummy Lemon Mascarpone Layer Cake as the finale to their meal.  

An eight inch two layer cake seemed about the right size and would leave just enough leftover batter for another small two layer cake for us, which is always a bonus. 

Lemon inside and outside the cakes. It doesn't get better than that. 

Topped off with vanilla frosting. 

I try and bake everything the afternoon of delivery so that it is fresh, hot and ready to eat when we drop it off. Since the cake would need time to cool I mixed that up right after I got the carrots marinating for the carrot salad.

Next were the bread sticks. Once the dough was rising I moved onto the lasagna. 

The two lasagnas were made and ready to bake just about the time the cakes came out of the oven so everything was on schedule. As I usually do, I doubled the meal so our dinner was covered too.

By that time the cake layers were cool enough to start assembling and then I realized I was out of cake boards. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to run out for one so I needed a plan B. Since I was in a pinch I considered using a paper plate and then I had another idea. I asked Mr. Wonderful if he could quickly cut me one from a board in his shop. "Piece of Cake", he said. 

Sure enough, he had a perfect wood scrap and made not only one for this cake but 5 others in varied sizes as well. "Go big or go home" is his motto. After washing and drying the new cake board and covering it with foil I frosted the cake and finished with little time to spare. 

We packed up everything in our cooler on wheels, except for the cake of course, which I carried, and we made our delivery...and on time too.

I love when a plan comes together! 

Happy Saturday!

80th Birthday Party ~ dessert table

December 2017 has been an extra busy month which is why I have not had time to post for the past several weeks. I am happy to finally be back and have a lot of fun things to share. 

The past several months I have been planning a party with my two sisters for our Mother's 80th Birthday which was December 23rd. We decided to have a family brunch celebration and chose a Scandinavian theme in honor of her Swedish heritage. 

I decided to share the dessert table first since it was so much fun to prepare. For the backdrop I used a rod and curtains that previously hung in Miss E's bedroom. She helped me by hanging string lights on the wall behind the curtains and I strung red wooden beads along the top. The top seemed a bit blah so I made tissue paper pom poms to hang above the beads which made it look much more finished. 

Our mother requested a chocolate birthday cake with chocolate frosting so Miss E made her famous Chocolate Espresso Cake with mascarpone frosting. We dirty frosted the cake and added a chocolate ganache drip glaze to the top. 

I made edible almond pinecones which we added to the top of the cake along with fresh roses, sugar coated cranberries and number sparklers.

For the final touch I made a mini gold lace crown to set on top.

Since the cake was not very big I made a batch of chocolate cupcakes as well. 

I made several edible "snow" covered trees. A gingerbread tree, strawberry tree and a donut tree which was part of the centerpiece on the main table. 

We also had a variety of Swedish cookies.

My youngest sister made the Chokladbollar cookies.

I made the Rosenmunnar cookies,  Swedish Almond cookies and snowball cookies.

Of course we could not have a Swedish themed birthday party without a Swedish Princess Cake. I was very excited about making this cake and was really pleased with how it turned out. I started out by using a  new recipe for the cake however it did not turn out how I thought it should so made a new one using one of my own recipes. From there the cake went together perfectly and I would definitely make it again. 

The layers consisted of cake, pastry cream, raspberry jam, whipped cream and marzipan. Mr. Wonderful had trouble cutting the cake due to a ribbon he didn't realize I had tied at the bottom for decoration so the pieces did not cut clean.  However, they tasted amazing!

Last but not least, the Swedish Cream Parfaits.

These fancy little parfaits are topped with a mixed berry compote. I used plastic champagne flutes for the individual servings. 

There you have it, the complete dessert table at Mom's 80th Birthday Party. 

I will be posting more birthday party details this week so be sure and check back. 

Have a wonderful day!

Chocolate Cake { gluten free ~ cake mix }

Last weekend for Sunday Supper I wanted to try using a gluten free cake mix as a comparison and possibly an occasional alternative to making gluten free cake from scratch. Surprisingly, there were very few GF cake mix choices at the particular market we stopped at, in fact, I could only find one brand so there was not a lot of comparison involved which meant 

the only decision I was really faced with was whether I should make a 

double layer cake or cupcakes.  

Such a sweet brand name and cute packaging!

The cake was very easy to make and turned out perfect. Since I was going the easy route with this cake I decided to make "7 Minute Frosting" which is no fuss and tastes great. 

Everyone loved the cake so I would say it is a winner!  I will definitely be picking up another one of these cake mixes to have on hand for those occasions when I need a quick gluten free dessert. 

Happy Saturday!

Chocolate Pumpkin Mousse Cake: Thanksgiving dessert

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is already over. Everything is cleaned up, put away and the Christmas lights are now up however we are still enjoying Thanksgiving leftovers which includes this   4 layer mousse cake { 5 if you include the chocolate ganache on top }.

This dessert was on my menu early on however I ran into some snags and actually and was not sure it was going to happen. It also required approximately 4 hours to make which made scheduling difficult.

However, I finally carved out some time at 3:30pm on Thanksgiving Eve. Not the ideal time to begin such a big project with unknown results but I pushed forward. I was determined to try it especially since I had invested in all the ingredients. { another reason I hoped it wasn't a flop } So I set in and began the baking. 

This tall cake required a cake collar which I did not have. In fact, I actually started to make this recipe earlier in the week when I realized that I had missed this very important item in the instructions. I made the first layer, which is a chocolate cake, and while it was in the oven I discovered the recipe required the cake collar. There was no time that evening to run out and find one so we ended up eating that cake. Over the next few days it occurred to me that I had some plastic that I might be able to make my own. It worked perfectly! I was ready to try again.  

Several hours into the process of making this cake I ran into another snag. The caramel mousse, which is the forth layer, requires thick salted caramel sauce which I completely overlooked. It was about 8:30pm on Thanksgiving Eve and the cake was so close to being finished I couldn't quit however it was really too late to go to the store and there was a chance they might not even have it. That meant my only option was to make my own salted caramel sauce, which I did. Since I have made it before I knew it would take approximately 30 more minutes but so worth it.  Once it was finished it was too warm to use so I put it in the freezer to speed up the cooling process which did help. Once it was room temperature I was ready to pick up where I left off. To top it off I set another one of my Chocolate Turkeys in a cloud of whipped cream.

Pumpkin Pies are a must so I made two of those as well, however, the Chocolate Pumpkin Mousse Cake was a hit.

It does take a long time to make this recipe and there are a lot of ingredients however I would definitely make it again. 

Happy Saturday!

Pumpkin Cake { gluten free }

I have not one but TWO exciting things to share today. The obvious news is my new gluten free Pumpkin Cake recipe but also I have finally, after a very long search and many trials and errors, learned how to make my recipes printable! I think this new method will be quick and easy for me as well as those of you who want to print out the recipes. 

So back to my gluten free Pumpkin Cake. I decided to have a taste test to see how much of a difference there was between my regular and my new gluten free Pumpkin Cake recipes. I made one of both and after Sunday Supper I served everyone a piece of each cake, except of course, those that are gluten free who tried only the new GF version  All of us agreed that there was virtually no difference in taste or texture between the two cakes and gave the new recipe thumbs up! 

I am feeling successful x's 2!!!

And I am happy to say I have posted my new printable recipe below.

Enjoy!

print recipe

Pumpkin Cake { gluten free }

by http://thegrandsurprise.blogspot.com

by Jennifer Stull

Ingredients

• 1 { 16 ounce can } pumpkin
• 4 eggs
• 1-2/3 cups sugar
• 1 cup oil
• 2 cups Bob's Red Mill 1-1 gluten free baking flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder ~ gluten free
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda ~ gluten free
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions

CAKE: Combine pumpkin, eggs, oil and sugar in large bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Add gluten free flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda and nutmeg to pumpkin mixture and mix thoroughly. Spread batter in ungreased 15 x 10 inch jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool. FROSTING: 6 ounces cream cheese 1 cup butter 2 teaspoons vanilla 4 cups powdered sugar Cream together cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Add powdered sugar and beat until mixture is smooth. Frost cake.

Yield: 24 squares

Happy Monday!

Chocolate Layer Cake ~ GF Sunday Supper

Last Saturday I baked a big batch of oatmeal cookies however they were not gluten free which meant I needed to come up with something else to bake for Sunday Supper. I settled on this Chocolate Layer Cake.

The recipe called for an interesting flour substitute which I was curious about however I was short a quarter cup of this one important ingredient. Now the question was,  should I cut the recipe in half, which would have been the easiest, or cut the ingredients by a quarter so that I had a little bit more cake batter? I settled on the latter. I also decided to keep the substitute ingredient a secret until after everyone had tried the cake and then see if they could guess what it was. I proceeded to recalculate the measurements and mix up the batter. To my surprise the cake baked up perfectly and now I was anxious to find out how it tasted.

The time finally came to serve the cake.  Everyone loved it and said they could not tell at all that it was a gluten free cake. It had passed the taste test with flying colors but before anyone had a chance to guess the secret ingredient my hubby accidentally spilled the beans...Quinoa! Yes, that's right, Quinoa was the replacement for the flour. I really wasn't sure if the cake would bake the same without some amount of flour but it did. I had never used quinoa as a flour substitute before, or for any baking for that matter, so this was a first for me and I was very pleased with the results.