From My Kitchen: Princess Tiara Cake & Summer Berry Medley

Tomorrow is Amelia's fifth birthday.

I can't believe that she's already five! Whoever said "The days are long but the years are short," was soooo right.

We had a birthday celebration today, complete with a homemade princess tiara cake. I called on my 4-H days and made a nifty cut-up cake. Here's how you do it.

First, you need a princess to help you make a 9x13 sheet cake.

Mmmm...butter!

Add a couple of eggs...

Yum!

Here's the big tip on cut-up cakes: You MUST grease and flour your pan. Even though the box recipe says to grease the bottom only, I sprayed my whole pan with Pam for baking and the cake came out easy-peasy.

The cake won't raise as high if you grease the sides of the pan, since the batter can't cling to the sides as it bakes. That's actually a good thing here. Your cake will still be delicious, but it will be a little flatter and slightly more dense, which makes it easier to work with. Most importantly, it will pop right out of the pan.

Cool the cake completely, flip onto a cutting board and use a paper template to cut out your princess tiara.

I spread a thin layer of frosting on the cake while it was on my cutting board, let it dry a bit, and then carefully transferred it to my serving platter. Before I moved the cake, I covered my serving platter with strips of parchment paper so my platter would stay clean. Once I frosted the cake, I carefully pulled the parchment paper strips out and took the mess with it. Voila!

It wasn't a fancy cake with fondant and cake decorator touches, but I was proud of how it turned out. I used a small biscuit cutter to make the round "jewels." At Amelia's request, we frosted a couple blue for the boys who were going to be at the party.

In the interest of full disclosure, this was my second attempt. The first attempt crumbled as I tried to cut it and had to be declared a cake-tastrophe.

Which brings me to my second recipe. I hated to waste a whole 9x13 sheet cake, even though it was a sorry mess. So, I tore it into bite-sized pieces and served it with this yummy Summer Berry Medley and lightly sweetened real whipped cream. It was the perfect dessert for the grown-ups to enjoy while the kids ate birthday cake.

The original recipe, which calls for limoncello liqueur and fresh mint (and is amazing!), comes from Cooking Light via my friend Heather. I didn't have mint on hand, and left out the liqueur in deference to the kids, though none of them ate it anyway. You can make this with any combination of berries.

Here's the variation I made today.

Summer Berry Medley
1 cup fresh raspberries
1 1/2 cups fresh blackberries
2 cups hulled fresh strawberries, quartered
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/4 cup sugar (start with half and adjust according to taste)
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
Juice of one lemon

Toss all ingredients gently and let stand for 15 minutes. Serve over cubed cake (yellow, white, angel food or pound cake would all be delicious) with slightly sweetened real whipped cream.

It's even more delicious if you happen to have a five-year-old princess around to eat it with you.

Enjoy!

© Trippin' Mama 2011

A Royal Recipe

Last Friday I wanted to post a special recipe in honor of the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, but I couldn't come up with anything.

True, we lived in England for more than a year, but I cooked, and I cooked American style. Also, I was a poor grad student so I didn't have the time or the inclination to try new recipes and cook like I do now.

So, in lieu of a recipe, a story from those long-ago days:

I remember one of the first meals I made after we moved to Canterbury. I was no novice cook, thanks to my mom and my time in 4-H, and I am relatively sharp, but I was baffled that the oven only went to 260 degrees. I figured everything would just take longer so I cranked it up, put my meal in and walked away.

About 20 minutes later it hit me: The English use the Celsius scale. I was cooking at 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

Whoops!

In my defense the oven was oddly small and the kitchen (which we shared with another couple) also had a dorm-sized refrigerator. So I think it was an understandable mistake.

I realized my error in time to rescue the meal, and Jeff and I had a good laugh about it.

I learned all the foibles of that little gas oven and the art of getting half a dozen meals out of a five-pound chicken while I was getting my Master's degree.

Luckily for our appetites, I also learned how to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit!

© Trippin' Mama 2011

The Lesson of the Red Suit

I didn't post much last week because I was busy with one of my volunteer gigs, helping out on an event for 4-H. If you are a longtime reader, you know I grew up in 4-H and it is a program near and dear to my heart.

I had to speak at the event on Friday, and I shared this story of one of the life lessons I learned from 4-H.

The Lesson of the Red Suit

It was my last year in 4-H, and I was sewing a dress for the Fashion Revue. I use the term sewing loosely, because for me, garment construction was literally an exercise in blood, sweat and tears – mine and my mother’s! Two days before the Fashion Revue, I cut a hole in the dress and ruined it.

My mother and I headed to the store where we bought more fabric and God only knows why, a NEW pattern. For a double breasted suit no less.

I worked nearly around the clock to make that suit in two days. I even hemmed the skirt by hand in the car on the way to the Fashion Revue.

I don’t recall exactly how I did at the event, but I clearly recall the conversation I had with my mom when it was all over. I asked her why we didn’t make something simpler or just skip Fashion Revue instead of whipping up a double-breasted suit in two days. And she responded, “Because that’s not what 4-H teaches you.”

And she was right. There was a lesson in that suit. It wasn't a lesson about sewing. It was a lesson about keeping your commitments and challenging yourself to do what needs to be done, no matter how difficult. It’s a lesson that was so powerful, I still have that suit, some 20 years later.

***

That's right, I still have the suit, 80s shoulder pads and all. I worked so hard on it that I've never been able to part with it. I dug it out of the back of my closet so I could show it as I told my story.

'

I'm still amazed that I made that suit in two days. I'm even more amazed that the skirt has a 23-inch waist!

© Trippin' Mama 2011

It's Fair Time!

This time of year always makes me want to open all the doors and windows, turn on the fan and start baking up a storm. That's because it's fair season, and as a 10-year 4-Her, I spent many hot summer weeks getting projects ready for the fair.

We lived in town, so we didn't have any animal projects, unless you count a photography project that involved our pet poodle. I think my mom was always grateful we didn't have animals on top of the eight kids, the dog and the various hamsters that occupied our house.

Instead, my sisters and I spent time laboring over latch hook, macrame (I know, I know, you thought that was a dead art. C'mon over. I'll make you a plant hanger.), cross stitch, garment construction, posters, flower arrangements, garden veggies (For some reason that always escaped me, all of your green beans or carrots or cucumbers had to be the same size. We rejected a lot of veggies!), canning, and art projects.

And boy, oh boy, did we bake! Yeast breads, quick breads, muffins, cookies, cut-up cakes, brownies...just thinking about it makes my waistband feel a bit tight. I can't even begin to calculate how much flour and sugar we must have used.

Of course, we were kids, so much of the crafting and baking took place under mild duress, but we never failed to complete a project. Yes, 4-H taught us many skills like cooking, sewing, and photography. It taught us that hard work is rewarded. But most importantly, it taught us how to see a project through from planning to completion. It taught us to become both learners and doers.

Thanks to my years in 4-H I am not afraid to try new things. Give me some good instructions and the right tools and stand back. 4-H taught me how to do my homework and figure things out for myself. And THAT'S a real life skill.

I've got my hands a little full this year, which is helping me resist the urge to bake an entire fair's worth of goodies. But I can't resist completely, so I've tried a few new recipes and made some extra treats in the last couple of weeks, including my new love, Oreo Brownies. I'll share some more prize-winning (at least in my house!) recipes in the coming weeks.

I figure we burn enough calories chasing kiddos to indulge a little bit!