Left Over Pavlova

 Individual Strawberry Pavlova

Pavlova is an Aussie favourite dessert and as we often have foreign guests, it is a regular coming out of my kitchen  on a weekend evening. They always love the crispy outer coating and mallowy inside, and with summer berries, or kiwi fruit and passion fruit topping, it often has our friends and homestay students pulling out the camera for a picture of this Aussie icon!

It is also a tasty use for the left over egg whites that I seem to amass when making delicious ice cream custard. Today I jumped on the "individual" portion bandwagon and made mini pavlovas for us and our 2 students.

The trouble I face when using different batches of left over egg whites is that I never seem to have enough, or have too many for the recipes and none of my recipes seem to have a proportion of sugar to egg white. So I thought I'd give some different quantities in my pavlova recipe here:

Aussie Pavlova
4 Egg whites
200g Caster sugar (for 5 egg whites: 220g caster sugar, for 6 egg whites: 250g caster sugar)
2 tsp corn flour
1 tsp vanilla essence

• Pre heat oven to 100º;
• Line a baking tray with baking paper;
• Whisk egg whites till they form hard peaks and the bowl can be turned upside down without the egg whites moving;
• Slowly add the caster sugar spoon at a time;
• When sugar is combined and mixture is glossy, add corn flour and vanilla essence
• For individual pavlovas, split mixture into 4 rounds on baking tray and cook in the preheated oven for 35 mins. For a large pavlova, scoop the mixture on to the lined tray and cook for 1 hour - 1 hour 20 mins for a large one.
• Leave the pavlova to cool in the oven with the door open for a few hours till the oven is completely cold. Close the door and leave till cool. 
• Serve with whipped cream and decorate with fruit.

 Individual Strawberry Pavlova

Pavlova is an Aussie favourite dessert and as we often have foreign guests, it is a regular coming out of my kitchen  on a weekend evening. They always love the crispy outer coating and mallowy inside, and with summer berries, or kiwi fruit and passion fruit topping, it often has our friends and homestay students pulling out the camera for a picture of this Aussie icon!

It is also a tasty use for the left over egg whites that I seem to amass when making delicious ice cream custard. Today I jumped on the "individual" portion bandwagon and made mini pavlovas for us and our 2 students.

The trouble I face when using different batches of left over egg whites is that I never seem to have enough, or have too many for the recipes and none of my recipes seem to have a proportion of sugar to egg white. So I thought I'd give some different quantities in my pavlova recipe here:

Aussie Pavlova
4 Egg whites
200g Caster sugar (for 5 egg whites: 220g caster sugar, for 6 egg whites: 250g caster sugar)
2 tsp corn flour
1 tsp vanilla essence

• Pre heat oven to 100º;
• Line a baking tray with baking paper;
• Whisk egg whites till they form hard peaks and the bowl can be turned upside down without the egg whites moving;
• Slowly add the caster sugar spoon at a time;
• When sugar is combined and mixture is glossy, add corn flour and vanilla essence
• For individual pavlovas, split mixture into 4 rounds on baking tray and cook in the preheated oven for 35 mins. For a large pavlova, scoop the mixture on to the lined tray and cook for 1 hour - 1 hour 20 mins for a large one.
• Leave the pavlova to cool in the oven with the door open for a few hours till the oven is completely cold. Close the door and leave till cool. 
• Serve with whipped cream and decorate with fruit.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

How to Truss a Chicken

Hello my pretty little chicken!  Look at its plump breast, and its crisp, burnished skin!  I was so super-proud of it!  I roasted it on Sunday night for dinner with my parents - the menu was sage-and-garlic Barossa chook with gravy, roast potatoes and carrots, pear and avocado salad (Appellation style), and a bottle of Heggies Vineyard '09 Chardonnay - lovely!

You may notice that this particular chicken is a lot neater and prettier than my previous efforts, and the secret is: trussing!  Yup, just tying up the chicken with a bit of string and a couple of simple knots gives you a beautiful, presentable chicken.  Of course, it's not strictly necessary to truss a chicken when you roast it - the taste is the same - but if you're going to splash out on an excellent chicken (which indeed I did), why not go to the tiny extra effort to make it look even more special?

Before I go into the step-by-step of "How to Truss a Chicken", I have to tell you what happened when I went shopping for dinner.  After having met Maggie and Saskia Beer, of course I wanted a Barossa chook!  According to the Barossa chook website, Thomas Dux grocer is their main stockist, so on Sunday morning I drove down to the Armadale store to pick one up.  They had about 10 chooks there, and when I went to choose one, I noticed that the bags were leaking and the labels were peeling off.  Upon closer inspection, I saw that all of them were past their use-by date, and some were nearly TWO WEEKS PAST USE BY DATE!  What the hell?!  I have no idea how a shop can let their raw chickens get that far past use-by without someone noticing.  How absolutely feral and disgusting!  I let one of the staff members know about it, and then I swiftly left.  No way am I ever buying anything from Thomas Dux!  

I made a short drive down to Prahran Market, and luckily D&J Poultry had (fresh) Barossa chooks in stock. Yay!  Moral of the story: always check the use by dates on your chickens!

Ok, so back to the chicken and the trussing!  I really struggled to find a clear, comprehensive set of illustrated instructions - and everyone seems to do it a little differently anyway - so I've cobbled together my own.  Don't say I don't look after you!

How to Truss a Chicken

If you want to stuff the chicken, or put anything under the skin, do that first.  I stuffed my chicken with a bunch of herbs (parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme), half a lemon and some chunky onion slices.

Under the skin I put a mixture of butter, chopped sage and garlic.  The good thing about Barossa chooks is that they have very resilient skin so it's easy not to rip it.

When you buy the chicken, the wings will be pointing upwards (like the one on the right).  Tuck that pointy bit under the chicken (like the one on the left).  This prevents the wing tips from burning, and gives the breast more access to heat.

Now, you need some kitchen string, approximately 80cm.  (If in doubt, use slightly more than you think you'll need - it's easy enough to cut away the excess string; more difficult to start again!)  Place the centre of the string under the front end of the chicken, like so:

Bring the string up behind the wings and between the body and leg...

... then cross the string over at the back.

Pull the string tightly.  This will plump up the breast (ooer!) and make the skin nice and taught.

Bring the legs together, and loop the string around the ankles.  (This may take a bit of practice; it took me a couple of goes the first time to keep everything together!)

Tie a nice knot.

Then simply trim away any excess string, and there it is!  A beautiful trussed chicken, ready for roasting.

Hello my pretty little chicken!  Look at its plump breast, and its crisp, burnished skin!  I was so super-proud of it!  I roasted it on Sunday night for dinner with my parents - the menu was sage-and-garlic Barossa chook with gravy, roast potatoes and carrots, pear and avocado salad (Appellation style), and a bottle of Heggies Vineyard '09 Chardonnay - lovely!

You may notice that this particular chicken is a lot neater and prettier than my previous efforts, and the secret is: trussing!  Yup, just tying up the chicken with a bit of string and a couple of simple knots gives you a beautiful, presentable chicken.  Of course, it's not strictly necessary to truss a chicken when you roast it - the taste is the same - but if you're going to splash out on an excellent chicken (which indeed I did), why not go to the tiny extra effort to make it look even more special?

Before I go into the step-by-step of "How to Truss a Chicken", I have to tell you what happened when I went shopping for dinner.  After having met Maggie and Saskia Beer, of course I wanted a Barossa chook!  According to the Barossa chook website, Thomas Dux grocer is their main stockist, so on Sunday morning I drove down to the Armadale store to pick one up.  They had about 10 chooks there, and when I went to choose one, I noticed that the bags were leaking and the labels were peeling off.  Upon closer inspection, I saw that all of them were past their use-by date, and some were nearly TWO WEEKS PAST USE BY DATE!  What the hell?!  I have no idea how a shop can let their raw chickens get that far past use-by without someone noticing.  How absolutely feral and disgusting!  I let one of the staff members know about it, and then I swiftly left.  No way am I ever buying anything from Thomas Dux!  

I made a short drive down to Prahran Market, and luckily D&J Poultry had (fresh) Barossa chooks in stock. Yay!  Moral of the story: always check the use by dates on your chickens!

Ok, so back to the chicken and the trussing!  I really struggled to find a clear, comprehensive set of illustrated instructions - and everyone seems to do it a little differently anyway - so I've cobbled together my own.  Don't say I don't look after you!

How to Truss a Chicken

If you want to stuff the chicken, or put anything under the skin, do that first.  I stuffed my chicken with a bunch of herbs (parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme), half a lemon and some chunky onion slices.

Under the skin I put a mixture of butter, chopped sage and garlic.  The good thing about Barossa chooks is that they have very resilient skin so it's easy not to rip it.

When you buy the chicken, the wings will be pointing upwards (like the one on the right).  Tuck that pointy bit under the chicken (like the one on the left).  This prevents the wing tips from burning, and gives the breast more access to heat.

Now, you need some kitchen string, approximately 80cm.  (If in doubt, use slightly more than you think you'll need - it's easy enough to cut away the excess string; more difficult to start again!)  Place the centre of the string under the front end of the chicken, like so:

Bring the string up behind the wings and between the body and leg...

... then cross the string over at the back.

Pull the string tightly.  This will plump up the breast (ooer!) and make the skin nice and taught.

Bring the legs together, and loop the string around the ankles.  (This may take a bit of practice; it took me a couple of goes the first time to keep everything together!)

Tie a nice knot.

Then simply trim away any excess string, and there it is!  A beautiful trussed chicken, ready for roasting.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Mon Cheri

These are quite possibly the easiest decorated cookies ever. 

 

They start with these:

Do you know what they are?  I didn't.  I thought they were giant nonpareils.  They are actually "sixlets" and are CHOCOLATE!  Chocolate, people!

I kind of have a thing for cherries.  Maybe it's because I worked for Mary Engelbreit before kiddo came along.  Mary is the QUEEN of cherries, in case you didn't know. ;)

You might have seen the bowl of cherries looming in the background in, oh, almost all of my pictures.  

The cherries are fake....plastic, and I'll admit, dusty....but that doesn't stop people from trying to eat them when they sit at our kitchen table.

{Spike thinks just *maybe* he can reach them.}

Don't even get me started on the cherry sours from the Sample House in Dallas.
{If you live in Dallas, get in your car RIGHT NOW and go get some.  You need them.  Really.}


OK, back to the cherry cookies.  You will need:

• chocolate square cookies (this chocolate cookie is actually for a super, secret, special project I'm working on...more on that later. Until then, use this one.)
• royal icing, divided and tinted with AmeriColor Bright White and Leaf Green
• disposable icing bags (2)
• couplers
• tips: #2 & #1
• toothpicks
• red sixlets 

 
Using a #2 tip, outline the cookies in white.

Thin the white icing to the consistency of a thick syrup. Cover with a damp dish towel and let sit for several minutes.  Stir gently with a silicone spatula and transfer to a squeeze bottle.


Flood the cookies with the thinned icing.  Use a toothpick to guide into corners.


While the icing is still wet, add the sixlets.

Let the icing dry for at least 30 minutes, then add stems, leaves, and dots in green icing with a #1 tip.

Let the cookies dry 6-8 hours or overnight.

That's it! :) Now how about a cookie, mon cheri?

These are quite possibly the easiest decorated cookies ever. 

 

They start with these:

Do you know what they are?  I didn't.  I thought they were giant nonpareils.  They are actually "sixlets" and are CHOCOLATE!  Chocolate, people!

I kind of have a thing for cherries.  Maybe it's because I worked for Mary Engelbreit before kiddo came along.  Mary is the QUEEN of cherries, in case you didn't know. ;)

You might have seen the bowl of cherries looming in the background in, oh, almost all of my pictures.  

The cherries are fake....plastic, and I'll admit, dusty....but that doesn't stop people from trying to eat them when they sit at our kitchen table.

{Spike thinks just *maybe* he can reach them.}

Don't even get me started on the cherry sours from the Sample House in Dallas.
{If you live in Dallas, get in your car RIGHT NOW and go get some.  You need them.  Really.}


OK, back to the cherry cookies.  You will need:

• chocolate square cookies (this chocolate cookie is actually for a super, secret, special project I'm working on...more on that later. Until then, use this one.)
• royal icing, divided and tinted with AmeriColor Bright White and Leaf Green
• disposable icing bags (2)
• couplers
• tips: #2 & #1
• toothpicks
• red sixlets 

 
Using a #2 tip, outline the cookies in white.

Thin the white icing to the consistency of a thick syrup. Cover with a damp dish towel and let sit for several minutes.  Stir gently with a silicone spatula and transfer to a squeeze bottle.


Flood the cookies with the thinned icing.  Use a toothpick to guide into corners.


While the icing is still wet, add the sixlets.

Let the icing dry for at least 30 minutes, then add stems, leaves, and dots in green icing with a #1 tip.

Let the cookies dry 6-8 hours or overnight.

That's it! :) Now how about a cookie, mon cheri?

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

WTF, Dude?!?!

Yes, those were my exact words to Beckett.  Beckett is NOT a chewer.  He never had been.  He has his toys and has never been one to demolish them (that's Meadow's job!), nor has he been interested in my shoes before.

So...I usually leave my shoes in harm's way.  You know where this is going, right?

The little brat has eaten two pairs of flip-flops in the past month.  One pair I got on sale at Macy's a few months ago and had a really cute crystal flower thingie on it, and the other pair were my new black Havaianas. 

I love havaianas.  Super comfy little Brazilian flip-flops.  Great quality.  The straps don't stretch and they NEVER smell feety.  If I hadn't lost my last pair when I moved, I wouldn't have even needed a new pair.

But it's hard to stay mad at this little face.  Even if I am stuck with either pink flops, turquoise flops or sneakers until I order a new pair of black ones....

Yes, those were my exact words to Beckett.  Beckett is NOT a chewer.  He never had been.  He has his toys and has never been one to demolish them (that's Meadow's job!), nor has he been interested in my shoes before.

So...I usually leave my shoes in harm's way.  You know where this is going, right?

The little brat has eaten two pairs of flip-flops in the past month.  One pair I got on sale at Macy's a few months ago and had a really cute crystal flower thingie on it, and the other pair were my new black Havaianas. 

I love havaianas.  Super comfy little Brazilian flip-flops.  Great quality.  The straps don't stretch and they NEVER smell feety.  If I hadn't lost my last pair when I moved, I wouldn't have even needed a new pair.

But it's hard to stay mad at this little face.  Even if I am stuck with either pink flops, turquoise flops or sneakers until I order a new pair of black ones....

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Team Rosie the Riveter . . . supporting Fisher House

Funny how life works sometimes.  A few weeks ago, I heard about his wonderful place called the Fisher House.  As soon as I got home, I told Mr. E that we needed to see what we could do to help this organization.

Fisher House is like a Ronald McDonald House for our soldiers and their families. 
From their website:

" Fisher House Foundation, providing a "home away from home" for military families to be close to a loved one during hospitalization for an illness, disease or injury."

Fast forward to last week, when Ann Marie, military wife, mom, blogger, baker, candlestick maker (do you make candlesticks, Ann Marie?) and my bloggy friend, tweeted about raising money for the Fisher House!

Ann Marie, who I first met through her INCREDIBLE Apple Rosette Pie, is participating in a 24-hour walkathon to benefit the Landstuhl Fisher House in Germany where their family is based.  

*The walkathon takes place July 29th; donations will be accepted until August 5th.*

Want to show our military families and blogger Ann Marie a little love?  Here's how; visit:

• Ann Marie's post about the event
• Team Rosie the Riveter's facebook page
• Fisher House homepage

Go, Ann Marie!  Go Team Rosie!  We thank you, your husband, and all of our military families for their service and sacrifice! ♥

Funny how life works sometimes.  A few weeks ago, I heard about his wonderful place called the Fisher House.  As soon as I got home, I told Mr. E that we needed to see what we could do to help this organization.

Fisher House is like a Ronald McDonald House for our soldiers and their families. 
From their website:

" Fisher House Foundation, providing a "home away from home" for military families to be close to a loved one during hospitalization for an illness, disease or injury."

Fast forward to last week, when Ann Marie, military wife, mom, blogger, baker, candlestick maker (do you make candlesticks, Ann Marie?) and my bloggy friend, tweeted about raising money for the Fisher House!

Ann Marie, who I first met through her INCREDIBLE Apple Rosette Pie, is participating in a 24-hour walkathon to benefit the Landstuhl Fisher House in Germany where their family is based.  

*The walkathon takes place July 29th; donations will be accepted until August 5th.*

Want to show our military families and blogger Ann Marie a little love?  Here's how; visit:

• Ann Marie's post about the event
• Team Rosie the Riveter's facebook page
• Fisher House homepage

Go, Ann Marie!  Go Team Rosie!  We thank you, your husband, and all of our military families for their service and sacrifice! ♥

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Barossa: Teusner Wines

Teusner Wines

Cnr Research Road & Railway Terrace

Nurioopta SA 5355

(08) 8562-4147

Website

During my week in the Barossa, I started following and being followed by a lot of Barossa wineries, businesses and restaurants on Twitter - one of those being Teusner Wines.  They weren't on our itinerary, but when I drove past the winery one day, I recognised their logo from their Twitter account and sent them a howdy message.  They promptly replied and invited us to pop in and see them!

Teusner is a small, relatively new winery (established in 2001), who produce mainly red wines (shiraz, grenache, mataro etc.), as well as a chardonnay, a sauvignon blanc and a rose. Mmm... rose.

During a (rare) bit of free time on the trip, we popped into Teusner and met the super-nice David Brookes, (AKA Brookesy) brand manager and head-twitterer at the winery.  He introduced us to the Teusner dog (see above!), and took us through a tasting of the wines...

As I was driving that day, I spat the wine out rather than drinking it - in the top photo you can see my (not-so-elegant) spitting technique, haha.  Quite daring, I know, to spit red wine whilst wearing a white shirt, but luckily it didn't get any stains. Phew!

Our favourite was the Riebke Shiraz, and we were generously given a bottle to take home - thanks Brookesy!

We then went to taste some wine straight from the barrel...

Brookesy between the barrels

... and got to see some grapes being pressed.  None of the other wineries I'd been to were actually producing wine whilst I visited, so it was really interesting for me to see the equipment in action!

We also got to try some freshly pressed grape juice: David just stuck a cup under the running juice and handed it to us - sweet and refreshing!

Sarah and Sandra visited Teusner Winery as guests, with thanks to David Brookes for the invitation.

Teusner Wines

Cnr Research Road & Railway Terrace

Nurioopta SA 5355

(08) 8562-4147

Website

During my week in the Barossa, I started following and being followed by a lot of Barossa wineries, businesses and restaurants on Twitter - one of those being Teusner Wines.  They weren't on our itinerary, but when I drove past the winery one day, I recognised their logo from their Twitter account and sent them a howdy message.  They promptly replied and invited us to pop in and see them!

Teusner is a small, relatively new winery (established in 2001), who produce mainly red wines (shiraz, grenache, mataro etc.), as well as a chardonnay, a sauvignon blanc and a rose. Mmm... rose.

During a (rare) bit of free time on the trip, we popped into Teusner and met the super-nice David Brookes, (AKA Brookesy) brand manager and head-twitterer at the winery.  He introduced us to the Teusner dog (see above!), and took us through a tasting of the wines...

As I was driving that day, I spat the wine out rather than drinking it - in the top photo you can see my (not-so-elegant) spitting technique, haha.  Quite daring, I know, to spit red wine whilst wearing a white shirt, but luckily it didn't get any stains. Phew!

Our favourite was the Riebke Shiraz, and we were generously given a bottle to take home - thanks Brookesy!

We then went to taste some wine straight from the barrel...

Brookesy between the barrels

... and got to see some grapes being pressed.  None of the other wineries I'd been to were actually producing wine whilst I visited, so it was really interesting for me to see the equipment in action!

We also got to try some freshly pressed grape juice: David just stuck a cup under the running juice and handed it to us - sweet and refreshing!

Sarah and Sandra visited Teusner Winery as guests, with thanks to David Brookes for the invitation.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Tuesdays At The Table - Ice Cream Sandwiches

Howdy, gang!!  How is everyone doing?  I've noticed some new faces lately and want to give you a hearty WELCOME!!  I love seeing all your fabulous recipes and dropping by to visit you all (I know I need to get better about visiting everyone.  It's a work in progress...). 

Please keep sharing and visiting each other. You all have been so supportive of each other.  It makes me so happy!!

This week I'm sharing some easy ice cream sandwiches (courtesy of Taste of Home).  Right up my alley for a hot summer day.  :-)

Ice Cream Sandwiches

1 package (18-1/4 ounces) chocolate cake mix

1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 gallon ice cream

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, shortening, butter, egg, water and vanilla until well blended. Divide into four equal parts.


Between waxed paper, roll one part into a 10-in. x 6-in. x rectangle. Remove one piece of waxed paper and invert dough onto a ungreased baking sheet. Score the dough into eight pieces, each 3-in. x 2-1/2-in. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until puffed. Immediately cut along the scored lines and prick holes in each piece with a fork. Cool on wire racks.

Cut ice cream into 16 slices, each 3-in. x 2-1/2-in. x 1-in (the diameter of a square half gallon of ice cream). Place ice cream slice between two chocolate cookies; wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 2 months.

What's cooking in your kitchen?

Howdy, gang!!  How is everyone doing?  I've noticed some new faces lately and want to give you a hearty WELCOME!!  I love seeing all your fabulous recipes and dropping by to visit you all (I know I need to get better about visiting everyone.  It's a work in progress...). 

Please keep sharing and visiting each other. You all have been so supportive of each other.  It makes me so happy!!

This week I'm sharing some easy ice cream sandwiches (courtesy of Taste of Home).  Right up my alley for a hot summer day.  :-)

Ice Cream Sandwiches

1 package (18-1/4 ounces) chocolate cake mix

1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 gallon ice cream

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, shortening, butter, egg, water and vanilla until well blended. Divide into four equal parts.


Between waxed paper, roll one part into a 10-in. x 6-in. x rectangle. Remove one piece of waxed paper and invert dough onto a ungreased baking sheet. Score the dough into eight pieces, each 3-in. x 2-1/2-in. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until puffed. Immediately cut along the scored lines and prick holes in each piece with a fork. Cool on wire racks.

Cut ice cream into 16 slices, each 3-in. x 2-1/2-in. x 1-in (the diameter of a square half gallon of ice cream). Place ice cream slice between two chocolate cookies; wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 2 months.

What's cooking in your kitchen?

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

A Very, Merry Un-Birthday to You !

One of my very favorite traditions growing up was celebrating half-birthdays.  Not with presents or parties, but with HALF of a cake!

A very, merry UNbirthday, indeed!

Kiddo celebrated his half-birthday over the weekend with HALF of a sweet, tangy and delicious lemonade cake.

I was having tea over at my friend Amanda's (Amanda Carol at Home) house...which, oh, if you ever get a chance to have tea at Amanda's house, jump at it (you'll never want to leave)!  Anyway, she told me about a cake she spotted over at The Exchange.  I knew I NEEDED it. (I mean, kiddo needed it.)

If you love lemon, you are going to LOVE this cake...it's a triple-threat of lemon: cake, glaze and frosting.

I changed a few things from the recipe and am posting it here, but be sure to pop by the original on The Exchange.  Her cake is lovely and she gives the history of the cake and tracking down the recipe.

Lemonade Cake
{adapted from The Exchange}

For the cake:
1 (18.25 oz) yellow cake mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 & 1/3  cup buttermilk
1 (4.3 oz) box of lemon pudding
zest of one lemon
3 TBSP lemonade concentrate, thawed

For the glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 TBSP lemonade concentrate, thawed

For the frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp lemonade concentrate, thawed
4 c. powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 round 8" cake pans (or use a spray for baking). Line the bottoms with parchment.  Grease or spray the parchment.

On low speed, combine all of the cake ingredients until combined.  Turn up the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes.  Pour into the prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Meanwhile, make the glaze.  Whisk together the powdered sugar, juice and concentrate.  Set aside.

Once the cakes are done, let cool for 10 minutes in the pans on a cooling rack. Invert and remove from the pans.  Place the cake with the prettiest top right-side-up and the other cake upside down.  Place the cooling rack over a rimmed cookie sheet for pouring the glaze.


Poke holes in each of the cakes with a toothpick.


Pour the glaze over.


Oh, you liked that, did you?  I have more.


...and more....


....and more.

Let the cakes cool completely.

Make the frosting.  Cream the butter and cream cheese together until smooth.  Beat in the vanilla, lemon juice and concentrate until combined. Add in the sugar, beating at low speed. Increase the speed and beat until fully combined and smooth.

Now...here's where I messed up.  I bought that "1/3 less fat" cream cheese.  Why?  I have no idea. Maybe it was guilt over all of the chocolate peanut butter ice cream I ate last week.  Anyway, it made my frosting a bit too soft.


If your icing seems too soft to frost the cake, park it in the fridge for an hour or more. Don't get impatient like me and try after 30 minutes or your frosting for the middle will ooze out the sides.

Once frosted, refrigerate 1 hour to set.


If your cake is for a half-birthday, cut the cake in half.  (Give the other half away...preferably to the person who told you about the recipe. In my case, Amanda. In your case, well...me.) ;)


Half-birthday cakes are not meant to be fancy, so no decorations here.  Just good ol' cake.  And 6 more months until my baby is a teenager. {Hold me.}

One of my very favorite traditions growing up was celebrating half-birthdays.  Not with presents or parties, but with HALF of a cake!

A very, merry UNbirthday, indeed!

Kiddo celebrated his half-birthday over the weekend with HALF of a sweet, tangy and delicious lemonade cake.

I was having tea over at my friend Amanda's (Amanda Carol at Home) house...which, oh, if you ever get a chance to have tea at Amanda's house, jump at it (you'll never want to leave)!  Anyway, she told me about a cake she spotted over at The Exchange.  I knew I NEEDED it. (I mean, kiddo needed it.)

If you love lemon, you are going to LOVE this cake...it's a triple-threat of lemon: cake, glaze and frosting.

I changed a few things from the recipe and am posting it here, but be sure to pop by the original on The Exchange.  Her cake is lovely and she gives the history of the cake and tracking down the recipe.

Lemonade Cake
{adapted from The Exchange}

For the cake:
1 (18.25 oz) yellow cake mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 & 1/3  cup buttermilk
1 (4.3 oz) box of lemon pudding
zest of one lemon
3 TBSP lemonade concentrate, thawed

For the glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 TBSP lemonade concentrate, thawed

For the frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp lemonade concentrate, thawed
4 c. powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 round 8" cake pans (or use a spray for baking). Line the bottoms with parchment.  Grease or spray the parchment.

On low speed, combine all of the cake ingredients until combined.  Turn up the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes.  Pour into the prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Meanwhile, make the glaze.  Whisk together the powdered sugar, juice and concentrate.  Set aside.

Once the cakes are done, let cool for 10 minutes in the pans on a cooling rack. Invert and remove from the pans.  Place the cake with the prettiest top right-side-up and the other cake upside down.  Place the cooling rack over a rimmed cookie sheet for pouring the glaze.


Poke holes in each of the cakes with a toothpick.


Pour the glaze over.


Oh, you liked that, did you?  I have more.


...and more....


....and more.

Let the cakes cool completely.

Make the frosting.  Cream the butter and cream cheese together until smooth.  Beat in the vanilla, lemon juice and concentrate until combined. Add in the sugar, beating at low speed. Increase the speed and beat until fully combined and smooth.

Now...here's where I messed up.  I bought that "1/3 less fat" cream cheese.  Why?  I have no idea. Maybe it was guilt over all of the chocolate peanut butter ice cream I ate last week.  Anyway, it made my frosting a bit too soft.


If your icing seems too soft to frost the cake, park it in the fridge for an hour or more. Don't get impatient like me and try after 30 minutes or your frosting for the middle will ooze out the sides.

Once frosted, refrigerate 1 hour to set.


If your cake is for a half-birthday, cut the cake in half.  (Give the other half away...preferably to the person who told you about the recipe. In my case, Amanda. In your case, well...me.) ;)


Half-birthday cakes are not meant to be fancy, so no decorations here.  Just good ol' cake.  And 6 more months until my baby is a teenager. {Hold me.}

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