Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

My daughter (my baby girl!) had a birthday so my youngest son and I spent the weekend with her and her husband to celebrate. 

Of course, we came bearing her favorite cake, Raspberry Elegance.  It is one of my favorites as well.  She loves it so much her wedding cake was a bigger, more beautiful version of it!  Notice the candles?  That is what you get when the 16-year-old baby brother is in charge of putting them on the cake!  No, she isn't 62!

One of the treats we had was being able to go see my beautiful, smart, and talented daughter in action at her work. She also received some major brotherly love from the nefarious candle organizer!

The event we attended was sponsored by the hospital where my daughter works.  The day was kind of an end of the season/fall festival event which wrapped up with a showing of Beauty and the Beast during  "movie on the lawn night." It was fun to see my girl do her thing and see the results of her hard work.  Can you tell I am a little bit proud of her? 

The best way to describe what her birthday means to me is to say the day she was born, I changed...she made me a better person. She made me a Mom. I wouldn't trade that title or one single moment with my 3 amazing children for anything in the world.  I am blessed. 

Happy Birthday, baby girl!

You are so very loved!

Welcome Spring...Southern Living Style

A few days ago the March issue of Southern Living arrived in my mailbox and I have to say the cover was just stunning.  It was the perfect welcome to Spring.  I had to try the recipe for the cake shown on the cover, Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake (click link to recipe).  It just looked too good.  My husband and sons said it was my best effort...EVER.  Not "a really good cake"...but the best EVER!  Take my word for it, these boys know their cake and if this is the best EVER, you should definitely try it!

It baked up beautifully and the only deviation I made from the recipe was that I had to bake it for 10-15 minutes longer than the recipe called for.  Of course, that could just be my oven issue! 

 Beautiful!

It is so nice to have a recipe turn out just as pretty as when it is staged for the magazine!

Now, I can't wait to try the Key Lime Pound Cake with Key Lime Glaze from the same article! 

Thank you Southern Living!

Baking....

I have been in the mood to bake and cook lately.  I don't know if it is because of my "new" kitchen or just the approaching fall that has brought me this new enthusiasm for the kitchen arts.  On Saturday, we had planned to have some friends over for dinner, but one of our children was sick so we had to reschedule, but I still managed to create the meal that was planned for our own little private dinner party.  I used several recipes from Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade magazine (the September/October issue).  Yes, I do like Sandra Lee!

My favorite was the Spiced Walnut Cake with Maple Cream!  IT was the perfect fall cake and made the house smell just fabulous, and I think it was even better on day 2!

My photo of the cake slices don't do this cake justice...it was yummy and beautiful!

Chocolate....cake!

After my last Sporty post I thought I should probably remind everyone that I still have my priorities in order. On Saturday, I made an incredibly easy (translated to mean few ingredients/easy steps) totally from scratch Chocolate Cake. You see, I had a child that was sick, and to her comfort food comes in the form of cake! So enjoy this pretty amazing cake:

Fudgy Chocolate Cake and Icing

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 cup plus 3 TBSP. granulated sugar

1-1/2 cups self rising flour

1/2 cup plus 3 TBSP. unsweetened cocoa powder

4 large eggs

1/2 pint heavy cream

10-1/2 oz. semisweet chocolate chips (next time I will use milk chocolate chips but if you love dark chocolate the semisweet might be great for you!)

mini marshmallows for garnish (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Spray two 8-inch round cake pans with no-stick spray (such as Pam).

3. Combine butter, sugar, flour, cocoa and eggs in large bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium, beat until smooth. Continue to beat until increased in volume (about 2-3 minutes longer).

4. Divide batter between pans.

5. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, approx. 20-25 minutes.

6. Leave cakes in pans for 1 minute, then turn onto wire rack to cool.

7. Heat heavy cream just to boil, add chocolate chips to cream and stir until melted. Let cool; chill for 30 minutes, then whisk until thickened to a spreadable consistency.

8. Use 1/3 of chocolate "icing" between layers of cake and spread the remainder of the rest of the cake.

9. Sprinkle mini-marshmallows over top and press into side of cake for garnish.

This was a super easy recipe and I think it would be great with a layer of raspberries or strawberries in between the layers as well.