The Good Plate

Archive for the ‘Birthdays and Receptions’ Category

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Tuesday, November 21, 2012 was Spane’s 9th birthday. He originally asked for a Red Velvet Cake, but then said he wanted Chocolate Cake with Mocha Frosting that I made for his 7th birthday, and was the base for the Jolly Roger Cake of the Pirate Rack Rachham that I made for his 8th birthday. At the last minute, I decided to give him his original request, a Red Velvet Cake.

Yes, I know that Red Velvet Cake is all over the place, and mostly nasty, truly horrific. When Red Velvet cake became popular all over the country, short cuts were made, and what resulted was a dense, flavorless cake, with a greasy shortening “cream cheese” frosting, that I am sure was made with cream cheese flavoring, and nary a bit of real cream cheese. I make a real Red Velvet Cake, that uses real cream cheese, cake flour, and vinegar/baking soda leavener.

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I just can’t make an ordinary anything, I always have to umph it up a bit, and this cake was no exception. Instead of using white vinegar, I used Balsamic vinegar. I also used a Mocha frosting instead of the traditional cream cheese frosting. It was a real hit.

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Teacher's Garden Cake

• Lemon Wafer Cake

The PTA at John Muir Elementary School puts on a staff luncheon every year. Parents are asked to bring in their best dish. Our teachers and staff are very lucky, as a lot of our parents are very good cooks. This year, in fact, the recipes are going to be collected and the PTA is publishing a cookbook. The luncheon was going to take place in the newly planted Teachers’ Garden. I decided to make a cake and decorate it as a garden.

The cake looked lovely tilted up on the dessert station. In fact, it looked so lovely, and so real, that no one ate it. Some guests thought it was too pretty to cut, a few thought it was art, and a few didn’t think it was really edible. I wound up taking it home and will share it with family and friends.

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Cake baked in its pan, cooling

• Sour Cherry Fudge Cake

For my birthday, I wanted to make myself a special cake. I love chocolate, and I love sour cherries. The combination is fabulous.

This is my favorite cake in the world. It’s a very rich cake, and takes time and effort to prepare, but well worth it. My only suggestion to you is not to make it when you have a lot of other intense dishes to make, you’ll look like me when you’re done! Don’t let that deter you – you and your guests will be impressed with this luscious cake.

Yesterday, I made Rose Fudge Truffles and Black Forest Fudge for Founder’s Night at Spane’s school, prepped Rose Petal and Lobster Salad for my birthday, and made this cake. By the time we got back from Founder’s Night, I was so pooped that we decided to have the cake tonight. Amber and Noelle came by, and the four of us enjoyed cake together. A good time was had by all.

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Dressed Lobster and Rose Petal Salad

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• Lobster Rose Salad
• Lemon Butter Dressing

When I was a little girl, my mother used to go on about how she loved going to her grandmother’s house when she would serve Lobster and Rose salad. I was always hoping that my mother would recreate the recipe, but she never did.

When my great-grandmother was making this salad, lobster was a lot less expensive. I decided that for my birthday, despite to cost, I would recreate Christine Jorgensen’s recipe myself.

I went to the market and bought a small lobster tail. I broiled it and put it on the table to cool before putting it in the refrigerator. All of a sudden, I heard a ker-plunk, looked up, and there was our Maine Coon cat, Miss Rolo Louise Knocker-Offer Boswell, looking guilty, with the end of the hot lobster tail in her mouth, trying to run off with it. I ran up to her and said “Hey, you can’t have that. That’s MY dinner!” I grabbed it, and washed it off. I don’t think she had gotten a chance to eat any of it.

Spane and I had the lobster and rose salad for my birthday dinner. When I tasted it, I could understand why my mother had gone on about how good it was. The combination of buttery lobster and astringently sweet rose was an incredible treat for my mouth. It was truly amazing!

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Rose Fudge Truffles and Black Forest Fudge

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• Rose Fudge
• Black Forest Fudge

It’s my birthday, and I can make anything I want to! It’s also Founder’s Night at my son Spane’s school, so I thought I should bring something to liven up the festivities. I got up early this morning and make two kinds of fudge, Rose Fudge and Black Forest Fudge. As of this writing, there are no pictures, but there will be as soon as it sets.

I love the flavor of roses, there is nothing like it. I have some rose syrup that I often put in lemonade, and love roses with peaches. What could be better in fudge?

One of my favorite cakes is a Sour Cherry Fudge cake, and I’m making that for my birthday cake (more later), so I decided to take that to the candy level as well.

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• Box Cake Recipe from Scratch
• Boiled Icing

Spane holding a finished cupcake

I had a dream, yes I had a dream. I dreamed of cupcakes with blue butter cream frosting.

I’m not much of a cupcake person, but they are nice if you’ve got a lot of kids. They are easy because you don’t really need a plate, and you don’t need a knife, and you don’t have to worry about someone saying their piece of cake is too small or too big. All the cupcakes are the same size.

Usually, I make a butter cake, similar to a 1234 cake, but it makes a three layer cake, and that was just too much for cupcakes. I know that a regular box of cake mix makes enough for cupcakes, but I don’t like things that come in a box. So I made my own box cake with fresh ingredients.

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