Strawberry shortcake cake… again

April 25, 2013 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Berries, cake, dessert Tags: birthday cake, Strawberries, strrawberry shortcake, whipped cream 53 Comments

O’s birthday follows shortly after mine. We enjoy the same age for two weeks every year. The strawberry shortcake I decided to revisit from last year may become O’s yearly cake. Sure it’s nice to change it up now and again, but when you find something so light, all pleasing and downright yummy, why not stick to it for that special occasion. It would make a perfect summer cake when the berries are really in season.

We try to go outside the normal dinner setting. Although eating like this every night would be nice too.

We celebrated with a family dinner and O got about a 24oz T-Bone on the grill from his father-in-law, Mr Willie T (he’s rocking the jazz world online these days). And this cake.

Continue reading →

Ultimate Spring Strawberry Short Cake…. Grande

May 8, 2012 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in Berries, cake, Fruits Tags: birthday cake, cake, meringue, shortcake, Strawberries, whipped cream 34 Comments

O and I share the same age for two weeks out of the year from April 8th to 22nd. The rest of the time he is officially older. We’ve got a ram, a bull and a crab in our household. That’s an interesting image I hadn’t thought of until just now. We have a deep respect for one another and have learned to love and appreciate the unique qualities we each possess. I’m choosing not to elaborate here… might divulge too much. To this audience and possibly to myself. So moving on…

O is more of a fruit lover than chocolate lover… but still croons over a delicate chocolate mousse and he wasn’t turning his fork over at the recent appearance of that outrageous classic chocolate cake, so it all works in the end. For his birthday cake, I started with the idea of a white cake and strawberries, but I don’t fancy say a yellow or vanilla cake.

Continue reading →

Chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream, chocolate ganache… Movita style

April 30, 2012 By Wendy Ellen Thomas in cake, Chocolate Tags: birthday cake, chocolate buttercream frosting, chocolate cake, chocolate ganache 38 Comments

First thing… can you please go vote for me at Movita’s place! Then I’ll explain…

And remember this isn’t about the best cake- it’s a popularity contest people. So just vote for me ok!!! Although, there are some pretty slick jobbies over there. But trust me, if you could sink your teeth into this chocolate cake, I guarantee it would rock your world.

I ran across movitabeaucoup this winter and must say, I was moved by her wit, charm and clever contests. I’m not usually one to participate in this sort of thing, a contest, but this time I decided I’d give it a go. Clueless where to start, I began trying to decide fruity or chocolaty. I thought and thought about what to bake. Despite the flood of ideas, just one, and only one, failed to surface and I procrastinated a bit. Then sweet Movita posted a chocolate cake she made for her mother’s birthday. So call me unoriginal or brilliant but I decided if this was the cake she baked for her mother… someone should bake it for her. And we were all very happy with that decision, despite another 3# on the scale! It was incredible. The first words out of my almost 14yr old daughter, Chloe, was foodgasm. I was proud and scared in the same moment.

I had so much fun making it. I had a new box of Valrhona chocolate baking powder and a new bottle of vanilla… which I do not take for granted anymore as it isn’t easy to come by in Hamburg. We see a lot of recipes calling for a packet of vanilla sugar.