After browsing my food pins on Pinterest, I decided to give this Blueberry Velvet Cake with Blueberries and Cream Cheese Frosting a try. (Just because I am mildly fascinated with all things blueberry and the color blue is my favorite. :) We use mostly all-natural ingredients when we cook, and so I omitted dyeing the angel food cake blue (don't need any more chemicals in my body than necessary, thank you!), which didn't make it quite as stunning, but I threw extra blueberries into the mix and put a ton more on top.
I made the cake using whole wheat flour that we grind ourselves and it came out fabulous. You never know if a recipe will work as well without the usual white flour, but the angel food cake was pretty perfect. I ended up baking it in three layers instead of two, doubling the (amazing) cream cheese frosting and smearing the whole thing with it. Oh yeah, and with the addition of the blueberry sauce... it was superb. (For the record, my enthusiasm for this cake was echoed by everyone else. It's definitely kind of sweet, but I really, really recommend you try out the recipe. Five stars, in my opinion! :)
I really have a thing for Italian food, and had been craving gnocchi for the better part of a year, so mom picked some up at Trader Joe's and used a Sage and Butter Sauce recipe she found online. It had lots of garlic and was just delicious. :) And she made her most amazing chicken parmesan. She doesn't even have a recipe; just does it in her head, and it's perfect every time. (Do a quick google search and I'm sure you'll find something almost as good. ;) I think the real key with Italian food is to drown it. I've had dishes at a couple of nice places that were just way too dry and blah. You need lots of tomato sauce, butter, cheese, garlic, et cetera... It's all about making it moist and yummy. :)
I really have a thing for Italian food, and had been craving gnocchi for the better part of a year, so mom picked some up at Trader Joe's and used a Sage and Butter Sauce recipe she found online. It had lots of garlic and was just delicious. :) And she made her most amazing chicken parmesan. She doesn't even have a recipe; just does it in her head, and it's perfect every time. (Do a quick google search and I'm sure you'll find something almost as good. ;) I think the real key with Italian food is to drown it. I've had dishes at a couple of nice places that were just way too dry and blah. You need lots of tomato sauce, butter, cheese, garlic, et cetera... It's all about making it moist and yummy. :)
I'm always rushing around like a crazy lady before dinner on my birthday, with the cooking and baking, so I never have much time to decorate, but this year I managed to slap some candles and flowers/weeds on the table. ;) Floating tea lights in dishes and vases are my favorite thing right now (I just got a couple of huge blue glass bowls that I want to try out) and some rocks from the ocean looked really pretty in the bottom of the vase. (Finally, some way to put to use all the rocks and sea shells I've collected from the beach every summer!) I'm also thinking some colored marbles would be gorgeous... hmmm.
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Do you have any awesome cake recipes? (I'd love if you'd post a link!) And what's some of your favorite kinds of food? (Any amazing Italian recipes to share? Or any recipes, really.)
Wow, all this food is making me hungry. I think I'll go to dinner. ;)
-Amanda xo
10 comments:
Okay, I read this post while smelling rosemary chicken baking in the oven, got up, desperately begin hunting for blueberries, saw we didn't have any, and so made myself a pan of fudge brownies.
And it's all your fault. ;)
Do you mind posting the recipe? :D I'm a sucker for almost anything blueberry and this had me just dying. [hopefully the brownies will save me]
Haha! You are too funny! :) Here's the link to the recipe I used for the cake: http://adventurescooking.blogspot.com/2010/03/blue-velvet-cake-with-cream-cheese.html
Let me know how it turns out for you. :)
Oh my goodness, thank you so much. :D Because my family does all-natural foods too, I'll be excluding the food colouring too. I'll let you know how it turns out!!
By the way [you don't have to answer this if you don't feel comfortable] you said you live in MA...do you happen to live near Plymouth? My aunt lives there [I was actually born in Weymouth, MA] and I'm hoping to move up there in the next couple years. :) I visited MA earlier this year and fell in love with it!
I have three sisters in my Family and we do a lot of Italian cooking (only from our heads). but one source I have liked to use is recipes from The Olive Garden web site, there videos are really helpful with learning new techniques. And BTW I totally agree with you that the secrete to Italian cooking is to make it moist and flavorful. Can't wait to try your cake recipe! Happy Cooking!-Megan
Looks yummy :)
I'm interested in how you said you grind your own flour. How do you do that? Do you grow the wheat yourself or buy it - is there a special type of wheat that is best?
ooh yummy, that cake looks amazing!
YUMMMMM ;) Loving your blog by the way.
Hannah Grace - I'm about an hour from Plymouth. Southern MA, near Foxboro, where the Patriot's stadium is. ;) And yes, it's a gorgeous state.
Emma - The Olive Garden has recipes on their site??? Oh my goodness, thanks for telling me. I will DEFINITELY check it out. :)
Erin - We buy huge (maybe 50 lb) bags of wheat berries through a co-op and use a flour mill. I'm not the one who has the details on wheat types and what's best, but maybe some Google searching would give you some tips. Let me know if you have any other questions. :)
Thanks to both Lindsay and Lindsey! ;)
Oh, that dessert looks wonderful! Just like something out of a bakery.
Here's a link to some amazingly yummy cake...http://mariemadelinestudio.typepad.com/mariemadeline_studio/2009/01/pop-pop-pop.html... I had it for my birthday a few years ago. SO good!
Achaia - Oo! Thanks for sharing that recipe. That looks super easy and fun to try! :)
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