White Cake with Strawberry Cream Filling and Strawberry Frosting

Maggie requested "strawberry" for her birthday cake. She also wanted an animals party, and we ended up with a strawberry circus elephant cake! I made a white cake, filled it with strawberry cream, and frosted it with homemade strawberry frosting. It was delicious, if you like excess of sugar.

To make the elephant cake, I baked two round cakes, and cut a cone-shaped trunk out of the center of one. The two sides of the cut cake served as the ears. I had to cut and bend the trunk, as it didn't fit on the baking sheet.

White Cake Recipe

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter

4 eggs

2 tablespoons vanilla extract (yes, tablespoons)

3 cups flour

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup milk

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat well until fluffy. Beat it a lot, or your cake will be heavy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Again, beat the batter a lot. Stir in vanilla extract, then add flour mixed with baking powder. Stir in milk until batter is smooth.

Bake in two greased 9" pans at 350 for 30-40 minutes (until cake springs back when touched).

Strawberry Cream Filling Recipe

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup diced strawberries

Beat cream with sugar until it forms stiff peaks. Stir in strawberries. Don't make this too long beforehand or the cream will sink.

Split the cake in the center, remove the top half and spread with strawberry cream filling. Replace the top half of the cake.

Strawberry Frosting Recipe

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup strawberries, pureed (about 1/4 cup after pureeing)

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

Beat butter, and blend in strawberry puree and vanilla. Mix in powdered sugar until you get a frosting consistency.

This stuff is so good. It tastes like strawberry ice cream. This made just enough to frost two separate cakes, including all the cut edges.

Sources:

white cake recipe

strawberry frosting recipe

elephant cake

New York - What I Ate

Started this post in December. Then I moved to India and forgot about it. Here are some of the delicious restaurants Leonard and I ate at in NYC. Doing this blog made me crave beef.

The Meatball Shop

Bouchon Bakery

Red Sonja from Mundo

Dogmatic

Ovelia

Thanksgiving with Leonard. We used the same recipes as last year except Leonard dry-brined the chicken. The chicken was SO good! He rubbed it with salt and put it in a plastic bag in the fridge overnight, rotating it once.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This recipe is from my sister-in-law Erin and it is really good. The recipe makes a ton, though. I will half it next time.

1 pkg of red beans and rice

1 1/2 lbs diced chicken

2 cans diced tomatoes ( I like to use the mexican seasoned ones)

2 cans chicken broth

1 green pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

shredded cheese

tortilla chips
sour cream

Cook rice first, cook chicken if needed while rice is cooking. Add pepper and onion and any seasoning you wish with chicken. Then after rice is cooked just add everything to the rice and let simmer for at least 45 min. or until heated. Add cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips in bowl on top and serve.

Chicken a la King

1 can buttermilk biscuits
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. flour
1 can chicken broth
1 c. milk
2 c. cubed cooked turkey or chicken
1 c. sliced cooked carrots
1 can green beans
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper

Cook biscuits according to package directions. Melt butter with flour in a saucepan. Add milk and chicken broth and boil 2 minutes. Stir in chicken, carrots, green beans, salt and pepper and heat through. Serve over biscuits.

Chili Cheese Dog Casserole

One of many great main dish recipes from my friend Tasha. Many of my often-made dishes are from her, so more to come.
1 c. chopped green pepper
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. chopped celery
1 T. olive oil
1 pkg hot dogs, sliced
1 can chili
1 T. brown sugar
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. chili powder
1 c. grated cheddar cheese
1 pkg cornbread mix, or recipe below

Mix cornbread mix per instructions. Spread half of the batter in a greased, 9x9 pan. Saute veggies in oil. Add hot dog and cook 3-4 minutes. Add chili and spices and heat through. Stir in 3/4 c. cheese. Pour mixture over batter in pan. Spread remaining batter on top and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake uncovered at 350 for 28-32 minutes. Let sit 5 minutes.

Cornbread recipe:
3/4 c. flour
1/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. cornmeal
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
2 T. milk
1 egg
2 T. and 2 t. oil
1 1/2 T. melted butter

Mix dry and wet ingredients separately. Blend together lightly.

Chocolate-Frosted Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats

1 c. sugar
1 c. corn syrup
1 c. peanut butter
6 c. Kellogg’s Rice Krispies
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

*Cook sugar and corn syrup in a medium saucepan until dissolved.
*Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter until smooth.
*Stir in Rice Krispies.
*Press into a 9x13 pan lined with wax paper.
*Melt chocolate chips and spread on top.

Variations: You can substitute 3 c. mini marshmallows and 2 T. butter instead of the corn syrup and sugar. Also, you could mix some butterscotch chips in with the chocolate chips for the frosting.

Homemade Fruit Snacks

I saw this on Skip to My Lou and knew it would be perfect for an activity with Maggie. We made them in a Jell-o Bean mold, or you can use candy molds or probably even silicone ice cube molds.

1 3 oz box flavored gelatin
2 packages unflavored gelatin
1/3 c. water

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a small saucepan. Let sit 5-10 minutes. Heat over medium heat and stir until dissolved, 2-5 minutes. Pour into your molds (I used a plastic measuring cup with a spout) and let cool for 20 minutes. Pop out and eat!
They came out really easily, but were super sticky to themselves, our fingers... pretty much everything except the mold. So I did dust them with a bit of cornstarch.

Update: I made these again using fruit juice. I used 1/2 c. fruit juice and 3 1 oz packages of unflavored gelatin. I used apple juice, so they were kind of gross, but I think pineapple or a red juice would be yummy. They were not as sticky as the jell-o ones.
I made them in a rubber ice cube tray from the dollar store! They came out great once they cooled enough.