Birthday Cakes

Any sort of family gathering is not complete without some kind of injury, crying, yelling + lots of eating. Last Thursday we celebrated Potchie’s (our grandpa) 89^th birthday and I was in charge of making the cake. He was very specific about what he wanted; yellow cake, fresh strawberry filling and whipped cream frosting. However, in order to please the rest of the family we had to have a buttercream frosted cake as well. I left work early on Thursday to go home and whip up 2 cakes in about 2 hours.

Potchie’s cake came out beautifully, moist yellow cake layers, lightly sweetened vanilla whipped cream and ripe red strawberries. After I frosted the cake I shaved white chocolate chips (also accidentally shaving the tips of my fingers) and dusted it over the top.

I also made a mini white cake with buttercream frosting. I colored some of the frosting blue so I could attempt to pipe a birthday message on the top. After practicing for too long the frosting became really warm and mushy and started shooting out all over the cake. The final product resembled something a 3 year old would have been capable of, woops. Regardless of its aesthetic, the cake was delicious and was quickly eaten.

No new recipes to post just pictures to share, but click here for the vanilla whipped cream recipe + here for buttercream + yellow cake.

We sang, we ate, we laughed.

We sustained injuries.

Happy Birthday Potchie!

Mother's Day Brunch

For Mother's Day in Chicago, Katie flew in from NYC to spend the weekend with our Momma. We planned a light brunch to celebrate the lovely ladies in our lives. We made banana bread waffles + plain waffles served with peach or blueberry compote and fresh vanilla whipped cream. We also had scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, blueberry scones, Intelligentsia coffee + mimosas. For dessert (because we can never miss an opportunity to eat dessert) we enjoyed a yellow layer cake with raspberry frosting. This frosting is delicious and is especially great on chocolate cake. My Aunt Judy once told me that doilies can make anything look good, so... I displayed my cake on top of my new reusable doilies from Ikea.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there! I'm lucky to have such amazing women in my life!

Raspberry Frosting:

1/2 cup margarine

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 1/2- 4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1-2 tbsp milk or cream

1-2 tbsp raspberry preserves

Whip all the ingredients together, adding the raspberry preserves in last. Add as much or as little of the preserves as you would like until it reaches the taste and color you desire.

Shout out to Julia for her superb waffle iron skills!

The Twelve Cookies of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas, we decided to bake cookies. Twelve to be exact. Inspired by the holiday spirit and the ridiculously tacky decorations we all have in our houses, we'll be posting 12 recipes now through Christmas. These recipes are some of our family favorites, and without them, Christmas would mean nothing- can you tell we're a family who likes to eat? When we think of these holiday treats, it invokes warm memories of our family and friends who continue to mean so much to us and whose traditions we intend to pass on. We invite you to bring our holiday classics into your home this season. Happy holidays from Cookie Confessions!