Thanks for joining us today for an 1860s picnic at Spring Grove Cemetery!
This photo and a few of the others were taken by my friend Mekaela. She has become a living history pro in just a handful of years. I feel lucky to be friends with someone so wonderful at turning everyday events into living history.
We brought rice pudding and fresh berries. I found the recipe on The American Table.
You did such a wonderful job trimming your wool gown and retrimming your bonnet. You always look so lovely in period garb!!!
Whisk together eggs whites and sugar in the top portion of a double boil, over simmering water. Stir as mixture heats to 160 degrees. Remove from heat.
Place cooked egg mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with whisk attachment on high speed until stiff peaks form.
Beat in butter a few cubes at a time until smooth. Fold in cream cheese and vanilla bean paste.
Test Notes: I opted for whipped cream cheese, so I could skip that step. Also, since this is going on a spice cake, I wanted the richness and look of vanilla bean paste instead of extract. Perfect!
It feels really good to have one of the four flavors for the wedding nailed down!
I’m so excited to be baking for your brother-in-law and your future sister-in-law’s wedding. To make sure everything turns out just right for the big day, I am testing recipes.
Preheat oven to 350. Line 3 dozen cupcake cups with parchment.
Cream butter, oil, and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla.
Whisk together dry ingredients. Add alternaturely to creamed mixture, with buttermilk. Fold in sprinkles.
Bake approximately 15 minutes. Turn out of baking pans and cool or wire racks.
Source Recipe: Confetti Birthday Cake by Courtney Rich
Taste of Home June/July 2020
Test Notes: Dry!!! Could use additional sweetness. Above recipe includes an additional 1/4 c of sugar, 5 eggs, instead of 3 whites and 3 eggs, and replaces cake flour with regular all-purpose flour. The fine crumb, seemed to exaggerate the dryness further. Additionally, baking temperature was raised 25 degrees so that baking duration can be shortened.
William photo bomb! He has frosting on his lips and everything… lol.
Stir vanilla bean paste and extract into sour cream, set aside.
Preheat oven to 350. Line the bottom of 3 (9-inch) round cake pans with parchement.
Whisk together dry ingredients. Mix in butter and oil until crumbly. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat in sour cream mixture.
Pour batter equally between prepared pans. Bake less than the suggested 30 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans a few minutes before turning out on wire racks to cool completely.
Source Recipe: Best Vanilla Cake and Buttercream by Maggie Knoebel
Taste of Home April/May 2020
TestNotes: Baking time resulted in very overdone cake! I found the cake too dense and the frosting too sweet.
Back to the drawling board for a good vanilla cake recipe!!!
Melt together baking chips and heavy cream in microwave, stirring every 20 seconds. Stir in vanilla bean paste and extract. Set aside to cool.
In the top of a double boiler over simmering water, whisk together eggs, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt until it reaches 160 degrees. Remove from heat.
Whisk cooked mixture in a stand mixer, on high speed until cooled to the touch. It will look like thick marshmallow cream. Reduce to medium speed, gradually beat in butter, a few tablespoons at a time, until smooth. Beat in cooked white chocolate mixture.
I saved this recipe because I really would love to try it again with semi-sweet chocolate chips!
Mama Jenn and family surprised us with a zoo membership! We put it to use today. William has been to the zoo a half dozen times, but this was Charlotte’s very first trip:)
After a few rainy days, the kids and I were going stir crazy! Besides we just found rain boots for Charlotte at Once Upon a Child for $5.00, and we needed to test them out:)
Walking to a local church parking lot that has a great dip in it that collects a perfect puddle for stomping!
Charlotte’s first puddle stomp, she quickly learned that ropes from her big brother.
After about ten minutes both the kids were soaked through… Charlotte fell and William just sat in the water. Reluctantly, we walked home to put on dry clothes and warm up.
