Skip to main content

Featured

A Closer Look at Winter Damage

But first, take a look at this gorgeous rainbow that we had on Friday! The five-day stretch of warm temperatures last week really jump-started the garden. Now that plants are putting out new growth, it is easier to see what kind of damage the winter left. Back in mid-January, we experienced five straight days of below-freezing temperatures. This caused much damage in Portland and areas where frigid winds were a factor. Here, we were fortunate to not get the wind and the cold temperatures were dampened by a blanket of snow. That said, it was a tough time for the garden and there are noticeable casualties but no outright deaths that I have seen. The bottlebrush ( Callistemon 'Woodlander's Red') did not like the cold at all. It was planted six years ago, in the north-facing garden no less, and I've not experienced die-back on it until now. A local expert said to cut it all the way back so that is what I did. If it doesn't make it, I won't be too distraught. It is

A birthday cake for Michael

Michael's birthday was earlier this week and he requested his favorite cake, Strawberries and Cream Cake. Unlike me, he doesn't have a sweet tooth. He would much prefer a bag of potato chips over chocolate. But this has been his favorite cake since I discovered the recipe a few years ago.








Strawberries & Cream Cake

INGREDIENTS:
2 3/4 cups cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups white sugar
1 (3 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin
1 cup butter, softened
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup strawberries, pureed

Filling:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing:
1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Strawberries for decoration

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 9 inch round cake pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat sugar, gelatin and butter until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Mix flour and baking powder, and beat alternately with the milk into the sugar mixture. Fold in 1 teaspoon vanilla and pureed strawberries. Divide equally into three 9 inch round cake pans.
3. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pans, then remove from pans and cool completely.
4. To make the filling: Beat whipping cream, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla on high until stiff. Fill each layer with 1/3 of the whipped cream and 3/4 cup sliced strawberries.
5. To make the frosting: Beat the margarine, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Spread over the sides of the cake, and pipe an edge of frosting around the top of the cake.
6. Spread remaining whipped cream on cake top. Top with strawberries.

Comments

  1. yum! yum! I will have to give it a try. Michael looks very pleased with his birthday cake!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Phillip,
    Thanks for sharing this recipe, and here's hoping y'all have a very Happy Valentine's Day!

    Jon at Mississippi Garden

    ReplyDelete
  3. A belated Happy Birthday Michael. I can see why you like this cake. It looks so delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy Birthday to Michael!

    The cake looks delicious! I shall try the recipe.

    Thanks!
    Cameron

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Phillip, Two birthdays very close together. Happy Birthday to Michael. The cake looks delicious~~Did you get the Japanese Maple?

    Gail

    ReplyDelete
  6. Happy (a little late) Birthday Michael!!!!! The cake looks wonderful Phillip! Your newly painted gate looks great as well :) Good work! I'm looking forward to seeing your garden this spring and starting some new things in our square foot one. How I wish we had lots of land!!!

    I just remembered I didn't get back to you about the coupons-sorry-I've totally neglected the blog recently :( The coupons come mainly from the Sunday paper (we get 1 free from work, then I'll buy 1 or more if they have some good coupons, and a couple family members mail us coupons they don't use) but I also print coupons online. People have been asking about this so I'm going to try to post each week about deals and were to get the coupons. Feel free to hold me to that!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have a friend like that, who prefers salty over sweet. I like both. Say a belated happy birthday to Michael!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh that cake looks yummy! I made up some chocolate covered strawberries yesterday for friends to enjoy. I am going to try that recipe you shared for sure!

    The 'Lake' in my yard is starting to subside. It comes and goes very quickly in the spring time. This was an early defrost for us up in Ohio. On Saturday the snow was back. Sometimes the river will over flow like that into our front acreage and freeze making a HUGE 4 acre skating rink! LOVE IT!!!!

    Thanks for sharing your fabulous garden. I so look forward to your spring blog.

    Warm Wishes... Happy Valentines Day dear garden friend.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh my, it's beautiful. Will you bake me one too? ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy Birthday, Michael. That cake sure looks good.~~Dee

    ReplyDelete
  11. Belated Happy Birthday to Michael and thanks for the recipe...don't we all get in the mood for a strawberry dessert sometimes? They're so delicious and this one is also so pretty!

    Annie at the Transplantable Rose

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts