Pages

Friday, May 29, 2009

Milk, Flower, Sugar, Eggs

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a few flowers outside who's heads were a little too big...for their stems. I don't know about the condition of their pride, but, the bloom-to-stem-size ratio was not on their side, and they were snapping off. So I took them inside, snipped them down to about 1" of stem and put them together in this shallow bowl of water.
They lasted for about a week and a half, looking great. Then Grace decided she wanted a flower birthday party.They were looking a little on the edge of death, but, still fit in nicely with the flower gift bags I got at Target. Perfect match, really.Two big gift bags, and a bunch of 6 pretty latex balloons in colors to match made a great birthday party theme, for under $15.Then for the cake- Grace wanted a white cake with pink frosting. Then we picked out some flowers from outside for the top.
Cut the stem to about 3" (to really get the center one anchored).Then do the same with the others, however you want. I've done this a few times, usually with inexpensive supermarket flowers, but it was a bonus to just have coordinating flowers outside our door. Thanks, spring.


Quick and Rich Vanilla Frosting
from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
Makes 3 Cups (enough for a 9x13, or an 8-9 inch two layer cake)
Takes 10 minutes
2 T heavy cream
1t vanilla extract
Pinch Salt
2 1/2 sticks butter
2 1/2 C confectioner's sugar
Stir the cream, vanilla, and salt together in a small bowl until the salt dissolves. Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth, 30-60 seconds. Reduce the speed to medium-low, slowly add the confectioners' sugar, and beat until smooth, 2-5 minutes. Beat in the cream mixture. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, 4-8 minutes.
To Make Ahead
The frosting can be made up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. Before using, let stand at room temperature to soften, then whisk briefly to re-fluff.
The cookbook includes variations to this simple (and fantastic) recipe, like: dark chocolate, coffee, peppermint, orange, and peanut butter.
This frosting is a cake walk to make.

6 comments:

Anne Elizabeth said...

What a fun idea! I am definitely going to try this frosting:)

Andrea@Sgt and Mrs Hub said...

I make this same frosting... it is indeed, perfection.

And so was that party, from the looks of it!

-Andrea

Amy said...

That frosting looks delicious! Am def. trying it!!

american mum said...

SO cute - love all the colors!

Shelby-Grace said...

Everything looked simply beautiful! Thanks for sharing the frosting recipe. I make cupcakes for our coffee shop at church and I think this frosting will make them a whole lot better!!

Kiki said...

What a pretty party!

And I can't wait to make that frosting. I always make butter or cream cheese frosting.