Lemon Blueberry Cake and Flower Arrangements!

Happy Independence Day Everyone!

The 4th of July has long been my favorite holiday because it's in the summer, there's another excuse to BBQ plus the added fun of fireworks!  Unfortunately, this year I don't have any grand plans (mostly due to the case of strep throat I caught of Saturday, boo) however my mom held a Quilter's Guild picnic last Monday where I was able to try out a recipe I've been dying to make and create some beautiful flower arrangements for the tables!

As I was browsing On Demand I found a Lemon Blueberry Cake recipe by Martha Stewart which I had to try.  The recipe was pretty straight forward and easy to make! You can get the recipe HERE!

 First you cream the sugar and butter together then add the eggs one at a time.

Once the flour mixture is added you add lemon juice and zest!

 Then comes the blueberries which you gently fold in.

Be sure to butter and flour the pan.  I did go back and add more butter and flour so that the pan was completely covered.

Here's the finished product!  Yumm

 I really recommend using that recipe if you like lemons or blueberries, it was delicious and moist!

Once the desserts were set up I went to work creating a beautiful floral arrangement for the tables.
Using two stripes of different patriotic fabrics and some red ribbon I tied them around mason jars and added flowers from around the house.  What do you think?

Anyone else have any good summer recipes?  What about 4th of July decorations?  The more I look on places like Pinterest and other blogs the more excited I get about having my own place to throw parties and decorate!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your holiday!

Pink Velvet Cupcakes

I might be the slowest baker in the history of unofficial self-proclaimed bakers.  Seriously, the combination of baking, cooking dinner, not knowing where things are in the kitchen and my mild (self-deemed) ADD creates a 2.5 hour long bake fest (the legal kind).

I found a recipe for Red Velvet cupcakes off of Yahoo back in the winter when I was living in Switzerland.  Since I wasn't sure I'd be able to find some of the right ingredients I decided to wait until I was home to try it out!  Usually I make cupcakes from a box but since Europeans do things from scratch much more (since there aren't really 3 different boxed cupcake brands) I was able to learn how to create cupcakes without the use of the pre-made boxed stuff.  So, with my new desire to make things from scratch I finally got the motivation to make Red Velvet Cupcakes.

I followed the directions pretty easily (minus a sifter, le sigh) but then I came to the 2 tablespoons of Red food coloring.  Well... whoops I only had about 1 teaspoon of the stuff but since it doesn't affect the taste I just decided I'd call them pink velvet cupcakes and let's be honest, pink is way better than red anyway.

 So there are my hot pink cupcakes... nom.

After I finally got them into the oven I took a short break to eat dinner with the family and wash some dishes.  Then I got to work on the cream cheese icing!  I'm pretty sure that I mixed it up a little to much because it was a bit runny, although still delicious.

Here's the directions for anyone else who secretly wants to start their own bakery and have a show on TLC...

Red Velvet Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups sugar - 1 teaspoon baking soda - 1 teaspoon salt - 1 teaspoon cocoa powder - 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil - 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature - 2 large eggs, room temperature - 2 tablespoons red food coloring - 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers. 
• In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. 
• In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. 
• Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.
• Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. 
• Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.  Makes 24 cupcakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound cream cheese, softened - 2 sticks butter, softened - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract - 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar - Chopped pecans and fresh raspberries or strawberries, for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

• In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth.
• Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.
• Garnish with chopped pecans, fresh raspberry or strawberry, or sprinkles.

Enjoy!