Strawberry Lemonade Cake

Delicious recipe from Hillery Ray (a.k.a. the cake goddess). Recipe used for the FW 5th Ward Relief Society birthday party, and then for Miriam's belated half-birthday. I don't think mine was as good as Hillery's (Surprise!), but I expect that this is because I am known for not sticking to the recipe. The smell of the lemon juice was so intoxicating that I couldn't stop at the recommended amount... I know you'll have more restraint than me though, and your cake will turn out perfectly!

Cake:
2 1/4 C flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp lemonn zest
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
3/4 C milk
2 C fresh strawberries, chopped

Lemonade Syrup:
1 C lemonade concentrate, thawed
3/4 C confectioners sugar

Frosting:
3/4 C strawberries, chopped
3 C confectioners sugar
12oz creamcheese, room temp
3 tsp lemon juice
18 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Stir together with a fork and set aside.
In another bowl, beat butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until well combined. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping sides of bowl as you make each addition.
Add in half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just blended.
Add the milk and mix until smooth.
Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until just blended.
Fold in the strawberries with a spatula.
Pour mixture into a greased, floured cake pan.
Bake at 325 degrees F. until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean--about 30-40 minutes.
Allow to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cake is completely cool, whisk together the melted lemonade concentrate and the confectioners sugar to make the syrup.
Using a skewer, poke holes about a half inch apart all over the top of the cake and then pour the syrup all over the top, allowing it to soak in.
For the frosting, puree the strawberries in a food processor or blender. Whip together the creamcheese and unsalted butter until very fluffy. Add in the confectioners sugar and blend until smooth. Add the lemon juice and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Mix in the pureed strawberries a tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired fexture and flavor--about 5 tablespoons of puree.

Tip:
1 stick salted butter=1 stick unsalted butter + 1/4 tsp salt

G'day Y'all!

three sleeps until Miriam and I head off to Australia. It's a first time for her of course, but it's been a whole four years for me. I'm a little nervous for all the travel phase, but mostly excited.

The things I'm most looking forward to are:
* Getting all six siblings together for the first time in fourteen years.
* Celebrating after Lorin and Dean complete their 2,500 mile bike ride across Australia.
* Having a "cuppa" (aka a cup of hot chocolate or some such drink) and late evening chats.
* Aussie burgers, meat pies, sausage rolls, fish and chips (on the beach!), crumpets, salad sandwiches, ginger beer (don't worry, it's not alcoholic), vanilla and passionfruit slices, Dad's custard, and Mum's curried sausages. You can count this long list as an admission that I'm a bit food centric...
* Even more than the food though, I'm looking forward to hiking with Dad, seeing all the bright colors of the ocean, the trees, and the birds (in particular, the cookaburras, magpies, and rainbow lorikeets that frequent Mum and Dad's backyard), and which have become somewhat friendly.

It's going to be great!

In other news...
1. Anne and Ben/Moppy and Poppy came to vissit us last weekend. We hope they'll come again soon.
2. Joe and I had a very nice lunch date yesterday at Red Lobster. The food and company were both great. I'll miss you Joe while I'm away.
3. Miriam can sit up by herself and will be crawling any day now.
4. I'm finally going to make that strawberry lemonade cake today! It was meant to be for Miriam's half birthday, but as it is, it's a few weeks late.
5. I played flute in church today.
6. I'm reading Catching Fire, the second book in the Hunger Games series--Good so far.
7. I'm going to Natalie (Lunt) Haughawout's house tomorrow morning for a visit.
8. I'm super duper uber excited for Kristen and Aaron's four-year adventure living in Okinawa.

I've probably forgotten a few items from each list, but it wasn't as if you wanted to read a novel about me anyway. This is me signing off.

FYI... or rather FMI

Three news items which will be interesting only to the select few:
1. Miriam's bald head is growing some fuzz. It's still pretty much invisible, but I like to feel the fluffiness.
2. Miriam now knows how to use her legs one at a time, so perhaps crawling is next (though she's already getting around alright by rolling)
3. For the last three nights, with the exception of a few squeaks, Miriam has slept from 11pm to 6am. Now if I can just stop waking up then we'll be doing just fine.
(She'll be six months old next week.)