{ special strawberry cake }

Summertime and strawberries go together like baseball and hotdogs (and cold beer).

We enjoyed a low-key 4th of July yesterday, as Ty has been busy on duty in Boston Harbor during most of the holiday festivities. His time at home has been limited, but this same time last year, we had just received the news that he would be leaving within the week for an extended deployment out of the country ... so this year, we very much appreciate any time we have just being together.

Back to strawberries ... Ty's favorite. And now it seems Paige's as well (Aidan likes strawberry 'gogurt' squeezers, if that counts for anything). Strawberry layer cake was the plan, and it was an easy one to put together. Make one for the strawberry lover in your life, and appreciate our freedoms, as well as those who have sacrificed to bring them to us.

God bless America, home of baseball, hot dogs, strawberries, and gogurt squeezers.

Strawberry Layer Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
(adapted from DaveRamsey.com)

Ingredients
Cake
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 box white cake mix
1 - 3oz. box of strawberry Jell-o
 24oz. frozen, sliced strawberries (thawed)

Frosting
3 sticks of butter at room temperature
8 oz. block of cream cheese at room temperature
6 cups of powdered sugar
about 6 tablespoons of juice and pulp from strawberries

Process
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three eight-inch round cake pans by lining bottom of pans with wax paper sprayed with non-stick baking spray and lightly floured.

Using a potato masher or a fork, mash strawberries into small pieces. Measure one cup for the cake and set aside. Separately reserve about 6 tablespoons for use in the frosting.

Combine cake mix, oil, eggs and dry strawberry Jell-o in a mixing bowl and beat until blended. Stir in cup of mashed strawberries until blended.

Pour mixture evenly into the prepared cake pans. Bake 30 minutes at 350. Cake is done when toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool cakes in the pans for 10 minutes, then gently turn cakes out onto plates to cool completely.

To make icing, mix softened butter and cream cheese in mixer bowl until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix well. Add reserved strawberry juice with pulp by tablespoon to give the butter cream icing color and a touch of strawberry pieces. Do not add too much juice or your icing will be too thin.


Chill frosting for about 10 minutes before use. Assemble cakes, frosting between layers, and generously covering the top and sides.

Store the finished cake in the refrigerator until ready to serve -- the cream cheese frosting softens quickly, especially in the summer. Garnish with fresh strawberries just before serving.

{ dulce de leche }

One of my favorite sweets in the world is leche quemada (burned milk) candy, available at the checkout counter at most mom & pop Tex Mex restaurants where I grew up. It's made from dulce de leche, or "candy of milk." It has such a sweet, distinctly creamy taste that so much reminds me of Friday nights in the summertime and being a bit tipsy on margaritas.

Dulce de leche couldn't be easier to make, especially when made in the crockpot (yes, the crockpot). The most difficult part of the entire process was finding which aisle stocked the mason jars at my local grocery store.

Countless recipes call for dulce de leche, and each is likely worth the time. So having a jar or two on hand is a great plan. An even better plan is sticking a spoon into the dulce de leche jar at 11:30 p.m. when you can't fall asleep ... and are craving something sweet.

Just sayin'.

Dulce de Leche
Ingredients

• 3 14-oz cans sweetened condensed milk.

(yep! that's it!)

Process
Open cans of condensed milk and pour each into a pint-sized glass mason jar.

Secure the lid of each jar and place in the crockpot.

Fill the crockpot with water to just above the point at the jars where the cream is topped. Place the lid on the crockpot.

Heat milk jars on low for 8-10 hours (the longer the cooking process, the more solid the dulce de leche) -- I actually cooked mine overnight.


Once process is complete, the consistency will be thick. In order to thin the dulce de leche to use as a dip or sauce, spoon into a dish and add milk or cream. Slowly heat (the microwave works just fine) and whisk until desired consistency is reached.

{ berry crumble with almond-crusted shortbread }

The days are getting longer and warmer, and all those pretty summer berries have been making their way back into the produce section at the grocery store. It's been increasingly difficult to resist them, and today, I wasn't able to do so.

I'm a raspberry girl. They're my favorites. Raspberry cocktails, raspberry pies, raspberry anything -- I'm putty in the hands of anything of the framboise persuasion.

Ty, on the other hand, is a strawberry and blackberry guy. So, because I'm that kind of good-hearted and selfless person, I decided to mix things up and make a berry medley, rather than my originally-intended raspberry something or other.

I was actually inspired by the fresh stuff, but opted for the frozen version -- blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, and, of course, raspberries.

So, welcome back, summer berries. I've missed you.

Berry Crumble with Almond-Crusted Shortbread
(adapted from uneGaminedanslaCuisine)

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup + 1/2 cups of sugar, divided
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, cold and cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 teaspoon of pure almond extract
1/2 cup of finely chopped almonds (I used a mini food processor until almonds were almost powder consistency)
2 tablespoon cornstarch
8 cups fresh or frozen berries

Process
Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Grease a 13x9-inch baking pan with non-stick spray. Set pan aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, 1 cup of sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Add butter pieces. Using a pastry cutter, cut them into the dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Stir in eggs, almond extract, and almonds.

Press two-thirds of the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
In a large bowl, combine cornstarch and remaining 1/2 cup of sugar; add berries and gently toss. If using frozen berries, don't thaw them. Break them up, and toss them with the cornstarch. Spoon over crust.

Sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Place dish on a wire rack, allowing as much time for cooling as possible.

{ strawberries & blossoms }

It's that time of year -- strawberries galore!


(inspired by Bake at 350)