Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting and Fresh Strawberries

It wasn't anyone's birthday but I made this cake because I have this dream to someday open up my own cafe. And I thought I'd better start figuring out which recipes are the best and then I'll know which ones to have available in my cafe. So I decided to make one special yummy dessert every month on a Monday night - Family Home Evening for us - which is a good excuse - this one tasted quite strong the first night - but by day two was quite excellent - some cakes need an extra day to let all the flavors blend. Plus, I had read a tutorial about how to frost a cake without running into that problem of crumbs mixing in with the frosting - which is a problem I've had in the past. And the secret is to brush the cake with simple syrup - I used a raspberry/apple flavored syrup like ranja (limonade) to get the same effect and it flavored it quite nicely and paired with the strawberries nicely, too. This cake was also nice because it wasn't too dense like Mark usually likes cakes to be and it's wasn't too moist like I like cakes to be - it was right in between which was a nice compromise for us - and the fresh berries just hit it right on! Even Oma and Opa came over for a slice - and said it was yummy - and sometimes my cakes are too sweet for them - but they loved it - hooray!

Comments

Audree_buttercup said…

The way I was taught to not get crumbs in your frosting is to do a 'crumb coat' you take a small amount of frosting to just get all surface coated, then refrigerate for like 15 mins to a half hour to let it set up-and then you can frost away. I find that better than using a syrup-unless you want to flavor the cake on purpose. Just makes it less rich. It looks delicious in the picture. You should post the recipe.

11:50 PM

The Tilted Kiln, St George, Utah... pottery and ceramics!

The Tilted Kiln
215 W St. George Blvd
435-275-6603
Hours: Tuesday - Friday 12:00-8:00; Saturday 10:00-6:00
www.thetiltedkiln.com
https://www.facebook.com/thetiltedkiln/

Today the children and I got to play with clay at The Tilted Kiln in St. George. I had driven past this pottery studio many times not realizing all the fun things it has to offer.

It's not just a pottery shop, though there is a section that some great local artists have pottery for sale. It has a section of ceramics that you can buy and paint yourself and they will cook it again after that.

That was fun to see. So many great ideas, from painting a large platter with the family name or something like "Dad's Burgers"to piggy banks and garden gnomes. They also had quite a few Christmas related ceramic crafts to paint.

My kids and I had so much fun browsing the ideas and we surely will find ourselves back in the shop come summer vacation! :)

You can come back for parties or other group activities and they have cla…

Making Friends and Free2feed, St. George, Utah

Making Friends 101

After moving back to the U.S. - there was definitely a readjustment period for me. So, I put time into starting a blog. And then getting myself out there, making friends and getting involved and going places and doing things with the children.

Then when I did that, and I did it successfully, there really was no time to blog about how great St. George is. I have come across a few other mommy bloggers that have attempted to explain just how great this area is, but after a time, everyone kinda stops and it's because we are enjoying the sunshine and the nature and all that this area has to offer that we stop blogging or just don't do it as often.

Recently a good friend, Michelle, that I met shortly after moving here, asked if I would write some blog posts for her on her blog Green Kale and Yams about my recent change has a Vitamix owner. I said, yes.

Now it's time to get the word out, that I have switched over from using a cheap model smoothie maker to an Americ…

Best Streets to Trick or Treat in Dixie, Southern Utah

This is going to have to be an ongoing post... what I mean, is I might have to update it again next year.

This is going to be a very big deal this year. My kids have never experienced real American Trick or Treating. I have talked about it, and they have seen it on tv shows over the years and they are very excited. As am I!

This is why I wanted to pick a neighborhood that would be awesome for their first experience. Originally, I had planned to spend the weekend with my brother and his family in Spanish Fork, Utah. They live in a neighborhood with about a million kids so it was going to be perfect... but since the flu has affected everyone lately, and since my whole family was sick to death of road trips since we moved back here, we decided to stay in St. George.

This posed a problem for me. I didn't know where the best street was. After a quick google search, I found nothing! No one has blogged about this, at least, not in the first three or four pages of a google search.

I did find …

Dixie Kitty

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