The Cake Merchant

Archives for July 2012

Happy National Ice Cream Day!

Did you know that today is National Ice Cream Day?  In 1984, Ronald Reagan named July National Ice Cream Month, and the third Sunday in July (today) National Ice Cream Day. I don’t know how I missed this, since ice cream is one of my four major food groups, but I will definitely devote a few posts to ice cream the rest of this month. In the meantime, here are some ice cream resources I like. You can also check your local ice cream stores to see what they are doing to celebrate. Many offer special deals, and some even offer free ice cream!

Books
The Perfect Scoop
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home
Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones
Ben and Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream and Dessert Book

Blogs
David Lebovitz
Scoop Adventures

Archie would like to wish you a Happy National Ice Cream Day!

 

Nutty Summer Granola

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started running about 3 years ago because it was a cheap way to exercise. There were no gym memberships and very little equipment involved. Now, I do it because I enjoy it, and I have decided to start training for my 2nd half marathon. You would think that running and desserts go hand in hand. The more you run, the more sweets you can eat, right? Well, not so much, at least not for me. When I run, sugar is my enemy. I cannot eat cookies and cupcakes and run 8 miles the next morning. Part of why I continue to run is because it forces me to be thoughtful about what I eat.

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Blackberries and Cream Cake

Even though it’s still sweltering, I’m happy to be baking again. I’m even happier to that this cake literally took minutes to put together. Up until recently, I was a cake purist. Cake should always be made from scratch, right? Anything else would be sacrilegious.

Well, sometimes life gets in the way, and there just isn’t time for a scratch cake. There’s a reason that cake mixes have been around for so long. They are fast, easy, and really hard to mess up. And just because you are using a cake mix does not mean you have to follow the directions on the package. There are all sorts of doctored up cake mix recipes that taste really good. This recipe is a variation on a doctored recipe for a strawberry cake. I happened to find some blackberry gelatin at the store, but you could really use any kind of berry. The pureed blackberries give it a beautiful purple color, and who doesn’t love purple cake?

And don’t even get me started on this frosting. It’s so good, I could eat it by the spoonful. It’s a cross between a cream cheese and a whipped cream frosting. It’s light, but still sturdy enough to hold it’s shape, and not too sweet.

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