You may have seen my recent "Favorite Things Party" post.  It was the one right before this one :)

This post is all about the cake that I brought to that party.  I was basically making the cake as a test to see if I liked the recipe and icing for my son's upcoming second birthday party.  He loves strawberries and blueberries.

The recipe I used for the cake can be found here.  I doubled the recipe and put it into two different pans.  The reason I did this is so that I could put a filling between the two cakes.  I thought that would make it extra delicious.  Don't tell anyone, but I think I put too much frosting between the layers.

One difference between the original recipe and what I did is that I used frozen strawberries and blueberries even though it says not to.  I let them thaw, then patted them dry.  It worked out just fine!  Oh, and I also used 1/4 cup of milk and 1/4 cup of sour cream in place of the buttermilk, because we were out of it. 

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pie plate
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1.5 cups sucanut
2 tablespoons raw sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon homemade vanilla extract
1 pint fresh or frozen strawberries, hulled and halved
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Instructions:

-Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 10-inch pie plate. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.

-Put butter and 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until fluffy. Reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, milk, sour cream, and vanilla.

-Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Transfer batter to greased pie plate. Arrange strawberries and blueberries on top of batter.  Sprinkle 2 tablespoons raw or granulated sugar over berries.

-Bake cake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325°. Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. Let cool in pie plate on a wire rack. Cut into wedges. Cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days.

NOTE: You can use all strawberries (1 pound) or a combination of berries that you prefer. Use enough to cover the top of the batter.





Strawberry Filling Ingredients:
 Nature's All Foods Organic Freeze-Dried Strawberries, 1.2 Ounce Pouch (made into a powder in the food processor)
butter
unrefined, homemade powdered sugar
heavy cream

I unfortunately didn't write the recipe down for the frosting, because I just eye-balled everything in a hurry.  If I had to go back and guess, I would say that you could use 1/2 stick of butter, 2 cups of powdered sugar, 2/3 cup of freeze dried strawberry powder, and about 1/4 cup of heavy cream. 

Cream the butter, then slowly add the powdered sugar and freeze dried strawberries.  Add enough heavy cream to make the icing spreadable.

This cake was really good if I do say so myself.  I loved the look of it without frosting on top.  The fruit is beautiful.  If I use this recipe for my son's second birthday, I will feel sad as I cover the pretty berries!  I think he would really like this cake, too.  I may end up coming up with a way to make it even a bit healthier for him.  Don't worry, I'm not going to add cauliflower or anything like that...probably just some wheat flour.  You may have noticed all the beautiful colors in the cake, and yet...no food coloring!  That is thanks to the freeze dried fruit :)

I hope you enjoy this recipe if you try it.  It's definitely found a home in my recipe binder.

Wow.  I've taken quite a break from blogging (3 weeks!).  I've decided to get back to it today to share a really neat party idea.

Have you ever heard of a "Favorite Things Party"?  I hadn't heard of one until I was invited to one this Spring.

 Isn't this mirror decoration so cute!?  My friends made it for the party. 



Here is how a Favorite Things Party works:

-Each invitee brings three of their favorite things under $6 (although you can make your own price range and bring a different amount of gifts based on number of attendees).  Everyone also brings a favorite snack to share. 

-Each person writes their name on three small pieces of paper, and drops them into a bowl when they arrive.

-Next, everyone draws three names out of the bowl (ensuring that you don't grab your own). 

-You then hand out your gift to the three people you chose, and explain why it's your favorite thing.  At this time, you can also tell everyone which snack you brought to share and why it's your favorite.

-You will end up bringing home three new treasures from others.



At the Favorite Things Party I attended, the host put cards in front of each snack that said what the snack was.  I thought that was a really good idea.

This was by far the neatest concept for a party that I've ever attended.  I had a wonderful time not only because we got to eat a lot of everyone's favorite foods and exchange gifts, but because we really got to know each other a little more.  I loved hearing why the ladies chose to bring certain foods and the stories behind their gifts. Three ladies actually ended up bringing popcorn.  I love popcorn, so that was awesome!  There were also cherry limeade GF muffins, banana bread, Ghiradelli brownies, chips and mango salsa, and aggression cookies (Look them up, because they are yummy!). 

The three gifts I brought home were:
Arbonne chap-stick
a cute picture frame with an Etsy print out reading "I love you a bushel and a peck"
a hand sewn change/lip gloss pouch



The gift I chose to bring was a small mesh bag with Calendula seeds from my flowerbed (because they are my favorite) and a Chocolove dark chocolate, sea salt, and almonds chocolate bar.  The snack that I brought was a strawberry, blueberry cobbler cake.  The catch to my favorite snack was that I had never actually tried it.  I made it to share, because I was putting it on a trial run for my son's second birthday party.  He loooves strawberries and blueberries.  I knew there wouldn't be enough people to eat the cake at my house.

I would love to go to another Favorite Things Party someday!