My best friend’s birthday was this week.  We threw a birthday potluck picnic for her.  I learned that whipped cream is probably not a good choice for frosting unless you’re going to eat the cake immediately.  As we drove to the park, I frantically kept scooping up the frosting as it melted, flowing down the sides of the cake and taking the strawberries with it, threatening to douse my lap in sweet fluffiness…

Recipes used:

• Heavenly White Cake I added a couple tablespoons of sour cream to this.  I think the cake was a little too sweet, personally, but it held together really well and didn’t give me any problems when I cut the layers in half.  I was terrified it wouldn’t rise because I added stuff to the egg whites before beating them because I hadn’t read through the recipe entirely.  Luckily it still worked out, so you know this is a pretty foolproof recipe!
• Pastry Cream This was my first time essentially making cream puff filling.  This stuff was amazing…I added a little orange liqueur and because I only had non-fat milk, I used a mixture of non-fat milk and sour cream to give it the necessary richness.  It worked out well, actually.
• Frosting: whipped cream, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and powdered sugar.  Only use this as frosting if you intend to eat it immediately or freeze it and eat it as soon as it comes out of the freezer.
• Tip for working with strawberries on a cake: to get them to stick well, slice them and then dry them between some paper towels.  Though if you use the whipped cream frosting, that forethought won’t be worth it…

At least it tasted awesome!