HAPPY 8!

Co-worker's son's birthday. Chocolate sponge with straberry jam filling. Cake was topped with raspberries before delivery. Ok, I need to work on my cake writing skills. It's tough.

SURPRISE PARTY PLANNING

I was asked to plan a surprise 50 birthday party for a good friend.

My first chance to be a party planner (excpet for my wedding...). Rich was great to work with, he trusted me with decisions and budget, which was great. Ginny's favorite color is pink, so we had lots of pink decor (including pink M&Ms). The main cake is red velvet (see note below), the cupcakes with white frosting are carrot cake, and the cupcakes with pink frosting are chocolate. Shane gifted me a rectangular tray that holds 12 cupcakes, very cool.
Note: my first time making red velvet cake. I used to avoid this cake because most often it tastes chemically to me. But this recipes was great, no baking soda taste. Will definitely repeat.

WELCOME BACK

Co-worker Fred was out on sick leave for 3 months. He's finally back and well. We had a little suprise morning party for him... I made chocolate chip cookies, blueberry lemon scones, and the apple strudel in the previous post.
I use a basic scone mix recipe to which I add chocolate chips or fruits. This is the first time I make it with blueberries and lemon zest. Tim at work said needs a tad bit more salt, and less lemon zest. I thought I'd overdone it with the liquids and they were too soft. Will have to retry.

HOW TO STRUDEL

My favorite lesson when I used to work at the bakery was making the apple strudel. Starts with a buttery dough chilled overnight. Filling of granny smith apples (with peel), breadcrumbs, sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon. And rolled up into one giant slug. Bake for 45-60 min.