Italian Cream Soda

 

A sweet flavored soda type drink with a splash of cream at the top, topped with whip cream and a cherry, if you like! This drink is kid friendly, it is festive and this is a tasty and cheap drink to make for parties! Enjoy one this summer! I love these with fruit flavored syrups (cherry or strawberry), but any flavor will work. You can even experiment and mix flavors together.

Ingredients:

San Pellegrino Sparkling Water (1/2 bottle per drink)

Half & Half

Syrup (Tornani Coffee Syrup or Snow Cone Syrup, any flavor)

Ice

Whip Cream

Cherries

Directions:

1. Add about 3 tablespoons of syrup to the bottom of each glass

2. Fill the glass about 2/3 of the way full, making sure the syrup is mixed with the sparkling water and leaving room for ice and the cream.

3. Put in a few pieces of ice

4. Just before serving, put a SMALL splash of half & half on the top. 

5. Top with whip cream and a cherry!

Enjoy! :) 

Photo Source: butterwithasideofbread.com

Strawberry Torte

 

This beautiful swirled torte dessert is perfect for summertime. It combines fresh sweet strawberries to make a homemade angel food cake with a whip cream and strawberry swirl inside.  

Ingredients:

unsalted butter, for buttering the pan

8 extra-large eggs, room temperature, separated

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup cake flour (not self-rising)

2 teaspoons baking powder, sifted

1 pint (16 ounces) heavy cream

2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting

1 quart strawberries, washed, dried, hulls removed

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a jelly roll pan, and then line with parchment paper. 

2. In a large bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar together until light in color, about 1 minute. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Add cake flour and baking powder and stir until well combined.

3. With an electric mixer, beat egg white until stiff peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into flour mixture.

4. Pour batter into prepared cake pan. Bake for 20 minutes, until cake springs back when touched.

5. Set aside 6 strawberries for garnish. Thinly slice the remaining strawberries. With an electric mixer, beat heavy cream on medium speed. Add remaining vanilla and 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar. Continue beating until soft peaks form. Set half of the whip cream aside, and add sliced strawberries into the other half. 

6. Lay a clean kitchen towel out on a clean surface, with the short end facing you. Dust the towel with the confectioners' sugar. Flip cake onto towel, remove from baking sheet, and peel off parchment paper. Using the towel, roll the cake away from you and let cool.

7. Unroll the cake. Gently spread the strawberry and whip cream mixture onto the full surface of the cake, and the gently re-roll the cake. Transfer the cake to a serving platter and spread the reserved whip cream onto the top and sides of the cake. Garnish the top with set aside strawberries. 

Enjoy! :)

Source: marthastewart.com

Pound Cake with Raspberry Sauce

So I made this cake for a Valentine’s Day surprise for my boyfriend. He had mentioned to me that he loves pound cake. So, I searched the internet for a great recipe. I decided to make a raspberry sauce to go with it to give it some color and a fresh taste! Of course I topped it with a homemade whip cream! The pound cake is a Paula Deen recipe, and it is yummy! I cut the recipe in half and used a bread loaf pan, since it was just for us two! I hope your sweetie enjoys this cake, I know mine did!

Ingredients:

For the Pound Cake:

1 sticks of butter, plus more for greasing

¼ cup of vegetable shortening

1 ½ cups of sugar

3 eggs

1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour, plus more for greasing

¼ tsp of fine salt

¼ tsp of baking powder

½ cup of milk

½ tsp of vanilla

For the Raspberry Sauce:

12 oz package of frozen raspberries

3 tbsp of sugar

For the Whip Cream:

2 tbsp of sugar

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream the butter and shortening together in a bowl, with a mixer.

3. Add the sugar, ½ cup at a time and beating in between.

4. Add each egg one at a time and beating in between.

5. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt and baking powder together.

6. Add the flour mixture and milk into the butter and egg mixture, by alternating flour and milk and mixing in between.

7. Blend in the vanilla.

8. Use butter and flour to grease your pan.

9. Bake for 30 mins-55 mins, or until a knife in the middle comes out clean.

For the Raspberry Sauce:

Divided the bag of raspberries in half and blend half of them in a blender. In a bowl, stir in the liquid raspberries, whole raspberries and sugar.

For the Whipping Cream:

Place a metal mixing bowl and metal whisk attachment in the frezzer for 15 minutes before using, Place the sugar in the bowl first and then the cream, then whisk with a mixer until soft peaks form.

I cut the pieces of pound cake out with a heart cookie cutter to make it more festive for Valentine’s Day!

Enjoy and have a Happy Valentine’s Day!

Photo: saraleedesserts.com