Icebox cake and ironwood blossoms

The first half of this post is dedicated to Zoe, whose posts I miss of late! I hope she is settling into her new abode and can soon resume her blogging. Her creativity in baking and crafting is wonderful to see and I surely do appreciate her sharing with us. Thanks Zoe!

Icebox cake!



This is my favorite birthday cake. It's also a perfect Arizona summer dessert as you don't need to heat up anything but your mixer! The recipe is on the box of wafers, but here's my version:






Famous Chocolate Wafers (I buy two boxes--there's always some breakage)
whipping cream (2 small cartons-*see note below)
vanilla (preferably Penzey's Double Strength--ahh, bliss!)
granulated sugar

cake plate or platter
toothpicks
plastic wrap

You can, of course, make it even simpler by buying prepared whipped cream, but it's so easy and tastes SO much better to make your own...

Whip the cream, adding vanilla and sugar to taste. I've never measured, I just shoot for making it taste the way my mom always does, but I'm approximating 2 or more teaspoons vanilla and a tablespoon or so of sugar per small carton of cream (you know, *the size of the milk cartons we used to get in school).

Spread a dollop of cream onto a wafer. Put another wafer on top and spread it with cream. Repeat until tower threatens to topple, then set onto plate. Make several smaller towers (3-4), connect with more whipped cream. I usually make two long cylinders from a box. (It might be fun to try to circle them!) Cover the entire thing with whipped cream. Stick several toothpicks into cylinders, leaving most of the pick poking up. Cover with plastic wrap, letting the toothpicks support the wrap. Refrigerate for several hours or freeze for at least an hour.

When you're ready to serve (or in my case, devour), you'll want to have it chilled but not frozen, so let it sit for at least 15 minutes or so of you've frozen it. Cut at an angle and garnish if you like with some chocolate shavings.

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And for the second half of the post,
here's some magic from my front and back yards:

Happy Mother's Day to all!