Memorial Day Dessert: Strawberry Country Cake

Image via: Pinterest

[ad#co-3]

Preparation

Yielding 2 (8-inch) cakes

All-purpose flour (2 cups)

Cornstarch (1/ cup)

4 eggs (extra large), at room temperature

Sugar (2 cups)

Unsalted butter (12 tablespoons or 1-1/2 sticks), at room temperature

Sour cream (3/4 cup), at room temperature

Baking soda (1 teaspoon)

Kosher salt (1/2 teaspoon)

Pure vanilla extract (1/2 teaspoon)

Orange zest (grated; ½ teaspoon)

Lemon zest (grated; ½ teaspoon)

Cake Filling (for one cake)

Hulled and sliced fresh strawberries (1 pint)

Sugar (3 tablespoons)

Chilled heavy cream (1 cup or ½ pint)

Pure vanilla extract (1/2 teaspoon)

Image via: Babble

Preparation of Cakes

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Take two 8-inch pans and brush butter on their bottom. Line them with parchment paper. Brush butter and spread flour on the lined pans.
• Take a bowl and add butter and sugar in it. Cream them with an electric mixer until the mixture becomes light and fluffy.
• Keep the mixing pace at medium and add the eggs one at a time. Now, gradually add sour cream, orange and lemon zests, and vanilla extract. Scrape down the bowl as needed and mix the ingredients with each other well.
• Sieve together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cornstarch. Add this mixture slowly to the butter mixture and blend well until it becomes smooth.
• Pour the batter into the two pans, dividing evenly. Smooth the top surface, place the pans at the center of the oven, and bake until a toothpick or fork inserted in the middle comes out clean, for approximately 40 to 45 minutes.
• Take the cakes out of the oven and let them cool in the pans for half an hour. After that, transfer the cakes to wire racks and let them cool at room temperature. If you want to make the cake sometimes later, just wrap properly and store in the freeze.

Preparation of Filling

• Whip the cream, vanilla extract, and sugar in a mixer. Whisk.
  Take a long, sharp knife and slice one cake in half. Place the bottom half of the cake on a serving platter with the cut side up. Now, spoon half of the whipped cream and spread evenly over the surface. Scatter strawberry slices.
• Put the top half on the bottom half of the cake and spread the remaining whipped cream. Again, scatter strawberry slices to garnish.

Image via: Momversation

This Memorial Day dessert will be a big hit on any occasion. The great thing about the cake is that it can be versatile. You can double the cream filling, leave the orange zest, double the lemon zest, or use different fresh fruits instead of just strawberry slices.

For more summer desserts on Stagetecture, click here.

Memorial Day Party Salad – Vegetable Pasta Salad

Image via: Pinterest

[ad#co-3]

Ingredients

4 servings

• Cooked pasta (4 cups)

• 1 small zucchini (cut into big pieces)

• Trimmed asparagus (1/2 pound)

• 1 medium broccoli crown (sliced)

• 2 medium tomatoes (cut into bite-sized pieces)

• Half of a small red onion (cut into half-inch thick slices)

• Stemmed and seeded one red sweet pepper (cut into quartered pieces)

• Ground black pepper (1/8 tablespoon)

• Parsley (1/2 bunch, removed from stems and chopped)

• Salt (1/4 tablespoon)

• Balsamic vinegar (1 tablespoon)

• Olive oil (3 tablespoons)

• Vegetable oil (1/4 cup)

• Mustard (1 tablespoon)

• Chopped fresh oregano (2 tablespoons)

• Grated Parmesan cheese

Image via: Budget Bytes

Preparation

1. At first, prepare the vinaigrette. Whisk together the olive oil, vegetable oil, mustard, balsamic vinegar, oregano, pepper, and salt in a small bowl.

2. Now, take a large bowl and mix all the ingredients – chopped vegetables, cooked pasta, and vinaigrette. With a wooden spatula, keep them stirring so that everything is mixed well and coated with vinaigrette.

3. You can refrigerate the salad or serve immediately after topping with fresh Parmesan cheese.

Tips

– This salad preparation can be made more interesting by grilling the vegetables first. To do that, you have to grill the whole vegetables on a grill rack and then cut them into pieces to mix with pasta and vinaigrette. You can do the grilling either in a charcoal or in a gas grill.

-Normally, cooked pasta absorbs all the dressing and makes the salad dry. To avoid this and keep the salad moist, mix lemon juice and olive oil with the cooked pasta and refrigerate overnight.

The great thing about this Memorial Day recipe is that you can make it really quickly and can use whatever vegetables you want or you have within your reach. Try to use colorful vegetables because it will look good and increase the appetite.

For more Memorial Day recipes on Stagetecture, click here.